by Audi1 » Sun Aug 23, 2015 6:03 pm
The thing that contributed most to getting me hooked on motor sports in the early '60's, was the great manufacturer's rivalries/competitions the existed at that time. And there were several of them. But, for me the one that was always front and center was the Ford - Ferrari rivalry of the mid-'60's. The giant manufacturer in Detroit and the little specialty race car shop in Maranello. Talk about a David and Goliath story!
It all started innocently enough. Henry II wanted more of a sporty car image for his family car marque. Enzo had great technology, but lacked adequate funding to fulfill his racing program ambitions. So, Henry put a deal on the table; Ford-Ferrari for the family cars and Ferrari-Ford for the racing cars. Sounded good; a win:win back before that slogan became popular. But, Enzo got a surprise when he read the fine print on the agreement; Ford would have ultimate control over the decisions on Ferrari's racing program; totally unacceptable to a person who has started his career as a driver for Alfa Romeo. So, Enzo lost trust in Henry. Enzo did go ahead and sell his company, but not to Ford; instead to the local family car manufacturer; Fiat, who, on paper, gave him the authority over his racing program that he wanted. When news of this surfaced, Henry lost trust in Enzo. Not only that, but he felt scorned by him, and that didn't sit well with Henry. And we all know what the result of that scorn was..........the Lola-bodied Ford GT-40 and 4 straight wins at Le Mans from 1966-69 and the famous Christmas Card that Henry sent to his top execs in December, 1965...."You Better Win!"
That rivalry and, if you will, the automotive romance that surrounded it, lives on for me and probably always will, and although next year will be the 50th anniversary of the last win by Ferrari at Le Mans in the prototype class, I still get excited thinking about those past times and the great racing that occurred between two teams with very different operating modes and technology caches.
So, I'm proposing that we consider a proxy race in honor of those two great marques..............Ford - Ferrari Wars!
The rules are few and straightforward:
1/32 scale
Any Ford
Any Ferrari
Plastic or resin body
Plastic RTR or brass scratch-built chassis and everything in between / podded and non-podded.
Rubber or urethane tires
Tires and guide not visible from above
Those are the basic rules, we may fine tune some of them if there's enough interest in this proxy.
The emphasis here would be on Fords and Ferraris from the '60's; the time of this great competition, but cars from outside of that time period are also welcome.
Since we're flush with proxies now, the cars would not be due until the March, 2016 timeframe, so plenty of time to pick out your favorite car(s) and start working out your builds.
Let me know what you think about this and if there's interest. From the previous thread on this topic, I have the following racers who have expressed an interest:
shotgundave
btaylor
HRW
tusco todd
gascarnut
mrollingthunder
brumos RSR
steeveew
slotting since 1963
retro racer 44
rleog
chappy
almafan55
audi1
pappy
mcliams
urbanwarrior
waaytoomuchintothis
Those of you who posted before, let me know if you're still interested. Others who would like to join in, let me know. Fords and Ferraris - it should be fun!
Allan
Last edited by
Audi1 on Sun Aug 23, 2015 10:32 pm, edited 3 times in total.