This little item was a long time in the making.... and I am really excited to be able to share it.
About a year and a half ago, Paul (PDHse) brought up a trivia question and we discussed how and when Ken Miles raced CSX3002 in Australia...
That first thread...
This was the Australian Tourist Trophy race in November of 1965.
Craig Marsh (750hp) recalled a remarkable fact -
"My father was there, along with the "thousands" of others who have since claimed to have been at that event. Funny isn't it, how 10 times more people now claim to have been at meetings that subsequently went down in history as significant motoring events.
Anyway, Dad was thoughtful enough to take his trusty 8mm video camera with him that day, and we still have what might be the only video footage ever taken of Ken Miles in his thundering big block Cobra at Lakeside International Raceway. Motion pictures, but no sound."
Craig and I talked off-line, and he committed to go find those 8mm reels of film from nearly 40 years ago.
Last May, at SAAC-28, I had the pleasure of crawling all over CSX3002 and meeting the current caretakers of this first 427 Comp Cobra... that event renewed the interest in finding those lost films.
Later in the year, Craig came through and had the reels converted to VHS and sent me a copy. Unfortunately, it was in PAL format.
Well, we finally got the tape format converted. A copy of the full tape has been sent to the current owner of CSX3002 in Craig's name. I have prepared another copy for donation to the SAAC archives.
Early this year, Paul found a magazine article about the event where the movies were taken.
Take a look... ; it is worth reading.
I just had the video enhanced a bit and digitized.... and present a little clip of it right here.
Remember, this is a no-sound, 40 year-old home movie quality clip... but it is the
first video I have ever seen of Ken driving CSX3002.
Enjoy! ...and a really sincere 'thank-you' to Craig for making this slice of Cobra history possible.
Ken Miles - CSX3002 Video
(Windows Media, 2 meg file, about 1 minute play time)