Heron GT40; the car that was obsolete before it had even raced

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The famous Ford GT40. It had tremendous success in its days and many still adore it. Recently, we thought we saw one for sale at PostWarClassic.com but, to our surprise, it was a Heron GT40 Mk4.

Heron GT40 Mk4

The story starts with the success of the Ford GT40 at Le Mans in 1967, when Bob Gee and Ross Baker decided to team up and build their own version of the car to race the following season. They spent many hours reading and researching all they could to collect the information and specification they needed to build the car they wanted.

The engine choice was easy: a 327 ci Chevrolet Corvette motor, but the right gearbox was a problem. So what to do? They decided to design and build their own unit, which started with Ford Zephyr MK4 gears, a Ford V8 crown wheel and pinion with Ford Zephyr output shafts, Howard rotary hoe quick-change gears and a Mini oil pump to pressure feed the oil to the gears. Bob made the patterns from Ross Baker's drawings to cast the aluminium  housings, one cast.  They proceeded to draw plans for the steel monocoque chassis with fibreglass body panels. All the suspension was to be fabricated from steel with coils.

Once the plans were finished, they started on the body jig. All the steel panels were cut from the drawings and ten either spot welded or pop riveted together.

The car was two thirds finished when the controlling body of sports car racing decided to change the maximum capacity of engines to only 2000cc, which made the car obsolete before it had even raced! The car was put on hold, then restarted and finally being completed in 1988, when it raced at the Whenuapai Wings and Wheels meeting where it competed very well. Straight line and powering through corners were outperforming the Ferraris, but the 1967 brakes were not up to the cars performance.

The car has been in the hands of several private collectors and the current owner prepared it for European racing. The brakes have been upgraded, new coil-overs and the engine horsepower was increased, while the car still used the Heron designed and built transaxle.

On the last tour of European race circuits the owner of the car invited Ross to Le Mans to see the car race, the car that he designed and built.

According to the seller, when you drive the car it is just like going back in time, it drives so well and gives the driver so much confidence to push a little harder. It holds the road and the noise from the big V8 behind your head is so amazing you need ear plugs!

The car is currently for sale at Classicmobilia, see the advert here.

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