The story of the GT40 and its offshoots (Mirage and F3L) is fascinating. I actually wrote a 170 page treatise about the subject. There are so many stories to be told about the GT40 and the great rivalry it had with Ferrari that it would take volumes to describe them all. Anyway someone asked about the Mirage. Here is a bit of context about the events leading to its production and ultimately its demise.
After Ford’s offer to buy Ferrari was rejected, Ford vowed to beat Ferrari on its own turf and the most important sports car race in the world (LeMans of course)
Henry Ford asked Carroll Shelby, Roy Lunn (prominent Ford Engineer) and Ray Geddes (Ford Corporate Lawyer) to go to LeMans in 63 and determine a direction for the Company’s efforts
The group hired Eric Broadly (principal at Lola) as a consultant and with that deal came two Lola Mk VI cars. That car became the template for the GT40. The MK VI was a Ford powered V8, mid-engine car with a monocoque chassis.
Ford created Ford Advanced Vehicles (FAV) which was charged with building and developing Ford’s design. FAV was headed up by John Wyer
The first GT40 was completed within 10 months and was unveiled at the beginning of April of 64. In testing the car suffered from extreme rear end lift and the two test cars were both crashed. A rear lip spoiler was added to address this problem.
First race was Nurburgring in 64. GT40 was a DNF due to suspension failure. In fact not one GT40 finished a race in 64. Problems included cracked welds, Colloti gearbox, and engine failures.
Ford became more disillusioned with the program and was growing impatient with John Wyer’s development effort. Ford believed that what was needed was a big block version of the GT40. Wyer strenuously disagreed. He thought that a big block version would be too heavy and subject the chassis to much higher stresses and cause real problems with braking. Wyer’s vision was a light weight GT40 small block.
At the end of the 64 season, Ford gave the development effort to Shelby American. Wyer and FAV would continue to develop the specification for the production version of the GT40 and build these cars.
In the meantime, Kar Kraft (a Ford subsidiary) was tasked to develop a big block version of the GT40.
Shelby’s development effort was somewhat successful as small block GT40s won Daytona and Sebring in 65 but failed to finish at LeMans in that year.
The big block MKIIs became the envy of the competition in 66 and had a great season winning the manufacturer’s championship and finished 1,2,3 at LeMans.
After LeMans in 66, Ford sold FAV to John Wyer. FAV would continue as a GT40 parts supplier and production company but became an independent entity. Wyer was now free to pursue his own vision of the GT40. He commissioned the building of what would be called the Mirage. This car utilized a light weight GT40 chassis with a lighter and more aerodynamic body with smaller cockpit. The power came from a small block Ford engine. The project was funded by Gulf Oil. Wyer had sold a GT40 to CEO Grady Davis who became good friends with Wyer and the benefactor of the Mirage and subsequent GT40 effort in 68 and 69. The very same small block GT40 won LeMans in both 68 and 69 without any support from Ford
The Mirage never really took off. It was overshadowed by its big block brethren. It did manage to win Spa in 67. This to the credit of Ickx who drove brilliantly in a rain soaked contest.
67 was again a banner year with the GT40 MK IV winning LeMans. At that point Ford pulled out of international sports car racing.
The rules changed for the 68 season banning prototypes of more than three liters. This did in the MKII, MKIV and even the Mirage. The rules allowed 5 liter “production cars” (more than 100 produced to compete). This gave the small block GT40 new life. It went on to win LeMans in 68 and 69
