The Ford that Beat Ferrari: A Racing History of the GT40 [Hardcover]

John Allen (Author), Gordon Jones (Author), Jacky Ickx (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1844251136 | ISBN-13: 978-1844251131 | Publication Date: November 11, 2005 | Edition: 1st

When Ford's attempt to buy Ferrari fell through, the US car giant embarked on a program to beat the famous Italian marque at the world's most prestigious race, the Le Mans 24 Hours. It was quite a battle. Ford's challenger was the GT40, which placed 1-2-3 at Le Mans in 1966 and won the next three consecutive years. This classic book about the GT40 - fastest sports racing car of its day - has been redesigned, expanded and updated to meet pent-up demand that has pushed the value of the original 1985 edition higher and higher.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Allen and Gordon Jones are both long-time sports car enthusiasts with an over-riding passion for the Ford GT40. They live respectively in Leeds and the Cognac area of France.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Haynes Publishing; 1st edition (November 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844251136
• ISBN-13: 978-1844251131
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,410,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you are going to buy a book on the GT40, this should be the one., December 20, 2006

By 

Steve DeVaux (Dracut, MA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Ford that Beat Ferrari: A Racing History of the GT40 (Hardcover)

There are a couple of other great books on the GT40, but this one has some of the best period photographs along with its well written text. Other books also spend a lot of time covering the 1966 LeMans MK11s and the Gulf liveried LeMans winners of '68 and '69. This book does cover them as they are historically important cars, but the privateers like Comstock and Scuderia Bear are also covered.
Chapters cover construction and testing, races such as LeMans, Sebring, Daytona, and the many private GT40 teams and cars.
This book should be on every racing enthusiasts shelf.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Porscshephile GT40 fan, February 16, 2006

By 

Frederick L. Howard - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Ford that Beat Ferrari: A Racing History of the GT40 (Hardcover)

The book in question..."The Ford That Beat Ferrari: A Racing History" turns out to be exactly that...as well as all that was implied by by Amazon's outstanding website. I know that this sounds like a " so what " statement, but it's not. I find most things do not live up to thier hype. So, when something does, it IS note-worthy.
As a side-bar, I am not your usual Ford fan. I am a die-hard Porsche nut...six real cars, hundreds of models and a complete library of all books ever written on the subject. So, why the deviation? Easy! It seems that a great many of the best drivers of Porsche race cars came over from Ford...and this fact provides me with yet another perspective. I highly recommend other Porschiphiles do the same. As Paul Harvey says, It just might give you " the rest of the story ".

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Ford that Beat Ferrari: A Racing History of the GT40, August 23, 2007

By 

Michael A. Redmann "Michael Redmann" (East Peoria, Illinois) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Ford that Beat Ferrari: A Racing History of the GT40 (Hardcover)

This is a good book, but not a great book. I own several other books by the author, John Allen, on similar subjects and there is a definite bias towards a british view of the subject. I have read about every book available about the mid-sixties era of racing, especially the Ford contribuiton. Although I feel very knowledgeable on the subject, this book still filled in many empty areas I have on the subject and did it in a fairly enjoyable fashion. Having already stated I own many books on this subject I still am happy that I purchased this one. It is one of the better books on this subject. Enjoy