LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: The 2016 LeMans winner Ford GT

[ismaelg]

Hello,

 

IT IS FINISHED!   Yes, I can tell my grandkids someday I actually built a Ford.

 

   The Multimatic built Ford GT race car debuted at the 2016 Rolex 24 at Daytona (I already built the winning Corvette of that race).    Chip Ganassi runs the Ford GT racing team.  At the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in June of that year, The Ford GT won the GTE Pro class under some  controversy.  I honestly believe that sports in general, be it car racing, baseball or football, they all thrive in controversy.  After all, controversy is what keeps them interesting.  Ford required a waiver to race the Ford GT without having homologated the production cars.  The first customer cars were delivered many months after the cars started racing.   They also requested a special permission to race not 2 but 4 cars in the Le Mans race: 2 from the IMSA US series and 2 from the FIA WEC series.  Many race fans speculate that they were sandbagging in qualifying to cheat on BOP.  Personally, I think it was all  part of a well orchestrated public relations stunt that involved everybody.   Nobody cheated. I think they were all part of it.  How convenient that at the 50th anniversary of the famous Ford-Ferrari battle of 1966, only the Ford and the Ferrari suddenly were the only ones having the pace while all others like Corvette, Porsche and Aston Martin were not even a factor.  Even pre-race promos talk about the great Ford-Ferrari battle.   After the race, both Ford and Ferrari were hit with penalties that almost change the results.   But anyways, that been said, however, I must say that keeping a race car running for 24 hours is no easy feat.  The team had to work hard for that win.  

As a hardcore Corvette guy and Corvette Racing fan,  I love the IMSA GTLM racing series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.  I have to admit I like the looks of the Ford GT car.  I absolutely hate how it sounds. It sounds like a bee with an upset stomach.   But it is a cool looking race car.  Joey Hand, Dirk Muller and Sebastien Bourdais are also cool race car drivers.  So,  if I was ever going to do a Ford, this would be it.  I'm not the biggest fan of their red white and blue scheme, but that's what history threw at me if I wanted to do a historically significant car. To that point, I really liked the 2019 Motorcraft retro livery they used in Daytona and the all white scheme used at the roar before the 24.

So here is my version of the 2016 Le Mans winning Ford GT car #68 driven by Joey Hand, Dirk Muller and Sebastien Bourdais.  Ford has kept the car intact with all the dirt and wear from the race.  That was my reference to recreate the car as it crossed the finish line.  For some reason, the weathering I did on this car  doesn't show that well in the pictures, but it is there.  Notice my favorite, the damage in the front fender near the door hinge.

Revell Germany kit, aftermarket complimentary decals, lots of details added.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are 2 pictures before the weathering:

 

 

I hope you like it.  Thanks for accompanying me on this journey. 

Special thanks to David (Jhedir6) for pointing me in the right direction with this build.

 

As a reference, here is a video of the car on tour in SEMA after the race.  Notice the antennas have been removed and the tires are not the ones used in the race.  This was one of my primary references.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORoGxBQSFuo

 

Thanks,

[Phildaupho]

Great job Ismael. Now that you have built a mid engine race car you will be ready for the Corvette C8R !!

[Modelbuilder Mark]

wow, had to double check some of the pics to make sure it was a model, nice

[majel]

Very nice job, looks great both before and after!!  Such a beautiful car.

[Yahshu]

Awesome 

[Dave B]

Great build Ismael.  Love Fords but will probably never build that kit, just a bit too modern for me!!

Dave B

[FabbricaP]

Looks awesome, great build. 

[1930fordpickup]

this is a very nice build. 

[peekay]

Fantastic job, really thought for a minute the first photo was of the real thing.

[Nacho Z]

As with all of your builds, fantastic work!! 

[Gramps46]

Another outstanding and well researched build my friend.

Gary

[David G.]

Excellent work, it could pass for the 1:1!

David G.

[Matt Bacon]

That looks absolutely stunning -- as everyone says, it looks just lie the real thing. I love the weathering. Are they the kit decals or an aftermarket set? If they're the ones in the kit, I'm pretty impressed with the quality!

Well done indeed...

All the best,

Matt

 

[ChrisR]

Looks great!

[Hi-Po]

Outstanding workmanship!  Beautifully done.

[stevehansen]

Excellent reproduction!!!

[Funkychiken]

Ismael, it's a fantastic build, love it!

[ismaelg]

Thank you all for stopping by and for all your positive comments.  I really appreciate it! 

[Peter Lombardo]

Hey, this looks great, the weathering is perfect, not too much to obscure the detail but enough to make the point that this is a race car that just came off the track.  Also, it is a shame that all of the "internal" details are not visible since you put so much effort into them.  Really nicely done and now I am looking forward to the M6 completion.  Keep it going........ see, there is life after Corvettes. 

[Davewilly]

looks great! nice work on the weathering also

[Spex84]

Spectacular! I kept scrolling down, looking for photos of the actual model, then realized I was looking at it. Love the attention paid to keeping the weathering and materials in scale...usually panel gaps and plastic-y headlights are dead giveaways on late-model supercars models, even well-built ones, but your rendition is extra convincing in those departments.

[ismaelg]

Thanks guys!

Matt,  I used a few updated decals from an aftermarket set (side number boards, door markings and some little ones) but most are from the kit.  I have to say the kit's decals are a real joy to work with. Only issue (and it is really nitpicking) is accuracy as I found many were the wrong size. Either a hint bigger or a bit  smaller  compared to my references  but not a big deal.

Thanks,

[Tommy124]

Great build and I also love the weathering. It's just the right amount of it, and applied in stunning fashion. I also like the fact that you made pre-/ and after-race photos (clean/ dirty car). Not a lot of people think of that. 

[ATHU]

Very very nice!!

[ismaelg]

Thank you all for your nice comments.  I really appreciate each and every one of them.

I was trying to include the link to the progress thread but the dreaded 404 ERROR did not allow me to for over a day.

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/139320-me-doing-a-ford-nahhh-really-lemans-ford-gt/

Thanks!