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MG TD TF 1500 - Ford vs. Ferrari

Just saw this new film today. 4.5 out of 5 stars from me! All car folks should see this. Well worth your time. Don't worry about the contrived parts. Just enjoy the show.
Ed
efh Haskell

Just saw it as well. Drove my TD to it!

As many of you may know, Carroll Shelby's first race car was an MG T-series. :-)

Kevin McLemore

Hi

Called "le Mans 66" here, great film, enjoyed.

Barry
B Bridgens

Looking forward to seeing it! I believe Shelby's first race was in a TC which he borrowed from a friend? Is that correct?
Bob
R L Schapel

First I’ve got to say I was a young lad during this period of auto racing history and I have little knowledge of the events that lead up to the 1966 race season.

There was a interesting short article on the Hemmings website that put a spin on the Ferrari vs Ford battle. Who was the real under dog?. Most Americans would say it was Shelby and Ford‘s other privateers with the GT 40 program. But Ford tossed in multiples of $$ imillions into the project. Fords overall car production and profit worldwide were staggering when Ferrari’s meager profits from thei car production (less than 300 cars) solely supported their race program. Although Ferrari had dominated during the era they indeed were underfunded and had a fraction of the manpower to support the various team efforts against Ford. I believe the article also mentioned that Ford had major financial holdings in the acquisition of Ferrari and had no intention of dumping additional money into the Ferrari race program. The idea was ... Ford already had Ferrari under its financial thumb and wanted to spank them hard at the track.

Prior to 1966 Ferrari was considered the Goliath to be slain solely based on their dominance of the sport. But it was Ford’s financial backing, engineering, race support and manpower to its privateers before and during the 1966 season that made Ford the Goliath to Ferrari’s David.

I may have some of the details of the article misstated here but the article definitely added a different perspective as a European counterpoint

Bill Chasser
TD/c-8151
W A Chasser

And of course, Ken Miles dominated California racing circles with his R1 and R2 cars, both powered with MG's EX176 1,466cc dry-deck engine. He dominated because his car was lightning fast and light, but, more importantly, because he was a superb driver.

Tom Lange
MGT Repair
t lange

I saw Ford vs Ferrari last night. Really enjoyed it. Ed's right, look past the contrived parts. I like to rate the studio's "car wrangler" in period movies. This one did a pretty good job on street cars … except for the 1964 Supersport hubcaps on a 1963 Impala. I don't know enough about period LeMans cars to rate the accuracy of the race cars.

Good description of Carroll Shelby's TC and early racing carreer by Hemmings when the car was up for sale a few years ago. Did it sell? How much?

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2014/10/27/carroll-shelbys-first-race-car-a-1949-mg-tc-heads-back-to-auction/?fbclid=IwAR2PneBLwXeDEYl0XBz9gPr0CJRCPJuwG39t1XQwCrt04Nslu6ZFg53Tp88

Lonnie
TF7211



LM Cook

I had one issue. Were not the first three models of GT40 Build in the UK? Based on a Lotus design?
Bruce Cunha

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzq4DeTjZ1A It's called Carroll Shelby - The Lost Interview. It's about an hour and a half of his life and career. Tells all of the details about the GT40 including the first U.K. models, Bruce. Bud
Bud Krueger

Great movie but one inaccuracy I picked up on: in one scene there were cars next to a TWA Lockheed L1011 Tristar. These aircraft were not in service until November of 1970 having been delayed due to the Rolls Royce aircraft engine company financial problems.
John Quilter (TD8986)

My uncle was one of the folks that bardahl sent to Indy to get the Indy Ferrari more race ready.

https://www.velocetoday.com/ferrari-at-indy-part-2/

My uncle is in the last picture of the US and Italian Crew. He is towards the rear of the car with his hair sticking up.

He said that (his words) "The Italians were pricks and thought they knew everything about racing and engines. They refused to listen to our ideas and so one day, we just went in and changed out the carbs to what we knew would work"

The Italians were so pissed that they abandoned the project and no Ferrari has raced at indy since.
Bruce Cunha

Amazing movie! Best car movie since Rush, with MGs at the beginning too. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! George
George Butz III

Saw the movie a few nights ago and also enjoyed it.

Of special interest is the fact that Ken Miles (with Johnny Lockett) drove car number 41, an EX182, for the MG Works team that achieved 12th place overall at the 1955 Le Mans race. They averaged 86.17 mph over 248 laps.

Michael
M R Calvert

Yet to see film, but looking forward to it.

Ford GT40 was based on Eric Broadley's Lola.

Of course the 1955 Le Mans is the year of the terrible crash that cost so many their lives.

For about ten or twelve years from the mid Nineties I used to drive/share car down to Le Mans every year with a bunch of pals in interesting machinery. If I was driving, it was always in my battered old green MGB that was on the limit trying to keep pace with the likes of an Alpine Renault, Lotus Elise, Caterham 7s etc and often led to it needing to be nursed home and requiring a replacement piston one year; fuel pump another and so on.
Peter Allen

This thread was discussed between 16/11/2019 and 10/12/2019

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