We're back at the ‪@ShelbyAmericanInc‬ museum reviewing the most significant Daytona ever!
Since the Roadster’s aerodynamic drag limited its top speed, Shelby knew that he needed a slicker car-a coupe-to win on European tracks. The FIA allowed special bodies on any chassis of which at least 100 examples would be sold. Cobra roadster sales had already exceeded 250, so here lay Shelby’s opportunity.
The tale of how Pete Brock risked his career at Shelby American to design the Coupe is oft-told. To match the speed of the Ferraris on tracks with long straights, he shaped the coupe to minimize aerodynamic drag. Lacking a wind tunnel for testing-and despite skeptical “experts” inside and outside Shelby American-Pete did what he believed would work. Then, miraculously, and without final drawings, Phil Remington and his crew of skilled fabricators took the first Coupe, CSX2286, from drafting table to track in just three months.
Right out of the box, in January 1964, Ken Miles found the Coupe three and a half seconds per lap faster around Riverside than the roadster. With the right gears, the 390- hp Coupe could exceed 185 mph, at least 30 mph better than the best roadsters; for a 24-hour race, this advantage would be enormous. The stiffer Coupe also handled better than the roadster. Most importantly, its lap times at Le Mans fell into the 3:56 to 3:59 range, down from for the Roadsters (the new GT40 managed 3:45). Lower drag also reduced fuel consumption by 20 to 30 percent, allowing longer runs between pit stops. Even though the Coupes were cramped, hot, and noisy, they were less fatiguing to drive than the open roadster.
In early June 1964, the almost finished CSX2299 was loaded onto the ex-Reventlow team’s Fiat transporter with CSX2287, and driver Ermanno Cuoghi (later famous as a mechanic for John Wyer and then Ferrari) made the three-day haul from Modena to the team’s temporary shop in Paris. When the car arrived at Le Mans, it had never been driven.
Nevertheless, it made a great debut. As car 5, in Viking Blue with a pair of white stripes, CSX2299 was Dan Gurney’s choice, because the unique high roof could accommodate him. For the same reason, Bob Bondurant became his co-driver. During practice, Gurney lapped the circuit at 3:56.1, a new GT record. on the Mulsanne Straight, speeds exceeded 185 mph, though 2299 was, due to the drag caused by its different roof, fully 11 mph slower there than 2287. The two Coupes soon led the GT class over the A.C. Coupe and the Ferrari GTos, but CSX2287’s battery died, and a rules infraction during its restart disqualified the car. Now it was up to Gurney, Bondurant, and 2299. Running as high as third overall, they led the Ferrari GTs by nine laps. Then, after 16 hours, the need to bypass a leaking oil cooler raised oil temperatures to over 300 degrees F, forcing a slower pace. A failing distributor hindered Bondurant during the final hour, and as he nursed the Coupe to the flag, the Ferraris were gaining. But he made it.
In its first race, a 24-hour thrash, CSX2299 had won its class and finished fourth overall, beaten only by three Ferrari prototypes. If not for the oil cooler snag, it might have won overall. In fact, according to Bondurant, “The way the French treated us, you’d have thought we’d won the whole race.” The fledgling GT40s, also making their Le Mans race debut---they had previously appeared at the April test weekend--- proved unable to best the Coupe and failed to finish.
Text credit: ShelbyAmericanCollection.org
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