2007 Harley Davidson Edition 5.4l V8 Automatic Rwd on 2040-cars

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‘Ford v. Ferrari’ hype prompts Ford to open its Le Mans GT40 vault

“Ford v Ferrari,” the big-screen adaptation of a book about the famous rivalry over racing supremacy in the 1960s, opens next week, and the fevered anticipation has prompted Ford to revisit that period of its storied history by opening its GT40 Le Mans vault. Literally. The Detroit Free Press reports that a group of Ford executives and staffers gathered this week at the Ford Engineering Laboratory in Dearborn to view vintage artifacts from the years-long duel between the intercontinental automakers and reminisce. Those archives contain an incredible 3 miles of shelving, a video vault maintained at 41 degrees and an actual safe. The archives manager reportedly wore protective white gloves and removed the only known copy of the original plans for the GT project. Also shown was an exact replica of the GT40 driven by Bruce McLaren at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966, the year Ford finally vanquished perennial winners Ferrari form the victory podium. It was created and used for the film, with more than 500 miles added to the odometer during filming. Directed by James Mangold (“Walk the Line,” “The Wolverine”) and produced by 20th Century Fox, the film hits theaters Thursday and opens wide Nov. 15. ItÂ’s based on A.J. BaimeÂ’s 2009 book “Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans.” The film predictably takes some liberties with the real-life story and characters. It focuses on the relationship between Carroll Shelby (played by Matt Damon), whom Henry Ford II and Lee Iacocca charged with developing a Ferrari-beating GT, and maverick British driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale). The Blue Oval had no involvement in the making of the film, beyond offering up archival material for background research. “It was, wow, especially if you had to go out and service a car during a pit stop,” Mose Nowland, a retired mechanic and sports car engineer who worked on the GT40 Le Mans program and spent 57 years with Ford, told the Freep. “Your hip pockets are only several inches away from cars going by at 160 mph.” Read the full Freep story here.

Ken Block is at it again in Gymkhana 6

If there's one thing we'll say about Ken Block and his latest installment in the Gymkhana family, it's that it's far more structured than previous videos, but that doesn't mean it skimps on the entertainment. Block is on a purpose-built course which was touted as "The... Ultimate... Gymkhana... Grid... Course" in last week's preview. Unlike Gymkhana 5, which took placed on closed streets in San Francisco, this course seems much more compact.
Block has an entire array of challenges to tackle in his 650-horsepower Ford Fiesta ST, and none of them look particularly easy. In fact, we'd argue that Gymkhana 6's grid course requires much more precise driving that previous titles. There are Segways, Lamborghinis and massive pieces of construction equipment that all must be dealt with.
We've got the entire 6:28 of Gymkhana madness for you down below. Scroll down for the video and then hit Comments and let us know how this installment compares to previous Block works.

Ford Focus ST checks into Jay Leno's Garage

In a change of pace from the high-end vehicles that often appear in Jay Leno's Garage, Ford sends its hottest hatchback (in the US, at least), the 252-horsepower Focus ST, to be featured on Leno's show. Accompanying the five-door hatch is its chief engineer, Jamal Hameedi.
Riding on stylish 18-inch wheels with summer tires and with a spoiler that doubles as a lunch tray, Hameedi and Leno walk us through the finer points of what makes the ST special, which also includes bigger brakes, torque vectoring, a manual transmission and, of course, 252 hp and 270 pound-feet of torque from the 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder engine, which is made possible by 21 psi of turbocharged boost.
Watch the video below to see what Leno thinks of the global Focus ST.