The C100 project began in 1981, with Len Bailey — previously involved in the GT40 programme — selected as the designer. Bailey penned a car with a shovelled nose and high rear deck, designed around a Cosworth V8. He left the project before the 1982 season revision, and Tony Southgate was brought in to evaluate the car. Southgate was critical, noting a misplaced steering rack and rear suspension that appeared designed for a different vehicle entirely.
An updated model built for Alain de Cadenet introduced an aluminium honeycomb monocoque in place of the original simple aluminium chassis. For the 1983 season, engineer Thompson redeveloped the car from scratch, retaining only the windscreen. He and Keith Duckworth also worked on a turbocharged version of the DFL engine intended for installation in the updated chassis. Thompson claimed the revised car generated 4,000 lb of downforce in sprint configuration and was superior to the Porsche 956 — but Ford cancelled the programme just one week after its maiden test at Paul Ricard, citing the high-speed understeer observed during the run.
The C100 made its race debut at the Brands Hatch 1000 km in September 1981 — Ford had attempted entry to Le Mans that year but did not attend. Manfred Winkelhock and Klaus Ludwig qualified on pole by 1.1 seconds from the works Lola T600, only for a gearbox failure to retire the car after 40 laps.
Four additional cars were built for 1982, fielded in both the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM) and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Results at Le Mans were disastrous: four cars entered, only two started, and both retired with electrical failures after 67 and 71 laps. The DRM proved more productive. At the Norisring, Winkelhock took the C100's first podium — second, one second behind Jochen Mass's Porsche 956 — while Ludwig won the Hockenheimring round by just under five seconds. Ludwig won the DRM season finale at the Nurburgring by over 37 seconds. At Brands Hatch, the C100s dominated qualifying, taking the top two positions, with Surer, Ludwig and Winkelhock finishing fourth overall. Ludwig ended the season fourth in the DRM standings with 83 points.
Ford sold one chassis (C100 #04) to Peer Racing, who fitted a 3.3-litre version of the Cosworth DFL. David Kennedy and Martin Birrane campaigned the car in the new Thundersports series, winning at Donington Park by a lap over a Lola T594-Mazda. That victory proved to be the last for any C100; further entries in Thundersports and at Le Mans all ended in retirements. The C100 never contested a major race again after the end of 1983.
Following Ford's withdrawal, Zakspeed — which had partnered with Ford on the works programme — continued developing the platform independently. Two variants emerged: the C1/4, using a stiffer honeycomb chassis, reworked aerodynamics, and a 1.8-litre turbocharged four-cylinder producing around 560 hp from the Ford Capri Group 5 programme; and the C1/8, which retained the 4-litre Cosworth DFL engine in a C1/4 chassis.
The Zakspeed cars proved considerably more competitive than the original C100. Klaus Niedzwiedz drove a C1/8 to the 1984 Interserie title, winning multiple rounds and beating Roland Binder's Lola T296 BMW by 20 points in the final standings. Joerg van Ommen won the opening Interserie round of 1983 in a C1/4. Niedzwiedz continued with the programme through 1985, earning multiple podiums before the C1/4 was retired at the end of that year.
The C1/8 remained competitive into 1986 and 1987 under Jochen Dauer before the ageing platform was finally outpaced by more modern machinery. The last race start for a C1/8 came at the end of the 1988 season, nearly seven years after the original C100 made its debut.
The Ford C100 represents one of Ford's few direct factory entries into top-level endurance racing between the GT40 era and the Ford GT programme of the 2000s. Its factory campaign was cut short before the car reached its full potential, with Thompson's 1983 development promising genuine competitiveness against the dominant Porsche 956. The platform's greater legacy was delivered by Zakspeed, who used the bones of the C100 to win the Interserie championship and demonstrate that the basic design concept could succeed when properly developed.