2005 Ford GT

The curtain of morning mist that shrouds the racetrack is beginning to rise. Dan Gurney, back in the pits after his stint driving the car, offers me some feedback before I take the wheel: "The chassis feels very balanced and predictable out there. It's with you all the way." As I fire up the big V-8 engine and tighten myself into the low-slung racing seat, from the pit wall team boss Carroll Shelby gives me an enthusiastic thumbs up. I slip the chunky shifter into first and roar away, the 500-horsepower engine behind me pinning my helmet back and filling my ears with the mechanized brawl of eight ravenous cylinders feasting on all-you-can-eat helpings of fuel and air. As I swoop onto the track, a sister car flashes by at 120 miles per hour, a blur of scoops and flares and racing stripes and that unmistakable, unparalleled Ford GT40 profile.

Mmmmm, it's a delicious dream: I'm driving for Ford at Le Mans in 1966, the first of four consecutive years that the company's sleek GTs whupped Ferrari's fancy fannies at the world's premier endurance-racing event...

Except that I'm not dreaming. This definitely isn't 1966--nowhere can I see a poster of Raquel Welch starring in "One Million Years B.C." And, judging by the conspicuous lack of people speaking French or sleeping on the ground, this isn't Le Mans, either (it's actually Laguna Seca, near Monterey, California). Otherwise, this could easily be the Circuit de la Sarthe in 1966. Former Grand Prix ace, GT40 pilot, and Le Mans winner Dan Gurney is here all right. So are Carroll Shelby, famed Cobra creator and head of the original GT40 effort, and legendary racer Lloyd Ruby, who also raced GT40s at Le Mans and did much of the team's development testing.

It's the car I'm driving that makes the Le Mans illusion complete. On hand at Laguna are three stunning Ford GTs, prototypes of the maker's remarkable new GT40-inspired supercar. This spring, Ford will begin selling GTs to roughly 1500 lucky individuals per year, at a sticker expected to come in at just under $150,000--a price that undoubtedly would've sent Henry Ford straight to Betty Ford. But the GT is more than just a sports car: It's a high-speed, high-profile declaration that the Ford Motor Company is once again out to take on the world's best.