GREAT EXPECTATIONS.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Detroit. Before a manufacturer decides to go racing, countless questions are posed and countless scenarios are researched and investigated. And this goes well beyond the costs associated with it, even though in this era of ROI-driven motorsports involvement, the budget required remains the most important factor. The second most important consideration for a company is, "How does our involvement in this form of motorsport connect with our products and most important, to our customers?" This translates into something along the lines of this: "Are we racing for our own edification and enthusiasm for the sport - aka racing in a vacuum - or are we racing to better our people and technology - and image - so we can deliver better cars to our customers?"

Every manufacturer will (or should anyway) insist on that latter statement. It's pretty much impossible in this day and age for a top-level automobile company to justify participation in motorsports just because the CEO wants to, although there are countless non-public companies that enthusiastically compete in the sport for that exact reason. (Which I wholeheartedly applaud, by the way.) For some companies (Audi, BMW and Porsche, just to name three), racing is part of who they are and what they do. For others, it's a coldly calculated means to an end.

This week, one manufacturer in particular has contemplated all of those questions and then some, and is choosing to embark on a new racing adventure. But it isn't just another car company, because the Ford Motor Company's involvement in racing goes back to the very foundation of the company. Through subsequent years, especially in its "Total Performance" heyday in the '60s, Ford carved out an enviable legacy of achievement at the highest levels of the sport, with countless victories in international sports car racing, on high-banked American super speedways, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and in Formula 1.

What you will see at Daytona this weekend in the Daytona 24 Hour race (Rolex 24) is the culmination of five years of due diligence, research, hard work and yes, more than a little hand-wringing, as Ford enters the most hotly-contested category in all of modern motorsport - the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship's GTLM class - with its brand-new Ford GT racer. That the Ford GT racing program exists to showcase its brand-spanking-new, limited-production, Ford GT production supercar is a given. But the racing program also exists to develop future superstar engineers, designers, aerodynamicists and electronics experts who will power the company's technological expertise into the future. It's also a quintessential branding and image exercise for the Ford suite of advanced technology as defined by EcoBoost, and to remind those who are interested and for those who didn't already know, that the Ford Motor Company's history is rich with motorsports participation at the highest level - and winning.

Ford has assembled an impressive effort in their quest. Multimatic, the talented Canadian-based outfit, has built the race cars and will build the production cars, in a challenge that is unprecedented. And Chip Ganassi Racing will field the cars with an impressive lineup of drivers, including Sébastien Bourdais, Joey Hand and Dirk Müller in the No. 66 Ford GT and Stefan Mücke, Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook in the No. 67 Ford GT team car. Ganassi and Multimatic will also field a two-car Ford GT team in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) as well. Needless to say, ambition isn't in short supply when it comes to the Ford racing effort.

Will there be success? Let's just say that no one directly associated with the Ford racing effort expects anything less, with a class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans - the greatest single road race in the world - the ultimate goal. But most of those directly involved with the Ford onslaught also know that racing is fraught with the "what if?" scenarios that often don't go as planned. Racers with longtime experience understand this fact well, albeit painfully so.

As for the powers that be at Ford, I sense that some are glossing over the realities that define major league road racing and are in the process of creating an unreasonable set of expectations. That's to be expected because it's human nature to do so. They want to win right out of the box, and anything less is bound to be a bitter disappointment.

But anyone who has been around racing long enough understands that the only thing predictable about racing is its unpredictability. And the teams from BMW, Corvette, Porsche and Ferrari are bound to have a definitive say in things.

Opening WeatherTech Championship practice and qualifying for the Rolex 24 is on Thursday, Jan. 28. The 54th Rolex 24 At Daytona rolls off on Saturday, Jan. 30 with television coverage at 2 p.m. ET on FS1.

It should be fascinating to watch.

And that's the High-Octane Truth for this week.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
It's a new beginning for Ford Racing this weekend at Daytona. Watch a video previewing Ford's effort here.
(Courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)
Henry Ford and driver Barney Oldfield posing with the legendary Ford 999 race car. Oldfield drove the car to victory in the five-mile Manufacturers' Challenge Cup on Oct. 25, 1902, in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Oldfield, a former bicycle racer, had never driven an automobile until a week before the race, yet his daring driving and the 999's massive, 1156 cu. in. displacement, four-cylinder engine with 80HP combined for an easy win over the heavily-favored Alexander Winton and three other cars.

Check out the latest episode of The High-Octane Truth on AutoextremistTV below. -WG

Editor's Note: Many of you have seen Peter's references over the years to the Hydrogen Electric Racing Federation (HERF), which he launched in 2007. For those of you who weren't following AE at the time, you can read two of HERF's press releases here and here. And for even more details (including a link to Peter's announcement speech), check out the HERF entry on Wikipedia here. -WG

Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD

(Photo by Dave Friedman, courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)
Daytona Beach, Florida, 1966. The race-winning No. 98 Shelby American Ford Mk II driven by Ken Miles/Lloyd Ruby leads the No. 95 Holman & Moody Ford Mk II driven by Mark Donohue/Walt Hansgen, followed by the No. 96 Shelby American Ford Mk II driven by Bruce McLaren/Chris Amon on Sunday morning of the Daytona 24 Hour race at Daytona International Speedway. The Miles/Ruby machine would sit on the pole and win the race by eight laps. It was the first time that the sports car opener at Daytona was contested for 24 hours. The Dan Gurney/Jerry Grant No. 97 Shelby American Ford Mk II would finish second, followed by the Donohue/Hansgen Ford Mk II. The Amon/McLaren Ford Mk II would finish fifth behind the No. 21 NART Ferrari 365 P2 driven by Pedro Rodriguez/Mario Andretti. Watch a short video here and see a Flickr set of images here.

(Photo by Dave Friedman, courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)
The Mark Donohue/Walt Hansgen Ford Mk II in for a pit stop during the night.

(Photo by Dave Friedman, courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)
Dan Gurney in the cockpit of his Ford Mk II during practice for the Daytona 24 Hour in 1966.

Publisher's Note: Like these Ford racing photos? Check out www.fordimages.com. Be forewarned, however, because you won't be able to go there and not order something. - PMD