Cobra History - Real and Replica

[runt]

Guys, one piece of Cob history which always fascinates me is the 1964 Ilford Trophy Race with 'gentleman' Jack Sears piloting Willment Cobra 39PH to victory; the 'Black Flag' race at Brands.
As a nine year old I used to watch some of those races round at my Gran's; black & white TV! However my memories are patchy, wondered if any of our members have any comments/info on that race, and Jack's work with the Cobra generally.

Paul/runt.:thumb:

[nikbj68]

Originally Posted by runt

Guys, one piece of Cob history which always fascinates me is the 1964 Ilford Trophy Race with 'gentleman' Jack Sears piloting Willment Cobra 39PH to victory; the 'Black Flag' race at Brands.
As a nine year old I used to watch some of those races round at my Gran's; black & white TV! However my memories are patchy, wondered if any of our members have any comments/info on that race, and Jack's work with the Cobra generally.

Paul/runt.:thumb:

WOW! I wonder if that means the race could be tucked away in some archive?! Bl00dy Hell I`d love to see it! By all accounts THE greatest drive of a Cobra!
Jackie Stewart said there was nothing he could have done to keep Sears behind him, have you seen the pic of him, fist raised in "Cobra, the First 40 Years"?
Click the pic for a link to Mr.Legate`s gallery!

[runt]

Originally Posted by nikbj68

WOW! I wonder if that means the race could be tucked away in some archive?! Bl00dy Hell I`d love to see it! By all accounts THE greatest drive of a Cobra!
Jackie Stewart said there was nothing he could have done to keep Sears behind him, have you seen the pic of him, fist raised in "Cobra, the First 40 Years"?
Click the pic for a link to Mr.Legate`s gallery!

Hi Nik, haven't got that book yet, I have Brian Laban's excellent 'AC Cobra the complete story' showing Jack throwing the Willment Cobra (39 PH) through a bend that day, fabulous stuff, Jackie of course was in a Lightweight E, which one assumes would have been a bit more 'user-friendly' than a Cob.. when one considers the ENORMOUS advances in tyre technology since those times, they were supermen, apparently Jack was right at the limit, thanks for your post, this race fascinates me.
I think the 289 used in 39 PH had 4 Webers, perhaps 375 horse? Since then has been fitted with a Holley, don't know if your book mentions that.
So important that these old Cobs survive, an inspiration to us all, into the idea of decorating the runt's garage walls with b/w archive pics from 60's racing.

Paul/runt.:thumb:

[nikbj68]

Originally Posted by runt

Hi Nik, ....
I think the 289 used in 39 PH had 4 Webers, perhaps 375 horse? Since then has been fitted with a Holley, don't know if your book mentions that.
So important that these old Cobs survive, an inspiration to us all, into the idea of decorating the runt's garage walls with b/w archive pics from 60's racing.

Paul/runt.:thumb:

Nigel Hulme fitted the 750cfm Holley to 39PH to make it more 'road friendly' but went back to the Webers in around 99/00 after he was totally blown off in the first Goodwood Revival!
My Dad saw the engine from it at Huddarts after the Minshaws bought it, and I believe it was upto about 400 horses then, and it was entrusted to at least 2 other specialists between then & when it was sold last year. If you email me,(or PM with your add.) I`ll send you a phone clip of it being fired up just before it was auctioned (...or not, as the case was!) last Feb. God it sounds MEEEAAAANN!
Nik.

[runt]

Nik, you have PM:thumb:

Paul/runt.

[dingocooke]

Originally Posted by runt

Hi Nik, haven't got that book yet, I have Brian Laban's excellent 'AC Cobra the complete story' showing Jack throwing the Willment Cobra (39 PH) through a bend that day, fabulous stuff, Jackie of course was in a Lightweight E, which one assumes would have been a bit more 'user-friendly' than a Cob.. when one considers the ENORMOUS advances in tyre technology since those times, they were supermen, apparently Jack was right at the limit, thanks for your post, this race fascinates me.
I think the 289 used in 39 PH had 4 Webers, perhaps 375 horse? Since then has been fitted with a Holley, don't know if your book mentions that.
So important that these old Cobs survive, an inspiration to us all, into the idea of decorating the runt's garage walls with b/w archive pics from 60's racing.

Paul/runt.:thumb:

I think Jackie Stewart was perhaps being a little modest; surely even a good lightweight E type with a works 6 to D type spec, probably wouldnt have the torque and HP 39Ph had by that time? Those jag 6 need to be revved to death to make horsepower, even instd form!!

[runt]

I know what you mean Steve; even with D Type head, a 3.8 probably makes no more than 220 ft/lbs, hence the need for the 4.2, the Willment 39 PH must have given over 300 ft/lbs, having read so much about the handling of the leaf sprung cars on the tyres of the day, you have to admire the men who drove these cars at racing speeds; similarly period shots of John Woolfe racing GTM 700F suggest that would have been his 'upper body workout' for the day.. exhausting I should think.

Paul.

[rocketmut]

Hi Robert,
just reading an old article on chassis numbers and wondered if the list you give includes the following;
A-98
HEM-6
MA-200
EFX-501 TO 508
CSX5001
CSX5002
Also i remember an article on two 'special' cobras built at the end of production,both 7ltr with dual paxton superchargers & 3sp auto box one for shelby & one for bill cosby ?
any enlightenment would be great.
thanks steve.

[beachcomber]

Hi Guys,

Just received an invitation from "da management" to return to the forum - so here I am.

I've been out of action for a couple of years due to temp. ill health [ couple of heart attacks ]. Add to that my Father suffered 2 strokes in the same period and passed away last year and you can see - Cobras and such were NOT at the top of my priority list. Back to full health now - thanx to the wonders of modern medicine and 6 pills a day!

However, things automotive have still been continuing on the sidelines and although officially "retired", I have been doing a lot of consultancy work for Mohr in Germany [ FMS Cobra, Gullwing Coupe & Roadster, 904 Porsche ] as well as my own Porsche 550 and T6 Replicas.

I've also hooked up with my old pal Adrian Cocking - expect to see something new and exciting VERY soon [ Cobra shaped ] from the stable of Chez RAM.

The forum was also the catalyst for making contact with Vic ROLLINS -[ Painterman], who has my respect as one of the best custom painters in the Midlands - if not the country. The stories we could tell eh Vic ?? !!

Talking of which - I've just read through the forum article "courtesy of Eric" re: Brightwheel, Viper, Sheldonhurst. I must admit it's the first time I've
read it as the writing's too bloody small.

Well Eric old pardner - slight terminal inexactitude in your story.

You state the the RAM body was ripped of by Sheldonhurst. Maybe you'd like to retract that publicly.

Adrian Cocking [ LR Roadsters ] was the supplier and manufacturer of the early Sheldonhurst bodies. NOT RIPPED OFF, but supplied against invoice and paid for as such.

In fact Adrian delivered the first body ready for modification to suit the Granada based car that Jurgen Mohr had ordered.

From memory it arrived on Friday afternoon and after consultation with Vic Rollins [ my partner at Sheldonhurst ] - I left him to it.

When we arrived back at work Monday morning - there was Vic looking like a flour grader covered from head to foot in GRP dust having spent the WHOLE weekend fitting up the new arches and "prepping" the body to his own very exacting standards.

That body finally went back to Adrian and became the King Buck for the Sheldonhurst "FIA Cobra".

NO Eric old friend - the Sheldonhurst car was NOT ripped off from RAM [ or LR Roadsters even ], but a collaboration between myself and Adrian Cocking of RAM fame. You see the thing of it is that I was THERE at the time when the various hard points of Cobra replicas were established - not heresay, or 3rd or 4th hand "he said, she said".

As pointed out by Vic - the Sheldonhurst car CERTAINLY WAS splashed - NO question - even including the chassis / donor concept.

Our friend Ken was the Southern agent for the car, and simply did what 100's of manufacturers in the GRP industry had done before - splashed the mould [ and the chassis ].

The car was also ripped off in France [ twice ! ]. PGO was a Sheldonhurst agent - see a pattern forming here? The cheeky French b******s then went on to splash my Porsche Speedster mould!

I designed another Cobra - based very loosely on a TVR Griffith chassis for another French company 2 of which disappeared to France never to be heard of again.

I have been involved in the specialty car business since 1966, and replicas of one sort or another since 1969. My history with the original Steve Arntz cars and Keith Harvie [ PAW in California - NOT PWA - typo ] must make me at least one of the earliest to be involved with Cobra replicas, and subsequently I've been privileged to work with some living legends - Carroll Shelby, Peter Brock, Bob Bondurant amongst many others.

I'm STILL involved with Cobra replicas some 30 odd years later - that's LONGER than the original Cobra was in production!

That's the thing about Historical facts - some may try to rewrite history, but those of us that were there KNOW what's what.

As I mentioned previously - the stories we could tell.

Beachcomber

[Migge]

Beachbomber!

From another thread and only ma opinion:

As far as I know, was the BRA289 a splash from John Atkins 289. If you read the SAAC registry you will find out, that this 289 (if I remember right!) was always a car with many discussions etc. "air car" and so on. It even went so far that some Cobras, still racing !!, were in the discussion of the the AC Club: reat or not real etc. So if the BRA289 was a clone from the Atkins 289, it's a clone of a car built in the late 70th or early 80th.

Do you know more about the 289 slash history?

Cheers
Migge