Motion Pictures Ford vs Ferrari at the end of the HAMB era

Saw it friday with the wife. really enjoyed it. Thought Bale stole the show.

 

Photos of Gurney Bubble-

 

Et Cetera-

 

I stand corrected.

 

Debbie & I saw it tonight, Great movie, everyone did a great job. Bob

 

Thank you! Looked for them and it did make the movie more entertaining. Bob

 

My wife and I saw it tonight and liked it very much!

 

I saw the movie tonight, it was pretty good. I don't get out to movies much any more, they definitely make them for younger folks, who like LOUD and ACTION....but this one has good LOUD

Do yourself a favor, don't look too close at the bellybutton on the dyno

 

The lug nut scene was great.

 

I talked to Lee Holman before seeing the movie which was well produced. Holman & Moody had three GT40s in the race and finished third with lead driver Dick Hutcherson, one of their NASCAR drivers. Lee told me in reality it was Hutcherson who was asked to slow down, not Miles. He made me a copy of a letter sent to his father John Holman on June 28th, 1966, two weeks after LeMans, from Ford Motor Company Vice-President and General Manager Donald Frey. It reads:
Dear John,
For the record I want to congratulate you and all your associates on the excellence of your performance at LeMans and throughout the program leading to the historic Ford victory at LeMans.

From the beginning your participation injected an element of competition which raised considerably the level of performance by all the Ford crews and contributed substantially to our victory.

Your strong third place finish at Lemans, breaking all records for a first-time entry, was all the more remarkable in view of the fact that we had requested you to hold your car in reserve. We know your car and drivers very well could have won the race and were deprived of the opportunity only by our instructions which you followed.
Thank you for a superb job and very best wishes in the future.

Sincerely
Don Frey

Crew chief Jimmy Tucker has been a good friend for 50 years and told me after the race they could have won it. The copy of the letter from Lee Holman I transcribed from proves to me Tucker was not exaggerating. Holman & Moody was an organization like no other in 1966. They were building and racing Ford Galaxies in NASCAR, Mustang Funny Cars in NHRA drag racing and GT40s in Sport Car racing. Unbelievable!!! Lee also told me their cars were only there as blockers for the Shelby American cars and could not finish ahead of them. Winner Bruce McLaren and runner-up Ken Miles were in Shelby cars. Lee, who was 22 years old and at the race, told me it was a real shocker when Ken Miles was killed testing a GT40 two weeks later. He also told me their three cars were sent to Shelby American before being shipped home. Wonder why? HaHa.

 

@frank spittle Awesome history story.

 

Thanks Loudbang for your threads and posts. I enjoy reading them. Lee Holman and I are the same age and been friends forever. I am one of the luckiest guys in the world to have lived less than 3 miles from H&M and keeping up with what was going on there in their glory years. I could actually hear engines on the dyno from my parents house before getting married and moving a few miles away, far enough to not be able to hear them.

 

Just watched 24 Hour War on Netflix. A very good desert after the main course.

 

Myself and She who must be obeyed really enjoyed it.

 

The person behind the finishing order was Englishman Alan Mann, who along with the other Ford race manager John Wyer gave recommendations on race strategy.

Alan Mann was a proponent of staged finishes. Used the tactic many times and was his trademark.

Alan Mann also despised American drivers. He ALWAYS ordered Aerican drivers to drive 500 yards behind the lead English drivers. Bob Bondurant was the first American driver to openly defy Alan Mann. Gurney was second.

The finishing order was four UK drivers in two cars ahead of Americans Bucknum and Hutcherson in Car 5.

To this day I hate Alan Mann. Even if he and Len Bailey conspired in 1968 to build the most beautiful and aerodynamically efficient race car ever built, the Ford F3L P68.


In Alan Mann's team colors of red and gold.
(John Wyer's team colors were burnt orange and blue because of his relationship with Gulf Oil Corp executive VP Grady Davis.)

 

Wow....would have loved to have seen H & M in their heyday....427’s galore I’m sure.....

 

A now departed friend of mine saw Shelby's cobras race he told me Carroll told his drivers if they weren't lifting the inside wheels off the track through a turn, they weren't driving hard enough!

 

Did you mean “ wheels” or “ wheel”?? I’ve watched a lot of races up close, working on dirt tracks and have seen many inside front wheels in the air..... but never the rear wheel......on purpose, anyway! Lol








Bones

 

My wife actually asked if I wanted to see it last weekend. I said hell yes.
She enjoyed it. I liked the movie although with all the hype, I must admit I was expecting much more.
How can any gear head not like this movie? This one will be with the list of big all time car movies.

She's a great actress and just beautiful. If any of you have followed the Starz series of Outlander you would recognize her.

 

If you would like to see the actual letter I quoted from it is on the "Holman-Moody The History" thread here on the HAMB. I posted it on page 31, second post from the top. It also shows the Hutcherson car on a pit stop.

 

Ken Miles at Green Valley Raceway in Texas in February 1965 on his way to the first GT350R win. I was there crewing for Delmo Johnson's Grand Sport Corvette.
ETA: Notice the front wheels of this car have been bump steered. Though I don't know, my guess is that's Phil Remington's work relocating front suspension pick-up points.



Delmo Johnson Corvette Grand Sport


We got recruited by Shelby. He didn't want a replay of Nassau.
ETA: We were encouraged to run in a different class from Shelby's Mustangs. His cars ran B Production and the Grand Sport Corvette ran C Modified. Different classes that were not on track at the same time.

 

Now, That’s kool!








Bones

 

https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/video-two-minutes-with-henry-ford-ii-1977/

 

since the cat has already been let out of the bag here watch this, if you have seen movie: https://www.esquire.com/entertainme...d-v-ferrari-ken-miles-crash-death-true-story/ ........ The True Story Of Ken Miles' Mysterious Death That Ford V. Ferrari Left Out

 

one of the neat things is that dan gurney was played by dan gurney his son

 

In 1967 watched as Dan Gurney won his one and only Trans-Am victory on the same Green Valley track. Gurney and Parnelli Jones fought every step of the race in identical Bud Moore prepared Mercury Cougars.
This was the finish - closest finish in Trans-Am history.



And if that wasn't good enough, Mark Donohue was there that day driving the very first race in the very first Camaro Z-28 fresh from the factory - fuel cell and all.

 

Boodlum as I mentioned in the Corvette thread some time ago I appreciate your posts. It is great to hear from someone that lived this stuff.

As to the Camaro, in 1982 I had the opportunity to work side by side with Ron Fournier on a project that lasted 5 months (at least his fabrication and repair lasted 5 months-mine a bit longer). Every day I would try and get Ron to talk about his exploits with old racing car fabrication etc. I believe he fabricated the 68 Penske Camaro that Donahue drove but not sure of the car above and sadly Ron passed a few years ago. Every day I would ask Ron questions and I asked him about working on the Mark Donahue Camaro and he told me in retrospect, the fabrication was the easier part but walking a fine line between Roger and Mark was the hard deal. Ron said Roger was no nonsense and smart and Ron really liked Mark. Ron said Mark was really an accomplished engineer as well and he would occasionally ask Ron if they could cut a corner here and there (there was always a good reason in Mark's estimation) and Ron always had to come up with a diplomatic way to avoid the suggestions, as it would never fly with Roger.

Keep up the good work on your posts.

 

- Hutcherson was in the loop on this decision - but, it does not sound like Leo Beebe was going through formalities when he told Shelby about the plan and Miles needed to slow down - he certainly was not going to send Shelby/Miles a Thank-you letter

 

Is it just me..................!
After that scene I remember thinking, boy, that sure looks big for a lugnut, then I also thought the Ferraris' had knockoff wheels as the GT40 did.

 

Just entertainment! There are many inaccuracies in the film. But that's Hollywood. Matt Damion? Really!
They did use a kinda real GT40 for sound.