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Battle of the Beautiful
Battle of the beautiful - Le Mans 1966
Man she looked good, maybe even better in the flesh than in the photographs when she was in her prime three and a half decades ago. Up until now I'd only seen her in books and magazines, occasionally in some old footage from the mid sixties but here she was right before me and the curves were still to die for. Sleek, sultry, dark and mysterious - she'd stood the test of time well and although she was close enough to touch, I knew this was forbidden territory even before I saw the sign.
I hadn't expected to find 'her' in the museum at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway but there amongst the roadsters, the Marmon Wasp and the Boyle Special was this sight to behold, the car the broke the Ferrari domination at Le Mans - the Ford MkII as raced to victory in 1966 by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon. Resplendent in black and completely free of any major decals it is a stunning piece of machinery. Two narrow white stripes run fore and aft and the number discs have a fine red stripe near the edge to complete the 'clean' look in the days pre sponsorship.
Ferrari had not just won the 'Le Grand Prix d'Endurance de Vingt-Quatre Heures du Mans' in the preceding half dozen years, they'd literally owned it with victories in 1960 to 1965 and 1-2-3 finishes since 1961. With a deal from Ford to buy the Scuderia failing at the last hurdle, the 'blue oval' decided to take them on head to head. After proving fast but fragile in 1964 and '65, Ford were hoping for third time lucky. They certainly had weight of numbers with eight of the 429 c.i. 3 foot 4 inch high prototypes pitched against three of Maranello's finest - the Ferrari 330 P3. This would not merely be Ford taking on Ferrari, it was America verses Europe. It was whether a 7 litre pushrod 'stock block' V8 could beat the higher revving 4 litre quad cam V12 thoroughbreds from Italy.
But whatever happened, the winning car would be a thing of beauty. The P3 Ferrari, a curvaceously gorgeous masterpiece would vie with the P4 that followed in 1967 as the Scuderia's most attractive sports car but the GT40's were also works of art, more purposeful and aggressive but just as captivating. The three factory Ferrari's would of course all be in red but each of the Mk.II Ford's would be in different colour schemes for ease of identification. As it turned out a red car would capture the pole in the form of Dan Gurney's MkII #3 he would share with Jerry Grant. The Ferrari challenge took a blow following John Surtees famed fight with his team manager and the quickest Italian coupe lined up fifth.
Car 3 led for first couple of hours but the pale blue #1 of Ken Miles/Denny Hulme was closing after an early stop to properly shut the door. Miles drove during the initial stage but the Kiwi continued the sterling work taking over the lead through to the fifth hour. It was time for Ferrari to fight back and at quarter distance the 3978cc 12 cylinder car of Pedro Rodriguez/Ritchie Ginther led from the sister car of Mike Parkes and Ludovico Scarfiotti just as the American challenge was looking shaky. Graham Hill's silver No.7 that he was sharing with Brian Muir had broken its suspension while the royal blue Mario Andretti/ Lucien Bianchi No.6 had lunched an engine. The bronze No.4 of Mark Donohue and Paul Hawkins had never been a factor and was long gone and although the yellow No.8 of Frank Gardner/John Whitmore had started 3rd, it too was an early retirement.
 All the while McLaren and Amon were looking like having a supporting rather than starring role. From fourth at the start the black car had hovered around eighth for the first few hours but was up to 3rd by half distance at which point the No.1 car of Miles/Hulme led from Gurney/Grant. The gold MkII of Bucknum/Hutcherson ran 4th with Bandini/Guichet the best of the Ferrari's in 12th behind a gaggle of Porsche Carrera 6's and 4.7 litre GT40's. The black No.2 even went a lap down as the field became depleted further. Then the quickest of the Detroit armoury was in trouble as Gurney's car was overheating. Retirement was the only option and so while the only 7 litre Mk.II's still running occupied the first three places, concern mounted in the Ford camp that they'd lost five cars and there was still 6 hours to run.
With 4 hours to go the McLaren/Amon car had a narrow lead over the Miles/Hulme car with the Bucknum/Hutcherson some 75 miles adrift. The rain came at the 22-hour mark and the Fords splashed about with victory in their grasp. Half an hour from home and the now leading No.1 car slowed up to let Bruce McLaren close up in readiness for a formation finish. Although they'd suffered heavy casualties, the opposition had been decimated and now was the moment of glory. Miles and Bruce, headlights blazing staged a dead heat with Ronnie Bucknum getting into the photo opportunity for third despite being many miles behind.
Of the eleven main contenders that had started a day earlier, eight had failed to make it including all three Ferrari's. This was an undisputed and emphatic victory for Ford with three New Zealanders and an Englishman sharing victory. But it was not to be and celebrations were dampened with the news that a dead heat was impossible as the pale blue car had been a few metres further up the road a day earlier and therefore its black sister had travelled further in the 24 hours. The plan had backfired but the result was a win for the two Kiwis's as Ken Miles and Denny Hulme had to resign themselves to fighting another day. Sadly Miles would never get the chance for another attempt in Sarthe but for the winners it was their best results in Europe that summer.
These days a two driver per car arrangement at Le Mans is unheard of and had the three driver set ups of today been in vogue 35 years ago, who knows - a trio of Kiwi's might have shared the winning car. And appropriately in the national sporting colours of New Zealand - black, and beautiful.
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