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Go Like Hell
Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans
Go Like Hell (2009) tells the remarkable story of a high point in automotive racing: the mid-60s rivalry between Ford and Ferrari, two very different car manufacturers that wanted to win at all costs. The pinnacle of this rivalry was the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans, the most gruelling endurance race in the world as well as the most prestigious.
- Fans of the Ford vs. Ferrari movie
- NASCAR and racing enthusiasts
- Anyone who loves a good sports story
A. J. Baime is a former automotive and sports feature editor for Playboy and is a frequent contributor to the Wall Street Journal and Road & Track magazine. His other books include Big Shots: The Men Behind the Booze (2003).
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Go Like Hell
Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans
- Read in 16 minutes
- Audio & text available
- Contains 10 key ideas
Synopsis
Go Like Hell (2009) tells the remarkable story of a high point in automotive racing: the mid-60s rivalry between Ford and Ferrari, two very different car manufacturers that wanted to win at all costs. The pinnacle of this rivalry was the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans, the most gruelling endurance race in the world as well as the most prestigious.
Key idea 1 of 10
Henry Ford II led the Ford Motor Company out of a financial free fall during a national car craze.
In 1945, when Henry Ford II took over as president of the Ford Motor Company, he had quite a job ahead of him. In the years prior, his father, Edsel Ford, had been hamstrung by his grandfather, the original Henry Ford. Despite Edsel’s pleas to modernize the brand, Henry stubbornly refused to allow his son to make any changes, while the Chevrolet car company slowly became the American brand of choice.
At the same time, Henry Ford, who had no talent for accounting, placed a former convict by the name of Harry Bennett as an executive manager. The company was hemorrhaging money. And the run of terrible fortune continued as, at the age of 49, Edsel Ford died of stomach cancer, though many believed it was due to a broken heart since he had never managed to gain the trust of his father.
Henry Ford II believed that his father was a saint who’d been killed by his job, and he wasn’t going to let that happen to him. So when he took the job of company president, it was on the condition that he be allowed to make whatever changes he wanted. First on his list was to modernize the company – as his father had once hoped – and in doing so, regain supremacy over Chevrolet.
It was a momentous time to be in Ford’s shoes, as, in post-WWII America, there was an ongoing car craze.
Key to the burgeoning fascination with big and fast cars were the new interstate highways that were built in the 1950s. They wove throughout the US and allowed people to drive from coast to coast. Meanwhile, WWII veterans who’d learned how to be mechanics or become accustomed to fast speeds as fighter pilots were turning their attention to cars and their increasingly big and powerful engines.
And so were a new generation of teenagers, who made up the big crowds around the automobile races taking place on local drag-strips and the big, sponsored events in cities such as Indianapolis. All across America, people were getting most excited about cars with loads of horsepower, like Chevrolet's Corvette, which was capturing lots of checkered flags.
In response, Henry Ford simply had to come up with a Corvette killer.
Key ideas in this title
- Henry Ford II led the Ford Motor Company out of a financial free fall during a national car craze.
- Enzo Ferrari had an early love of racing and came to dominate the field, while the sport of racing proved deadly.
- Following a withdrawal from a safety resolution, Ford entered the lucrative racing market in 1962.
- After a deal fell through, Ford became committed to beating Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
- Ford’s initial entry into endurance racing was the GT40, and it didn’t fare well at first.
- Adjustments were made to unveil the new GT40 in 1965, and things got off to a good start.
- The 1965 Le Mans ended in misery for Ford, and a new round of upgrades and repairs.
- Le Mans ended in controversy in 1966, and then tragedy struck.
- Following a tragic end to one of Ford’s best drivers, Ferrari rebounded at Daytona but never won another Le Mans.
- Final summary
