Ford GT40 chassis number GT 107 :
General info:
The first car was named the GT (for Grand Touring) with the 40 representing its overall height of 40 inches (1.02 m, measured at the windshield) as required by the rules. Large displacement Ford V8 engines (4.7 liter and 7 liter) were used, compared with the Ferrari V12 which displaced 3.0 liter or 4.0 liter.
Early cars were simply named “Ford GT”. The name “GT40” was the name of Ford’s project to prepare the cars for the international endurance racing circuit, and the quest to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The first 12 “prototype” vehicles carried serial numbers GT-101 through GT-112.
Race results:
06/65 : Le Mans, 2, Hill/Amon, DNF
GT 107 History:
Configuration: steel monocoque coupe chassis. Delivered to Kar Kraft, Dearborn, USA. Configuration: Bare chassis, Engine: none. Trans: none. Assembled to race configuration by Kar Kraft. This was the 4th chassis built using 22 gauge instead of 24 gauge sheet metal in order to save weight.
Chassis 107 was the second chassis supplied to Kar Kraft to be built up as a Mk II 427 Engined experimental car. The other chassis was GT 106. In the car’s only race at the 1965 Le Mans it set a new lap record and raced for 6 hrs then retired, reason unknown (any one know why??).
Chassis 107 was later used for further development and wind tunnel testing at the Ford Dearborn testing facility. Later the chassis was unceremoniously cut in half and mounted on a dynamometer for testing. It is assumed the chassis was scrapped afterwords.
As noted in Ronnie Spain’s GT40 book the nose survives in wind tunnel testing trim and is thus owned by Dallis resident Rick Nagel.
Any photos of this nose out there? We would love to see them.
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Chassis GT 107 race results are from classicscars.com
Photo credit: http://www.nvsaac.com
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there was a grain of sand in the clutch slave cylinder which caused it to fail
also the chassis was cut in two in front of the engine bulkhead and the rear of the chassis was used as a test fixture by the timken bearing co. the front of the chassis is in texas but the rear my have been destroyed.
1965 Le Mans – 427 Ford DNF’s: One car had ‘Transmission’ problem and the other had Clutch preceeded by Clutch Slave Cylinder (dirt ingress if I re member) problems.