If you were anywhere near West Sussex last week, you already know what happened. If you weren't, here's the short version: the Goodwood Festival of Speed just wrapped its 2026 edition, and the centerpiece wasn't a new hypercar or an F1 launch. It was three 60-year-old race cars.

The Reunion

Goodwood ran July 9–12 this year, and the 2026 theme was "The Rivals — Epic Racing Duels," built around motorsport's great head-to-head battles: Senna vs. Prost, Lauda vs. Hunt, Lancia vs. Peugeot in the WRC. But the story everyone left talking about was the one at the top of the bill — the 60th anniversary of the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans, the race where Ford finally beat Ferrari.

Image Credit: Goodwood

Goodwood brought back the actual cars. Chassis P/1046, P/1015, and P/1016 — the three Ford GT40 MkIIs that crossed the finish line together at Le Mans in 1966 for the famous photo-finish 1-2-3 that locked Ferrari out of the podium entirely — ran up the Hillclimb together for the first time since 1969. Mario Andretti, who co-drove the winning #2 car in period, was back behind the wheel, with Michael and Marco Andretti joining the parade lap. It's the kind of thing that doesn't happen twice.That win is the reason the GT40 matters at all. Henry Ford II tried to buy Ferrari, got turned down, and decided to beat Enzo at Le Mans instead. It took two brutal failures, in 1964 and 1965, before Ford got it right in 1966. Then the GT40 MkI kept going — chassis 1075 won Le Mans outright in both 1968 and 1969, the only car in the race's history to do that in consecutive years. No car has won more major road racing events since.

Goodwood spent four days putting that rivalry back on stage in front of a live crowd. We spent this week putting a piece of it on the auction block.

Why "Continuation" Is the Word Everyone's Using Right Now

Original GT40s don't trade hands. There were only 105 ever built, most are in museums or locked into multi-generation private collections, and the ones that do surface sell for eight figures. That scarcity is exactly what's driving the continuation car market right now — not just for the GT40, but across the board. Buyers who grew up wanting one of these cars have the means to own one today, and the originals simply aren't there to be bought.

Superformance's answer isn't a kit car or a tribute with a GT40 badge stuck on it. It's a licensed continuation built under authorization from Safir GT40 Spares LLC, the actual owner of the GT40 trademark, carrying an authentic GT40-P chassis number and a listing in both the Shelby World Registry and the official GT40 registry. As John Sadler of Safir GT40 Spares put it: "The registry will reflect these cars as newly manufactured variants of the original GT40. In essence, a true continuation series." Over two-thirds of the rolling chassis is directly interchangeable with an original car, including the monocoque itself — electro-galvanized steel, 244+ laser-cut parts, over 12,000 lbs/degree of torsional stiffness, stiffer than anything else on the market. This isn't a car that evokes a GT40. It's built to the same standard the original was.

That's the whole appeal of the continuation niche: you get the chassis number, the registry listing, and the engineering integrity of the real thing, without needing to out-bid a museum.

The Car: Superformance GT40 MKI, Gulf Racing Heritage

Which brings us to the car currently live on BIDR: a Superformance GT40 MKI, finished in the Gulf Racing Heritage livery — Gulf Light Blue with the orange stripe running nose to tail in the same proportions John Wyer's team ran at Le Mans and Sebring. It's arguably the single most recognizable paint scheme in motorsport, and it's applied here correctly, not as a loose interpretation, on the MKI body — the lower, more organic shape that chassis 1075 wore to both of its Le Mans wins.

Under the engine lid is a Roush 342SR crate V8, built specifically for this GT40 application with the full GT40 oil pan package, and assembled, machined, and dyno-tested at Roush before delivery. The documented dyno sheet, dated January 28, 2010, shows 435 horsepower at the flywheel and 395+ lb-ft of torque. In a 2,400-lb car with a 40-inch roofline, that's not a spec sheet number, it's a driving experience nothing currently in production can replicate at any price.

The rest of the build matches the ambition: Wilwood four-piston brakes on vented discs all around, fully independent suspension front and rear, Smith gauges, Alcantara seats with silver rivets, a four-point harness, and BRM-style wheels finished in matching orange. Air conditioning is tucked under the front bonnet so it doesn't disturb the original lines. It's currently registered and road legal in London, which clears the single biggest hurdle for a European buyer — no import process required to drive it on day one.

Full spec and bidding are here: Superformance GT40 MKI — Gulf Racing Heritage. Auction closes September 2, 2026.

Goodwood put the story of the GT40 back in front of the world last week. This is the version of that story you can actually park in your garage.