Ford vs Ferrari – Key Learnings

I watched this fantastic movie “Ford vs Ferrari” last weekend, it was sheer chance that I went for it. And found it an amazing experience, one of the best movies I have seen this year. A powerful combination of emotions ran through me as I saw it, and I had several takeaways from the movie, sharing them with you here.

Even if you have not watched this movie, and have no intention of doing so, this post here is still worth a read. I am hoping though, that some of you will read this post and actually end up watching the movie.

Warning – spoilers ahead. 🙂

The story in brief : How 2 people came together to build a near perfect car of their times, to help Ford beat Ferrari at the most prestigious endurance motor racing championship Le Mans.

Key characters – Ken Miles, Carroll Shelby

The Learnings

1. Passion begets Perfection: Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles both breathed cars. Day in and day out. Racing was Shelby’s passion, cars – Miles’. Having a purpose is important to not living an ordinary life. It is amazing what we can achieve when we are passionate about something. When the journey seems effortless, the outcome has to be spectacular!
2. Good Friends Raise your Game: Their shared passion, and an understanding for each other’s temperament and unique constraints in life, made Shelby and Miles into the best of friends. And each, in turn, had a key role to play in the other’s success. Without Shelby, Miles wouldn’t have achieved what he did at Le Mans. Wouldn’t have been the driver that he was. And without Miles, Shelby would never have achieved the iconic designer status. Shelby and Miles’ partnership is also the perfect example of what two people, inspired and motivated by a common passion and pursuit, can achieve together.
3. My Dad is my Hero: The beautiful father-son relationship is another striking feature of the movie, there’s a lot to learn from their chemistry and bonding.
4. Winning Instinct: As mentioned by Shelby to one of the Ford executives in the film – no amount of money can buy the winning instinct. It has to come from within.
5. Bureaucratic Culture: Bureaucracy is what we get when the process takes precedence over the performance. Ford had layers and layers of bureaucracy and corporate egos, starting right from the top, which is why they actually missed buying out Ferrari, why they almost missed out on the Mustang GT, and why they failed to recognize and fully leverage the genius combination that was Shelby-Miles.
6. Too much Ego is bad. Too little, worse! : Why did Shelby and Miles continue working on the Ford car despite being cheated out of a win? Why did Shelby not take this up with Henry Ford 2. How could they have let Beebe get away with literally murder in broad daylight. Fool me once, fool me twice, cannot fool me always…
7. Thinking Out of the Box: 2 instances – the idea to build a sports car as proposed by Ford employee Ioccoca, and the idea to have Braking assembly as a replaceable part that could be changed mid-racing (as suggested by Miles)
8. People Skills Matter: People skills are often a key determinator of success, much more than we think. The average guy with superior people skills has often trumped the eccentric and reserved genius.
9. At the Top the gap is very thin: I am reminded of another passion, mountain climbing….as you go higher up, it becomes more and more difficult to breathe. Contrary to popular perception, the competition is much higher at the top than at the bottom of the pyramid, and conversely, the room for error is that much lesser. A perfect analogy with the air pressure at heights.
10. Bittersweet Reality: If Ford vs Ferrari was a fictional movie, we may well have had a happy ending, with Miles winning the race in a spectacular photo finish. Instead, in real life, he was robbed of a well-deserved victory, and shortly thereafter died in a car crash. Tragic. But true.
11. Do you know what is at stake?: Shelby bet his entire life in a way on Miles winning Daytona. The payoffs – if Miles won, he would go to Le Mans (against the wishes of Ford guys); if he lost, Ford would get ownership of Shelby American lock, stock and barrel. Note that Shelby had nothing to gain in this transaction but everything to lose. And yet he took the bet. Took it for a friend, and took it for what he believed was the right thing to do. Trusted his passion, instincts, his friend Miles’ capabilities. The most interesting point though? Miles had no idea how important it was for him to win the race…he had no idea someone had bet the house on his win! The scene where Shelby runs to the side of the race circuit and holds a plank card egging Miles to go for the win like crazy – one of the best I have seen in a long time.
12. It takes 1 moment for life to change: Ford had almost bought out Ferrari in 1962, were it not for 1 wrong statement by a senior Ford executive. Had they managed to do so, we would never have seen the Ford Mustang GT – one of their most iconic cars. And Carroll Shelby wouldn’t probably have become one of the most celebrated designers in the world. And Ken Miles wouldn’t have been recognized as one of the best drivers in the world in his time.
13. History only remembers the winners: 1966 Le Mans winner is McLaren. That’s the fact. Everything else goes down unnoticed and carefully buried in the pages of history. But if you really want to get a different perspective in life, go beyond the obvious. Question everything that comes to you as fact. Cause the facts of yesterday were also written by someone, someone who probably had a vested interest in writing them the way they are being presented now.
14. Details Matter: Pay attention to the details. Get deep into the game. That’s what separates the best from the rest.
15. Entertainment is “gruelling fun”: Christian Bale dropped a whopping 70 pounds or close to 28 kg for his role as the lanky Ken Miles. He simply just gave up on his diet over a 7 month period to get into the required weight. The blinding high speed car scenes in the movie were filmed in-camera, instead of being mocked up via CGI. The cars used for the movie were as close to the original cars as possible….which meant no electronic safety features, no power steering or power brakes. It’s easy to assume when watching a movie that this is all scripted. But the amount of effort that goes into making one, needs to be appreciated. And spare a thought for the drivers who originally participate in these endurance races..
16. Trust your Instincts….Listen to no one: Miles was winning, achieving his dream. His instincts worked well for him. But the moment he thought of what was expected of him, he lost everything.

I leave you with a mesmerizing and haunting dialogue from the movie – “There’s a point at 7,000 RPMs where everything fades: the machine becomes weightless. It disappears. All that’s left, a body moving through space, and time. At 7,000 RPM, that’s where you meet it. That’s where it waits for you.”