The Shelby American (Fall 2021)

to last year’s mid-April LeMans test- ing day. The aerodynamics proved too hairy for test driver Jo Schlesser, who got out of shape at 150 miles per hour on the Mulsanne Straight in the wet and crashed, writing off the car (but not, luckily, Schlesser). A spoiler was added to the tail and the problem seemed once again in hand. Next came the GT40’s maiden race at the 1000KM Nürburgring, where it went out with transmission failure. Failure of one part or another of the Colotti transmission put the cars out at Le- Mans and Reims. Fire eliminated one of the three GTs at LeMans, another was written off at Monza during a test session, and “the human element,” i.e., faulty assembly, shot both cars down at Nassau. By the end of ‘64, ten cars had been built or were on the stocks. Number 1 was the car flown to New Your for a press showing and wrecked two weeks later at LeMans. Numbers 2-5 are in existence (except the one that crashed at Monza). Number 6, 7 and 10 were being built; 8 and 9 were just being completed. A packet of money had been spent—though not nearly as much as everyone imagined—with nothing to show for it expect a lot of promise. Less than a month after the Nassau debacle, the project was handed over to Shelby. This raised eyebrows in some quar- ters. John Wyer was thought by many to be a team manager par excellence . Shelby’s Cobra team in Europe last year, on the other hand, had been ob- viously ill-prepared to do battle with Ferrari and bad team management may have been the largest single fac- tor between the Cobras and the World Championship. Ford’s official reason for the transfer, as mentioned, was to put all the road-racing cars in one bas- ket. Ford officials privately talked about the year-round balmy climate in Southern California being better for testing, plus the fact that Riverside— unlike Monza—isn’t right in Ferrari’s back yard. Under the Commendatore’s nose. But, in truth, Lunn’s group had gone about as far as they could go, and Wyer’s group wasn’t getting the job done. At least, they weren’t producing results the desired results. In any case, Shelby looked more at- tractive. After all, ‘64 was the Shelby operation’s first year of racing in Eu- rope. His organization seemed to be shaping up. “It’s like a dragster,” said a Shelby spokesman. “We were spin- ning our wheels, but we’ve got traction now.” Sure enough, both the overseas racing team and the home front pulled together during the second half of the year and got some pretty impressive results. The fast-growing company could learn fast, too. So Shelby American took over the Ford GT project.We inspected the cars and the new facility soon after the two team cars had arrived back from their victorious Daytona outing. To find out exactly how Shelby had done it, we in- terviewed Ken Miles, another dis- placed Britisher, who is Shelby’s competition advisor and a regular team driver. “We have several advan- tages over most of the other people who have played with the car,” said Miles. “Ford Advanced Vehicles in England haven’t had the skilled per- sonnel to do the work. Ford Advanced Vehicles in Dearborn—whilst they had the facilities—can’t react as quickly to a situation as we can. We can react to a suggestion—we can do something— right now .We don’t have to go through elaborate procedures of putting through formal design changes. If we decide we don’t like something, we take a hacksaw and cut it off.” “We still have the core of the origi- nal Shelby American organization,” Miles said: “Carroll himself, Phil Rem- ington, and some extremely good craftsman are used to this sort of panic operation. Practically every- thing we do is a panic operation. But, if anybody can do it, we can.” The “can do” atmosphere pervades the original nucleus. “It’s been a real team effort,” said Ginther, who has driven the GT40 for both Ford and The SHELBY AMERICAN Fall 2021 56 Clockwise from the #72 at the top that Richie Ginther and Bob Bondurant drove to third place at Daytona; Ford’s Roy Lunn and European team manager John Wyer, mother-henning. Ken Miles team driver and co-winner at Daytona with Lloyd Ruby; Richie Ginther, Ford’s most experienced test driver; Phil Remington, mechanical inspi- ration of Shelby-American.