Henry fords first race car

Although still very basic, the was streets ahead of the competition and on October 25thBarney Oldfield set a world record when he drove it at a mile a minute and a new era of motor racing history was born. Ford saw racing as a means to an end but his real ambition was to build cars for the masses and he succeeded in doing that with his famous low cost, high volume Ford Model T and it was this car that made him his initial fortune and turned the Ford Motor Company into an International powerhouse.

He didn't forget racing though and he fully appreciated the value of continuing to see his racing models manage to get first past the post. He continued to sponsor racing all the while he expanded his automotive empire. In the late s, at the urging of Preston Tuckerlater to design the Tucker Car of the FutureEdsel Ford was persuaded to sponsor the Indianapolis racing efforts of the race driver Harry Miller and as a result of that collaboration, the Ford V8 engine was launched in This engine quickly went into mass production and soon became ultra popular with the hot rod enthusiasts of the time.

These cars were derived from the prohibition era, moonshiners who had to drive fast to outrun the Government agents that regularly pursued them in their attempts to seize the moonshine and send the drivers to jail. Inan agreement between Ford, Chrysler and General Motors to stop sponsored racing put the brakes on the racing scene but not surprisingly, sales fell.

Europe however, was still open to factory racing and their European GT Competition races were thriving. The European GT or Grand Touring cars of the s and 60s were the world's most advanced, expensive and sophisticated cars of the time, and they delivered incredible performance for the period. By the mid s, the American quest for speed had resulted in the General Motors, Pontiac division launching it's soon to be iconic GTO model.

Ford responded to this with it's high performance Ford Mustang Their involvement in the European racing scene had gotten them interested in the European supercars and they were especially interested in Ferrari.

Henry fords first race car

At the time, the Ferrari Le Mans or LM was a grand touring class car of renown and was dominating the famous Le Mans 24 Hour Race and it's racing victories were boosting Enzo Ferrari's sales figures dramatically. Ford decided they wanted a piece of the action. At the last minute, Enzo Ferrari told Ford he didn't want his cars to compete in the Indianapolis because he felt it would be demeaning to his cars and his name to see them doing nothing more than racing around an oval track and that he'd only sell the company with that stipulation.

Ford tried to negotiate but Enzo Ferrari stood firm and eventually the deal fell through. Henry Ford II was insulted and angry and he is reported to have said 'All right, we will beat him! Ford assembled a design team to develop a car with only one purpose - to beat Ferrari and win Le Mans. GT stood for Grand Tourer and 40 because the car was to be just 40 inches high.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive. Type your email…. Continue reading. Search for: Search. Automobile racing drivers. Oldfield, Barney, Harkness, Harry S. Manufacturer's Challenge Cup. Black Color Red White Color. Diameter: Diameter: 7 in Bore.

Length: 7 in Stroke. Engine : inline-4, atmospheric intake valves and mechanical exhaust valves, cubic inches. Transmission : none, in-and-out clutch. In his October debut, a five-mile 8 km race known as the Manufacturers' Challenge Cup, despite a strong challenge from Winton once again which was the rematch for which Ford had originally plannedOldfield easily won.

The set a course speed record at the track at Grosse Pointeand went on to tour America and score many other victories. Cooper retained ownership of the car for its racing career, while Oldfield ultimately pursued a racing career with Wintonagainst whom he had raced at the outset. Arrow also had a successful racing career, but its most famous incident was to come.

It was crashed in September during a race, killing the driver Frank Day. However, Henry Ford bought back the broken car and repaired it with the intent of performing a speed run on a frozen lake. He renamed itas the original red car had been retired already, and the press referred to it as the "new ," "Red Devil," or a combination of the two.

A new land speed record was achieved of Clair's Anchor Bay. It stood for only a few weeks, but this was ample time to bring more good publicity for Ford's new company. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk.