Le Mans ‘66, Ford vs. Ferrari - movie

Le Mans ‘66, Ford vs. Ferrari - movie

Author
Discussion

MikeT66

Original Poster:

2,680 posts

123 months

Wednesday 20th June 2018
quotequote all
It was touted a few years ago with Tom Cruise as the tall Carroll Shelby, before hitting funding issues.

Looks like a big screen version one of the great sporting rivalries is back though - with better casting.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1950186/

https://www.motorsport.com/lemans/news/damon-bale-...

https://variety.com/2018/film/news/james-mangold-n...

Brilliant!

nicanary

9,749 posts

145 months

Wednesday 20th June 2018
quotequote all
Nice to see the late Ken Miles getting due recognition as a major player.

Plenty of genuine and not-so-genuine Fords for filming purposes, not so many P4s. I hope they don't use kit-cars as substitutes.

gl20

1,121 posts

148 months

Sunday 24th February 2019
quotequote all
This may be old news for many on here, but scanning new releases for 2019 on Rotten Tomatoes, I see there’s a ‘Ford v Ferrari’ film out in June (Wikipedia says later) about the Le Mans duel.

Damon and Bale in it so, whatever you may think of them, it seems there’s some budget from this. Damon plays Shelby.

A car film shocker or could it be ok?

Apologies if a thread already on here about it, but couldn’t find one via google.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_v._Ferrari

sandman77

2,365 posts

137 months

Sunday 24th February 2019
quotequote all
Good find. I will look forward to this. Could be a cracker if done properly.

RobXjcoupe

3,151 posts

90 months

Sunday 24th February 2019
quotequote all
The story I heard was ford were turned down to buy Ferrari way back as they wouldn’t know how to run or engineer such racing machines so that’s when they thought fkem! we will build a Ferrari beating leman contender and hence the gt40. But it was Brit engineers with Ford funding

Eric Mc

121,763 posts

264 months

Sunday 24th February 2019
quotequote all
There was a documentary on TV a few years ago about Ford V' D=Ferrari - but it centered on a perceived battle involving Cobras.

By the time the GT40s were running at Le Mans, were Ferrari really duelling with them?

SpeedBash

2,318 posts

186 months

Monday 3rd June 2019
quotequote all

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 3rd June 2019
quotequote all
Looks a bit Fast and Furious, but I'll probably go and see it anyway.

PositronicRay

26,952 posts

182 months

Monday 3rd June 2019
quotequote all
From the trailer, I'll wait until it hits the telly. It doesn't look like a box office hit.

RobXjcoupe

3,151 posts

90 months

Monday 3rd June 2019
quotequote all
I’m sure Ford Motor Company will push a few limited editions based on this smile

thegreenhell

15,103 posts

218 months

Monday 3rd June 2019
quotequote all
It doesn't appear to be filmed on Slough Trading Estate.

Streetrod

6,468 posts

205 months

Monday 3rd June 2019
quotequote all
Bale and Damon are both great actors so with the right direction and not a bias towards the Ford side of the rivalry I can see this being a great movie. It won't be a great money spinner but hopefully like "The world fastest indian" one of my fave motoring related movies, it will be a great watch.

And let's not forget that Bale is a major gearhead and a great driver, he will want to tell the genuine story

Edited by Streetrod on Monday 3rd June 13:46

Eric Mc

121,763 posts

264 months

Monday 3rd June 2019
quotequote all
I'm still looking for the actual "duel" that everybody goes on about.

In what Le Mans year was Ferrari and Ford pitted directly against each other in the same class?

RobXjcoupe

3,151 posts

90 months

Monday 3rd June 2019
quotequote all
Eric Mc said:
I'm still looking for the actual "duel" that everybody goes on about.

In what Le Mans year was Ferrari and Ford pitted directly against each other in the same class?
1966 Ferrari p4 and ford gt40 was the ford 1st 2nd and 3rd

Halb

53,012 posts

182 months

Monday 3rd June 2019
quotequote all
wow, this looks really good.
Bale is top 5 actors currently, and even Matt Damon looks good here. I'll watch this one, nice tunes too, looks like they have gotten the vibe right
Ford v Ferrari Trailer REACTION
Beyond The Trailer Published on 3 Jun 2019
https://youtu.be/sreFberyjLY

_Marvin

134 posts

100 months

Monday 3rd June 2019
quotequote all
Eric Mc said:
I'm still looking for the actual "duel" that everybody goes on about.

In what Le Mans year was Ferrari and Ford pitted directly against each other in the same class?
Indeed, I never quite understood this "David vs Goliath" battle as most people seem to cite Ford as the David in this scenario. Giant automaker (at the time one of the largest car makers in the world) vs race team that builds road cars as a means to go racing. Incensed that the owner of the race team decided not to sell his pride and joy, CEO of huge multinational decides to bury them by spending vast amounts of money and fielding huge numbers of cars at the Le Mans 24 hours to beat a two car team in a lower class.

Wow, it really is one of the great motorsport battles of history.

I'm no Ferrari fan, nor Ford hater, but this whole thing is so overblown. Likewise the modern Ford Le Mans campaign was also very cynical.

coppice

8,561 posts

143 months

Tuesday 4th June 2019
quotequote all
RobXjcoupe said:
The story I heard was ford were turned down to buy Ferrari way back as they wouldn’t know how to run or engineer such racing machines so that’s when they thought fkem! we will build a Ferrari beating leman contender and hence the gt40. But it was Brit engineers with Ford funding
Nice story but a very long way from the truth . The reality was that Ford and Ferrari were very close to finalising the deal under which Ford would buy Ferrari but on the basis that Enzo would still be in exclusive charge of the race team . Just before the deal was signed off the Ferrari people (including Enzo ) had one last review of the documentation - and whilst the price and key terms were right , Ford had introduced cost caps into what the race team could spend without Ford approval . Enzo went ballistic and told Ford to forget it.

And , contrary to the view expressed in the last post, the Ford v Ferrari battle was HUGE in period . :Le Mans received far,far more coverage in the Sixties than now - even the non specialist press covered the race and it wasn't unusual for magazine like Autocar (not a purely motor sport title , of course) to devote 6 or 7 pages to the bloody test weekend, ;let alone the race . Remember that F1 was far from a mass media sport then and that , until 1966 , F1 was criticised by many for its underpowered cars (1.5 litre formula produced lovely cars like the Lotus 25 but even though they were quick , they weren't spectacular ) . But a screaming 4 litre V12 P4 and a thundering 7litre big block Ford - that captured everyone's attention , believe it .

Halmyre

11,147 posts

138 months

Tuesday 4th June 2019
quotequote all
RobXjcoupe said:
Eric Mc said:
I'm still looking for the actual "duel" that everybody goes on about.

In what Le Mans year was Ferrari and Ford pitted directly against each other in the same class?
1966 Ferrari p4 and ford gt40 was the ford 1st 2nd and 3rd
No, in 1966 Ferrari had the P3, and it was in the P 5.0 class while the Fords were in P +5.0.

Ford were always one class higher (engine size) than the Ferraris, right through from 1964 to 1967.

thegreenhell

15,103 posts

218 months

Tuesday 4th June 2019
quotequote all
Halmyre said:
RobXjcoupe said:
Eric Mc said:
I'm still looking for the actual "duel" that everybody goes on about.

In what Le Mans year was Ferrari and Ford pitted directly against each other in the same class?
1966 Ferrari p4 and ford gt40 was the ford 1st 2nd and 3rd
No, in 1966 Ferrari had the P3, and it was in the P 5.0 class while the Fords were in P +5.0.

Ford were always one class higher (engine size) than the Ferraris, right through from 1964 to 1967.
That's not really relevant, though. Neither were interested in class wins. Both were simply building the fastest cars they knew how, aiming only for overall victory.

Eric Mc

121,763 posts

264 months

Tuesday 4th June 2019
quotequote all
I still think the "duel" is now overblown. There is no doubt that there was some rivalry - but by the time Ford really were ready to challenge for Le Mans wins, Ferrari were on the wane as they were in serious financial difficulties. Indeed, it was these finance worries that had encouraged Enzo to negotiate with Ford in the first place. In the end, Ferrari was saved by being bought out by FIAT - who more or less told Ferrari that they needed to concentrate on their F1 programme rather than sports car racing.

BBC also ran a documentary a number of years which was supposedly about the Ford - Ferrari war - only this time they were pitting the 250GTO against the Cobra.

The real duel was in the boardrooms of the respective companies, not really on the track.