The new racing movie, “Ford v Ferrari,” recreates the fascinating story of one of the most grueling sporting events on earth, Le Mans. The movie, which has been dubbed by its director James Mangold as a proud throwback to an era when Hollywood made authentic blockbusters for grown-ups, depicts the story of a cutthroat competition for supremacy between two rival car-makers at the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1966. 

The movie, starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale in leading roles, tells the story of how Henry Ford II strove to make his U.S. car brand fashionable once again by hiring a designer and driver capable of beating Enzo Ferrari’s Italian racing machines.  

A star-studded period classic in the offing 

With a budget of close to 100 million U.S. dollars, the period film was shot largely without computer-generated special effects. It showcases one of the most celebrated races in motorsport history that saw Ford GT40's first overall win at Le Mans. 

Two other GT40s also finished second and third, dethroning then dominant Ferrari after a bitter on- and off-track feud between the Italian racing giant and the upstarts at Ford. As the story goes, Ford II had developed an obsession with surpassing Ferrari’s Italian performance racing brand after a failed deal with Ferrari in the early 1960s.

The film’s stellar cast includes Christian Bale as driver Ken Miles, Jon Bernthal as then Ford head honcho Lee Iacocca, Matt Damon as American hero of speed Carroll Shelby, and actor Tracy Letts stars as Henry Ford II. 

Damon’s character Shelby was a renowned automotive designer. He was also a professional race car driver whose career culminated with a victory at the 1959 24-Hour Le Mans Grand Prix. While Brit Ken Miles was not as well-known as Shelby, he was a close friend and assisted with the design of the iconic GT40 Mk II car. 45-year-old Bale revealed that he had to quickly shed 40 pounds in order to play the iconic driver after his role of a hefty U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney in the 2018 film “Vice”.  

“This is much more of a relationship movie and less a historical document,” director Mangold said at a recent press event while highlighting the focus of the film. While Bale mentioned that it's about “two friends figuring out how do you deal with these a-holes in suits who know nothing about racing.” 

The movie also roped in a slew of top professional race drivers like Ben Collins, who appeared as The Stig on British show “Top Gear,” and built replica vintage cars. 

The historic Le Mans race of 1966  

In January 1966, Shelby American's California shop received a bare chassis identified as P/1046 — the 47th GT40 from Ford Advanced Vehicles' 87-car production run. The Shelby crew completed this car to race it at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1996. 

In the hands of Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon, it qualified fourth in the 55-car field, two seconds behind the pole-winning GT40 driven by Dan Gurney and Jerry Grant. Before the half-way mark, all 14 Ferraris were parked while overheating stopped Gurney and Grant at about the 17-hour mark.  Eventually, with two hours remaining, the GT40 driven by Miles and Denny Hulme overtook the McLaren/Amon car for the lead. 

But Miles and Hulme missed first position by a whisker as Ford racing boss Leo Beebe orchestrated a three-abreast finish. In a bizarre turn of events in those last moments, Miles was asked to slow down and let the other GT40s close the gap for a group picture. The driver obeyed the order and handed the victory to his teammates McLaren and Amon, who had started eight meters back in the grid. Unfortunately, a depleted Miles would never have the chance to fight for the lead at Le Mans again as he died three months later, testing the GT40 MkIV. 

In their official press release, Ford claimed that the cars were running within seconds of each other. And a decisions was made in the Ford pits to have the cars finish side-by-side in what hopefully would be considered a dead heat. All three cars went over the finish in formation, but any chance for a dead heat disappeared when officials discovered a rule that in case of a tie⁠ — the car that had started further down the grid had traveled the farther distance. Since McLaren and Amon had started 18  meters behind Miles and Hulme, they were declared the winners.