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UK: Goodowood Festival of Speed

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#1 · (Edited)
UK: Goodwood Festival of Speed

Ford Motor Company today named J Mays group vice president, Design, effective Aug. 1.

Mays, 48, will report to Nick Scheele, chief operating officer. His responsibilities will include leading the design of the more than 65 new Ford, Lincoln and Mercury products that will launch within the next five years. He also has design responsibilities for the 45 new products being launched in Ford of Europe, 35 new products coming from the Premier Automotive Group and 15 new products coming from Mazda.

He had been a vice president reporting to Richard Parry-Jones, group vice president, Product Development and chief technical officer.

“J Mays’ design cues have made our vehicles distinctive and desirable to customers,” said Bill Ford, chairman and chief executive officer. “By elevating his position to the level of group vice president, we are emphasizing the importance of product design on our revitalization.”

“Our revitalization is all about product,” said J Mays. “I am excited by the opportunity to take great vehicle design to the forefront of this company.”

Mays joined Ford on Oct. 1, 1997, as vice president, Design. During that time, he has overseen the development of the 2004 Ford F-150, Freestar and Mercury Monterey minivans as well as the 2005 Ford Freestyle, Ford Five Hundred sedan, GT and Mustang.

Mays has also led the development of significant concept vehicles including the Ford Forty-Nine and ‘427’ sedans, Mustang GT concepts, Jaguar F-Type and Volvo Safety Car Concept.

Prior to joining Ford, Mays held various leadership positions in design at Audi AG, BMW AG and Volkswagen of America.

The recipient of numerous professional awards and recognition, Mays is a graduate of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif. His design career was the subject of an exhibition called “Retrofuturism: The Car Design of J Mays” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in November 2002.
 
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#2 ·
OVER A CENTURY OF FORD MOTORSPORT SUCCESS

Ford’s involvement in motorsport began with Henry Ford’s first win in 1901historic victory in 1901 with his first racing car ‘Sweepstakes’ in a 25 mile race on a Michigan dirt track. The racer, with an 8.6 litre 26bhp engine, managed 72mph and Ford’s success attracted financial backers who provided the support for developing his car manufacturing business.

In 1913, Ford brought down the shutters on its racing programme for a few years – until after the first war, in fact. There were various rationales but the official line at the time was that Ford “is primarily a car for all people, and not intended for the speed specialist.”

Fortunately for motorsport, there were always plenty of speed specialists ready to capitalise on the inherent strengths of the car for all people, and thus develop the marque into a name that would be respected in motorsport for over a century.

In the post-World War I boom years in America, the Model T was the obvious choice for young mechanically minded men with a few dollars to spend. It was the ingenuity of such backyard mechanics and the adaptability of the "Tin Lizzie" that fuelled the growth of racing. On hundreds of dirtracks across the country, the

Model T – often with a powerful Frontenac 16-valve cylinder head – reigned supreme.

The 1920s saw Ford-powered cars racing creditably at Indianapolis and a simultaneous post-war increase in European motorsport activity. There were two Monte Carlo rally victories in the 1930s, the decade that also saw the arrival of that much-loved icon of Ford engineering, the flathead V8. This engine provided reliable power to competitors in every form of racecar, from trans-continental saloons and to sprint and speedway racers, to and from hot rods toand rally machines.

Ford's motorsport effort intensified in the 1950s and 1960s. Wins with wins in the East African Safari and the Monte Carlo rallies, in British saloon car racing, and in the first high-profile American NASCAR saloon-car events were only a prelude to what followed.events.

In 1956, Ford won its first NASCAR Grand National Manufacturers' Championship. V8-engined Fords won nine titles in the next 14 years – seven of these in succession – and was dominant throughout the 1960s with its Galaxies. Later came the Thunderbirds and, since 1998, Taurus saloons, continuinghave continued to uphold Ford’s status as one of the leading players in this high-profile branch of motorsport.

The Le Mans 24-hHour Eendurance rRace, arguably one of the sternest tests of competitive men and machinery provided Ford GT40s with four consecutive victories from 1966 to 1969. Ford-engined AC Cobra sports cars won the World Sports Car Championship in 1965, while countless saloon car racing successes for Mustangs and Falcons all reinforced the image of Ford’s dependability and victory on the racetrack.

Single-seater racing haswas also been strongly supported by the company, with Ford road-car engines being developed with Cosworth for Formula Junior, F3, and F2. Ford’s dominance in these formulae was reinforced with the introduction in 1967 of a new single-seater 'training formula'.



In 1967 Ford founded a new single-seater training formulain Europe to start young drivers up the ladder to fame. , Formula Ford is now more than 30 years old. Racing superstars Mika Hakkinen, Johnny Herbert, James Hunt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Jody Scheckter and many others learned their craft in Formula Ford, which is still the world's most popular racing 'starter-formula'.

The first Formula Ford cars used standard 1.6-litre Cortina engines. L, later FF2000 machines used 2-litre Sierra-type overhead-camshaft power units, and modern FF single-seaters are powered by the renowned 16-valve 1.8-litre ZetecDuratec engines which are used in the best-selling Ford Focus and Mondeo family cars..

In 1967, Ford (again with Cosworth)and Cosworth made the logical move into Grand Prix racing, by with introducing an F1 engine. Making its race-winning debut in the Dutch Grand Prix, the Ford-Cosworth DFV V8 engine developed its own legend, and became the most successful F1 power unit of all time.

DFV engines won 155 World Championship F1 races in 16 years, plus hundreds of other events. By the 1970s, the DFV was so dominant that Ford-powered cars regularly won more than ten GPs every season. In 1973, every one of the 15 F1 races was won by DFV-powered cars. Legendary characters such. as Mario Andretti, Jim Clark, Emerson Fittipaldi, Graham Hill, James Hunt, Alan Jones and Sir Jackie Stewart all used DFV-powered cars to gain their World Drivers' Championship crowns.

Modified versions of the DFV were also used to win the Le Mans 24 hHour race in 1976 and 1980, while the turbocharged DFX version made its name in North America. In the mid-1970s the DFX became the most successful power unit in CART/Indycar racing, where it ruled the roost for nearly 15 years.

As in F1, Ford DFX-powered cars – McLarens, Penskes, Marches and Lolas – were all-conquering, and with an unparalleled achievement took over America's most famous motor race, winning every Indy 500 from 1978 to 1988. Contemporary American legends such as Mario Andretti, A.J.Foyt, Rick Mears, Bobby Rahal, Bobby and Al Unser all confirmed their glittering reputations in racecars powered by Ford..

Turbo -charged V8s have continued to win championships in the CART series. The XB engine was used in 1993 by 'rookie' Nigel Mansell to win the PPG Championship at his very first attempt, and was also used by Jacques Villleneuve to win the series in 1995. For 2000 a further derivative, the lightweight XF V8, helped Ford to win the CART Engine Manufacturers' Championship crown..

Cosworth went on to develop many more successful race -car engines on Ford's behalf. The narrow-angle HB V8 succeeded the DFV, its career culminating in six victories in the 1993 F1 season, five of these going to Ayrton Senna's McLaren-Ford cars. A new V8 engine, the 3.5-litre Zetec-R V8, was used by Benetton-Ford in 1994, when Michael Schumacher won eight of the season's 16 races, capturing thehis first Drivers' Championship for the first timetitle.

Ford and Cosworth then designed a series of 3.0-litre V10s, . the latest now being for the exclusive use of Jaguar-Cosworth. The latest 800bhp-plus power units are acknowledged as some of the lightest and most powerful engines in F1.

After 40 years of close co-operation with the company, not only in race engine but in road-car engine development, Ford purchased Cosworth Racing in 1998. The , introduction of ultra-light V10 F1 engines for Stewart-Ford and then Jaguar-Cosworth, are, were the first products of this liaison.

During the 1960s, and away from the glitz of single-seater racing, Ford developed its production cars to compete in, and win, in prestigious races and rallies. Available in large numbers, all the cars were powerful, robustly reliable, and sold at attractive prices: many are collectors' cars to this day. .

All over the world, cars like the Lotus-Cortina MkI began beating heavier,

large-engined machinery on the race track. The Lotus-Cortina MkI won its first British Saloon Car Championship in 1964, with F1 ace Jim Clark, and in 1965 the

Lotus-Cortina MkI also dominated the European saloon car scene, where Sir John Whitmore won hillclimbs, sprint races and long-distance events, and the Championship itself. V8-engined American Galaxies, Mustangs and Falcons also became regular winners in sprint races and in marathon 10-day events like the Tour de France..

Ford’s first superfast Escort was the Twin-Cam,. which with its This car and its RS-badged successors the the Escort RS1600s and RS1800s became ultra-successful race and rally cars, . Not only did Escorts winning long-distance Touring Car races such alikes the Nurburgring 6six--Hhour and the Kyalami 1000km, but they also became the world's most successful rally cars..

At the same time the 'Car You Always Promised Yourself', the versatile Ford Capri, became Europe's most successful racing saloon. Capri RS2600s won the European Touring Car Challenge twice –twice, in 1971 and 1972 , – and their successor, the RS3100, was the fastest saloon car of all in 1974 and 1975. Three-litre engined Capris also won Belgium's prestigious 24-Hour race three times in succession, took National Championships all over Europe and in terms of victories were Britain's most successful saloons throughout the 1970s..

For more than 30 years, until the last-ever 'works Escorts' competed in the Rally of Great Britain in 1998, they set the pace all round the world. Heroes such as Roger Clark, Hannu Mikkola, Bjorn Waldegard, Ari Vatanen and Carlos Sainz all made their names in Ford cars, which inspired thousands of private owners to make Escorts their choice.

Outstanding new Fords followed the Escorts in the 1970s, many of them on the race tracks. German-prepared Capri RS2600s twice won the European Touring Car Championship - later, the mighty turbocharged Sierra RS Cosworths swept all before them.

The Sierra RS500 Cosworth enjoyed such a spectacular circuit-racing career, winning so many races and Championships that regulations were eventually re-written to blunt its success. These saloons won the 1987 World Touring Car Championship and the 1988 European Championship, and these 550bhp/2-litre cars carried on winning all round the world until the early 1990s. The Sierra RS Cosworths also won rallies, especially tarmac events, while later four-wheel-drive versions won rally championships all around the world. .

The Escort RS Cosworth was a further evolution of that remarkable Escort chassis. For the 1990s, Ford developed it not only as a stunning road car, but as a successful rally car. After winning five World Championship rallies in 1993 – its first season – it went on to win the 1994 Monte Carlo rally and gave rise to the Escort WRC of the late 1990s.

As European saloon car racing regulations turned towards 'Super Tourers' (for

2-litre cars with front-wheel-drive) Ford refined the V6-engined Mondeo into another race-winner. With Paul Radisich at the wheel, the Ford Mondeo won the World Touring Car Challenge twice in succession, – in 1993 and 1994 –1994, and ended a glorious career by claimingclaimed 1st, 2nd and 3rd places1-2-3 in the 2000 British Touring Car Championship.

Today, Ford’s premier global activity is the 2001 FIA World Rally Championship, using a WRC version of the Ford Focus. with a trio of Focus WRC cars contesting the 14-round series. In its first years of competition tThe Focus has already won five12 World Championship events, including the gruelling Acropolis and East African Safari rounds. With Colin McRae, Carlos Sainz and Francois Delecour as team drivers, Ford is a strong contender for title honours. McRae's string of three consecutive victories in the Argentina, Cyprus and Acropolis events has been one of the highlights of the season so far. .

In the white heat of 21st Century motorsport represented by Formula 1, NASCAR, CART racing and World Championship rallies, Ford continues to win racesevents and championships, setting new standards every season.

From Formula 1 with Cosworth and JaguarJordan Ford and the prestigious CART/Champcar series with Cosworth XF turbocharged engines, to theand from the hugely-popular NASCAR Winston Cup series in North America (where 5.9-litre/750bhp Taurus saloons won many of the 34 races in 2000), to and top-class World Rrally Cchampionships in Europe and the Middle East with seven Focus WRC cars, Ford will continuecontinues to seek motorsport supremacy in the new millennium.
 
#3 ·
BIGGEST EVER CENTRAL DISPLAY AT GOODWOOD MEETS THE SMALLEST EVER MOTORSHOW

A spectacular 40 metre high work of art depicting one of the proudest moments in Ford’s motorsport history, is wowing the crowds at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend.

The central display outside Goodwood House is always one of the highlights of the festival and this massive sculpture, representing Ford’s 1-2-3 GT40 win at Le Mans in 1966, is the tallest structure ever seen in front of the 300-year-old West Sussex stately home.

It has been created by the charismatic designer Gerry Judah, whose team took over a year to design and build the project.

The crystalline structure is made of polycarbonate, a tough plastic similar to roofing material, backed by a steel support. Three replica GT40s are fixed to the front in their winning formation, while a fine mist of water plays around the cars, to simulate the rain-soaked Le Mans track of the 1966 race.

“The sculpture captures an historic moment, freezing the cars in time as they cross the winning line in the pouring rain,” said Gerry.

The three, privately owned replica GT40 cars are hung upside down, 15 to 20 metres off the ground. Lighting effects simulate the cars’ head and taillights, making the structure look particularly dramatic at night.

The foundations for the 38 metre wide artwork are six to eight metres deep. Gerry even engaged wind specialists who evaluated the weather and the movement of the wind to see how it would affect the structure. He needed to make sure that the structure had enough small air holes to allow the wind to blow through, so there is no danger of it toppling over.

“This is the most powerful and dramatic centrepiece I have created, I felt I was not just dealing with an idea but dealing with a unique moment in the history of motorsport. I wanted to create something iconic, something that really stamped its mark on the festival. The sheer scale is imposing by itself and the power and drama are enhanced by the use of moving water and by the lighting effects,” said Gerry.

Gerry’s firm, London-based Judah Design, has also produced a fascinating infield display celebrating Ford’s centenary. Dubbed the ‘smallest motor show in the world’ over 150 plinths are topped by nearly 200 scale models of Ford cars through the ages, from Henry Ford’s original Quadricycle to the latest Streetka.

There are three different sized plinths, and many different sizes of model cars - some rare collectors items. The cars are lit from above in a darkened space surrounded by a display wall with plasma screens of major historical events from the last century.
 
#4 ·
FORD COMPETITION CARS AT THE GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED – 100 YEARS OF FORD POWER

Cars bearing the Ford name have been thrilling motorsport fans for over 100 years, and at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed many famous examples of racing Fords from all eras are helping celebrate Ford’s centennial on the famous hillclimb track.

Representing the early years are three Model T Racers, typical of the type built by countless mechanics when their Model T Tourer had outlived its original purpose. The Formula Fords of their day, thousands of these lightweight Model Ts were built and raced, mostly on dry lakes and dirt tracks around the world, and some are still raced today.

Ford’s domination of the Le Mans 24-hour race in the late Sixties is symbolised by the three GT40s that finished first, second, and third in the 1966 event. A Ford Mark IV and an F3L are also appearing along with two special Ford-powered AC Cobras - a “flip-top” model and a Daytona Coupe.

Several historic Ford rally cars are tearing up the track, including the 1953 Monte Carlo winning Zephyr. The Mk 1 Escort that Hannu Mikkola drove to victory in the 1970 World Cup Rally is being driven by Malcolm Wilson, managing director of M-Sport, while Hannu himself is driving the current World Rally Championship Focus. The sole surviving GT70 in competition trim is making its second Goodwood appearance.

Two significant Ford hill-climbers - an RS200 that Malcolm Wilson once drove at the famous Pikes Peak event in the USA, and Herbert Stenger’s dramatic 1976 twin-turbo Zakspeed Capri are making their mark.

As usual, Ford-Cosworth powered Grand Prix cars dominate the Goodwood single-seater paddock. Sir Jackie Stewart is driving a 1970 Tyrrell 001, just one of 15 Ford-powered Formula One machines from Jordan, Tyrrell, Cosworth, McLaren, March, Lotus and Williams. Ford president and chief operating officer, Ford of Europe, Martin Leach will take the wheel of Sir Jackie’s 1970 March.

The NASCAR and Trans-Am racing classes feature more Ford-powered big bangers. Trans-Am cars include Tommy Kendall’s 1997 Mustang, which is the sister car to the one Paul Newman drove to victory in the 1997 Championship, while Ron Huber’s mighty Taurus and Gene Felton’s Torino represents NASCAR.

Among the fastest European Ford saloons are Andy Rouse’s championship winning Sierra RS500, a BTCC Mondeo, and the 1972 Cologne RS Capri which made its Goodwood debut in 2001.

The calibre of Ford cars listed deserves an equal calibre of driver. This year a long list of distinguished Ford drivers at Goodwood includes Jack Sears, Frank Gardner, Sir John Whitmore, David Pearson, Alan Mann, Herbert Stenger, Alan Jones, Ralph Firman, Sir Jackie Stewart, Jackie Oliver, Jochen Mass, Andy Rouse, Sir Jack Brabham and David Piper.
 
#5 ·
IT’S A FAMILY OCCASION FOR FORD AT GOODWOOD

The great-grandson of Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford, Edsel B. Ford II, is joining in the firm’s centenary celebrations at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend.

“This is both a celebration of 100 years of a great company and a special family occasion for me,” he said.

“From my great grandfather’s first motor race in a car he built himself at the beginning of century, Ford has had a long history of motorsport success and I can’t think of a better place to celebrate Ford’s centenary than at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing all these famous cars. Seeing all three of the original record-breaking GT40s from Le Mans back together again will be a special thrill as competing in 1966 was a real passion of my father Henry Ford II.”

Edsel B. Ford II is a member of the Board of Directors of Ford Motor Company. He was elected to the Board in 1988 and as a consultant is active in company affairs and corporate dealer relations.

His career at Ford spans more than 25 years. He was named president and chief operating officer of Ford Motor Credit Company in May 1991 and elected a company vice president on December 9, 1993. He is also a board member of the Detroit branch of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank.

Edsel B. Ford II is very active in several charitable organisations. His community leadership positions include serving as chairman of the National Advisory Board of the Salvation Army and board member of the Skillman Foundation.

Born on December 27, 1948, in Detroit, he received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Babson College in 1973 and completed the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Business School in 1981.

Mr Ford is the great-grandson of Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company. His grandfather is Edsel B. Ford, company president from 1919 to 1943. His late father, Henry Ford II, was president of the company from 1945 to 1960 and chairman from 1960 to 1980.

He is married with four sons and the family lives in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan.
 
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