Ford Originally Wanted To Win At Le Mans With A Mustang, Not The GT

By Dave Ashton

In 2016, the Ford GT returned to the 24-hour Le Man race for the 50th anniversary of the GT40 with a 1,2,3 finish, but the comeback was ironically not originally planned for the GT to run.

According to nesn.com Ford initially wanted to use mustangs for the Le Mans comeback, labelled Project Silver” but the project would have needed $250,000 to modify the Mustangs and aerodynamics for the race was a major issue. Ford also decided that the race wasn’t the best way to market the Mustang, so they went back to the original GT.

“It was all good learning, but it turns out not to be the right fit. Ultimately, Mustang does not need Le Mans to be a global car,” Nair said, via Automotive News. “To be candid, I still wanted to do it. I was actually a little bit mad … in fact, I was really mad.”

It seems that Ford’s executives underestimated the importance of the event at first, so eventually went back to the GT to develop with the 12 man team, the GT supercar, along with a road going version. This also allowed a testbed for future technology, light-weight composites and aerodynamic features for future vehicles.

It seems a bit strange at this point that the 50th anniversary may have been a Mustang affair rather than a GT40, but everything seems have worked out in the end.

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