Ford vs Ferrari: What is the Rivalry Between the Two All About?

Ford v Ferrari: Here’s all that you need to know about the rivalry between car makers Ford and Ferrari

The Ford GT40 was one of the best performers for Ford at the Le Mans.

(Photo: Wikipedia)

20th Century Fox has released the trailer for its upcoming movie Ford v Ferrari which is set against the backdrop of the battle between two automobile makers, Ford and Ferrari, in the 1960, as both vied for the top crown at the Le Mans which put this rivalry as one of the biggest in endurance racing history.

The trailer shows famous American designer and racer Carol Shelby (Matt Damon) who is set to build one of the most revolutionary cars (Ford GT40) to be built in Ford’s garage with the help of a long-time friend and British racer Ken Miles played by Christian Bale. The car is to compete at the 24-hour Le Mans race especially to beat Ferrari.

The movie is set for a release this November.

But for those who are excited about the movie and don’t know the history between these two, here’s a crash course in the Ford versus Ferrari rivalry.

The History

The late ‘60s was a tumultuous time for motorsports and two names mostly echoed whenever the races kicked off, Henry Ford II and Enzo Ferrari.

The mecca of endurance racing, Le Mans, is a 24-hour race which happens in the month of June and Ford used to rule the roost back in those days.

Ford (in the 1960s) was the second largest manufacturer in the world and had a wealth of expertise and engineering to offer.

Ferrari — which wasn’t as big as Ford — wanted to take advantage of Ford’s wealth and popularity to expand its own division. In 1963, Enzo Ferrari willingly allowed Ferrari to be sold to the Ford Motor Co. to gain entry into endurance racing and used Ford's engineering expertise and money.

The two parties had a meeting to discuss the takeover. During the meeting, Henry Ford told Enzo that Ferrari won't be able to enter its cars into the Indianapolis 500 (a.k.a Indy500) races and would have to settle with whatever Ford says, that also included whatever Ferrari did in Formula 1.

Enzo was under the impression that Ford would only have control over the road car part of Ferrari and be able to keep control of the racing division and pocket Ford's cash at the same time.

When Ford said “No’, there were a few words exchanged between the two bosses and Enzo Ferrari stormed out of the meeting, promising to make life difficult for Ford.

The Perfect Car

Enzo Ferrari was addicted to winning and he made sure he made the cars that would win races. Ford was getting a beatdown at every race which is when it approached three other car companies Lotus, Cooper, and Lola to make a car to beat Ferrari.

Ford used a British engineer, Roy Lunn to oversee the project. The project was called the GT40.

The car didn’t perform well at the first Le Mans and lasted on 12 hours and retired. This is when the project was handed over to ex-racer and legend during his time Carol Shelby.

Shelby made the car but sorted a perfect driver for the machine which is when Ken Miles came into the picture. Both of them partnered to make the Ford GT40 the perfect machine which went on to win the Le Mans race finally beating Ferrari.

The rivalry still continues.