The Le Mans Fords' bearings

The bearing material used for the Ford GT’s which dominated the Le Mans race, and also for the Ford engine of Graham Hill’s Indianapolis-winning Lola was Clevite 77, which can carry sustained crankshaft loads of 10,000 lb/sq. in. It consists of a steel back, a cast copper-lead intermediate lining, a thin electroplated nickel layer and a precision 0.001 in, electroplated lead-tin copper overlay. The nickel layer is designed to keep tin from migrating from the overlay to the intermediate lining. The makers, Clevite Corporation, the World’s largest independent bearing manufacturer, has opened a British bearing division at Perivale and is expanding its activities in Europe.