Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans

by A.J. Baime

By the early 1960s, the Ford Motor Company, built to bring automobile transportation to the masses, was falling behind. Young Henry Ford II, who had taken the reins of his grandfather’s company with little business experience to speak of, knew he had to do something to shake things up. Baby boomers were taking to the road in droves, looking for speed not safety, style not comfort. Meanwhile, Enzo Ferrari, whose cars epitomized style, lorded it over the European racing scene. He crafted beautiful sports cars, "science fiction on wheels," but was also called "the Assassin" because so many drivers perished while racing them.

Go Like Hell tells the remarkable story of how Henry Ford II, with the help of a young visionary named Lee Iacocca and a former racing champion turned engineer, Carroll Shelby, concocted a scheme to reinvent the Ford company. They would enter the high-stakes world of European car racing, where an adventurous few threw safety and sanity to the wind. They would design, build, and race a car that could beat Ferrari at his own game at the most prestigious and brutal race in the world, something no American car had ever done.

Go Like Hell transports readers to a risk-filled, glorious time in this brilliant portrait of a rivalry between two industrialists, the cars they built, and the "pilots" who would drive them to victory, or doom.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Sports, Cars, Racing, Biography, Business

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could nit-pick... At times I thought this book was dumbed-down, with a frustrating lack of detail (for me, anyway...), and some of the dialogue felt unlikely, even a bit cartoonish. But this is just such a great story, with an all-star cast, and just so much fun.

[Judith E · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great audio book! My husband (Mr. Gearhead) loved the mechanical/technical aspects and I (tolerant of Mr. Gearhead) loved the history of the personal lives of Henry Ford II and Enzo Ferrari and their racing teams. The fierce competition they had over winning the LeMans road race and reigning supreme in auto racing in the 1960's is an incredible story and Mr. Baime writes an excellent recounting. Highly recommended audio book.

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

The race known has the 24 Hours of Le Mans is one of the most famous, testing the endurance of drivers, pit crews and cars alike. It was a very dangerous race, as it was once called “a four hour sprint races followed by a 20 hour death watch” by Car and Driver magazine. However, winning the race was also very prestigious for everyone involved. Two car makers waged an epic war in the 1960’s for this glory, Ford and Ferrari, and the battle is captured in this excellent book by A.J. Baime.

The book covers everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, about what the two owners, Enzo Ferrari and Henry Ford II, did in order to ensure their cars were the best at the race. Ferrari cars had a head start, as in the mid-1960’s, they were the kings of Formula 1 and European racing, and Ford had some catching up to do. At first, it appeared to have a deal to work together on racing cars, but when that fell through, a bitter rivalry ensued.

While their business rivalry is well-documented, Baime writes about every aspect of the racing teams and what they did for their respective areas. Drivers such as Phil Hill, John Surtees, Carroll Shelby (who was also a designer), Bruce McLaren and Mario Andretti are all a part of the story. The scenes in the garage and the pits, starting from 1957 and Phil Hill driving for the Ferrari team up until 1966 when Ford finally won its first race, are described wonderfully as race fans of all interest levels will feel like they are either fueling the cars or speeding down the Mulsanne Straight at over 200 miles per hour.

Baime is a well-respected writer on auto racing and his research and writing for this book is superb. It is highly recommended for anyone who is interested in the sport or in the Le Mans race.

http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...

[carl theaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Go Like Hell” made me “Read Like Hell” as author AJ Baime weaves a compelling tale of this mid-1960s battle for the honors at the historic race track at Le Mans, France. I do like sporty cars, and until now, was medium on watching auto races, but this story pulled me right in, I floored it to the next chapter, hell with the curves. I even went out to the garage and read a few chapters in the ambience of oil, tools, machinery.

Baime does a great job of setting up the competitive situation between Ford and Ferrari. I am always a bit wary of any book on any sport fearing numbing statistics and play-by-plays, but I was pulled in by the opening look at the history of all the players, and in this time period, most of them lived through the historic times of the 1900s-World War 2, so racing seems a continuation of all the events, the battles of peoples and countries, this time for the finish line. The familiarity of the names give an aura to the time, those of the auto makers, Enzo Ferrari, Henry Ford II, Carrol Shelby, Jim Hall, Lee Iacocca, and the drivers-pilots, Phil Hill, Bruce McLaren, Jim Clark, Mario Andretti and more!

At a fast 250 pages, events move quickly so everything cannot be included, but I couldn’t help but notice that while that much is made of the surprise victory by Team Ferrari in the 1935 German Grand Prix in Hitler’s Germany, nothing is said that Ferrari was representing Mussolini’s Italy.

There are a variety of racing film clips on youtube to give you look and the cars and people, a proper complement and reading inspiration!

A good, great ! read, and excuse me while I run off to find a copy of the movie ‘Grand Prix’.

[Gavin · Rating 5 out of 5]

What!? You haven't read this yet? Do so...immediately.

Okay, I may love cars, cars racing, and 60s lore more than the average reader, but this book really is a great piece of history. It's literally the biggest grudge match that the world of racing has ever seen. Ford vs Ferrari at lemanns is the stuff of legend. On top of that, you get a front row seat to the damn the torpedoes 60s racing mentality. These guys didnt even wear seatbelts, for gods sake! No wonder 4 in 10 didn't survive the race season. These were the days of true excitement and danger and the book really nails the tone.

Read it and love it.

[Rahul Adusumilli · Rating 4 out of 5]

"To do something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy."

-Bruce McLaren, who himself died at the age of 32 but left a racing team behind. It's shocking the number of racing drivers who perished during these years. Sir Jackie Stewart did the industry a great service by prematurely retiring from racing and dedicating his life to pushing for improved safety standards.

Work-life balance sounds immaterial and ridiculous when you're racing against the clock to build a car for a marquee race. You wouldn't feel the need and there would be no hankering for such a thing as the weekend amidst the rush- you'd be so happily engrossed in work. This clamor for "work-life balance" comes up only when the work you're doing isn't fulfilling and you have no control over it. Marx calls this alienation. Weekend culture is the tell-tale growth out of alienation.

If you thought Matt Damon was a dick in Interstellar, wait till you see this. The Ken Miles saga aside, Carol Shelby is a larger-than-life icon and a great get for any actor and Matt Damon should be extremely flattered for getting to portray him.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review title: Ford vs. Ferrari: Speed wins; speed kills

This is the story of the battle between Ferrari and Ford for supremecy in the 24 Hours of Le Mans road race in the middle of the 1960s. Even though each company bore the name of its founder and current president, it was the ultimate battle between the tiny boutique supercar builder and the massive mainstream American car company, between nimble European road-racing cars and powerful American stock cars, between the enigmatic entrepreneurs and the gray-suited businessmen.

It is an epic story told in epic style by A. J. Baime. In every contest between man and machine in this book speed wins, because finishing first is the only thing that matters. But speed also wins because it kills; the rate at which drivers (and spectators in this largely unregulated road racing era) died in pursuit of speed is astonishing. Author Baime tells the story like Hemingway does bull-fighting and Shakespeare does Hamlet, with glory and tragedy equally weighed in the balance. His account was mined for the 2019 Oscar best picture nominee with Matt Damon portraying Ford racing engineer Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale playing Ken Miles, the irascible and maniacally-focused driver and tuner who helped make Ford's Le Mans entry one of the fastest cars in the world.

When Baime's story begins, Ferrari has dominated the race, winning six years in a row while losing money in its low-volume, high-price, hand-built business model. Ferrari needed money, while Ford (despite stock car success in American racing) needed international prestige in hopes of increasing world-wide sales, so Ford opened merger talks with founder Enzo Ferrari. When the talks fell through, Henry Ford II (son of the founder) committed the resources of Ford to making the fastest cars in the world and winning Le Mans at any price.

Much of the story is about how expensive that search really was in lost lives, lost races, failed cars, and misguided engineering and management decisions. While this might sound like boring b-school case study stuff, Baime turns it into exciting human interest accounts, pulling first-person stories from contemporary sources including several memoirs by key participants. Sports fans who came of age in the mid and late 1960s will recognize many of the names and events as Baime recalls their stories back to memory. Baime footnotes his facts and culls a list of the most important references sources in his acknowledgements.

While the movie narrowed its focus to the two lead characters Miles and Shelby, and both are certainly wise choices with great casting, Baime's account is populated with several great personalities, including:

--A young Mario Andretti getting his first exposure in the major leagues of racing,
--The Englishman John Surtees signing on to race cars for Italy's Ferrari the same year he won motorcycle racing's world championship (national pride would play a prominent role in the ending of that relationship), and
--Ford executives Leo Beebe and John Wyer, handpicked by Ford II ("The Deuce" they called him--behind his back) to build the cars.

And what cars they were. The Ford GT40 (40 inches being the height of the roof line) remains one of the most iconic car shapes of all time. When I saw a road-legal model around town several times during my work in a village in the north of England in 2019 it was one of the highlights of the year for me. Along with those equally-classic Ferraris they often bring seven-figure prices at collector-car auctions today.

I can't say much more about the events without giving away spoilers for those who want to read through this account with the excitement of a page-turning thriller. The cars, the speed, the drivers, the glory of the victories, and the tragedy of the losses of those years make Go Like Hell an epic tale well worth reading.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans, is the true-life story of classic duels of machine and driver in the French countryside.
There’s just enough biography of Henry Ford II (the Deuce) and Enzo Ferrari to understand the motivations of these two rivals, willing to stake their fortunes, their companies’ futures, and (all too often) their drivers’ lives on this grueling competition. The Deuce believed—correctly—that supremacy in the racing circuit would lead to sales of Ford cars. The components that had to be developed to survive the 24-hour race at Le Mans were testaments to product reliability as well as power, and many advances originally developed for racing vehicles—such as independent suspensions, high-performance tires, disc brakes, and push-button starters—have found their way into passenger cars.
For Enzo Ferrari, whose interest in consumer cars was always secondary to racing, the point was being the world’s best and proving it in the world’s most prestigious and dangerous sports car race, Le Mans. If you’re at all familiar with auto racing’s “golden age,” the big names are all here: Carroll Shelby, A. J. Foyt, Dan Gurney, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Ken Miles, Bruce McLaren, and an upstart kid from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, who took the pole position in the Indianapolis 500 the year I saw the race, Mario Andretti. To get an idea of the speeds they achieve, Baime noted that at top speed they complete the 100-yard distance of a football field in one second.
This was a fast, fun read that shifts between Dearborn, Shelby’s racing car development team working for Ford in Southern California, and Ferrari’s workshop in Maranello, Italy. For a Detroit girl like me, whose grandfather, father, and many uncles worked for the Ford Motor Company, it was a thrill a minute! But even for people who don’t get goosebumps when they hear those Formula One engines roar, Baime’s cinematic recreation of the classic Le Mans races of 1965, 66, and 67, with all their frustrations, excitement, and tragedy is a spectacular true story.

[Phillip Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic review of an important part of automotive history. The names of the players are still icons on the roads of the world. If you like cars, or just a little curious about what makes a gear head tick this is a must read.

I was just as enthralled the second time I read it as the first. This is a great story that speaks to some of the greatest minds of the muscle care era in the states as well as the pinnacle of Ferrari’s dominance in motor sports.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the Story of Henry Ford II and his obsession with having an American made car, of course a Ford product, win The 24 Hour Le Mans. He spent millions of dollars trying to unseat Ferrari, a French made auto.

Detroit's Big Three (as the auto industry is/was known) had signed a pact "Detroit's Safety Resolution". In 1963 Henry Ford II withdrew his company from the pact. Ford believed that domestic auto sales were intricately tied to the racing cars, and he was determined to cash in on this theory. At the Daytona 500 that year Ford introduced a V8 engine that was the largest, most powerful Ford engine ever produced.

Enzo Ferrari was just as determined to stop Ford. His cars got faster, sleeker. However, the loss of life due to accidents on the track was in the double digits. These vehicles required almost super-human quality from the race car pilots

In 1965, furious he still had not won the Le Mans, Ford sent a card to all of his top Executives. The card had the Le Mans logo on it and read You Better Win. In other words, your job is on the line. Being Detroit born and bred, I remember that Henry II was always in the newspapers here. He had a fire cracker temper and was not known as a nice man. It was interesting for me to read more about him and how he ran his company.

If not for the Polls challenge I would have never given this book a second look. I am surprised as anyone how much I enjoyed it. A.J. Baime tells the story in plain language and he kept my interest through-out.

[Piker7977 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of Ford's victory over Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans is not a simple tale of American outsiders defeating an Italian racing dynasty at a prestigious competition. It encompasses incredible innovations in technology, the awesome power of visionaries and moguls within a huge corporation, the romance and obsession of genius automotive designers, the politics between athletes and their handlers, patriotism through international competition, why speed became a dominant trend with the Boomer generation, the thrill of victory, the taste of defeat, and how tragedy can go hand in hand with triumph.

A.J. Baime's Go Like Hell: Ford Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans is a great book. I would even go so far as to call it The Right Stuff of the 2000s. There are many reasons for this that are worth noting. I will avoid particulars about the narrative itself; you simply need to read it to discover those particular joys.

First, Baime is a good writer. There is a pacing in this book that slows down the sentences which cover the business and technological parts of the story, inspiring thoughtful consideration and historical reflection. Before you know it, he speeds up and shortens the writing during the racing sequences that quicken the pace to make for an exciting experience. For me, this trumps any movie depiction or video game simulation as Baime instinctively engages your mind and emotions simultaneously.

Second, this story is rich. To the author's credit, he picked a real doozy that is deceptively complex involving all sorts of characters and narratives that come together to form a grand presentation of the glory of racing, and the sexy aspects of 1960s. There are good guys and bad guys, but those differences transcend specific racing teams and car manufacturers. At the end, I found myself rooting for everyone: Carl Shelby, Henry Ford II, Enzo Ferrari, Ken Miles, Mario Andretti, John Surtees, Phil Hall...I could go on. I don't even remember the creepy crew chiefs or the corporate suits as they are eclipsed by the wonders of everyone else.

Third, the reader gets to learn something. I fancy myself a student of the 20th century, but this tale adds a new perspective to my previous understanding about American exceptionalism, consumerism, and pride. It's also a good book to read nowadays as it rekindled my patriotism. I caught myself with a clenched fist, silently chanting U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! On the other hand, I also want to go spend money on a Ferrari and happily beat American muscle cars in I-80 drag races.

A movie was made about this story that didn't do it justice. Read the book, soak in the narrative, and enjoy the rush. Go Like Hell is a book that will be enjoyed again, and again.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall the information was interesting but a few glaring errors make the rest of the story suspect. All the way through I got the feeling the story had been dumbed down to appeal to a n0n-racing audience.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a story! Although I am not a racing fan, the history of this battle of huge auto makers is fascinating from beginning to end. The movie based on this book is terrific as well. The real-life people are all characters, which sometimes leads to giant disagreements over policies and methods. It was a great ride! I have a new appreciation for what the pilots (drivers) endure, both on and off the track. Whew!

[Chris Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le Mans, 1966. The penultimate battle between two modern day industrial Icons- Ferrari and Ford.

Fascinating read.

[Holden Cayelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanna be a race car driver

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans
By: A.J. Baime
Read it in cheap paper back at 320 pages.

Our November selection is brought to you by Dust. Our little reading group has two practicing mechanics, a third college educated (no longer practicing) mechanic, and a few car enthusiasts. One of these enthusiasts is Dust and thus picked A.J. Baime's Go Like Hell.

Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans is well, exactly that. The car industry in the late 1950's and early 1960's was poised for reformation at the hands of many eager youth looking for freedom, responsibility, and a self-identifying image that they could find in a car. Sales were directly affected by winning races and Ford looked to get in on that as the company was also looking for a new angle to sell cars and ensure dominance both at home and in Europe for car sales. Naturally, in there way lay Enzo Ferrari and his quest to win in cars that were beautiful, fast, and most importantly winning. This is the true tale of the companies, their owners, the teams, the mechanics, and of course the racers that would ultimately come to play their positions in the 1966 Le Mans.

-Potential Spoilers Below-

Overall I expected high rankings from this book. With so many people in the field and the many enthusiasts we have in this book club, it was unavoidable. What many a reader was worried about was the level of detail that Baime would use in his descriptions of the cars, races, and overall technology of the industry in the 1960's. Luckily Baime did well and for some of us, we actually wanted more details.

From a OTC Book Club scale of 1-10, with a one being a convenient wipe for your posterior and a ten a treasured capsule of prose:
Th3ee: 7
G$$: 8
Dust: 9
Hylen: 6
BoozyCoug: 7
Shely-the-Don: 7
SS: 6
Mech Dave: 8

We had 8 people finish with an average score of 7.25. I think we all inflated this based on our interest in cars. I can't say that I would recommend the book to someone that didn't have an interest in cars. But that's not to discount how much we all enjoyed the book, I just think it would have been a point lower (perhaps a 6.25) if we were a little more critical.

We all had a hard time with are standard template questions that I use to foster conversation about the books. There are a lot of people to like in this book from the tycoons present in Ford and Ferrari, to the racers for each team who possessed sheer talent laced with mystery and quirks, and of course mechanics with insatiable attention to power and detail. Shelby probably one the prize for best character as he was in a way, all three of the things described above and had enough charisma to carry the title of our favorite character. A callout to racer Miles who was also loved by many of us.

One of our least favorite moments was about the end of the 1966 Le Mans in which Ford finally gains their title. We felt that the ending to the race was a huge disservice to the racers and the competitive spirit embodied in racing itself. We all felt that the ending might have been different if the racers knew what the teams knew rounding those final laps. Lets be honest, Miles got fucked, hard.


Overall an interesting pick and we were all pleased with it.

[Amritesh Mukherjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shelby’s father told him, “There’s no man born with a drop of red blood in his veins that doesn’t enjoy a race of some kind.”
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Behold the (considered by many) golden era of car racing, when the world witnessed one of the largest, and fiercest rivalries in history, brought to life by the spectacular writing of AJ Baime.⁣
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I picked this book solely in order to delve deeper into that certain time period of history after I'd watched "Ford vs Ferrari". And to try a comparison, what I was expecting to read was a solar system, what I got was the whole freaking universe. (The movie isn't that good after all!)⁣
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“How would you like to drive for me at Le Mans?”⁣
And there it was, a dream and a nightmare embodied in a sentence.
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The book is alluring from the first page itself, and you can't help but gasp, and cheer, and boo, and scream at the top of your lungs, as the book moves from one page to another, as you read breathlessly, in awe, and as you watch a whole different era come alive in front of your eyes!⁣
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It is extremely well researched, with over 40 pages of sources given at the end of the book. Even for a person like me, who has never been interested in automobiles (never!), this was entertaining and unputdownable, to say the least.⁣
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Speed was nothing but sex. To hammer the accelerator was to do it in the road. To indulge in risk was to be set free.
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The book is set in the 1960s: one of the most happening decades of American history: Vietnam war, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and the author makes sure you see how the world would probably have looked like, from the eyes of a regular American in that time.⁣
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Not only that, you see through the lens of some of the most prominent figures in racing history: Enzo Ferrari, Henry Ford II, John Surtees, Caroll Shelby, Ken Miles, Bruce McLaren, Masten Gregory and many others.⁣
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America was going to go to Europe and beat Enzo Ferrari at Le Mans. In a Ford. ⁣
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So, whether you are or aren't a motor fan, this book undoubtedly deserves a read. Very gripping, splendidly written, and one hell of a breathtaking, gorgeous book!

[Taylor Magouirk]

This is a fantastic book. If anyone is a car nut, they will like this book. It is filled with history and some of the most well known names in the auto industry. I learned a lot from just reading this book.

Before I read this book I had no idea what Le Mans was. I did not know that Ford and Ferrari had a speed grudge match. I was incredibly into this book and I am not much of a reading fan. I am very happy to have found this book.

The main people in this book are mainly businessmen and race car drivers. That being said, I was able to see what they wee like. It tells about their past and how they came into the place they were in. Carroll Shelby was a racer before he started making cars. Before that he was a farmer. I would have never had known that if I did not read the book.

All in all this is a book for car people. Even if someone is not into cars, I think he would like it. It is far from the worst book I have read. So please give this book a try.

[Ryan Strohl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rated "Go Like Hell" 5 stars because the book was an awesome read. The car industry had to have started from somewhere. We didn’t start off with powerful, V12 super speed cars that are traveling faster than 250 mph. This true story tells the tale of Henry Ford II, Enzo Ferrari, Carol Shelby, and many other racing legends who started a global industry that has revolutionized the world. Their cars raced night and day, with new improvements on top of innovation to create the base of the cars that we have today. The accounts of the races of Le Mans, the Indy 500, and other races show behind the scenes action on how the cars that were created then were able to withstand the grueling conditions of a 24 hour race. All of these events lead to the cars that we have today, and all of the men in the books were real, innovative, creative minded individuals that changed the world as we know it. The book was action packed and exciting from the beginning to the end.

[Eos BookCar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non è il classico romanzo di un film anzi, racconta i fatti veri, la sfida tra Ferrari e Ford per la supremazia a Le Mans. Leggendolo sembra davvero di stringere tra le mani il volante della leggendaria Ford Gt40, sentire il rombo assordante del motore a pochi centimetri dalle orecchie, che emana un calore quasi insopportabile, respirare vapori di benzina e odore di gomma bruciata, sentire le emozioni dei piloti nel corso della gara, eccitazione ed euforia che sono un tutt'uno con la paura della morte. Consiglio la lettura a tutti gli appassionati di auto, e a chi si è da poco avvicinato a questo mondo!!

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read. Well researched and structured book with just the right level of detail. A gripping look at one of motor-racings great rivalries. The races, the personalities and the danger from, arguably, the greatest period in racing's history. Entertaining, enjoyable and well written - a must read for car nuts, racing fans or anyone looking for a high-revving, real-life drama from an unforgettable era.

[Aditya Vipradas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that tells a story about one of the biggest wars in Motorsports history. I was surprised to see so many racing legends connected to it directly or indirectly. A.J.Baime describes their personalities and private lives in such detail, that I could literally form their mental picture. It was a treat to understand their characters.

The story on the other hand has been beautifully narrated with carefully-chosen words. What a masterpiece! Read it like hell.

[Dean Glover · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-researched, reasonably presented book that details the "behind the scenes" events involved with the great races of the past. Ford's development of their racing division vs. Ferrari development is intriguing. Henry II certainly used a lot of Ford's resources and financing to attain the status they achieved in the 1960's at Le Mans, etc. A good read, full of personal details about the participants.

[Shaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

To put it quite simply...this book was incredible. If you have any, any, interest in cars, racing or compelling storytelling, read this book.

[Diego E · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, I like how the author added the background of the companies like how ford was a company making cars out of Detroit, Michigan, and was already well established ran by the Ford family, and the Company Ferrari was making cars out of a small factory where Enzo Ferrari lived with his son and wife Ferrari was making very little amounts of cars every year since they were handmade. In addition, I like how they showed great imagery where they had me imagining the pictures in my head and had me very intrigued by what was happening in the book. One example of imagery in the book was “ The crowd cannot see them as of now, except for those who are lining the roads along the countryside. This is one of the great moments in sports” this helped me imagine the Ending of the race as the cars came flying past the Finish line. I also like the details of the cars they were showing how they never tested the Ferrari race car and they took it to Spa to test it and the test driver was unable to control the car because he was inexperienced and crashed and died that day this lead to the team not knowing how the car performed days before the 24 Hours of La Mans. However I don’t like that the author left a lot of the race details out and only talking about little things about the race and could’ve added way more details about the race, but many things could’ve been said that weren’t shared since the race was 24 hours long. I was disappointed in the lack of detail the author went into when he was describing the whole race. All in all this book is amazing to read and had me very excited to read this novel every time I read it and would be a great read for anyone who likes cars or racing since it was a lot of nonfiction stuff going on and showed us a greater understanding of what happened in the background of the racing scene I would give this book a 4/5 and definitely recommend reading it.

Here is a quote I thought best matched with the theme of the book: “Shelby’s father told him, “There’s no man born with a drop of red blood in his veins that doesn’t enjoy a race of some kind.”

[Jackson Reaves · Rating 5 out of 5]

During a time when the Italian car company Ferrari was dominating European racing, Henry Ford II was determined to launch Ford Motor Company into a new era of racing machines. A.J. Baime’s true to life story, Go Like Hell, is an action-packed adventure between Ford and Ferrari at Le Mas during the early to late ’60s. The point of view plays an important part in advancing the plot by illustrating not only Ford’s perspective but also that of Ferrari. Toward the beginning of the book, the perspective alternates between Ford and Ferrari as they prepare for Le Mas. This changing viewpoint helps keep the reader engaged with both sides of the story. The author also uses conflict to create suspense throughout the book. One example occurs during preparation for Le Mans. Ford’s racing team had only eight weeks to create a car from scratch to race at the Daytona Continental. They are pushed to the limit when attempting to build a car in such a short time. It is exciting for the reader to go on this journey with Ford’s team. Baime also uses imagery to help bring to life the dialog between characters. For instance, when Ford engineers are discussing the weight of their new car, they joke about how Ferrari’s car might shoot off like a rocket into space when hitting a pebble because it is so light. These small details help the reader to conclude that Baime’s Go Like Hell is a full-throttle wild ride that all car enthusiasts will appreciate.

[Ardon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever since I watched a documentary a few years ago about the titanic duel between Ford and Ferrari in the 1960s, I was amazed by the Ford GT40; how this almost "obscene" car (by Le Mans standards of beauty) dethroned Ferrari within 3 years.

No effort was wasted in the pursuit of relentlessly optimising the GT40, from tweaking the massive 7L engine to adding its iconic rear tail fins to create stability in the corners. Le Mans was always the goal and that was the track that this car was built to absolutely demolish - it broke the lap record 4 or 5 times within the 1966 race and managed to hit 220mph on the famed Mulsanne straight, a feat never accomplished before the 1966 race.

As a bit of a "petrolhead," I really liked the detail in which the development of the Ford GT40 was described. The book also has a nice consideration of the political factors at play, both within Ford and Ferrari at the time, particularly the drama with John Surtees and the Ferrari racing managers; Le Mans '66 might have gone to Ferrari if that hadn't happened.

[Kelsey Wheeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband and I are reading this book before the movie 'Ford v Ferrari' comes to theaters in November, and let me tell you, this is an interesting read! My husband is very into cars and racing, so this is up his ally, but for me, I could care less honestly. What is truly interesting is how much technology has advanced from then and now, even in the early days of car development to the mid-60s. It was super interesting to read about what these drivers go through to get to Le Mans, and that is something I would never want to do. What I didn't like was at parts, the car engineering got very boring, which is my only complaint of the book.

[Brian Miracle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Often, I will watch a movie based on true events, which will then motivate me to look for a book on the subject. That’s the case with this book. Although I’m not a huge car racing fan, I loved the movie Ford vs Ferrari. This book was the source for that movie. It displays the battle for dominance at Le Mans between Ford and Ferrari, including the vast sums spent for that dominance and the multiple drivers killed in the quest for victory.

[Lis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non conoscevo la storia nei dettagli e si è rivelata davvero molto interessante, sia a livello di quadro generale, sia con dettagli e aneddoti succosi.
Ad un certo punto mi è quasi venuto da tifare Ford...pazzesco! :)
Dimenticate il recente film Le Mans '66 - La grande sfida perché lì la storia è stata piegata per fini cinematografici