Ford ordered a massive eight-car factory assault on Le Mans for 1966, and at the same time declared that no team, no matter how good, should field more than three cars. Earlier in the season, Shelby American had turned over three cars to Holman Moody and in May of 1966 they completed three chassis which were sent to the shops of Alan Mann Racing in England for final preparation. Scheduling prevented these three cars from passing through the Ford Advanced Vehicles department and so they weren't assigned GT40 serial numbers, instead being numbered XGT-1 (yellow #8), XGT-2 (silver #7) and XGT-3 (a red car that would be a spare at Le Mans).
Dick Thompson, who was originally paired with Graham Hill, collided with a slower car during practice and, due to the unique politics surrounding Le Mans, found himself disqualified as a result! On the morning of the race, Brian Muir arrived from England and was given a couple laps to get familiar with the car and the track, neither of which he had ever experienced before!
Graham Hill was charged with the first driving stint. Following the traditional sprint across the track, the Essex Wire GT40 was first away, but by the Dunlop bridge Hill had taken the lead from his sixth place starting position! Gurney and Bucknum were in tow, and at the end of the first hour Hill was stationed in the second of the three leading Mk IIs. The race continued well for Hill and Muir, but shortly after midnight a broken front suspension upright - later determined to have resulted from the collision during practice - ended their efforts.