Hi All. Right now I am preparing a paper about Ferrari's 60th anniversary for a magazine. And I heard from one of my friend; AC Cobar beated Ferrari in Le Mans. Is this true or do you know the real story??? Thanks all.
In 1964, a Cobra Daytona Coupe driven by Dan Gurney and Bob Bondurant finished fourth overall at Le Mans, behind three Ferrari prototypes, but it won the GT class over a pair of Ferrari GTO's. I think that's about the best result by a Cobra at Le Mans.
Shelby had found in 1963 that the 289 Cobra was no match for the Ferrari GTO at Le Mans because of lack of aerodynamics, in spite of the 2 Cobra hard-tops privately entered. For 1964, Shelby had a Cobra Coupe designed in house by Pete Brock. The only car entered burnt at Daytona after dominating the GT category. Shelby gave good opposition during the season, with GT. victory at Le Mans, and was on his way to win the title. 2 Cobra Coupe participated to the Tour Auto where they failed to finish, giving back the lead of the GT championship to Ferrari. The last race at Monza on the ultra-fast track should have been the decider, but Ferrari had the race cancelled and won the GT championship that year. Shelby Cobra Coupes dominated the 1965 GT season, with hardly any opposition from Ferrari, but failed to win the GT category at Le Mans (won by a private 275 GTB Ferrari). Shelby won the 1965 GT championship. With Shelby taking over the Ford competition effort, no further Cobra were entered.
