I am 70 years old and was at this race, the 66 and 69. They were all unbelievable and introduced me to these great American cars and the other great cars of the world. This was cutting edge in every way.
Fast forward to a few years ago at Goodwood, I saw all the Shelby Daytonas, amazing sight and sound. So you would have see a the Shelby Daytona I got to see all those years later in the UK.
I drove down in 64' from New Jersey in my TR-4. The Johnson/ Gurney Cobra was really blistering before it crashed. It had beat the pants off the Daytona coupe. All cobras looked substantially racier that day than in 63 where they ran into many mechanical woes. Having been to many previous races, this one was pure Sebring at it's best.
I was there, most of the time in the Porsche pits. Next to us, was the Ferrari team pits and it was chaotic compared to the German pits. The Porsche pits was orderly and well laid out. The Ferrari pits was the opposite . . . but they won. The Cobras put on a great show and, in my opinion, sounded the meanest on the track. I went on to race mostly Porsches in California, but not at this caliber of racing. Those were the golden days of road racing.
The car that is not mentioned in the comments is the rare Corvette Grand Sport that is blowing away all the cars including the prototypes along the back straight at 1:25 in the race. These cars were not factory backed like the Fords or Ferraris but showed great potential anyway. All of these cars are fantastic to watch.
Brian Lacombe Brian, I am 70 years old and was at this race, the 66 and 69. They were all unbelievable and introduced me to these great American cars and the other great cars of the world. This was cutting edge in every way.
@@clanrobertson7200I wasn't even born yet, but I know that it is *this* era in motorsports that was truly great simply because everything WASN'T fully understood. Innovation made for interesting designs which made for a sense of mechanical wonderment that can never really happen in this 'design to the rulebook specifications' style of near homogenous design difference now. Wish I could have lived through all of this.
Great highlights...I put a lot of laps in on the SIM because I fell in love with its fun corners it got a little bit if every turn imaginable,but fun all...great old footage and clean too...thank u
My FIRST Sebring 12, with my neighbor, "Poppa" Ben Wright Sr. of Tampa. Welder of drag racers Don Garlits and Art Malone. We lived a mile from The Tampa DragWay on US 92.. Pop had just gotten a Volvo PV-544... We hung out at The Webster Turns... I would see Surtees repeatedly drop a wheel off the pavement.. On exit... he would see the lower A arm replaced.. Putting Sir John back in 3rd.. If Rodriguez had STATED in the NART '64 GTO he would have BEATEN the AC Cobra Coupe... But he started in the year old 250/330P that had won in '63.. He beat hell out of that machine.... A lesson he would learn.. I would go every year, threw 1972... With Pop, a cousin and H.S. buddies.. Daytona 24 also... The Golden Years.... Quit when IMSA took over... No Prototypes.. Politics.. J.C.
I was lucky enuf to run SEBRING on a pretty decent simulator after joking with my customers at a Tire Store I was working at,any customer who brought a real sports car in for tires and an alignment,I would always tell them ok we will get that done and I'll take the car over to Sebring Andi call u just keep bringing me tires....a blank stare they had no clue.....but I had no clue of the historic nature and the fact that its still active with its 12 hour race...on the SIM I discover a love for the place its such an aggressive course keeping u up on the wheel lots of fun....it fools u because some of the corners give u the exact same look as other turns so u really have to stay alert and remember which turns are which that sounds especially fun in a 12 hour race if u were tired probably more in a 24hr race then 12 thou...what a track on the SIM it was the only track available in the nite setting....
Thanks for posting that race love this track a great work out for driver and machine I feel...I must be right because Indy cars test there new toys there each year....thanks again for posting this great race....got here following Shelby videos...thanks
Briezie Thirteen Bob Thorpe was my dad and died in Kentucky 2012. He did in fact race that Cobra and got some wins. He and Foyt used to hang out back then. The car is fully restored and is in Canada. My bucket list is just to sit in the thing.
Amazing technology for 1964 200mph motors and transmissions wow the cars look exceptionally fast even now they are flying down the front straight on the charge awsum....
all these guys in this are ....famous ! all these names , all these cars especially have gone down in history , forever ! even though they dont run the 12 hours at sebring anymore [ well , I dunno that , im just making a point } which is , all the guys who would drive there in 2016 , and their cars , will be forgotten in no time !
chopperking1122 12 hr at Sebring is one of the most important road races on American soil, and is run every year. race is treated as test for le sarthe
But that has absolutely nothing to do with each other. MacDonald died in a cobbled together prototype (precisely three very different vehicles) by Mickey Thompson, while the Shelby Daytona Cobras were reliable and most importantly very well engineered concepts. In addition, the Indy 500 only requires a lead foot, while racing in Sebring and Le Mans a key-factor is driving-abilities and handling. The Indy 500-Thompson car was not safe for the high speeds although it was made just for it.
Shelby should've won the championship this year in 1964 instead of having to wait till 1965 with a brit leading the team due to Carroll having taken over from a brit, Ford's GT program. The greatest thing about it all was when Carroll Shelby and Shelby American Racing became the First American Automobile Manufacturer to win an FIA sanctioned World Sports Car Championship, he clinched it at Rheims, France on July the 4th.
I wish they till had standing/running starts...I know they stopped them due to a couple crashes that killed people when the driver hadn't put his seat belt on, but I would hope some method could be devised to have the guys buckle up first then take off...such an exciting start.
Yes, a run to your car Lemans start could be done today with an ignition interlock system for the seat belts. The extra helmet connections for radio-drink-air and Hans device though, and proper belt adjustment calls for a mechanic present really. Just too risky. The Cobra Alfa collision in the pits shows the Real danger of fire.
I know I know that’s why 100k people don’t show up to watch a “safe” chess match. What about drivers in the car (angled like the leMans race), buckled, radio plugged in, BUT engine off? Quiet as a church mouse before the green flag drops!
I am 70 years old and was at this race, the 66 and 69. They were all unbelievable and introduced me to these great American cars and the other great cars of the world. This was cutting edge in every way.
Fast forward to a few years ago at Goodwood, I saw all the Shelby Daytonas, amazing sight and sound. So you would have see a the Shelby Daytona I got to see all those years later in the UK.
This video was so much more exciting than anything from NASCAR in the last 30 years
I drove down in 64' from New Jersey in my TR-4. The Johnson/ Gurney Cobra was really blistering before it crashed. It had beat the pants off the Daytona coupe. All cobras looked substantially racier that day than in 63 where they ran into many mechanical woes. Having been to many previous races, this one was pure Sebring at it's best.
I was there, most of the time in the Porsche pits. Next to us, was the Ferrari team pits and it was chaotic compared to the German pits. The Porsche pits was orderly and well laid out. The Ferrari pits was the opposite . . . but they won.
The Cobras put on a great show and, in my opinion, sounded the meanest on the track.
I went on to race mostly Porsches in California, but not at this caliber of racing. Those were the golden days of road racing.
Mr.CaliforniaBob do you still have your old race cars ?
Awesome to read your story, Sir
I literally gasped when the snips were cutting into the roof of the Daytona! To even think of doing that to one of those cars today...
they were only a racing car.......to be used and abused , and gotten rid off when something better came along
.
Daytonas were home made racecars ...
RIP Dave MacDonald & Bob Holbert.
This Coupe (CSX2287) now resides at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia Pa.
Amazing footage. Many thanks for posting.
My first race ever of that type. Been hopelessly hooked ever since.
Really takes you back , thanks
Roger Penske was no slouch behind the wheel in those days. He even won a NASCAR race.
CSX2287 getting cut with sheet metal snips!!!! WoW!
Well that was a fun watch!
The car that is not mentioned in the comments is the rare Corvette Grand Sport that is blowing away all the cars including the prototypes along the back straight at 1:25 in the race. These cars were not factory backed like the Fords or Ferraris but showed great potential anyway. All of these cars are fantastic to watch.
Some more information on the Grand Sport. www.simeonemuseum.org/the-collection/watkins-glen/1963-chevrolet-corvette-grand-sport
Brian Lacombe
Brian,
I am 70 years old and was at this race, the 66 and 69. They were all unbelievable and introduced me to these great American cars and the other great cars of the world. This was cutting edge in every way.
@@clanrobertson7200I wasn't even born yet, but I know that it is *this* era in motorsports that was truly great simply because everything WASN'T fully understood. Innovation made for interesting designs which made for a sense of mechanical wonderment that can never really happen in this 'design to the rulebook specifications' style of near homogenous design difference now.
Wish I could have lived through all of this.
Great highlights...I put a lot of laps in on the SIM because I fell in love with its fun corners it got a little bit if every turn imaginable,but fun all...great old footage and clean too...thank u
My FIRST Sebring 12, with my neighbor, "Poppa" Ben Wright Sr. of Tampa.
Welder of drag racers Don Garlits and Art Malone. We lived a mile from
The Tampa DragWay on US 92..
Pop had just gotten a Volvo PV-544...
We hung out at The Webster Turns...
I would see Surtees repeatedly drop a wheel off the pavement..
On exit... he would see the lower A arm replaced..
Putting Sir John back in 3rd..
If Rodriguez had STATED in the NART '64 GTO he would have
BEATEN the AC Cobra Coupe...
But he started in the year old 250/330P that had won in '63..
He beat hell out of that machine....
A lesson he would learn..
I would go every year, threw 1972...
With Pop, a cousin and H.S. buddies..
Daytona 24 also...
The Golden Years....
Quit when IMSA took over... No Prototypes..
Politics..
J.C.
Wish there more videos of this quality. My father raced here from 60 through 66. In this video he stuffed the Abarth at 1:11 in to the video
Very cool, William. "Scuderia Bear" with Dick Holquist. I grew up in Pittsburgh, and watched them race at Cumberland.
I was lucky enuf to run SEBRING on a pretty decent simulator after joking with my customers at a Tire Store I was working at,any customer who brought a real sports car in for tires and an alignment,I would always tell them ok we will get that done and I'll take the car over to Sebring Andi call u just keep bringing me tires....a blank stare they had no clue.....but I had no clue of the historic nature and the fact that its still active with its 12 hour race...on the SIM I discover a love for the place its such an aggressive course keeping u up on the wheel lots of fun....it fools u because some of the corners give u the exact same look as other turns so u really have to stay alert and remember which turns are which that sounds especially fun in a 12 hour race if u were tired probably more in a 24hr race then 12 thou...what a track on the SIM it was the only track available in the nite setting....
Thanks for posting that race love this track a great work out for driver and machine I feel...I must be right because Indy cars test there new toys there each year....thanks again for posting this great race....got here following Shelby videos...thanks
Great video man! Thanks for sharing.
Bob Thorpe jr drove a Cobra at Sebring and Daytona in those years..its totally restored and in a museum in Canada I believe.
Briezie Thirteen Bob Thorpe was my dad and died in Kentucky 2012. He did in fact race that Cobra and got some wins. He and Foyt used to hang out back then. The car is fully restored and is in Canada. My bucket list is just to sit in the thing.
like seeing those old 289 Cobras go
Amazing technology for 1964 200mph motors and transmissions wow the cars look exceptionally fast even now they are flying down the front straight on the charge awsum....
all these guys in this are ....famous ! all these names , all these cars especially have gone down in history , forever ! even though they dont run the 12 hours at sebring anymore [ well , I dunno that , im just making a point } which is , all the guys who would drive there in 2016 , and their cars , will be forgotten in no time !
chopperking1122 12 hr at Sebring is one of the most important road races on American soil, and is run every year. race is treated as test for le sarthe
FORZA FERRARI
Que Bella Machina!
J.C.
when race cars looked like cars instead of star wars machines or flying boxes.
Star wars machines look pretty cool.....modern cars look like dog shit.........
Today in the GT classes it's hard to tell one car from another... very frustrating as a spectator...
The Mercedes AMG GT has a good look but, yes I agree. It is hard to tell them apart
cutting into the sheet metal of a now $8 million racecar
Dave McDonald has the Fred Flintstone feet. They're glowing red with steam billowing off of them.
Kind of poignant seeing and hearing MaDonald, knowing what was about to happen to him in the Mickey Thompson death machine at Indy.
But that has absolutely nothing to do with each other. MacDonald died in a cobbled together prototype (precisely three very different vehicles) by Mickey Thompson, while the Shelby Daytona Cobras were reliable and most importantly very well engineered concepts.
In addition, the Indy 500 only requires a lead foot, while racing in Sebring and Le Mans a key-factor is driving-abilities and handling. The Indy 500-Thompson car was not safe for the high speeds although it was made just for it.
Add Bandini too. He would die after a crash at Monaco.
Shelby should've won the championship this year in 1964 instead of having to wait till 1965 with a brit leading the team due to Carroll having taken over from a brit, Ford's GT program. The greatest thing about it all was when Carroll Shelby and Shelby American Racing became the First American Automobile Manufacturer to win an FIA sanctioned World Sports Car Championship, he clinched it at Rheims, France on July the 4th.
And this is my chance to see Roger race footage...
I wish they till had standing/running starts...I know they stopped them due to a couple crashes that killed people when the driver hadn't put his seat belt on, but I would hope some method could be devised to have the guys buckle up first then take off...such an exciting start.
Can u imagine if Chevy would have aloud the grandsport vette to be mass produced what could have been Penske & Hall would have a dynasty
Was this Bob Holbert senior? Not the one that drove the lowenbrau Porsche 962 correct?
The son's name was Al
Great video I think I was 7 months old at the time....hah hah
Yes, a run to your car Lemans start could be done today with an ignition interlock system for the seat belts. The extra helmet connections for radio-drink-air and Hans device though, and proper belt adjustment calls for a mechanic present really. Just too risky.
The Cobra Alfa collision in the pits shows the Real danger of fire.
I know I know that’s why 100k people don’t show up to watch a “safe” chess match. What about drivers in the car (angled like the leMans race), buckled, radio plugged in, BUT engine off? Quiet as a church mouse before the green flag drops!
////////////Torque through that turn baby
My bad, 64. Sorry.
I thought McDonald was dead 63!
no , 1964 , at Indy , in mickey thompsons car
Title misleading, Ferraris won this race. Daytona Coupe won in its class, not the race.
Title says, "GT winner", so it's not misleading. There's no way even the mighty Daytona Coupe was going to outrun the prototypes to win it overall!!
Not misleading but easy to misread, especially if you don't understand the nomenclature of sports car racing. .