Le Mans ’66: Ford’s corporate power play that changed endurance racing forever

There’s a reason why the racing world is still talking about the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours a full six decades later. This was simply the race that had everything. Two motoring heavyweights, taking each other on at full force in a bitter duel the likes of which the sport had never seen before.

Nowadays multi-million dollar racing programmes are the norm, but in 1966 Ford’s financial clout set a new precedent. Henry Ford II threw open the company coffers, hired the best teams, drivers and minds, and oversaw the creation of a racing programme that would take the sport by storm on both sides of the Atlantic. All for revenge.

Ford had tried to buy Ferrari, but Enzo was having none of it, strung them along for a deal and then promptly shut the door and shredded the contract. Enraged, Ford made it his mission to crush the one thing Ferrari held dearest, his sporting pedigree. It’s the stuff of Hollywood scripts, and indeed became its own headline production that proved a box-office smash worldwide titled either Ford v Ferrari, or Le Mans ’66, depending where you were located.

The real story however goes much deeper than what you’ll see on the silver screen. In this special issue we’ve compiled the best of our period and retrospective coverage to give a full view of the events, characters, drivers, cars and forces involved with Le Mans 1966 and Ford’s rise to power. We were there to cover every session and development, and have enjoyed unprecedented levels of access to the key players and plotlines since.

On what will be the 60th anniversary of the world’s greatest, and perhaps most controversial, endurance race, we relive Ford v Ferrari and the numerous subplots and twists that ensured theirs would be a rivalry for the ages.

Read more about the past, present and future of Formula 1 in Motor Sport’s vast archive.
Visit: motorsportmagazine.com