Jalopnik: peter brock

Carroll Shelby Buys A Replica, Will He Sue Himself?

Mark Arnold — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:20:00 EDT

Just about every time Carroll Shelby smells merely a whiff of somebody using the name "Shelby" or "Cobra" or "Automobile" without ~~paying through the nose for it~~ his permission, ol' Shel' slaps em' with a good old 'merican-style lawsuit. Remember the case against Wilhelm Motor Works? There was even a suit against the Shelby American Automobile Club. So between all the replica Shelby Mustangs and Cobras out there, Carroll must be too busy taking people to court to even consider buying any of their lesser re-creations, right? Well, apparently not, as Shelby has just recently acquired a Superformance Brock Coupe, a car that's essentially a fake Shelby Cobra 'Daytona' Coupe. Ok, to be fair, the Superformance Coupe was designed by the same Peter Brock that penned the original '60s special, but we still can't help but find this ironic. Maybe it happened because the guy is getting old. We say that because this Daytona was fitted with a paddle-shift automatic transmission designed by MasterShift, which means 85-year old Carroll doesn't have to use a heavy clutch pedal to swap cogs now. Press release from Shelby below the jump.

Irvine, CA - On Monday, April 21, Shelby Distribution USA presented automotive legend Carroll Shelby with a custom Superformance Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe. This unique gift was made possible by Amy Boylan and the team at Shelby Automobiles in Las Vegas and Lance Stander and the employees at Shelby Distribution USA in Irvine, CA. "It was fantastic to have the opportunity to honor Carroll Shelby with this special car," said Stander. "We hope he enjoys driving it as much as we enjoyed giving it to him."
Painted in the same "Guardsman Blue" of the original cars, Carroll's Daytona Coupe also features the number 98 that represents chassis #2300 that Shelby himself owned up until 1999. Power comes from a Roush 427SR V8 with 480 horsepower and 515 lb-ft torque. Unique to Carroll's Daytona Coupe is a shifting system that utilizes paddles and buttons on the steering wheel. Developed by MasterShift (www.mastershift.com) of San Diego, the Art Carr 2004R 4-speed automatic transmission can be up shifted via paddles and downshifted using two buttons on either side of the steering wheel. The system also has safety features including a one second delay from Drive to Neutral as well as a speed sensor to prevent the car from being shifted into reverse or park unless it is completely stopped. Installation of the engine, transmission and paddle shift system was handled by Exotic Auto Restoration of Costa Mesa.

History of the Daytona Coupe

The original six Daytona Cobra Coupe factory racers enjoyed a short but impressive racing career: Originally built for the 1964-65 for the 1964-65 racing season using 289 Shelby Cobra roadster chassis, these were America's answer to Ferrari's highly successful 250 GTO. In their first year of competition, the Daytona Coupes won the GT class at Sebring and then placed 4th overall at Le Mans. They proved to be so competitive that Ferrari officials, fearing a loss of the championship, managed to get the Monza, Italy final round cancelled, knowing the Daytona's would win the race and the Championship. Consequently, Ferrari claimed the 1964 FIA World Manufacturer's Championship. The following year Enzo Ferrari, realizing he would lose to the Daytona's, pulled his factory support from the GT program, paving the way for the Daytona Coupe walkover. In 1965, the ex-Shelby Daytona Coupes of the UK's Alan Mann racing team won the FIA's World Manufacturer's GT title with ease.

Recreating the Legend

Almost 40 years later, Superformance has re-created this nostalgic player in American racing history. The Coupe is a Carroll Shelby licensed product and was designed by some of the original team, including Peter Brock and Bob Negstad. The Coupe boasts amazingly sleek lines and a contoured body which is slightly larger than that of the original race car. The original suspension was further engineered and improved and the interior space was optimized for more room. Addding value to this impressive Daytona is the fact that it is also eligible for the Shelby American Automobile Club owners registry, capturing each chassis number as a part of American history.

Superformance Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe Standard Equipment*

• A complete factory-assembled rolling chassis.
• Show quality PPG paint finishes with many standard colors - custom colors also available.
• Fully independent front and rear suspension.
• Bilstein® coil over progressive shocks with H&R Springs®.
• Tubular space frame constructed of mild steel.
• Power assisted rack & pinion steering.
• Four-wheel vented disc brakes, power assisted.
• PBR® calipers.
• Aluminum radiator / oil cooler with dual electric fans.
• Oil cooler and braided lines.
• Stainless steel fuel tank. 20 gallon.
• Vinylester and glass composite body.
• Custom TFE air conditioning system.
• BTR / Dana HydraTrac limited slip differential.
• 18" cast Alloy wheels and tires.
• Tinted front, side and rear windows.
• Remote door locks and immobilizer system.
• Unique under car exhaust -side pipes.
• Black leather and Alcantra interior.
• Retractable 3 point seat belts.
• Stewart Warner electronic gauges.
*Some components and features are subject to change

[via Autoblog]

Down in the Parking Garage: Superformance Shelby Daytona Coupe

Jonny Lieberman — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:30:00 EST

Yesterday we waxed nostalgic about some awesome American racing greatness from the middle 1960s (both here and here). And while we're typically not the biggest booster of replicas, when done correct, they completely rule. Like this Superformance Brock Coupe. As promised, 1300ccsOfFury filled my gmail box with pics. Here's what he has to say:

After today's GT40 lovefest, I figured I should get myself motivated to head down to my building's parking garage and send you pictures of this. It's a Superformance Shelby Daytona Coupe replica that definitely looks (and sounds) the part...probably built better than the originals too. It's been sitting for awhile due to the winter weather, so it's covered in dust and fingerprints. I don't know whether to applaud the guy for leaving it visible for the world to see or to give him a wag of the finger for letting it get like that.

Anyways, the guy who owns this car has fantastic taste as previous residents of this spot were a Lotus Elise and loaned Lamborghini Gallardo. The interior is covered in sumptuous cross-stitched leather, but it was far too black inside and the lighting far too piss-poor for me to have any hope of getting a shot. There's also a brilliant red '61 Lincoln Continental convertible in the lower level of the garage, but it's under a cover. Enjoy the Daytona for now.

Signed, 1300ccsOfFury!

Sigh... Our garage has little more than a drill press and a busted-ass lawnmower. Here's to one day.

Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe

Jonny Lieberman — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Last week we asked you to name your favorite automotive legends. While the answers were (of course) stellar – Smokey Yunick rules – we're a little disappointed that no one mentioned the genesis of this week's Fantasy Garage candidate, the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe. Though, it is worth mentioning that almost everything Carol Shelby does eventually winds up as someone's favorite anecdote (let's just forget the Shelby GLHS). For instance, Carroll used to place a $100 bill on the Cobra's dashboard while demoing the car to potential customers. If a customer could reach forward and snatch the Franklin before the Cobra could hit 100 mph, he could keep it. No one ever got the cash. But we're not here to talk about the Cobra.

Actually, we're partially here to talk about the Cobra, as not only is the Daytona Coupe in some ways just a rebodied Cobra, but the only reason the Coupe exists is to make up for the shortcomings of the Cobra. Sacrilege, right? We know, we know. Believe you us when we tell you that we love Shelby Cobras as much as the next pistonhead. And, for the umpteenth time, the inclusion of the Daytona Coupe in our Garage of Jalopnik-style Fantasy does not preclude the roadster from getting in. But for this week your attention is turned to the car that did the impossible; the homely racecar that beat Enzo and his beautiful Ferraris at their own game.

In the early 60s, Carroll Shelby returned from a triumphant conquest of Europe. Driving for David Brown and Aston Martin, the chicken farmer from Texas won Le Mans. No American since Patton had been so dominant on the Continent's roads. It would take decades and another Texan named Lance Armstrong to pull off a similar feat. However, Shelby harbored a secret: he had a bad heart, and was forced to retire from the sport he both loved and excelled at in his prime. He mucked about for a while, hocking tires and opening a driving school, but his poor heart wasn't it. Shelby had to get back to racing.

Here comes the Cobra! Long story short, Shelby wanted a racecar and his time in Europe convinced him of the superior handling characteristics of small British roadsters. He contacted AC Cars in Thames Ditton to inquire about the feasibility of stuffing a V8 into their independently-suspended, ladder-framed AC Ace. As it so happened, AC had been using a pre-war design straight-6 that Bristol and Frazer had nicked from the bombed-out BMW factory (it was the engine found in the glorious 328). By 1961 even AC new the engine was a dinosaur and scrapped it in favor of the 2.6-liter straight-6 out of the Ford Zephyr. As both fate and luck would have it, the bulk of the chassis modifications needed to fit the Zephyr engine into the Ace's frame, allowed a V8 to fit in the same space. Now all Shelby needed was an engine.

Shelby-Ford AC Cobra Mk II

He turned first to Chevrolet and they said "no" because another powerful sports car would threaten the Corvette's supremacy. Shelby then contacted Ford's Lee Iacocca to procure an American heart for his British car. At first Iacocca was little more than amused by the lanky Texan, who always came to Lido's office with a big hat and a beautiful blond. But then Ford's President realized the Shelby was serious. Two important facts you should note here. The first is that Iacocca hadn't thought up the Mustang yet. The second is that Ford desperately wanted to beat Chevrolet in the sports car game (so much so that Henry Ford II was in talks with Enzo to buy Ferrari). FoMoCo had just developed a lightweight, thin-walled aluminum V8 for Canadian pickups. This engine, first built in the city with our favorite strip clubs, Windsor, Ontario, went on to be known as the Windsor V8. You may have heard of it. The version Shelby first got for teh Cobra Mk I was the 4.2-liter (260 cubic inch) HiPo V8. Perfect.

Or not. The first test drive snapped the rear axle off. A stouter Salisbury 4HU rear end (with inboard brakes) was lifted from the Jaguar E-Type The heat from the inboard brakes melted the car's oil seals. So they went outboard. Shelby also had a devil of a time figuring out how to cool the tightly packed engine, eventually resorting to Corvette radiators. And just like the Corvette, a veritable mountain of torque in such a lightweight package necessitated the use of traverse leaf-springs. These, along with wider wishbones forced AC to widen the body by radically flaring the fenders.

Shelby-Ford AC Cobra Mk III

The results were epic. Tuned to within an inch of its life, the HiPo 260 in the Shelby-Ford AC Cobra Mk I stonked up 325 hp and rocketed the car to a then unheard of 0-60 mph time of 4.2 seconds. The first production cars were detuned quite a bit and also featured shoddy steering (due to a worm gear setup and a VW Bug column) and more cooling problems. Shelby fixed all this by equipping the Mk II Cobra with a 289 cid engine, revised gearing, rack and pinion steering and a wider grill opening with side vents to let the heat out of the engine bay. Now it was time to go racing.

"So every time I would see a red car coming up, I'd think, 'Oh shit. Now they are going to go by us.' " — Bob Bondurant

The Cobra proved to be dominant on American racing circuits. In 1963 two Cobras finished first and second well ahead of their Corvette Sting Ray challengers at Riverside. In fact, the number of racing wins Shelby's Cobras racked up is nuts and too silly to fully list here. Rest assured, if there was a race in the lower 48 during 1963 and 1964, a Cobra was the winner, including the grinding 12 Hours of Sebring and USRRC (United States Road Racing) Championship. However, in Europe there was no such luck. In 1963 Shelby entered a couple of Cobras in the GT class Le Mans. These cars had bolted on hard tops to help them deal better with the longer roads and higher tops speeds of the European circuits. One car managed to finish in seventh place. Only thing was, Ferrari finished first through sixth. A natural competitor, this did not sit well with Shelby. Also, little known to most, Shelby had a personal beef with Ferrari. Seems that at some point during Shelby's European campaign, the Italian had snubbed the Texan. Most likely by not offering Shelby a job as a Ferrari driver.

Shelby knew what he had to do. To reiterate, on the shorter American circuits, the Cobras were unbeatable. They were faster than the competition (including the Ferrari GTOs) to the max speed allowed by the track and handled just as well if not better through the corners. The real killer for the Cobras at Le Mans was the notorious three-mile Mulsanne Straight. Even with the awkward looking hard tops in place, the Cobras could only hit around 150 mph. The Ferraris? 180 mph. Obviously, this was an insurmountable obstacle. Unless you had another car entirely. Perhaps a coupe? Here is out most favorite automotive legend.

Pete Brock And His Krazy Kammback

"We knew, plus or minus, what [the] capabilities of the Ferrari were, and we knew we would beat it. I knew that, if I could get the Daytona Coupe, Ferrari wouldn't be in business." — Carroll Shelby

Carroll Shelby tasked the then 23-year-old Peter Brock with designing the new racecar's slippery sheet metal. Brock had a driver Ken Miles sit in a seat holding a steering wheel and then built the car around him using at first duct tape and wood, before having Italy's Carrozzeria Gran Sport build the bodies from aluminum. The result was the ungainly looking (to some) Daytona Coupe. Young Brock had come across a theory by a German aerodynamicist named Kamm from the 1930s. It dictated that to achieve the most aerodynamic shape possible you needed to create a virtual tail. The body needed to begin to taper in (like a 30s teardrop bodied car, say a Talbot Lago) and then you just hacked it off. Presto, a Kammback!

Shelby wasn't so sure. He went as far as bringing in an aerodynamics specialist to examine Brock's shape. Nein, he said. The coupe would be better off aerodynamically speaking with a longer, tapered tail. In a decision that ranks up there with General Groves deciding to pursue both a gun-type and implosion bomb, Shelby decided to listen to his young pupil and went with the controversial (though these days quite classic) coupe. The results are the really good stuff that they don't teach you in history class.

While testing the Coupe out, Jack Sears and Peter Bolton hit 185 mph on the M1 in preparation for Le Mans. This caused Britain to establish national speed limits. In the 1964 12 Hours of Daytona, the Coupe outran all the competition until it was hobbled by a damaged differential. A differential cooler was eventually installed. Still, the Cobra Coupe so totally outclassed the rest of the competition that it not only recorded the race's fastest lap time, but Shelby decided to rename to call the car the Daytona. Le Mans was up next.

Once in France on the Mulsanne Straight the Daytonas achieved a v-max of 196 mph. This not only blew the doors off the competition, but allowed Shelby's cars to run and compete with the prototype class. The Daytona driven by Dan Gurney and Bob Bondurant finished first in the GT class and fourth overall. In fact, the Daytona Coupe wound up lapping a Ferrari GTO. Not bad for a car built in a Santa Monica warehouse by half a dozen guys with pencils and hammers. Take that Enzo, you purple inked former Fascist!

While the Daytona went on to dominate the 1964 and 1965 GT racing seasons, the writing was sadly already on the wall. In 1964, the year it won Le Mans, the fastest lap time was actually set by another American driving another Ford product, the all-conquering Ford GT40. Phil Hill averaged a lap at 131 mph until he and his car were sidelined with a busted gearbox. The next year, Henry Ford II scooped up most of Shelby's best people (Shelby was involved with the GT40 program from the start) and the Cobra racing effort got its corporate funding yanked so as not to steal the GT40's thunder. The six Daytona Coupes were (illegally) flown back to Los Angeles. Shelby couldn't even sell them as interest had totally dissipated. Shockingly, he finally unloaded the Daytonas for about $5,000 a pop.

World's Greatest Barn Find

There is some comeuppance, though. It is true that all six cars were flown from England back to the States, but until 2001 only five were thought to exist. The sixth car? No one knew. Then a woman named Donna O'Hara lit herself on fire. In her locked storage shed, was the missing sixth car, called CSX2287, that her father had purchased years earlier and left to her. Undoubtedly the greatest barn find in the history of car collecting, its worth is valued at over $4,000,000. Not bad for an initial investment of about five grand.

I'm not a flag waver by nature, but there are certain events and machines that get my blood pumping read, white and blue. The Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe and its amazing history represent such a machine. For those of you who are not American, we ask that you look upon this vehicle as the very best of what our country has to offer. We can put a man on the moon and beat Enzo Ferrari at his own game. Hell, on his own playing field. We would be doing a grave disservice to not only the beautiful car, but to the spirit of the men who designed and built the Daytona by not including an example in our Fantasy Garage. Happy voting.

[The Jalopnik Fantasy Garage appears every Tuesday. Readers vote the cars in or out. The idea is that we'll have 50 cars in our Fantasy Garage, the world's greatest mechanic and endless wads of cash. Would you like to nominate a car for the Fantasy Garage? Write tips@jalopnik.com with the subject line "Fantasy."]

Peter Champion: Australian For Morbid Car Enthusiast

Ray Wert — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 07:31:00 EST

Moments before Australian racing legend Peter Brock died tragically during a rally in Perth, he probably wasn't thinking about what would happen to the car afterward. That's where Peter Champion, owner of the Champion Brock 05 Museum in Yeppooon, Queensland (no joke — look it up!) comes into the picture. He thought it would be a loving tribute to fix the car and charge people up to $15 to view it along with other Brock memorabilia. Champion is hurt that some of Brock's loved ones consider the attraction "macabre," saying "Peter would've been wanting it to happen... because he never believed in destroying anything or getting rid of anything." The car was a Daytona coupe, which now has an Australian fatality rate on par with the Stingray. – Matt Hardigree

Enthusiast 'hurt' by Brock death car reaction [Herald Sun]

Retirees Buy The Darndest Cars: Schumacher Acquires Daytona Super Coupe

Mike Spinelli — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 15:46:25 EST

A German newspaper reports that retired Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher picked up a 38th birthday present for himself. It's a rare Daytona Super Coupe. No word on whether it's a replica or one of the originals, though we'd imagine if anyone had the bank to scoop up one of the mid-1960s Shelby-Brock masterpieces, it'd be Schuey. Maybe he'll even drive it like he embezzled it. [Thanks to Christian for the tip.] – Mike Spinelli

Schumacher Buys Rare Supercar [Paddock Talk]

1965 Shelby Cobra Daytona 427 Super Coupe Type 65 CSB 3054 [Conceptcarz.com]

Whither Johnny Morton? Datsun 510 is AB's Reader's Ride of the Day

Mike Spinelli — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 10:26:29 EST

As we power up the Jalopnik laptop each morning, we're usually greeted by a period shot of Pete Brock's BRE racing team circa 1971: driver John Morton, Brock and engine chief John Caldwell, along with the Datsun 510 racer the team ran in the SCCA Trans Am series that year. That the Jalop comprises all manner of 510 geeks is no secret, which is why we were plenty psyched when Autoblog picked a restored, tuner model as its reader ride of the day. It's a bit of a Frankenstein's monster, this butterscotch brown '72, sporting BMW headlamps, a suspension fitted with bespoke swaybars, and a turbo-boosted Nissan SR20DET under the hood producing 300 hp at the wheel. It even has a BRE-style air dam, which all proper 510s should. Click through for more Datsun geekery, in the form of John Morton's commercial for the original 280z. – Mike Spinelli

RR of the Day: 1972 Datsun 510 2-Door [Autoblog]

Australian Racing Legend Peter Brock Dies in Crash

Mike Spinelli — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 08:11:33 EDT

Fate caught Australia unawares yet again earlier today. Beloved race driver Peter Brock — nine-time winner of the Bathurst 1000 — was killed in an accident during the Targa West Rally in Western Australia. It happened in Gidgegannup, about 40 kilometres east of Perth, where according to local police, Brock lost control of his Daytona racer during a sweeping bend and slammed into a tree. His co-driver Mick Hone was hospitalized and is in stable condition. As it was explained to us, Brock — known as "King of the Mountain" for his Bathurst dominance in the 1970s and 1980s — is remembered as a supremely skilled and competitive driver who endeared himself to fellow drivers and fans with a natural charm. We'd imagine more than a few rounds of Victoria Bitter are being downed in his honor. [Thanks to David for the tip.]

[wiki]

Racing legend Brock killed in car crash [ABC News (UK)]