Manoli Katakis 
Even though it’s the most celebrated victory of the Ford GT program, the all-American supercar didn’t just win Le Mans. In fact, the winning legacy of the Ford GT can be found though history that spans multiple endurance races. One of which is the grueling 24 Hours of Daytona. In 1966, the late Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby piloted the No. 98 Ford GT40 Mk II to win the inaugural endurance race down in Florida. And come Sunday, the 2021 Ford GT Heritage Edition will be revealed to canonize this feat from 54 years ago.
Teased by Ford Performance, the video flashes brief images of the 2021 Heritage Edition superimposed on the silhouette of the No. 98 GT40, where after a message simply reads: “2021 Ford GT Heritage Edition — Coming Soon.” The line of GT Heritage Edition cars all sport throwback liveries representing the GT40’s dominant racing years, and Ford has been offering them since the 2017 model year of the current GT program, which is built in Markham, Ontario by Multimatic.
The new Ford GT variant will debut August 16 at the Petersen Automotive Museum. Below is the teaser video.
To rewind, the Ford GT 2017 Heritage Edition wore the black-and-silver livery of the No. 2 GT40 Mark II driven by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon at Le Mans in 1966. The No. 1 GT40 driven by Ken Miles and Denis Hulme finished second, and the No. 5 GT40 driven by Ronnie Bucknum and Dick Hutcherson finished third. This moment was made famous by the Oscar-winning movie Ford V Ferrari, as was the story of Ken Miles himself.
Following suit, the 2018 GT Heritage Edition honored the 1967 Le Mans victory of Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt, who are considered to be some of the best American-born racing drivers ever known. Then for 2019, Ford brought back the Gulf livery with a car honoring the 1968 Le Mans victory by the JW Automotive Engineering team.
Other special editions of the Ford GT include the hyper-exclusive Competition Series, the Liquid Carbon Edition, and the track-only Ford GT Mk II.
