The 1966 season introduced a new set of regulations from the CSI — the FIA Appendix J — redefining motorsport categories numerically. GT cars were now Group 3, Prototypes Group 6, Sports Cars Group 4, and Special Touring Cars a new Group 5. The FIA mandated minimum annual production runs of 500 cars for Group 3 (up from 100) and 50 for Group 4, with a maximum engine capacity of 5000cc for Group 4. There were no engine limits on GTs or Prototypes. Weight and fuel-tank capacity were scaled to engine size. The FIA also announced the International Manufacturer's Championship for Group 6 Prototypes and the International Sports Car Championship for Group 4.
The race attracted 103 entry requests, with 43 prototypes on the starting grid and only 3 GT cars.
Ford entered eight Ford GT40 Mk.II cars, prepared partly by Holman & Moody. The 7-litre NASCAR engine in the Mk.II produced approximately 550 bhp, registered as "485 hp" due to a lowered rev-limit. Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby had won both the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona and the 1966 12 Hours of Sebring before Le Mans; Ruby was replaced by Denny Hulme after an injury. Dan Gurney and Jerry Grant, and Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon also drove for the Shelby-run factory cars. Holman & Moody brought a further trio of GT40s for Mark Donohue and Paul Hawkins, Ronnie Bucknum and Dick Hutcherson, and Lucien Bianchi and Mario Andretti. Alan Mann Racing entered two Mk.II cars prepared by Ford Advanced Vehicles, for Graham Hill and Dick Thompson, and John Whitmore and Frank Gardner.
Ferrari responded with the new 330 P3, a shorter and wider car with a 4-litre fuel-injected engine producing 420 bhp. The works team entered two closed-cockpit versions for John Surtees and Ludovico Scarfiotti, and Lorenzo Bandini and Jean Guichet. An open-cockpit variant was entered by the North American Racing Team (NART) for Pedro Rodriguez and Richie Ginther. Ferrari's race preparation had been limited by strike action in Italy. NART also entered a long-tailed 330 P2 rebodied by Piero Drogo, driven by Masten Gregory and Bob Bondurant.
Porsche entered the new Porsche 906 Carrera 6, designed under Ferdinand Piëch with a 2.0-litre flat-6 engine from the 911. Three cars fitted with long-tail bodies were entered in the 2-litre prototype class, driven by Hans Herrmann and Herbert Linge, Jo Siffert and Colin Davis, and Udo Schütz and Peter de Klerk.
Chaparral entered the Chaparral 2D, powered by a 5.3-litre Chevrolet small-block producing 420 bhp with a semi-automatic transmission, for Phil Hill and Jo Bonnier. Matra entered the M620 with a 1.9-litre BRM V8 engine, driven by young French single-seater drivers including Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud.
Also in the field was the Mini Marcos, a kit-car entered by Hubert Giraud and driven by Jean-Louis Marnat and Claude Ballot-Léna. Six Alpine A210s with 1.3-litre Gordini-Renault engines competed, with Jacky Ickx making his Le Mans debut in a customer Ford GT40 Mk.I for the Essex Wire team alongside team owner Skip Scott.
American Walt Hansgen died following a crash during the April test weekend after his Ford aquaplaned on the pit straight and struck a sandbank blocking an escape road. Chris Amon was fastest at the test weekend in the experimental Ford J-Car.
During race-week qualifying, Dan Gurney set the fastest lap at 3:30.6, a second faster than his teammates. Richie Ginther was fifth in the fastest Ferrari. Phil Hill qualified the Chaparral 10th.
John Surtees quit the Ferrari team during practice following a dispute over driver order, after team manager Eugenio Dragoni placed Ludovico Scarfiotti — a relative of new FIAT chairman Gianni Agnelli — ahead of Surtees despite Surtees being Ferrari's lead driver and 1964 F1 World Champion. A separate incident saw Dick Thompson's Ford collide with Dick Holqvist's slower GT40 at Maison Blanche; Thompson was initially disqualified but later reinstated after Ford's racing director Leo Beebe and Porsche's Huschke von Hanstein threatened to withdraw their respective entries.
Henry Ford II was the honorary starter on a cool, cloudy afternoon. At the end of the first lap, Ford's cars led. Miles had to pit on the first lap after slamming his door on his helmet. Paul Hawkins's Ford broke a halfshaft on the Mulsanne Straight at nearly 350 km/h. After only 9 laps, Jochen Rindt's Ford blew its engine. Miles and Denny Hulme took the lead, breaking the lap record.
By 8pm only the Miles/Hulme Ford, Gurney/Grant Ford, and Rodriguez's Ferrari were on the lead lap. Dusk rain reduced the big Fords' power advantage. During the night, heavy rain produced several crashes in the Esses — Guichet's Ferrari spun, then Buchet's Porsche arrived and crashed, then Schlesser's Matra struck the CD of Georges Heligouin, and Scarfiotti's P3 ploughed into the Matra, wrecking all four cars. Overheating eliminated the Ferrari factory challenge during the night hours. At the halfway point, Ford GT40s held the first six places.
At 9am, the Gurney/Grant car, which had been challenging for the lead against team orders, retired with a blown headgasket. This left Ford with only three Mk.IIs. Jo Siffert and Colin Davis led the Porsches in 4th.
With roughly six hours remaining, a "photo finish" plan was conceived to have three Ford cars cross the finish line together to mark the first Ford and American victory at Le Mans. Miles was instructed during the final driver change to slow and allow McLaren's car to catch up. On the final lap, both Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon in the #2 car and Miles and Hulme in the #1 car cruised to the line together. Photos showed McLaren's #2 car 6 metres ahead at the line. Additionally, because McLaren had started over 14 metres behind Miles on the grid and had therefore covered more distance, the ACO applied its rule that in a tie the car that started further down the grid had travelled farther, and McLaren and Amon were declared the winners.
Miles and the Ford team believed Miles had won. In a 1997 interview Carroll Shelby lamented the result and said "Ken Miles won the race." Miles had been chasing an endurance triple crown after also winning Daytona and Sebring that year. Two months after Le Mans, Miles died at Riverside while testing the Ford J-Car.
Porsche cars finished 4th through 7th, led by Jo Siffert and Colin Davis, who also claimed the Index of Performance. Four Alpines finished 9th, 11th, 12th, and 13th. The Mini Marcos completed the race 15th overall, having started as an object of ridicule and become a crowd favourite nicknamed "la puce bleue" (the blue flea) before being stolen in Paris in October 1975 and recovered in Portugal in December 2016.
The race boosted Ford over Ferrari for the 1966 Manufacturers' Championship. Ferrari's 330 P4 arrived for 1967 and took a 1-2-3 finish at the 1967 Daytona 24 Hours after a defective batch of Ford transaxle shafts sank Ford's effort. Ford's Mark IV won the 1967 12 Hours of Sebring on its debut and went on to win Le Mans in 1967 with Dan Gurney and A. J. Foyt. Ferrari took the 1967 Manufacturers' title. New rules for 1968 eliminated large-capacity engines from the Sports Prototype class with a 3-litre limit. The Ford GT40 Mk.I was already homologated under Group 4, and the John Wyer team using it won the championship and scored wins at Sebring and Le Mans in subsequent seasons.
Fastest lap in practice and race: Dan Gurney, #3 Ford GT40 Mk.II — 3:30.6 seconds; 230.10 km/h
Race distance: 4,843.09 km (3,009.36 mi)
Winner's average speed: 201.80 km/h (125.39 mph) — a new distance and speed record
Attendance: 350,000
The race was the subject of the 2009 book Go Like Hell by A. J. Baime, detailing the Ford-Ferrari rivalry. A 2016 documentary, The 24 Hour War, directed by Nate Adams and Adam Carolla, covered the same rivalry. The 2019 film Ford v Ferrari (known as Le Mans '66 outside North America), directed by James Mangold and starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale, was based on the rivalry and won Academy Awards for Best Film Editing and Best Sound Editing.
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