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Post by charleselan on Sept 5, 2018 11:20:58 GMT
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Post by robmarsh on Sept 5, 2018 14:44:22 GMT
Lovely pics Charles. Dan the archetypal American Racer. I wish there was a book on him.
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Post by mikael on Apr 5, 2019 5:06:15 GMT
Carroll Shelby preparing, testing, and racing the (then) brand new Ford GT40, for Ford Motor Company, featuring Dan Gurney (among others). Really interesting! (From 1964, I believe.)
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Post by Carl on Apr 5, 2019 16:49:44 GMT
Carroll Shelby preparing, testing, and racing the (then) brand new Ford GT40, for Ford Motor Company, featuring Dan Gurney (among others). Really interesting! (From 1964, I believe.) Mikael, Thanks for a fascinating short promoting Ford and Carroll Shelby's partnership. I know every turn at Willow Springs, having taken a three day Jim Russell course, so the instructional parts took me right back in time. You're right about the year, basically late 1964 winter testing and the early events of 1965, the year Cobra beat Ferrari with the Pete Brock designed Daytona Coupe. Great film, despite the silly hat 'ol Shel was wearing at the end... 
Cheers, Carl
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Post by charleselan on Apr 5, 2019 17:59:28 GMT
Mikael,
What a great bit of film footage and many thanks for posting it.
Interesting to note that as Shelby was walking around the huge workshop early in the film the open topped GT40 was well in evidence, a pretty rare beast. Also it was interesting to see Dan Gurney doing the test work on the original GT40 of 1964 which if memory serves me correctly he did not actually race, as he was driving the Cobra's in the Endurance Championship races. Very noticeable that he was held in great reverence even then, judging by the way Carroll introduced him.
JC
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Post by chrisb on Apr 5, 2019 18:14:37 GMT
thank you Mikael
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Post by Carl on Apr 5, 2019 21:53:42 GMT
Mikael, What a great bit of film footage and many thanks for posting it. Interesting to note that as Shelby was walking around the huge workshop early in the film the open topped GT40 was well in evidence, a pretty rare beast. Also it was interesting to see Dan Gurney doing the test work on the original GT40 of 1964 which if memory serves me correctly he did not actually race, as he was driving the Cobra's in the Endurance Championship races. Very noticeable that he was held in great reverence even then, judging by the way Carroll introduced him. JC Dan Gurney was greatly admired since his early sports car successes in Southern California in the late 1950s, most notably at his home track, Riverside Raceway, which drew the attention of Luigi Chinetti and then Enzo Ferrari.
Other great drivers appearing in the fascinating film Mikael posted are (briefly) Bob Bondurant and Richie Ginther in the pits at Daytona, and Lloyd Ruby, pleased along with Ken Miles to have won the race. The drivers of the red TR-3 seen on the high banking must have been very brave!
Also glimpsed is Bruce McLaren enjoying a class win alongside Miles at the Sebring 12 Hours, second overall behind Jim Hall and Hap Sharp in the Chaparral 2A.
Some of these promotional short films were produced to high standards and this is one of the best.
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Post by chrisb on Apr 6, 2019 6:08:28 GMT
it just makes you wonder what other 'hidden' gems there are lurking in the vaults of the world, Castrol used to do some fantastic films, as has Ford, and I am convinced there are others who have equally great clips, I seem to recollect some BBC clips of the Lotus 38 on Blue Peter, an interview with Bruce, another with Richie, wouldn't it be great if there were commercially available, although given the collection of memorabilia I have in my house - maybe not
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Post by mikael on Apr 7, 2019 12:52:24 GMT
Mikael, What a great bit of film footage and many thanks for posting it. Interesting to note that as Shelby was walking around the huge workshop early in the film the open topped GT40 was well in evidence, a pretty rare beast. Also it was interesting to see Dan Gurney doing the test work on the original GT40 of 1964 which if memory serves me correctly he did not actually race, as he was driving the Cobra's in the Endurance Championship races. Very noticeable that he was held in great reverence even then, judging by the way Carroll introduced him. JC JC,
Interesting also that the featured Mustang Mk. I. - at the time of the movie also a brand-new car - in some ways actually is closely related to the GT40, in the sense that much from the Mustang I of 1962 - the prototype behind the Mustang - was used in the GT40. Actually the open-topped GT40 and the Mustang I look very similar.
The cars featured in the movie: the Ford Mustang Mk. I, the Ford GT40, and last but not least, the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, are iconic and truly beautiful cars - in my opinion, they all rank among the most beautiful and desirable cars ever made. (The original open-topped AC Cobra is a beauty too, but I find the Daytona Coupe absolutely stunning. Strange that Shelby himself - as I understand it - didn't rate it too highly.)
Mikael
The 1962 Ford Mustang I prototype
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Post by mikael on Apr 7, 2019 12:58:27 GMT
Thanks for a fascinating short promoting Ford and Carroll Shelby's partnership. I know every turn at Willow Springs, having taken a three day Jim Russell course, so the instructional parts took me right back in time. You're right about the year, basically late 1964 winter testing and the early events of 1965, the year Cobra beat Ferrari with the Pete Brock designed Daytona Coupe. Great film, despite the silly hat 'ol Shel was wearing at the end...
Cheers, Carl
Carl,
It's enviable , and it must have been a great and most useful experience, to have participated in such a course. It often crossed my mind how important it is - also in everyday driving - to be able to understand where the limit of one's car is. On a rainy day, it's not difficult to get close to that limit. And then to react appropriately - it makes a world of a difference.
Cheers,
Mikael
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Post by René on Apr 7, 2019 18:31:59 GMT
Wonderful video Mikael. Really enjoyed that! |
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Post by Carl on Apr 7, 2019 19:49:29 GMT
Mikael,
You wrote: "I find the Daytona Coupe absolutely stunning. Strange that Shelby himself - as I understand it - didn't rate it too highly."
Other interesting features of the film you posted: the young man introduced by Shelby near the beginning and who later drove the GT-350 is the designer of the Daytona Coupe, Pete Brock. And Carroll Shelby's negative opinion may have been colored by Pete Brock having left and moved on to further success with his own team, something the vindictive Shelby disliked intensely.
Cheers, Carl
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Post by charleselan on Apr 8, 2019 13:39:30 GMT
Indeed Pete Brock's Daytona Coupe was a beauty, all raw power wrapped in a super slippery and graceful shape. The original Cobra was the epitome of a real muscle car, it just oozed brutal power with such presence.
It is amazing to see the pictures of the Mustang Prototype, and it really does have many of the original Ford GT40 design ideas in the bodywork, don't think it had the subtle Lola inspired chassis underneath however.
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Post by Carl on Sept 5, 2021 23:49:34 GMT
An interview of one of the all time greats, Dan Gurney, by Robin Miller |
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Post by charleselan on Sept 6, 2021 12:46:31 GMT
An interview of one of the all time greats, Dan Gurney, by Robin Miller Two greats in their own field who sadly are no longer with us, great film. I have watched two short extracts from longer films of races in 1967; one the German GP and then the US GP over the past few evenings. In both Dan Gurney and his gorgeous Eagle Weslake was in tremendous form and as per usual he was let down by mechanical failure. After Jim Clark retired Dan dominated the German GP until close to the end a drive shaft failed. Then we had the GP at Watkins Glen where Dan ran right up behind the formidable Lotus 49's of Jim & Graham until yet another mechanical put him out. He would surely have won if it had kept going as the Lotus' were virtually falling apart at the end. |
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