The Ford GT40 probably still haunts the nightmares of the people from Maranello. Built out of Ford’s ambition to beat Ferrari following a failed bid to take over the Italian sports car manufacturer, the GT40 went on to win four consecutive Le Mans 24 Hours races (1966-1969), with a demolishing 1-2-3 finish in the first year.
The guys from XCar somehow placed their hands on a road version of the GT40 and decided to see how the 1960s legend will do against two more recent Ford GTs: the very rare 1970 Ford GT70 and the 2004 Ford GT supercar. While the outcome of the race is not hard to guess – the Ford GT has a 5.4-liter V8 developing 550hp – the duel for the second place was pretty interesting.
Built by Ford UK for rallying, the featherweight mid-engined GT70 was aimed at the Lancia Stratos. Powered by a 3.0-liter V6 unit delivering a modest 128hp, the GT70 was capable of reaching 249 km/h (155 mph) and to hit 60 mph (96 km/h) in around 6.5 seconds. Finally, the GT40 seen in the video looks like an Mk3 version that was powered by a 4.7-liter V8 delivering 306 hp. In its good days, the car could sprint from 0 to 60 mph in around 5.2 seconds and reach a top speed of 257 km/h (160 mph). With that in mind, scroll down to see if the GT70 gave the GT40 a run for its money.
By Dan Mihalascu
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