Until his passing on November 12, 2021, Bob Bondurant insisted his most cherished accomplishment was winning the 1965 F.I.A. GT World Manufacturer’s Championship in the Shelby Daytona Coupe.
“You know, at that time it was America against the world,” related Bondurant. “The feeling of winning a race overseas and then hearing the National Anthem played while on the podium before thousands is indescribable. It still gives me goosebumps thinking about it. It was an incredible era in racing.”
Carroll Shelby created the iconic Shelby Cobra by mating the small Bristol sports car with a large American V8. It became dominant on America’s short road courses. However, for it to compete for the GT World Championship as Shelby desired, it needed more speed for the long, fast, European tracks. The dominant GT car was the Ferrari 250 GTO, with a top speed 30 mph greater than the Cobra.
Increasing horsepower wasn’t an option. The Cobra’s Ford engine was maxed out. The answer lay with the then black-magic art of aerodynamics. While many acknowledged that a car’s shape could influence its performance, few understood how.
That’s where Peter Brock entered the picture.
“Carroll Shelby asked me if I could make the Cobra faster,” recalls Brock. “I told him I believed so.”
Brock was not a trained engineer but possessed an extraordinary design background. After graduating from the Art Center School in Los Angeles, he became, at 19, GM’s youngest designer. Among other projects, he was involved with the design of the Corvette Sting Ray.
His concept for the upgraded Cobra represented a controversial departure from the norm, the most unusual aspect being the proposed blunt tail. Prevailing wisdom insisted the optional aerodynamic shape was a teardrop shape. But the added bodywork required to accomplish that design also considerably increased drag and weight.
While working at GM, Brock came across a once-classified, pre-WWII study from a German aviation designer. It indicated that air directed efficiently over a car’s body would flow smoothly out the rear, without needing additional bodywork to direct it.
However, no one at Shelby America had faith in some obscure designer’s theories. They wanted nothing to do with it. Not even Shelby. Only driver Ken Miles had confidence in the idea and pressured Shelby to build the car.
In late 1963, Shelby finally gave in and told Brock, “Go ahead but don’t let it interfere with our primary efforts.” Shelby did allow John Ohlsen, a new, inexperienced mechanic, to work with Brock.
With help from Miles, who was a decent fabricator, they mocked up the body they envisioned over a Cobra roadster frame. Cal Metal Shaping in Los Angeles then formed the shell, and by February 1964, it was ready for testing.
The result was startling. At Riverside Raceway, Miles lapped quicker than the track record and was three-and-a-half seconds faster than the Cobra roadster’s best time.
The coupe raced first at Daytona and dominated its class, building a five-lap lead before a horrendous pit fire nearly destroyed it. Repaired in time for Sebring, it won with Dave MacDonald and Al Holbert, then at Le Mans, with Bondurant and Dan Gurney co-driving.
“Peter did an excellent job with the car. It was awesome,” praised Bondurant. “Very easy to drive. Not harsh at all. And incredibly fast. We ran 197 mph down the Mulsanne Straight.”
Bondurant and the Daytona should’ve taken the 1964 World Championship. However, when Enzo Ferrari saw the upstart Americans were on the verge of kicking sand in his face in his own private sandbox, he exercised his substantial political clout.
He first pulled his cars from the season-ending race at Monza, then prevailed upon the promoter to cancel the race altogether. The season ended abruptly, with Ferrari topping Cobra by a handful of points.
Few doubted that the Cobra Daytona would win the 1965 World Championship. Enzo Ferrari was concerned enough that, rather than being embarrassed, he refused to compete. Leaving it to privateers to carry the prancing horse banner.
The Cobra Daytona proved unstoppable. Bondurant competed in 10 races, winning seven. Of the seven victories, the most memorable came at the championship-clinching race at Reims, France. That it happened on July 4 only made it sweeter.
“When I got the checkered flag, I was yelling, ‘Yes, Yes!’ Then hearing the Star-Spangled Banner being played, and it was the Fourth of July,” sighed Bondurant, “…well, it’s hard to describe how good it felt, realizing that a bunch of American hot-rodders, using American ingenuity, beat the world.”
