<< Prev Page 2 of 2 The Cobra's debut at Le Mans consisted of a split effort with one car fielded by AC Cars with none other than Stirling Moss as the team manager, while the second Le Mans Cobra was entered by American privateer Ed Hugus. Despite the power advantage, the Cobras were not quite able to match the much more slippery Ferrari 250 GTOs on raw pace. Very early in the race, the effort was down to just one car as the 'American' Cobra was disqualified for adding fluids (oil) within the first 25 laps after the carter was holed. The 'British' Cobra did survive and finished a commendable seventh overall and third in the GT class.
Following the success at Le Mans, a further six Cobras were built to the same specifications. These were all sold to privateers and raced with varying degrees of success. For the 1964 season, a bespoke and much more aerodynamic Coupe body was created following a design by Pete Brock. Known as the Cobra Daytona Coupe, it proved much faster down the straights and allowed Shelby to break Ferrari's stronghold of the GT class at Le Mans.
Superior to the 'standard' Cobras on most tracks, many of the competition cars have since been fitted with a hardtop roof but there were only ever nine genuine Le Mans Cobras. Some of these are still raced quite successfully in historic events ranging from the Goodwood Revival to the Tour Auto retrospective, which was won in 2013 and 2014 by two different Le Mans Cobras. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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The Cobra's debut at Le Mans consisted of a split effort with one car fielded by AC Cars with none other than Stirling Moss as the team manager, while the second Le Mans Cobra was entered by American privateer Ed Hugus. Despite the power advantage, the Cobras were not quite able to match the much more slippery Ferrari 250 GTOs on raw pace. Very early in the race, the effort was down to just one car as the 'American' Cobra was disqualified for adding fluids (oil) within the first 25 laps after the carter was holed. The 'British' Cobra did survive and finished a commendable seventh overall and third in the GT class.