2016 Ford GT LM GTE Pilots: H. Tincknell, A. Priaulx, T. Kanaan Team: Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Race: 36th overall (12th in LMGTE-Pro class) at Le Mans in 2018 Spark - S7051 (resin)
Published 01/20/20
The 24 Heures du Mans of 2016 was quite important to Ford. It would mark the manufacturer’s 50th anniversary of their first win at La Sarthe. As part of the celebration, they wanted to return to La Sarthe. And win! The chosen weapon? The new Ford GT (as GT LM GTE for the tracks). And they were serious indeed about it: Ford announced their comeback to Le Mans on the launch of the new car, just one year prior. The GT was the spiritual descendant of the Mk. II of 1966, but totally evolved in form and function. A truly modern supercar, it counted on a carbon fiber monocoque chassis covered in a carbon fiber body. The engine was a twin-turbocharged 3497 cm³ V6 with 24 valves rated at 647 hp.
For the production of the GT LM GTE, Ford partnered with Canadian Multimac Inc, that produced a total of eight cars. Multimac was responsible for the manufacture of the chassis and suspension systems, while the engine came directly from Ford. Interestingly, the twin-turbocharged “EcoBoost V6” engine shares a lot of components with Ford’s F-150 truck engine. Of these eight cars all were raced by the Chip Ganassi Team (with the sole exception in 2019). Throughout their racing career the cars were basically the same, with only minor aerodynamic tweaks and setup differences.
The LM GTE #67 rolled out of the factory in 2016, as chassis #FP-GT05. It’s first race was at Paul Ricard in March of 2016. It raced the WEC circuit that year, and it’s best result was a 16th place at Spa. The following year it raced the series again, and at La Sarthe it finished in 18th. For the 24 Heures du Mans of 2018 Chip Ganassi had it racing once more, again sporting #67. That year LM GTE #67 completed 332 laps, 56 laps behind the winning Toyota and 12 laps behind the class winner. With that, it came in 36th place overall and 12th place in class. With Ford ending their participation in WEC racing after 2019, the car’s last track hooray was the 2019 Le Mans race, where it finished in 23rd.
Basically, this model is almost the same as my #68 car from 2016, but this time from Spark. However, apart from TSM’s nicer case, I really can’t say which one is the best model. Both are VERY good models, and are true gems. However, since the #68 is a class winner, that’s probably the most interesting one. A beautiful car, but with this LM GTE #67 I think I’m done with Ford GTs.