Ford celebrates its centenary

By Our Corporate Bureau | 17 Jul 2003

Sussex: The US-based Ford Motor Company is celebrating its centenary at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, one of the highlights of the motoring calendar, held in Sussex, UK. This is so far Ford''s biggest birthday celebration outside the US.

The company has flown in an exciting line-up of its most famous racing cars from around the world for the tenth annual festival. These include three winning GT40s racing cars from the 1966 Le Mans 24-hour race, which will draw a dramatic parallel with Ford''s thrilling new GT on its first outing in the UK.

Edsel B Ford II, great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, is joining in the celebrations by riding up the famous hillclimb course in a Ford Model T100, a newly-created copy of the famous Model T.

One of the highlights of the festival is the central display outside Goodwood House and this year Ford has created a tall structure in front of the 300-year-old stately home on the Sussex Downs depicting one of the proudest moments in Ford''s motor sport history, the 1966 GT40 Le Mans 1-2-3 victory.

Three full-size replica Ford GT Mk11 cars recreate the moment in the 1966 24 Heures du Mans when Ford won a 1-2-3 victory form the central display at the Goodwood Festival of Speed which opened on July 11 at Goodwood in West Sussex, England.

The display was created by designer Gerry Judah, whose team took over a year to design and build the project. The majority of competition cars at the Goodwood Festival of Speed have always been Ford-powered, and this year Ford and Goodwood have joined forces to bring some very special racing machinery to the event from the US, Europe and further afield.

Ford''s specially-constructed infield exhibition site features a fascinating display marking 100 years of Ford with a huge collection of models of landmark vehicles from the company''s first century.

Ford has provided the festival organisers with a wide range of vehicles to help with event administration including Focus RS models which can be seen on the hill helping the Clerk of the Course''s team keep the event running to schedule.

Ford was one of the original sponsors of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which celebrates its 10^th anniversary this year.