Tag: Cobra

Categories
Classic Sportscar Video

A Field of Cobras at Goodwood

With more and more video from last weekend’s Goodwood Revival showing up on the YouTubes, don’t be surprised to see a handful of them here as a sort of self-medication for the depression I’m experiencing for not going.

GoodwoodRRClub says:

To celebrate Carroll Shelby’s magnificent Ferrari beating Cobra’s fiftieth anniversary, the 2012 Goodwood Revival played host to an inspiring one-make race of his fabulous creations. Lasting forty five minutes for two drivers, crowds were wowed by the sound of the biggest gathering of such machines ever in the UK. Victory was taken by the Hall brothers ahead of the Dutch pairing ofTom Colonel and David Hart in second and Ludovic Caron and Anthony Reid in Third.

Categories
Historic Racing Photos Porsche

Jerry Melton’s 1968 Detroit SCCA Regionals

From yesterday’s shots of the ’67 LeMans—perhaps the biggest sportscar race in the world—to today’s snaps from a regional track in the midwest; there’s virtually no end to the historic images and stories that drive our sickness passion for vintage racing.
I’ve mentioned before that I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for Waterford Hills Road Racing course. This was my home track growing up. It was where I saw my first club racing and my first vintage racing. I vividly remember 911s and even VW Golfs lifting a wheel at the crest of Hilltop Turn; and seeing more than a few cars lift 2 and sometimes 4 wheels if they overcooked it. That was it. I was hooked. So when Cliff pointed me to these Jerry Melton photographs from the June, 1968 SCCA Regionals at my beloved Waterford, I couldn’t just keep them to myself—could I?

I can’t resist sharing one more: Many of us know Garret Van Camp through his dominance in Formula Vee. It’s marvelous to see him in his earlier incarnation racing a Porsche Speedster. Check out that strap to the roll bar holding the door shut!

I’d seen Formula 1 cars thunder down the closed city streets of Detroit, their cacophonous engine notes echoing off the windows of the Pontchartrain Hotel and reverberating through Atwater Tunnel. But it was these smaller club events at local tracks that made me a lifelong racing fan. Even today, it’s these regional events that give me the greater thrill. A thrill that Jerry has managed to capture beautifully in these images from the June ’68 SCCA Regionals. Check out more of Jerry Melton’s archives on Etceterini.

Categories
Historic Racing Photos

Factories at Work: Assembling the Shelby Daytona

Seeing the mighty Daytona Coupe in her bare aluminum bodywork in these Shelby American publicity photos from 1964 makes me sympathize with these engineers and mechanics. They must have been filled with trepidation for the coming season. This being Shelby American, I’m sure they didn’t show it. But although their heads must have been dancing with the possibility, they couldn’t have known that this intoxicating machine they were assembling were about to become a legend.

Presumably this is CSX2287—the prototype—being gingerly pieced together at Shelby’s Venice workshop. If I’m right, it wouldn’t be long before this machine would the piloted by Phil Hill, by Dave MacDonald, by Bob Holbert, by Innes Ireland…. and the list goes on.

If this is indeed the prototype, Wikipedia says that this gorgeous piece of American muscle exited her career with a little vacation that earned her 25 USAC/FIA world records on the Bonneville Salt Flats. That, my friends, is a proper retirement party for a racing car; particularly an American racing car.

Regardless, it’s marvelous to see things humming inside the Shelby Workshops.

via Nigel Smuckatelli’s brilliant Flickr Stream.