The GT40s you saw at the Glen were probably small block versions;
certainly the Wyer/Gulf car was. In fact, I'm not even sure the cars at
Le Mans in 1965 were called GT40s at the time. My recollection is that
they were referred to as Mark IV Ford or some such. In '65 these cars
were powered by 427 Ford V8 prepared by Holman & Moody. These engines
were only mildly tuned, putting out a mere 400 to 500 HP. I don't
recall whether they were equipped with dual or single Holley 4-barrels
but they had a race red line of 6500 RPM. Even so, they developed
tremendous torque, so it's no surprise that they easily made their way
to the front of the pack early on.
Within a few years the big block engines were banned, but the GT40
effort continued with the small block versions. Interestingly, in the
late '60s Holman & Moody was unloading their surplus Le Mans prepared
427s for peanuts.
Roland
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