So I just read this book. If you haven't, it's great. I usually don't like nonfiction, but this doesn't read like a textbook, it just reads like a really awesome story starring Henry Ford jr, Enzo Ferrari, Carroll Shelby, Lee Iaccoca, and a bunch of legendary race drivers from a time when driving a race car was a very effective way to get yourself killed. It was incredibly interesting, and I highly recommend it.
If you have read it I want to discuss something. The story is painted as being a David and Goliath story, with new to racing ford taking on the perpetually dominant Ferrari to try to win Le Mans. But as I read I couldn't help but feel like Ford with their ridiculous amount of money spent on the endeavor was the actual Goliath of the story. If you want a more contemporary analogy, the whole story felt like Rocky IV, and ford was Ivan Drago. Except in this version Russia wins. Did anybody else have that take on it?
WilD
Dork
7/26/18 8:49 a.m.
I wouldn't go as far as maligning Ford as an Ivan Drago, but otherwise yeah, you can certainly make the argument that Ford was no underdog. It's been a while since I read it but my main takeaway was: Ken Miles was robbed and died tragically before his time. :( So, on second thought, maybe Ford is evil for pulling that finnish line stunt and costing Ken his victory.
I've read quite a bit about this from the viewpoint of Gulf team. John Wyer and John Horseman's autobiographies are both excellent reads, although the former is pretty hard to find these days. After that, I found Baime's book to be a little lightweight. Great for turning into a movie - which is probably happening - but it skipped over a lot of the really good stuff. It's a good introduction to the battle. Baime's book about WWII bombers was better in my opinion, but I don't know as much about that subject so it may be the same.
In 1966, Ford was anything but a David. They entered as many cars as they could in the race until the ACO said "okay, that's enough, stop!". The attrition rate amongst the GT40s was huge, but the three (out of 14) GT40s that made it to the finish did indeed win.
The really interesting story is 1968 and 1969, after Ford had lost interest and other teams kept racing the outdated, heavy GT40 with smaller engines. The Gulf team only had two cars and managed to get the win both years with the same car.
Keith Tanner said:
I've read quite a bit about this from the viewpoint of Gulf team. John Wyer and John Horseman's autobiographies are both excellent reads, although the former is pretty hard to find these days. After that, I found Baime's book to be a little lightweight. Great for turning into a movie - which is probably happening - but it skipped over a lot of the really good stuff. It's a good introduction to the battle. Baime's book about WWII bombers was better in my opinion, but I don't know as much about that subject so it may be the same.
Agreed on both counts. This book is decent, but doesn't really have the depth I was hoping for and have seen in other racing-related books. And "Arsenal of Democracy" was much better.
And yes, the movie is happening. I read somewhere that Matt Damon is going to be in it.
I loved the book as well.
Ford winning LeMans was more akin to the Marlins (or Boston or the Cubs) winning the World series then David and Goliath.
BullE36 M3. I want a book about turbocharged Dodges. Seriously.
Read this book a few years ago- and enjoyed it. At the same time, I got the book "Fordlandia" which is a really weird story. Didn't finish that book, but got the gist of it.
The idea that it was David v Goliath- that would be David, the perpetual champion of F1 and endurance racing vs. Goliath that has all the resources in the world, literally. It was inevitable.
But it's still pretty cool that a Truck engine in a Sports car won Le Mans. Wait, I'm more proud of the very recent version of that.
Appleseed said:
BullE36 M3. I want a book about turbocharged Dodges. Seriously.
That's why I came in here.
Have seen and touched those three GT40s in person.
Going to have to read the book. Thanks.
