Cobra-Ferrari Wars
Discussion
lotus72 said:
is this a new programme, or did I first see this about 5 years ago??
It's a few years old, made by Spirit Level Films. This version has BBC Scotland tagged on the credits and the voiceover is by Robbie Coltrane. There's a more comprehensive DVD version voiced by Michael Moloney. It also sometimes goes under the alternative title - ‘The Snake and the Stallion’.Edited by Roy C on Monday 28th May 07:46
There wasn't a great deal about the Ferrari side of things though was there, apart from some narrative exaggerations? They made out that Ferrari had already been making cars for 30-odd years. By the time Shelby and AC started development in 1961, Ferrari had been in the car-making business for just 14 years. Nowadays that would be a bit like making out that Pagani is an old-established supercar maker. They also kept saying that the Cobra's AC Ace chassis was 20 years old, yet the Ace was introduced in 1953 (and not during the war in 1941!), which would make it 8 years old.
What did interest me though was that Shelby himself acknowledged the involvement of AC. I had heard stories of him pretty much airbrushing them out of the vehicle's history, but that is clearly not the case. In fact the British influence on development of the car was quite evident, even if much of this work was carried out in California.
Finally, it wasn't mentioned in the film that the Ford Motor Company themselves fielded a team of Prototype class GT40s for the first time in that 1964 race. They all failed early on, so Shelby American's Cobra Daytona victory in the GT class would have been bitter-sweet for them.
What did interest me though was that Shelby himself acknowledged the involvement of AC. I had heard stories of him pretty much airbrushing them out of the vehicle's history, but that is clearly not the case. In fact the British influence on development of the car was quite evident, even if much of this work was carried out in California.
Finally, it wasn't mentioned in the film that the Ford Motor Company themselves fielded a team of Prototype class GT40s for the first time in that 1964 race. They all failed early on, so Shelby American's Cobra Daytona victory in the GT class would have been bitter-sweet for them.
It was a good programme but they certainly glossed over quite a bit of detail, as you would expect in a limited-time programme.
You get a much better picture of the individuals and the history from both Ford and Ferrari in the book 'Go like Hell'. It includes much more detail about the GT40 development and how Ferrari were struggling with their P2/P3. Also the bitter-sweet attepted dead-heat finish that ended up with Ken Miles missing out on his much deserved Le Mans victory before being killed in testing. It's a great book.
Paul
You get a much better picture of the individuals and the history from both Ford and Ferrari in the book 'Go like Hell'. It includes much more detail about the GT40 development and how Ferrari were struggling with their P2/P3. Also the bitter-sweet attepted dead-heat finish that ended up with Ken Miles missing out on his much deserved Le Mans victory before being killed in testing. It's a great book.
Paul
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