The first few sequences quickly reveal what this film is about: two men and two brands battling it out on racetracks: Carroll Shelby versus Enzo Ferrari, a duel that was fought over several years on different tracks, nerve-wracking, ambitious and personal. It is not for nothing that these battles are known as the "Ferrari-Cobra Wars"!
Summary
Although the title and the introduction emphasize the battle between two racing brands, the film is mainly shown from the perspective of Carroll Shelby. In a very exciting and amusing way, facts are told about a number of personalities who shared Carroll Shelby's goal of beating Ferrari.
Never-before-seen footage of Le Mans, Sebring and other famous racing events make the 60 minutes really gripping and exciting! If you want to know all the details of the interviews afterwards, you can watch the interviews in their unabridged version during six hours of bonus material . As usual, there are also "unused footage" (deleted scenes) and a "photo gallery".
Anyone who calls themselves a motorsport fan must have seen this movie.
The following sections summarize the individual parts of the film, which are told in gripping moving images.
Author's note: The facts in this article were taken from the movie. Statements that may no longer be correct from today's perspective have therefore not been corrected in this text!
The step to success
During the 1950s, Carroll Shelby quickly became famous in the USA, winning a number of US races and setting 16 records in a very short space of time. John Wyer, team manager at Aston Martin in England since 1949, quickly became aware of him and invited Carroll Shelby to drive for Aston Martin in Europe against the elite. John Wyer's intention was to use any victories in Europe to boost Aston Martin's publicity in the USA. Carroll Shelby was then at the start of the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans in a DBR1.
Gin Rummy - the best fuel for Le Mans
Carroll's co-driver Roy Salvadori explains in the film that Carroll Shelby called everyone together after the first of three practice blocks and surprisingly decided to take it easy on the DBR1 and only drive it again in qualifying. Instead of driving, Carroll said to Roy, "Let me teach you a good card game" and so they went to a bar and started playing Gin Rummy! The film sequences of the racing drivers playing Gin Rummy are all the more amusing when you know that the Ferrari racing cars were still doing their laps at the same time...
Sensation for Aston Martin - defeat for Ferrari
Nobody would have thought it. After Ferrari had dominated Le Mans in 1958, the red beauties were already being celebrated as winners in many places: the racing cars from Modena were elegant, fast and advanced, built by masterly engineering skills. Most people saw Ferrari as the perfection of racing car construction and Ferrari was accorded this aura with corresponding respect.
All the more surprising, however, was the moment when Carroll Shelby rolled across the finish line and took the overall victory for Aston Martin! Carroll Shelby had never driven at Le Mans before. No one would have thought that a racing driver still unknown in Europe in a loose-fitting racing suit would be capable of such a feat. He was immediately celebrated as a world star.
The film shows a number of moments from Le Mans 1959 and the tensions between Enzo Ferrari and Carroll Shelby. Unique!
A winner despite a heart defect
Nobody knew that Carroll Shelby suffered from a heart defect. At the age of seven, he was diagnosed with an inherited heart condition, which was considered cured after a further seven years. Carroll kept to himself the fact that the heart condition recurred, unnoticed despite his fame he regularly swallowed glycerol trinitrate pills, even while driving!
After Le Mans in 1959, however, Carroll Shelby announced his retirement as a racing driver, worked as a racing driving instructor in his own driving school and devoted himself to his other projects: building his own cars.
In the film, these facts are told by Caroll Shelby himself in an interview. The original version of the interview in unabridged length can be viewed on the bonus DVD.
From the Chrysler Special to the Shelby Cobra
Carroll Shelby built his own car back in 1952, although at the time it was more of a conversion: he called it the Chrysler Special. However, his goal was always to build a racing car with as much power and as little weight as possible.
With the idea of creating a racing car that would be faster and cheaper than the Ferraris, he went to the head of General Motors at the time: Ed Cole. Unfortunately for Carroll Shelby, a competing sports car was already in production: the Corvette.
After being turned down by GM, Carroll found his luck at Ford, which at the time only built saloons and was a perfect fit for the racing fanatic. In a very entertaining interview, Lee Iacocca recalls how Caroll Shelby knocked on Ford's door wearing a cowboy hat and shoes (Lee Iacocca was still an engineer at the time and became famous for his work on the Ford Mustang). When asked why he was so convinced of Carroll's idea, Lee Iacocca replied with a smile: "The very good-looking lady who accompanied Carroll certainly played an important role!"
Soon Carroll received a couple of 4.2 liter V8 engines that were intended for Ford's new pickups. What was still missing was a lightweight chassis to accommodate them ... Alan Turner (then chief engineer at AC Cars) then recounts in the movie how Carroll contacted AC and asked if they could build a chassis that would accommodate his V8....
They knew that the first prototype was a long way from a Ferrari, a Corvette or a Jaguar... but the first pitch was convincing: they knew that with this approach they could be at the forefront: "European lightweight body construction married to a V8 engine designed for 5-lane highways", sounds good, doesn't it?
In the interview, Carroll Shelby talks about the next hurdle: in order to take part in races, at least 100 road versions had to be built, according to the rules at the time. However, as there was not enough money to build them, the first step was to find buyers who could put down the money. Different colored Shelby Cobras were advertised, but in fact it was always the same one. In this way, an apparently ongoing production was feigned. In this way, buyers were found so that the 100 units could be built.
With the professionalism of chief engineer Phil Remington, the mechanical defects were rectified and so the premiere came closer, where the new Ford project was used on the race track for the first time: in 1962 in the Californian club races. At the same time, the new Sting Ray Corvette was presented.
Just a few minutes after the start, it was clear that the Shelby Cobra was significantly faster than all the other starters thanks to its light weight! Unfortunately, the chassis suffered from its age and the rear axle broke in two. Corvette won.
Ken Miles, a former Porsche works driver, was recruited as the driver. He was known for his stamina, his feeling for technical improvements to the vehicle, but also for his tradition of calmly preparing a cup of tea even after 500 miles of uninterrupted test driving. This is how he got the nickname 'Teddy Teabagger'. David Friedman (Shelby team photographer at the time) also praises Ken Miles' particularly dry sense of humor in the film.
Ken Miles and Phil Remington harmonized perfectly and the racing car was continuously improved.
With courage to Le Mans
Ford urged the team to get the Shelby Cobra ready for Le Mans, Ford finally had to show in Europe that they could keep up with the competing brands and so the team signed up. In 1963 they went to Le Mans for the first time and gave the Shelby Cobra a hardtop, an aerodynamic quick fix, hoping to get closer to the perfection of the Ferrari 250 GTO. However, the top speed was far too low, and success in Europe failed to materialize.
From zero to Shelby Daytona
But Carroll Shelby did not give up; in 1964 they were to return to finally defeat Ferrari.
With the help of Pete Brock, they built a completely new racing car: the Cobra Daytona Coupe, the great hope of finally beating the GTO beast.
Victory in the 1964 12 Hours of Sebring gave the team the green light to travel to Europe: Monza, Targa Florio and Le Mans.
With a few extra Shelby Cobra Roadsters in tow, which shared many mechanical parts with the Daytona Coupe, they embarked on the journey with the main goal of winning Le Mans. The Shelby Cobra Roadsters were deliberately driven to the limit in order to gain new insights that could be incorporated into the Daytona Coupés in time for Le Mans.
The countdown couldn't be more exciting: the film counts down the seconds to the start of Le Mans 1964. The start and the clips from the first laps are truly phenomenal! As the night begins, the No.5 Daytona Coupe is still in the lead.
With 5 hours to go, the oil temperature rises to dangerous levels and repair is out of the question as the necessary parts are missing. With the risk of the engine overheating and bursting into flames, they drove on anyway, three Ferrari 250 GTOs breathing down their necks... and so they finished the race and won the class!
The successes continued, and in 1965 they won the World Sports Car Championship in the GT class!
Carroll Shelby passed away on May 10, 2012 in Dallas.
Movie information
- Order movie
- Duration of the main movie: 60min
- Duration of the bonus material: approx. 6 hours!
- Publisher: Spirit Level Films
