Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Carlton
Their 427 did okay at Le Mans in 1966, '67, '68, and '69.
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In 1966, 13 engines with ford written on them entered the race and 10 of them did not finish.
The three that finished were 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. They beat cars with 2 liter engines, 1.7 liter engines, and a 1.3 liter engine. Oh, and a couple of 3.3 liter ferraris. They were ther largest engines that finished besides the GT40's.
7 liter vs. 3.3 liter. Fair comparison?
In 1967, a 7 liter GT40 won again, defeating a 4 liter ferrari (ther largest engine to finish besides the fords).
That year 2 fords finished and 11 did not finish.
The GT40 that won in 1968 and 1969 had gurney-weslake heads and was a 4.9 liter, not a 427 and was pretty much a non-ford product. Not even the block was original.
In fact, in 1968 the FIA banned all engines larger than 5 liter so no 427s ran at Le Mans in 68 or 69.
68 was also the year the race was postponed until september because the frenchies were on strike.
