This Month in Cobra History - June 1965

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This Month in Cobra History - June 1965

With this being Lemans weekend, I thought it was good timing to do a little retrospective on the big race in 1965.
We all know the spectacular finish for Ford in 1966...not as much is written about the disaster for Ford that was Lemans in 1965.

Perhaps the title of this article should be:

"...If it wasn't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all."



By this month in 1965, it was turning out to be a good year for the Cobra and Shelby American. Victories abounded in both the U.S. and on the international scene.
The successful debut of the Daytona Coupe in the prior season finally gave the Cobra team a fighting chance on the long, tough European circuits.
As if the plate wasn't full enough at Shelby American, two months after the Le Mans race of 1964, Ford hired Carroll Shelby to take control and manage the GT-40 racing program.
After they put Shelby in control, Ford Advanced Vehicles focused more on making the production models of the car, and Shelby and Alan Mann tended to the race program.

The International season was rolling along with dominant showings by the Cobras in Europe, with victories at Monza, Goodwood, Nurburgring among others, coupled with some hard luck in the Ferrari camp.
It looked good for Shelby's shot at the Manufacturers Championship this year.

Lemans was the ultimate endurance competition, and still is today. About 8.5 miles of road circuit, with a killer straightaway.
Here is the map as it was in 1965.



As speeds got dangerously fast, some changes were made to the circuit over the years that followed, specifically some kinks in the Mulsanne straight.
Here is the circuit today... a few changes and some paid "naming-rights"



In fact, a win at Lemans in 1965, with it's highly factored points score, could clinch it for the Shelby team.
I think with that in mind...the possibility of celebrating the championship win at the world's most famous endurance race was a P.R. opportunity for Ford that couldn't be passed up.
Ford decided to attack Lemans with a massive effort, literally throwing everything they had at the race.

They entered a total of 11 cars, run be several teams...the roster of drivers they brought to Lemans was a Who's Who of Shelby racing.
Shelby-American and Ford staged an assault on Le Mans with two 427 GT-40 Mark IIs, four 289 GT-40 Mark Is, and five of the six Cobra Daytona Coupes. They had found that the open roadster Cobras just couldn't make the sustained speeds necessary to be competitive at Lemans, so...Coupes-only this year.

This was a battle they did not want to lose.... and, like the World Series final game, where both teams have champagne in the locker room, I am sure Ford was prepared to celebrate their dominance with a successful finish.

....but, it just wasn't meant to be on that weekend.

A quick peek at the finish....of the 11 cars that started, 10 dropped out of the race. Only one lonely coupe limped across the finishline in 8th position, with the rods knocking over the crowd noise.... running the final laps with no oil pressure

...more