GT40 Experience

May 22, 2023

The Ford GT40 is one of my favourite cars. As a young lad I was drawn in by its low, wedge-like shape and growling engine - almost like a spaceship - purposeful and just 'right'.

In 2016 I was fortunate enough to be at the Le Mans 24 hour for the year that Ford returned to Circuit de la Sarthe (exactly 50 years after the famous '66 win for Shelby and co) where their new Ford GT managed to take the GTE victory in perfect Hollywood style.

As fun as that was (and Le Mans is a whole lot of fun, if you haven't made the pilgrimage you definitely should), my best 'Ford experience' of that weekend was an anniversary race involving classic GT40s battling it out on the Friday night in support race of the main event.

I watched that particular race - beers in hand - from the banked spectator viewing area at Arnage as day turned to night, and I'll never forget the sight, sound and feeling of 8 classic GT40s hammering into view from Indianapolis, headlights blazing, and braking hard before getting back on the power to take them off into the Porsche Curves beyond. Petrolhead heaven.

That was about as close as I thought I'd ever get to a GT40 going fast on track except that, in a moment of genius, my amazing wife found a track experience to drive one as a birthday present this year. Well, sort of. It's actually a replica - a KVA kit I believe - but powered by an authentic and hefty 485 bhp Ford 427 V8.

I booked it for this Sunday gone at Three Sisters near Wigan (hosts to our very own Speed Series elsewhere in their calendar) and was very lucky to get absolutely stunning weather for it. Full disclosure, this is an "experience" day not a track day, and they make that pretty clear at all times with various warnings about over driving the car. I also only had 4 laps in it, but that was genuinely enough to get a feel for what is a proper beast of a car.

I got the full classic race car experience too. Once slotted into the low fixed bucket seats, the thing wouldn't start so I had to get out while the mechanic had a look and diagnosed a dodgy battery. However this gave me the unexpected chance to see the engine cover open and get my head in for a good nosey around. Deciding to jump it and save the battery replacement until after my run, we fired it up and headed out onto the track.

As mentioned, as an "experience" day the instructors take an understandable level of caution. Many people there are inexperienced in driving fast cars (or on track), and the small tight circuit was also pretty crowded at times - they had about 40 different motors there from a McLaren 720S to Lotus Cortina via various Lambos, Fast and Furious clones and even a lovely little Peugeot 205 GTI. However, having done a sighting lap in a BMW 320 already, I was able to give the instructor a bit of confidence on the opening lap that it wasn't my first rodeo, and after applying some nice firm braking on the unassisted pedal I was encouraged to push on a little more than his previous occupants.

The car is a total beast in such a good raw way. It's hot and sweaty, on a scorching day like that it was very hot and sweaty. The seating position is low (especially for someone of my height efficient build) and a fixed bucket to the point that most of my forward visibility was actually through the wheels spokes.

The steering itself is heavy, especially when manoeuvring the pit lane and slower corners, but it opens up under more power with great feel and feedback. The brakes are equally firm, and in fact were the main thing the instructors worry about, with most customers apparently applying what we called "Qashqai" levels of pressure to the pedal which is almost exactly the same as not braking at all. Then we get to the engine... oh the engine. It sounds every bit as incredible as you would expect and just pulls and pulls, especially when opening it up onto the back straight (and powering past the aforementioned 720S 😉).

By the third lap I was testing the limits (of the instructor) a bit with a little harder/later braking, and a dab of deliberate on-power oversteer to get a feel for what was there (the answer to that question is a lot!), and hear those tyres battling the inevitable balance of slip and grip. You could run out of talent fast in it, that is for sure, but it never felt edgy, and with some patience and diligence I think you could have a whole lot of fun in it as well once you knew how to use it properly.

All too soon - having overtaken about 8 other customers in the process, and only waving by the 800 bhp Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat because I was slowing to come into the pits - it was time to bring it home, before jumping out for a final look and departing back to the paddock.

While the track time didn't equate to anything near what I would have ideally liked (or have done on other occasions) it will still go down in memory as a fantastic thing to do. Short but very very sweet, and a proper bucket list item that I never thought I'd do ticked off.