A good book on Ford's return to LeMans. Describes the business reasons for the return and technical efforts to bring a new version of the GT40 to the racetrack.

This book opens up with the Ford company winning the Lemans 24 HOUR race in June of 2016. This was historic marking 50 years since they won in 1966. Beating Ferrari which they had been battling with the entire race and took the lead in the 20th hour, another Ford team came in third and another ninth. The author then takes you back in time when the company had fallen on bad times and their stock prices had tumbled to $1.00. Without any assistance from the government the only car manufacture that did not take a bailout. They made the comeback themselves. Redesigning engines and models. The author also goes into the auto industry itself. For me personally and I know there are books out their already but really an in-depth look into the Mustang, and their Triton engine that has been in most of their trucks would have added to the story. Having both a mustang, and a vehicle with a Triton, our Triton engine has over 225,000 miles and is still performing great. Overall a good book but probably geared for a geared head, pun intended.

If you love Le Mans or Ford then this is a book for you.
A great story,well written with plenty of background information.
Really enjoyable.

Exciting, excillerating, this book had it all. It really was good to read about the speed and performance of such magnificent motors

In 1966, Ford Motor Company took on Ferrari- essentially on Ferrari’s home turf, the 24 hour endurance race of LeMans. Widely thought to be an act of revenge because of Enzo Ferrari shunning Ford as a merger partner, Ford’s victory was one of the more amazing stories of motor racing. In 2016, after a long absence, Ford attempted to return to LeMans and again defeat Ferrari on a race it had long since made its own. This is the story of that effort.

=== The Good Stuff ===

* Matthew DeBord evidently had good access to Ford and its racing partners, and tells much of their story. To anyone not a part of the auto manufacturing and racing industry, it is hard to imagine the level of risk and effort a factory LeMans team really costs. While silent on the actual amount, the book hints that Ford’s total effort, including the development of a new production vehicle, team support and salaries was well into hundreds of millions, if not billions. Certainly a number of careers were put on the line.

* The book is written in a lively style, and is a relatively quick read. I ended up reading it in a couple hours in a single sitting, and it held my interest throughout.

* If you are not a dedicated fan of LeMans style auto racing, there is still enough material contained in the book to give you a feel for the difficulty and challenges presented. The author relates what it is like to take a blind corner at 200mph, at night, in the rain, and provides a look at the mechanical challenges of keeping a machine running for 24 hours at full performance. You can’t help but get involved in the narrative.

* In the end, the book is about more than racing. Between 1966 and 2016, Ford (and other American automakers) went through some serious changes. Indeed, Ford nearly followed its competitors into bankruptcy, and was absent from most forms of factory-sponsored racing for many years. While LeMans is nominally the book’s subject, the rise of American auto companies from their nearly down-and-out position just a few years earlier is also a strong theme. And it does have a nice feel-good quality about the story.

=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===

* I am a bit of a technology buff and a racing fan. For me, the book came up a little short on the “technical” side of the sport. For example, much is made in the book about the Ford EcoBoost V6 engine which powered the 2016 GTs. But other than knowing it was turbocharged and its basic horsepower ratings, there were precious few details of the engine, its innovations, or the pains in bringing a new engine from prototype to LeMans capable technology. Similarly there was little discussion of setting up a vehicle for a race, or the details of Ford’s racing simulator technology.

=== Summary ===

I enjoyed the book, and found it to be a fun and rewarding reading experience. It did come up a bit short on a few areas, but DeBord clearly intended upon limiting the scope of the book to a “higher-level” discussion. From that standpoint, it is a successful effort and was well worth the time to read. The book would be appropriate for anyone with an interest in either automobile racing or the auto industry itself.