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Automotive Lifestyle
VINTAGE: Shelby’s Mid-Engine King Cobra
Using the familiar British chassis/American V8 formula, Carroll Shelby created the Cooper T61M-based sports racer that won races but never reached its potential.
The Shelby King Cobra has competed at previous runnings of the Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. (Photo: Wouter Melissen)
At the upcoming Monterey Motorsports Reunion, the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Shelby Cobra will be the main feature. Due to the sad passing three months ago of their creator, Carroll Shelby, the occasion will also serve as a tribute to the many contributions of the “Texas chicken farmer” to the world of motorsport.
As a warm up, we take a closer look at one of his creations: the King Cobra. Like the legendary AC Cobra, this sports racer was a hybrid of a British chassis and a Ford V8 drivetrain. In this case, the base car was a Cooper T61M that was developed specifically to house big engines.
Ready for the lucrative fall season of 1963, Shelby's latest creation proved quick straight out of the box but not quite reliable enough. Those issues were quickly sorted, allowing Dave MacDonald to score an outright victory in the prestigious Los Angeles Times Grand Prix at Riverside.
Additional cars were built for the 1964 season, but Shelby had to balance his time and resources between too many projects and eventually abandoned the King Cobra program altogether. At previous editions of the Motorsports Reunion, we captured MacDonald's Riverside winning example, which is the feature car of this article.
Cooper kick started the mid-engine revolution in Formula 1 and lead the way in sports-car racing. Like the F1 racers, the two-seat Cooper Monacos were powered by the Coventry Climax FPF four-cylinder engine. In privateer hands, various other engines were tried, including much larger American V8s. To stay ahead of the game, Cooper developed a new version of the Monaco specifically to accommodate larger engines for the 1963 season.
Known as the T61M and still powered by a Climax engine, the revised Cooper was first tested late in 1962 by Bruce McLaren. Like the earlier versions, the new car featured a tubular space-frame chassis but made slightly wider behind the cockpit to suit the bigger V8s. Suspension was by double wishbones and coil springs all around. Two sizeable fuel tanks were mounted on either side of the cockpit. The car featured a lightweight aluminum body that was slightly lower and wider than its predecessor's.
Among Cooper's customers was Carroll Shelby, who wanted to compete in the lucrative USRRC series. He feared his Cobras would be no match for the purpose-built sports racers, and since he had neither the time nor resources to construct a car of his own, obtaining two chassis from Cooper was the easiest route. Like all T61Ms, the two cars headed for Shelby's shop in Venice, California were only partly finished and ready to accept the engine and gearbox of the customer's choosing.
Upon arrival, the Coopers were completely stripped, and vital chassis and suspension components were re-welded to ensure they were up to the task. Once the cars were put back together, they were fitted with the familiar small-block Ford V8 that also powered Shelby's Cobras. Breathing through four Weber carburetors, it produced around 370-390 bhp. The engine was mated to the Colotti five-speed gearbox usually fitted to the Coopers or the more-affordable Huffaker four-speed transaxle.
As a warm up, we take a closer look at one of his creations: the King Cobra. Like the legendary AC Cobra, this sports racer was a hybrid of a British chassis and a Ford V8 drivetrain. In this case, the base car was a Cooper T61M that was developed specifically to house big engines.
Ready for the lucrative fall season of 1963, Shelby's latest creation proved quick straight out of the box but not quite reliable enough. Those issues were quickly sorted, allowing Dave MacDonald to score an outright victory in the prestigious Los Angeles Times Grand Prix at Riverside.
Additional cars were built for the 1964 season, but Shelby had to balance his time and resources between too many projects and eventually abandoned the King Cobra program altogether. At previous editions of the Motorsports Reunion, we captured MacDonald's Riverside winning example, which is the feature car of this article.
Cooper kick started the mid-engine revolution in Formula 1 and lead the way in sports-car racing. Like the F1 racers, the two-seat Cooper Monacos were powered by the Coventry Climax FPF four-cylinder engine. In privateer hands, various other engines were tried, including much larger American V8s. To stay ahead of the game, Cooper developed a new version of the Monaco specifically to accommodate larger engines for the 1963 season.
Known as the T61M and still powered by a Climax engine, the revised Cooper was first tested late in 1962 by Bruce McLaren. Like the earlier versions, the new car featured a tubular space-frame chassis but made slightly wider behind the cockpit to suit the bigger V8s. Suspension was by double wishbones and coil springs all around. Two sizeable fuel tanks were mounted on either side of the cockpit. The car featured a lightweight aluminum body that was slightly lower and wider than its predecessor's.
Among Cooper's customers was Carroll Shelby, who wanted to compete in the lucrative USRRC series. He feared his Cobras would be no match for the purpose-built sports racers, and since he had neither the time nor resources to construct a car of his own, obtaining two chassis from Cooper was the easiest route. Like all T61Ms, the two cars headed for Shelby's shop in Venice, California were only partly finished and ready to accept the engine and gearbox of the customer's choosing.
Upon arrival, the Coopers were completely stripped, and vital chassis and suspension components were re-welded to ensure they were up to the task. Once the cars were put back together, they were fitted with the familiar small-block Ford V8 that also powered Shelby's Cobras. Breathing through four Weber carburetors, it produced around 370-390 bhp. The engine was mated to the Colotti five-speed gearbox usually fitted to the Coopers or the more-affordable Huffaker four-speed transaxle.
Goodwood Festival Of Speed
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