After Ford unsuccessfully attempted to buy Ferrari, in 1963, the
American car giant instead embarked on its own racing programme in a bid
to beat the famous Italian marque at the world's most prestigious race,
the Le Mans 24 Hours, as told in the forthcoming Hollywood movie Ford
v. Ferrari. This updated edition of The Ford that Beat Ferrari tells
the story of how that mission was eventually accomplished.
- Development of the GT40: how the prototype Ford GT emerged in 1964
from the previous year's Lola GT programme.
- The works teams and the GT40: the car's racing exploits in its earlier
years, first with Ford Advanced Vehicles (1964), then Shelby
American (1965) and Alan Mann Racing (1966).
- The big ones: this section of the book covers the GT40's evolution
into the 7-litre monsters that brought enormous success, including the
first two Le Mans victories with the Mark II (1966) and Mark IV
(1967), before becoming outlawed by new restrictions on engine size.
- The Gulf years: against all expectations, the venerable GT40, now back
to 5-litre power, raced on with John Wyer's crack JW Automotive
Engineering outfit in the iconic blue and orange colours of Gulf,
successes including two further Le Mans wins (1968 and 1969).
- The production line racer: the stories of the 68 privateers, big and
small, who raced GT40s.
- Chassis and drivers: a data section giving resumés of type
designations, chassis histories and all drivers who raced GT40s.
- The magic lives on: the book's concluding sections show surviving cars
at differing stages in their later life and bring the story up to date
with developments since the 2005 edition.
