A look back to the 24 hour race of the century, run at the pace of a Grand Prix!

In a Cold War climate, the last act of the Ford-Ferrari duel is often referred to as the “race of the century”.

Sunday the 19th of June 1966 - In the euphoria of the victory of his team, Henry Ford II promised to the world that his company will return to defend their title in twelve months time. The press had already started using the "race of the century" label and American technicians, themselves, were feeling the pinch: for over two years they had been spending freely to save the pride of the boss and that they just wanted to take a breath and enjoy the victory. Moreover, many of them had already turned to other national programmes in Indianapolis or NASCAR, and they did not want to hear talk about France

Between Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon, Henry Ford II celebrates on the podium in 1966. In the euphoria of the moment, he decided to defind the title.	Scuderia Ferrari prepared their response carefully with the 330 P4 that ran in '66 at Monza.	Conversely,  Ford was behind. After the débâcle of Daytona in January, the " J" project was restarted and was in the wind tunnel at Dearborn (Michigan).

Conversely, Enzo Ferrari was rubbing his hands contentedly, because he knew that his men were never as strong as when facing adversity. From the autumn of 1966, a P4 tested at the Autodromo di Monza then smashed lap record during private testing at Daytona. Already alerted to the performance of the lean and muscular P3, Henry Ford could not respond and relied on the law of big numbers, but at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1967, the six Mk II cars faltered and broke trying to keep pace with the two works supported Ferraris. With the help of the American team NART, the Scuderia had a resounding triple finish!

Between January and June the two rivals carefully avoided each other. The Ford victory at the Sebring 12 Hours had little value.	Saturday 10th June 1967, 16:00: The inevitable confrontation was on!	Ford took command at a what seemed like a wild pace. Behind them, Ferrari hoped that the 'hares' would eventually tire.

It was a shock for Ford who reactivated the "J" project and gave birth within a few weeks to the monstrous Mk IV. Carefully avoiding their two opponents in April at the Le Mans official testing where Bandini beat the record set by Gurney in 1966 by more than 5 seconds. Trusting these performances, Enzo Ferrari opted for a conservative approach and limited the power of the V12 ... Mistake! He had lost the race before the start. Underestimating the tactics of Ford, the conservative approach of the "Commendatore" was applied for too long and the final offensive on Sunday morning would be in vain.

Against all expectations, the Ford n°1 held on to the finish. Gurney-Foyt won, ahead of  the P4 of Scarfiotti and Parkes.;	Henri Ford II jubilant that his team had demonstrated their superiority.	Enzo Ferrari who was on the verge of selling his company to Ford in 1963!

Julien HERGAULT

Photos : Ford Motor Company et Ferrari S.p.A.