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Additional 63-65 Race Photos
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Geoff Howard sent me
15 photos from the archives of AC Cars. I have arranged all the photos, including Geoff's fifteen, in date order. Most of Geoff's are black and white or of the AC coupe. This first photo
is the AC entry at Le Mans 1963. The aerodynamic hardtop
cars reached 161 mph., about what a roadster with a tilt-back
windshield would do. Steele Therkleson told me that, in 1964 in
South Africa, Bob Olthoff reached 173 mph. in a roadster with
a small plexi racing windscreen. |
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Unloading the "American" Cobra at
Le Mans 1963. Ford wouldn't finance a 1963 Cobra Le Mans
effort, so Shelby had to do some dealing to get a car there. The
story is in the book. Another AC Cars photo courtesy of Geoff Howard.
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This is Allen Grant in his Coventry Motors 289 Cobra at Laguna Seca in October 1963. Allen started at Shelby's as a mechanic's helper but quickly graduated to the office where he finageled a deal to drive Coventry Motor's 289 racer. The paint scheme was designed by his then-roommate, George Lucas. Allen would later become a Cobra team driver, see page 244 of the book. Allen was exceptional in that, at the time, he knew he was making history. Allen had the broad picture vision and selfless loyalty to Shelby which caused him to choose to help prepare the GT-40s for the Nurburgring '65 when he could have been driving a team Cobra. This photo was taken by Tony Ferrari and, together with numerous photos of the era, can be seen at his website www.tferrari.org. |
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Phil Hill in a team Cobra, Sebring
1964. Sebring was the first race where the Cobras used the chin oil
cooler scoops, tacked on during practice to direct air to the oil
radiators which had been moved from behind to below the water
radiators. AC Cars photo c/o Geoff Howard. |
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Bruce Dowell, the last 1964 European Cobra team member to be located, sent me these photos from the '64 Targa. This is the fantastically-congested pit area before the start. See pages 163 and 178/178 of the book. Bruce spent the summer of '64 hitchhiking from race to race. He was "adopted" by the Cobra team at the Targa Florio and then joined up with them again at Spa, stayed with them from the Nurburgring through Le Mans and then watched them through the fence, as a spectator, at the Tourist Trophy. |
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Another Bruce Dowell photo, at the Targa, of Innes Ireland (seated, right), Dan Gurney (laying down, lower right) and Bernard Cahier (left). The book has a photo of Gurney and Ireland in these positions, taken by Cahier, on page 129. |
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AC Cars'
aerodynamic coupe frame, early 1964. These next several photos are AC Cars c/o Geoff Howard.
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Engine bay
detail for the AC
coupe.
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Jack Sears (suit and tie) at the
time of the M1 testing. AC cars considered the newly-completed M1
Motorway a handy place to test their new creation and chose a
Wednesday morning at 4:30 a.m. Jack Sears admitted "something over
180 mph" and the press went crazy. |
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One of the many articles on the M1
testing.
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Jack Sears was quoted: "I'm not
a raving idiot. I would not drive at those speeds if there had been
any one else in sight." |
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AC's coupe at Thames Ditton
prior to Le Mans.
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Another Bruce Dowell photo, this of the two Shelby American coupes on their journey from Modena, Italy to Le Mans, in the transporter driven by Ermano Cuoghi. This looks like a customs/border check point. |
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The AC coupe at the Le Mans
weigh-in.
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More engine bay
details.
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The lineup at the start. In the
foreground is the Aston 214 which had done 187 mph in practice. The
AC coupe had qualified .4 seconds (a lap) faster. |
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The start. The Shelby Daytona coupe
no. 5 is three cars further forward in line, not having yet pulled
out. Dan Gurney had qualified the no. 5 car 2.1 seconds faster
than the next-fastest GT car, the AC coupe. |
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The AC coupe at
dusk.
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Night. Jack Sears and Peter
Bolton stayed with the Shelby coupes as long as
their car was running right. If you have Cobra racing photos
1962-65, contact me and I'll post them for you, and credit
you, on this website. |
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The wrecked AC car. Fred
Gamble's explanation of the crash (in the book) is the best I have
heard. The AC coupe was probably constructed with no differential
cooler. Shelby's extensive racing had discovered that, in a long
race or hot climate, a differential cooler was needed. Al Dowd told
me they learned this at Augusta, GA, in March '64 just prior
to '64 Sebring. |
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The one surviving Daytona coupe pulls out from a pit stop on the morning of the second day. Bruce Dowell photo. |
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The surviving coupe pits at Le Mans. Phil Remington is holding the gas filler and Jean Stucki is on his left. After the unnecessary fire at Daytona, Remington was pretty darn careful about who handled the gas lines. Another Bruce Dowell photo, never before published. |
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Dan Gurney and Bob Bondurant in the foreground and John Ohlsen cleaning the windscreen. Probably Fred Gamble in the blue Goodyear jacket aft of Ohlsen. Bruce Dowell photo. |
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Dan Gurney waits with a smile for Bondurant to finish. Gurney insisted that Bondurant take the last driving stint to have the experience of finishing and winning at Le Mans. Bruce Dowell photo.
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The overall-winning Ferrari 275P of Carlo Abate and Jean Guichet. Bruce Dowell photo. Skip Hudson once told me, "While everybody else was talking about it, I was doing it." This applies also to Bruce Dowell who, as a 21-year old kid with no particular assets except enthusiasm and hard work, lived the dream of traveling with and working with the European Cobra team. Skip's quote also applies to many of the people I met through this book -- Bernard Cahier, Fred Gamble, Jack Hoare, even Dan Gurney and Bob Bondurant. They were all trying to live the dream. God bless those who have dreams and step out of line and take risks to realize their dreams. Bruce Dowell photo. |
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Martin Roessler of Geelong, Australia sent me this photos which his father, then living in Germany, took during practice for the 1965 Nurburgring 1000Ks. See the book, page 307. Bob Bondurant and CSX 2345 were an extraordinary combination with a total of three FIA GT victories (Freiburg '64, Sierra Montana '64 and Rossfeld '65). This was the same car Bondurant had raced at the Nurburgring in '64. John Whitmore drove the same car to victory at the 1965 Oulton Park TT, so this one car scored four FIA GT victories. See the book, page 365.
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