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Le Mans 19th June 1966  

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We are at the last lap of the mythical “24 hours”   

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and it’s happening one thing never seen before   

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yes, because at the last bend of the road   

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comes out before an american car   

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indeed two, indeed three  

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they are the Ford GT40  

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the first is the one of Ken Miles  

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who that year has already won the 12 hours of Sebring    

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24 hours of Daytona  

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and is a few meters from a historic hat trick   

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Ken let himself be reached from a second GT40   

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driven by Bruce McLaren  

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founder of the homonymous stable that supports him    

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immediately after there’s a third Ford   

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that is behind of some laps  

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but accompanies the others two   

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to create an imagine that somebody has dreamed for too long    

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Into the mind of that someone  

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the finishline is like pull a line on bottom of a paper   

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which underneath is written the total  

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and this is a bet opened three years earlier   

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that someone is Henry Ford II   

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and the first bill’s number are 12 million dollars   

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that he has put on the plate to buy Ferrari   

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The advice has be given by Lee Iacocca   

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a little marketing genius  

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that gave birth to the Mustang first and than to the Fiesta    

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which is making the Ford fortune   

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It’s an hard advice to accept  

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because Henry and Enzo Ferrari detest each other    

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so that the first declared to a journalist   

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“I spend millions in ads to let my cars known    

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and this mechanic  

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every Monday is on all world newspapers without spending a dollar”    

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the other one, the mechanic, answer him   

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“ if Ford wanna go free, on the newspapers just buy a Ferrari”    

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then Iacocca goes to its president and says to him   

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"Henry we don't buy a Ferrari, we buy Ferrari"   

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and so, after time, in Maranello  

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a swarm of lawyers is arguing about the contract   

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for which Ferrari becomes the Ford racing department    

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but, the Drake demands to stay the absolute boss and pretends white paper    

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as result 

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the negotiation skips  

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Ford and Lacocca bear a grudge and make a promise    

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win the Ferrari on the most famous race of the world at that period    

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“the 24 hours of Le Mans”  

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no expense is paid to the project   

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the Ford GT40 is born  

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an incredible car, gorgeous  

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so said because is tall just 40 inches, so just over a meter    

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and the car has some problems  

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meanwhile, the Ferrari won Le Mans 6 times in a row since 60’ to 65’    

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so Ford and Iacocca board on the project Caroll Shelby, founder of the mythical cobra     

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he also had an open account with Enzo Ferrari for a skip engagement years ago     

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and from his "poisoned tooth" is born the Ford GT40 MK2   

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that has solved his problems   

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and under the hood has a monster from 7 litres of displacement    

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the car begins to win  

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and on the 24 hours of ‘66 the Ford take eight GT40 MK2    

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in qualifying place three in the first four places   

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at the 4:00 pm the race starts, but there there is nothing to do    

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already the morning later the GT40 had an unbridgeable advantage     

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to win just that his pilots ahead Miles and McLaren don’t start dueling    

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and the engines hold up till the end   

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what happened at the Ford’s box it has never been clarified until the end     

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but it will make the story  

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it seems that the stable order   
was that who came at the top of the last pit-stop would have been the winner     

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then the Ford should have slowed down to preserve the engines    

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without going beyond  

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at the last tire change is ahead Ken Miles   

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but Bruce McLaren has an idea   

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“finish together” 

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The Ford leadership is agree  

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the arrival on parade will make the difference between win and dominate     

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and here we are back in the last bend of the road   

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Ken and Bruce pass together the timeline, that is some meter before the finish     

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but immediately later Miles lifts the pedal   

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and let McLaren pass first on the checkered flag   

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Why he did it? 

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maybe cause he has read the rules   

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and has already known that the race direction will award the win to his adversary     

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because to the Le Mans counts the road traveled    

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and McLaren, that started back in the starting grid    

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came with him did a few more meters   

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but what it matters is that at the bottom of this bill with Ferrari    

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Henry Ford II writes 

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one, two and three