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If you think about the Ford GT, the chances are good that a film like 2019’s “Ford v. Ferrari” comes to mind. The film chronicled the fabled story of the birth of the iconic Ford race car, whose creation came about after Enzo Ferrari made comments about Ford to none other than Henry Ford II, the longtime head of one of Detroit’s Big 3 automakers.
Torque News Discusses The Rivalry
Torque News discussed the movie recently and the rivalry between Ford and Ferrari that inspired it at some length. Indeed, the famed race car that was the inspiration for the movie still draws comments from auto enthusiasts everywhere about the Ford GT. This year, though, marks the end of the fabled racer as Ford plans to phase out the GT. Ford's plans to campaign its wares at Le Mans was discussed here Ford plans Le Mans showing
The 2022 Ford GT honors America’s only Le Mans-winning supercar. The marque’s victories include wins in 2016 and the historic 1-2-3 podium sweep in 1966. The 2022 Ford GT LM Edition celebrates Ford GT’s global race-winning success.
“With innovative materials, design, and engineering, the Ford GT is unlike any other production supercar,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance Motorsports. “As we close this chapter of the road-going Ford GT, the GT LM Edition gave us a chance to inject even more heart and soul from a podium-finishing racecar, furthering the tribute to our 2016 Le Mans win.”
The Ford GT remains exclusive, and these final 20 special-edition supercars will add to its collectability. Deliveries of the 2022 final model-year Ford GT LM Edition begin this fall with production wrapping up later this year.
Race-livery exterior, asymmetric designed interior
With its carbon fiber body proudly lacquered in Liquid Silver exterior paint, the limited-edition Ford GT LM is uniquely finished in either a red or blue theme throughout, honoring the red and blue race livery of the Le Mans winning No. 68 Ford GT.
For a unique appearance, customers can choose from exposed red or blue-tinted carbon fiber that underscores the lower aerodynamics of the supercar. This includes tinting the ultra-lightweight material on the front splitter, side sills, and door sills, plus engine bay louvers, mirror stalks, and rear diffuser. Exposed gloss carbon fiber 20-inch wheels with corresponding red or blue inner-barrel accents, plus titanium lug nuts and Brembo brake calipers lacquered in black to further modernize this package.
Unique to the Ford GT LM is a 3D titanium-printed dual-exhaust that features a cyclonic design inside the tips and hints at the twin-turbo 660 horsepower EcoBoost engine. Above the tips, a titanium GT LM badge is also 3D printed.
Inside, the Ford GT LM Edition’s interior features unique appointments, including Alcantara®-wrapped carbon fiber seats with a matching red or blue driver’s seat and Ebony passenger seat with accent stitching that matches the driver’s seat color, as well as the engine start button. The instrument panel is wrapped in Ebony leather and Alcantara, while pillars and headliner are wrapped in Ebony Alcantara. Carbon fiber carries into the cabin, appearing on the console, vent registers and lower A-pillars with a matte finish.
Podium-finished crankshaft ground down and shared in all 20 GT LM Edition cars
Making the Ford GT LM Edition a special final tribute, the Ford Performance team looked for ways to embed the Le Mans podium-finishing spirit into each road car.
The result: the team located the third-place 2016 Ford GT (No. 69) racecar’s engine that was disassembled and shelved after the race, ground down the crankshaft into a powder, and developed a unique bespoke alloy used to 3D print the instrument panel badge for each of the 20 special-edition supercars.
Honoring Ford GT Le Mans efforts, Ford v. Ferrari 50 years later
The 2022 Ford GT LM Edition pays tribute to the third-generation supercar’s overall win and the No. 68 Ford GT of Sébastien Bourdais (FRA), Joey Hand (US), and Dirk Müller (GER), who crossed the finish line at the 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours.
Similar to the epic 1966 Ford v. Ferrari battle, the No. 68 Ford GT took the lead for the final time in the 20th hour of the race after going one-on-one with the No. 82 Ferrari. Hand was behind the wheel on the three occasions that the Ford passed the Ferrari, rekindling a 50-year-old rivalry between the two car manufacturers.
The No. 69 Ford GT of Ryan Briscoe (AUS), Scott Dixon (NZ), and Richard Westbrook (GB) joined the winners on the podium after scoring third place. The Nos. 66 and 67 Ford GTs finished in fourth and ninth places, respectively.
The 2022 Ford GT LM also honors the herculean effort and drive from the Ford Chip Ganassi team that transformed the car into a Le Mans winner in just over one year (395 days).
Further building on the Ford GT limited-edition series
The Ford GT LM adds to the celebration of the supercar’s landmark moments in motorsports history, including, of course, its Le Mans titles. In all, the series includes 10 ultra-limited-edition supercars. These include:
- 2022 Ford GT Holman Moody Heritage Edition honoring the company’s 1966 Le Mans sweep and the race team that innovated the capability of the GT40 MK II to deliver a brake setup matching the racecar’s 200 mph-plus speeds; only 21 built
- 2022 Ford GT Alan Mann Heritage Edition honoring the No. 16 Alan Mann Ford GT MK I lightweight experimental prototype that helped pave the way for the 1-2-3 sweep at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans; only 30 built
- 2022 Ford GT ’64 Prototype Heritage Edition honoring Ford GT’s roots and the earliest five original Ford GT prototypes; only 27 built
- 2021 Ford GT ‘66 Daytona Heritage Edition honoring the Ford GT MK II No. 98 racecar that gave Ford a 1-2-3-5 domination at Daytona in 1966, kicking off a magical season for the Ford GT40 MK II; only 50 built
- 2020 Ford GT ’69 Gulf Livery Heritage Edition honoring the Ford GT40 MK I No. 6 racecar that was victorious at Le Mans in 1969; only 50 built
- 2019 Ford GT ’68 Gulf Livery Heritage Edition honoring Ford GT40 MK I No. 9 racecar that was victorious at Le Mans in 1968; only 50 built
- 2018 Ford GT ’67 Heritage Edition honoring Ford GT40 MK IV No. 1 racecar that was victorious at Le Mans in 1967; only 39 built
- 2017 Ford GT ’66 Heritage Edition honoring Ford GT40 MK II No. 2 that won the 1966 Le Mans race; only 27 built
- 2006 Ford GT Gulf Livery Heritage Edition commemorating GT40’s back-to-back 24 Hours of Le Mans titles in 1968 and 1969; only 343 built
In addition, the Ford GT Mk II, a limited-edition, track-only GT co-developed by Ford Performance and Multimatic, also concludes by the end of the year with a total of 45 vehicles.
Marc Stern has been an automotive writer since 1971 when an otherwise normal news editor said, "You're our new car editor," and dumped about 27 pounds of auto stuff on my desk. I was in heaven as I have been a gearhead from my early days. As a teen, I spent the usual number of misspent hours hanging out at gas stations Shell and Texaco (a big thing in my youth) and working on cars. From there on, it was a straight line to my first column for the paper, "You Auto Know," an enterprise I handled faithfully for 32 years. Not many people know that I also handled computer documentation for a good part of my living while writing YAN. My best writing, though, was always in cars. My work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Mechanix Illustrated, AutoWeek, SuperStock, Trailer Life, Old Cars Weekly, Special Interest Autos, etc. You can follow me on: Twitter or Facebook.
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