Ron, I 'd be interested to see that tape. The "official" reason usually given for the multiple early retirements is the Colotti 4-speed gearbox, which apparently gave the Ford Advanced Vehicles boys fits until they were replaced by 5-speed ZF units. The cars also had problems with brakes, chassis strength--the welds kept breaking on some of the rough European circuits--and aerodynamics. The GT was touching speeds that were pretty much an unknown quantity in the early 60's, and that sleek-looking body wasn't necessarily up to snuff. There was a whole lot of tweaking required, both front and back, to get the cars stable enough to run 200+ mph, at night and in the rain (that always makes me shake my head, thinking about that), for 24 hours.
Shelby's involvement was hugely responsible for the car's improvements. For instance, there is an anecdote, no doubt true, about how it was discovered that the internal ducting designed into the original car robbed it of a whopping 76 horsepower. Through the hard work of Miles, Remington, et al, problems like that were worked out. There were other companies who were also valuable to the development of the '40, such as Alan Mann Racing in England, and Holman & Moody, both of whom prepared and raced GT's with success. Although Shelby typically gets the credit for the '66 Le Mans win, there are documents out there that suggest that the Holman & Moody-prepped cars had been ordered by Ford to run at a reduced pace in the event that the Shelby cars broke, leading to eternal debate about what those cars could have accomplished had they been allowed to run free. Regardless, it was a great era for American racing...
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