Fords best race car?

[whitelion65]

Originally Posted by arronm

I watched this Live on channel 7

Was 1977. Best ever.

image

Never forget this shot from the helicopter.

image

As a young fella, my brother and I had this scene on wallpaper in our bedroom.
A couple of rally Escorts on there too!
Bloody awesome!

[roKWiz]

For me, D.J's XD and E Group C's at Bathurst. Geeze, but he had some bad luck with that E.
The shortened 81 race was the first time I went to Bathurst.

[4stanger]

Originally Posted by Bevsta007

There was also the dominance of the Group A sierra cosworths at bathurst
they could hit 300kph on conrod Straight. It took another 2 decades for the V8's to reach this sort of speed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zgIwRpKNCY

The Sierra.
A very Interesting & Diverse car that sold just about everywhere (Merkur in North America), except here
It was built in just about all body shapes; sedan, 3 & 5 door hatch, delivery van, estate wagon, & the pickup (South Africa see P100)
It was available in 4x2 and 4x4 formats
Engines available from 1.3 litre petrol 4cyl. up to 5.0 litre v8 (South Africa only) with v6s and turbo 4s in between, 2 diesel engines in there too!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Sierra

The RS Cosworth won many Touring car races in many countries and won a world rally championship round in 1988, came 2nd in the 1988 world rally manufacturers championship against a lot of competitive 4x4 rally cars, The RS Cosworth was 4x2 at that time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Sierra_RS_Cosworth

An amazing package considering the design and principal was based on a family production car, You can't really call too many of its motorsport competitors at the time, family based production cars?

[roddy1960]

Ford has a great tradition in racing . To have official Ford backing in Supercars again next year will be fantastic .

Hard to decide on an outright best re. the Thread Topic but right up there for me are the incredible Rally cars over several decades , locally numerous eras that we can identify with , Sierra's of course. Two special years back to back though stand out for me. .

Those years 1966 and 1967 saw the Ford GT won Le Mans (1966), then dominated for a time AND the mighty Falcon GT (1967) heralded some iconic racing here in Australia with the arrival of that race orientated XR Falcon GT.

[Tonz]

Heading is wrong....should read 'I think Fords best race car"

Ford Sierra

[au350hp]

Originally Posted by GO FURTHER

My feeling is the Mustangs will set a new lap record as they will more than likely handle the corners better.

I saw an interview with D.Johnson who said the FG-X is old news & is keen to start developing the Mustang. Seeing many new Mustangs around my area of late, especially sunny weekends. I think I saw a 2018, but maybe it had a custom front bar or something, but it was going way too quick to tell.

[PooDog]

Loved the look of the Moffat XCs , but I never liked to back the dealer cars, HDT, Ford the privateer cars were my favourites DJ , Gricey , etc , Dicks XE was my favourite

[hackney]

Originally Posted by MITCHAY

GT40 /end thread

Yup,most certainly.Coming 1,2 & 3 in 1966 in those GT40s (and winning in subsequent years.)Supercars is not even in the same room,& doesn’t rate in my book.And also @ the same time “grinding” Ferrari works teams into the ground.Cheers

[Maka]

A honorable mention must go to the Mk1 Gt Cortina's imo, they raced very successfully in their day on tarmac & dirt, they even once won Bathurst a long time ago lol -

Edit- thanks for correcting me there Dr Terry on the Mk1 Cortina's Bathurst wins -

https://www.mount-panorama.com.au/hi...0-winners.html

https://www.motor1.com/news/92320/lotus-cortina-mk1/

cheers, Maka

[Dr Terry]

Yes, I forgot about the Mk1 Cortina, they won Bathurst 3 times in a row, IIRC.

Dr Terry

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by hackney

Yup,most certainly.Coming 1,2 & 3 in 1966 in those GT40s (and winning in subsequent years.)Supercars is not even in the same room,& doesn’t rate in my book.And also @ the same time “grinding” Ferrari works teams into the ground.Cheers

True, the GT40 is Legendary.
And yes, all these cars were, by definition, highly modified, often by 3rd parties.
But the only thing Ford about the GT40 were the badge and engine-block.

[au350hp]

Saw this for sale today. Slightly attention seeking look, especially if its loud.
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/curr...ca-/1188425503

[FGX-351]

The beast of Ambrose

[zipping]

The most important race car was the first called Sweepstakes.

In the summer of 1901 things were not going well for Henry. His first car company, the Detroit Automobile Company, had failed, and his financial backers had doubts about his talents as an engineer and as a businessman. Building a successful race car would re-establish his credibility.

Ford didn't work alone. His principal designer was Oliver Barthel. Ed "Spider" Huff worked on the electrical system, Ed Verlinden and George Wettrick did the lathe work, and Charlie Mitchell shaped metal at the blacksmith forge. The car they produced was advanced for its day. The induction system was a rudimentary form of mechanical fuel injection, patented by Ford, while the spark plugs may have been the first anywhere to use porcelain insulators. Ford had the insulators made by a Detroit dentist. The engine had only two cylinders, but they were huge: bore and stroke were seven inches each. That works out to a displacement of 538 cubic inches; horsepower was estimated at 26. Ford and Barthel claimed the car reached 72 miles per hour during its road tests. That doesn't sound impressive today, but in 1901 the official world speed record for automobiles was 65.79 miles per hour.

Ford entered the car in a race that took place on October 10, 1901, at a horse racing track in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. The race was known as a sweepstakes, so Sweepstakes was the name that Ford and Barthel gave their car. Henry's opponent in the race was Alexander Winton, who was already a successful auto manufacturer, and the country's best known race driver. No one gave the inexperienced, unknown Ford a chance.

When the race began Ford fell behind immediately, trailing by as much as 300 yards. But Henry improved his driving technique quickly, gradually cutting into Winton's lead. Then Winton's car developed mechanical trouble, and Ford swept past him on the main straightaway, as the crowd roared its approval.

Henry's wife Clara described the scene in a letter to her brother: "The people went wild. One man threw his hat up and when it came down he stamped on it. Another man had to hit his wife on the head to keep her from going off the handle. She stood up in her seat ... screamed "I'd bet $50 on Ford if I had it.'"

Henry Ford's victory had the desired effect. New investors backed Ford in his next venture, the Henry Ford Company. Yet he was not home free. He disagreed with his financiers, left the company in 1902, and finally formed his lasting enterprise, Ford Motor Company, in 1903.

Ford sold Sweepstakes in May of 1902, but eventually bought it back in the 1930s. He had a new body built to replace the original that had been damaged in a fire, and displayed the historic vehicle in Henry Ford Museum.

Was always going to be a Ford man but I love that racing is our heritage to the bone.