Ford sought help building a 24-hour race car. Ford had never constructed a mid-engined racing vehicle with a transaxle, therefore the engineers couldn't make the GT40 perform. At 200 mph, the brakes, transmission, and aerodynamics failed.
Carroll Shelby had only weeks to get ready the GT40 for combat. Shelby (Matt Damon) developed his own race cars and won the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring. Racing vehicles take years to create, but he got two months.
Ken Miles drove the GT40 after his garage business failed. "Miles was lousy with money and couldn't keep his business running so he began working for Shelby." They quickly fixed several flaws and the GT40 won the 24 Hours of Daytona.
A 48-hour Ford engine test program was created. "Like a ghost racing a car," Baime explains. The Dearborn, Michigan, dynamometer room ran the engine for 24 hours. After that, they tested it for 48 hours.
Ford had private jets deliver windshields. The squad ran out of windshields in 1967 due to cracking. On Wednesday, Ford desperately called Corning Glass for help. The new-tempered windshields were loaded onto a New York-to-Paris commercial flight.
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