Alan Mann Racing

01/03/2026

The Ford Es**rt Alan Mann 68 Edition has swapped Fairoaks for Florida! 🌴

Taking part in Miami Car Week activities, and attending MODA MIAMI in collaboration with HK Motorcars - the first official North American distribution partner for Boreham Motorworks.

Across Miami Car Week, we’ll also be hosting a curated programme of private client engagements, including invitation-only on-track moments at The Concours Club with our very own Henry Mann.

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27/02/2026

Believe it or not, this '65 Mustang will be coming to a race track near you very soon!

Sourced and collected by Alan Mann Racing, this right-hand-drive Ford Mustang was then stripped in our workshop, and sent away for acid dipping to reveal the true condition of its bodywork.

Upon its return, the FIA-approved roll cage was then fabricated and fitted, and the final dry build and fabrication work was completed in-house.

Next step is paint - but what colour would you like to see this one? 🎨

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27/02/2026

More incredible archive images from Alan Mann Racing's two lightweight Ford GT40s, AM-GT1 and AM-GT2 at their only competitive outing: 1966 Sebring 12 Hour 🇺🇸

Courtesy of Revs Institute 📸

17/02/2026

5th May 1968: The global competition debut of the Twin-Cam Es**rt - at Zolder, Belgium, for the fifth round of the 1968 European Touring Car Challenge.

Alongside the #56 Es**rt, driven to victory that day by Frank Gardner, Alan Mann Racing also entered the #55 Mk2 Ford Cortina (likely CTC 24E), driven by Richard Attwood.

Having secured an overall win at Austria's Flugplatz Aspern, earlier that year, in the hands of Frank Gardner - followed by two ETCC retirements at Snetterton and Belgrade, the Grote Prijs van Limburg marked the last ever competitive outing for Alan Mann's red-and-gold Cortinas. Attwood finished 11 seconds behind Gardner's Es**rt - making it a remarkable 1-2 finish for Alan Mann Racing.

This was both a farewell and a beginning; the Ford Cortina took to the circuit one final time. Having secured dozens of victories for Alan Mann Racing between 1963 and 1968 in the UK, Europe and USA - including a European Touring Car Championship title for Sir John Whitemore in 1966, it had redefined touring car racing - lifting wheels and hearts in equal measure. But as one legend bowed out, another cleared its throat.

The debut of the Ford Es**rt Twin-Cam at Zolder signalled a new era, and it would go on to become an icon in its own right, dominating circuits across the UK and Europe - most notably, in the hands of Australian Frank Gardner, who secured the 1968 British Touring Car Championship with Alan Mann Racing's XOO 349F.

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13/02/2026

Possibly the most protected documents in Alan Mann Racing's archive 🔐

Following an introduction by Ford's Walter Hayes, between renowned producer Cubby Broccoli and Alan Mann, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was designed by Ken Adam and built by Alan Mann Racing for the 1968 film.

Maurice Gomm was a specialist coachbuilder and fabricator who constructed the metal parts of the body,
whilst the rear section of boat-tail style bodywork was made by the legendary boatyard, Bates of Chertsey. Jim Spence was Mann's workshop foreman, leading the project.

Six original road chittys were built for the film - only one fully functional, road-legal car (carrying the registration GEN 11) was produced - fitted with full running gear: a Ford Mk IV Zodiac 3-litre V6 engine and Zodiac automatic gearbox. The final drive was through a Mustang live axle.

Five additional chittys, with varying modifications, were used as prop cars, like the one used in the flying scenes, and the hovercraft car.

Details for the design were copied from authentic Veteran, Edwardian and Vintage cars from "Gentleman" Jack Sears' personal collection. Whilst Alan Mann did a deal with Goodyear to produce and supply bespoke tyres for the 34" wheels Ken Adam had sketched out for Chitty.

The Edwardian race cars used in the film's title sequence, set at fictional Grand Prix races between 1907 and 1909, were also built by Alan Mann Racing. These were Rolls-Royce hearses, rebuilt to resemble a Fiat, a Lorraine-Dietrich and a Renault.

A 1/4 scale model of Chitty was made by Shawcraft Models Ltd, famed for building the Daleks. It was used for some of the distant flying sequences, as it was complete with a full set of wings and propellers.

With a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang remake from Amazon MGM Studios and Eon Productions recently announced, maybe these top-secret documents will break cover more often!

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - The Cars

03/02/2026

The Alan Mann Lightweight story sits at the very heart of Ford’s GT40 success. At a critical point in the programme, Alan Mann Racing set the engineering standard, proving that advanced lightweight construction and intelligent chassis development could underpin a factory-backed assault on Le Mans.

The Alan Mann Lightweights and the 1966 Ford GT40 MkII Factory Lightweights were fundamentally different cars. The original Alan Mann Lightweights were conceived first, as highly advanced small-block GT40s, built around thin-gauge aluminium bodywork with extensive suspension and chassis re-engineering. They were not factory MkIIs, but a parallel engineering direction as Ford tasked Shelby American, Holman-Moody and Alan Mann Racing to work on cars for the 1966 season.

As Ford’s Le Mans ambitions intensified, the programme pivoted decisively from the MkI to the all-new MkII, with the Alan Mann Lightweights sitting directly in between. Five Alan Mann Racing lightweight aluminium chassis were commissioned, two completed as AMGT-1 and AMGT-2 and raced earlier in 1966 at Sebring. The remaining three were never completed in period but became the foundation for the next phase of development; the Factory Lightweights.

When the decision was taken to contest Le Mans 1966 with the 7.0-litre MkII, Alan Mann Racing adapted those remaining lightweight structures to meet Ford’s new specification. Retaining the Lightweight philosophy, the team fundamentally re-engineered the chassis to accept the larger drivetrain, transmission and rear-end layout. These cars did not begin life as standard MkIIs; they evolved into them. Built by Alan Mann Racing personnel within Shelby American’s Los Angeles facility, the resulting XGT-1, XGT-2 and XGT-3 formed part of Ford’s factory effort. XGT-1 and XGT-2 were raced by Alan Mann Racing at Le Mans in 1966, while XGT-3 did not compete.

The recent sale of XGT-3 for $12,375,000, making it the second most expensive Ford ever sold at auction, has brought renewed focus to the Alan Mann Racing Lightweights—an under-recognised programme whose engineering influence helped shape Ford’s ultimate GT40 success.

22/01/2026

It was announced last week that the three iconic Ford GT MkIIs that locked out the podium at the 1966 edition of the 24 Hours of LeMans will reunite at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival to celebrate 60 years since Ford’s legendary triumph over Ferrari.

Let's look back at the Alan Mann Trophy, a race for Ford GT40s (in Mk1 spec) of a type that raced between 1964 and 1966, from Goodwood 74th Members' Meeting in 2016.

Featuring a 27-strong grid, the 60-minute two-driver race was won by Steve Soper and David Cuff.

The 74th Members' Meeting saw the return of Ford GT40s to Goodwood, as they battled it out in a ferocious contest at sunset that saw its fair share of flames!

17/01/2026

60 years since Alan Mann Racing built the lightest ever Ford GT40.

Developed by Alan Mann, Len Bailey and suspension expert John Crosthwaite, the pair of red-and-gold GT40 prototypes featured small-block 289 (4.7L V8) engines, lightweight aluminium upper-superstructures, which incorporated more than a hundred modifications to the standard GT40 tub, and lightweight Elektron (magnesium/aluminium alloy) bodies - all supplied by Abbey Panels.

Following testing at Goodwood Motor Circuit, two of the new lightweight GT40s debuted at the 12 Hours of Sebring in March 1966. AM GT-1 (No. 25) was driven by Sir John Whitmore and Frank Gardner, with AM GT-2 (No. 24) piloted by Formula 1's Sir Jackie Stewart and Graham Hill; Graham had just left BRM for Lotus and Jackie had taken over as BRM's number one driver.

Graham and Jackie qualified third, three seconds quicker than Whitmore and Gardner in seventh, but the latter pairing turned out to be closer to the pace of the F1 duo in the race itself.

Following a Le Mans-style start, Graham Hill in the No. 24 led the 64-car field by the end of Lap 1. Hill held onto the lead for some time, but ultimately AM GT-2 retired with a dropped valve after 142 laps, whilst AM GT-1 retired with clutch failure a few laps later.

Nonetheless, Ford went on to take a triumphant 1-2 result in Sebring with the 7-litre MkIIs, with the Ford X1 Roadster, driven by Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby taking overall victory.

17/01/2026

16/01/2026

X-GT3, one of only five lightweight GT40 chassis delivered by Abbey Panels to Alan Mann Racing, and one of only three factory examples of a Ford GT40 MkII produced with a lightweight chassis, is going across the auction block later today with Mecum Auctions in Kissimmee 🇺🇸

You can even tune into the live stream from anywhere in the world: youtube.com/live/cLREq-8YrLY 🎥

More info 👉 www.mecum.com/lots/1159821/1966-ford-gt40-mkii-factory-lightweight