It’s 50 years since Ford famously finished the Le Mans 24 Hour race with a 1-2-3, thanks to their stunning Lola-developed GT40. Half a decade later and Ford returned to Le Mans with their new GT, aiming to prove to America that big inefficient V8s really have had their day, and the future is smaller, more efficient, and turbo-charged.

This astonishing creation is the work of professional model-maker Pascal Lenhard, who was commissioned by Ford to build a replica of their 2016 GTE-competing racing car. Three weeks and 40,000 bricks later and this is the incredible result.

A full gallery of images is available to view at the Autoweek website (thanks to one of our readers for the tip!), where there are also images of an original 1960s Ford GT40 model that Pascal built to accompany his recreation of Ford’s latest Le Mans challenger.

And 50 years on, did Ford manage a Le Mans comeback worthy of their original result? They sure did, with the new Ford GT winning the GTE class and taking third place. In fact the team were only denied repeating their remarkable 1966 1-2-3 finish by some cheating Italians.

It’s good to have you back Ford!