Vintage Racing Images

[pbf777]

     I believe the cylinder heads under the "Mercury" valve covers appear to be Tunnel Port FE's.

     Scott.

[Wedgeman]

6 intake bolts per side on a tunnel port ....

[pbf777]

     Bolts? What bolts? Oh well, your eyes are better than mine!     

     My impression was based on that which I could see, which was the inlet port spacing, which seemed at least somewhat consistent with the T.P..   

     Scott.

[tesgt350]

Mercury     My notes on this screen grab, say this is at the '70 Can-Am race at Road Atlanta, my first thought was the Ford G7A, but not with those valve covers !

Maybe THIS Mercury?

[honker]

Snakes at Riverside 1965 ! why the X on the second #98 in the distance ?

[JD]

Snakes at Riverside 1965 ! why the X on the second #98 in the distance ?

Experimental or driver is novice??

[Richstang]

Snakes at Riverside 1965 ! why the X on the second #98 in the distance ?

Experimental or driver is novice??

Some of us tried to figure this out several years ago. You reminded me to look at this again, now that I have accumulated many more photos.
Thanks to 'Kranky' sharing a race event date/results list we have all the CSX numbers to sort through. This USRRC event was at Riverside on 5/2/1965

In YOUR attached photo we see from foreground to background
-CSX3002 #98 driver Ken Miles - car in the foreground
-CSX2558 #97 driver Bob Johnson -next car -although not shown, other pictures also show it with the added 'X'
-CSX2488 #2 Ed Leslie - 3rd car - again although not show here, another photo show it also had the 'X'
-CSX3012 #1 Lothar Motschenbacher - 4th car
-CSX2431 98 driver Ken Miles - Cobra in background - shown with 'X'

While a very good guess I'm sure none of the drivers were rookies. I'm doubtful any of the cars were experimental.
My guess is it had something to do with the GT class, as only the 289 Cobras had the 'X', not the 427 Cobras.
Perhaps it was during practice that the "X" was added to easily differentiate the Cobra's in each class.
I didn't notice the 'X' in some of the photos. I suspect those were taken just before or during the race.

I've attached another photo of the pit area looking from the other side at a few of the Cobras.
Rich

[JD]

Maybe (?) was there to let workers/timing know the car was just testing, "shake-down" and not to compete??

[Richstang]

Interesting thought JD,
Although all three 289 Cobra were raced in previously years, I think it was the first race of the season for them.

for the 427 Cobras; CSX 3002 (the other #98 Cobra) did race earlier in the at GVR.
I can't find any race history earlier in year for CSX 3012, but none of its photos show it with an 'X'.
The photos are from the same corners; here the two 427 Cobras...

[Richstang]

and here are the three 289 Cobras

[shelbydoug]

Snakes at Riverside 1965 ! why the X on the second #98 in the distance ?

Experimental or driver is novice??

Some of us tried to figure this out several years ago. You reminded me to look at this again, now that I have accumulated many more photos.
Thanks to 'Kranky' sharing a race event date/results list we have all the CSX numbers to sort through. This USRRC event was at Riverside on 5/2/1965

In YOUR attached photo we see from foreground to background
-CSX3002 #98 driver Ken Miles - car in the foreground
-CSX2558 #97 driver Bob Johnson -next car -although not shown, other pictures also show it with the added 'X'
-CSX2488 #2 Ed Leslie - 3rd car - again although not show here, another photo show it also had the 'X'
-CSX3012 #1 Lothar Motschenbacher - 4th car
-CSX2431 98 driver Ken Miles - Cobra in background - shown with 'X'

While a very good guess I'm sure none of the drivers were rookies. I'm doubtful any of the cars were experimental.
My guess is it had something to do with the GT class, as only the 289 Cobras had the 'X', not the 427 Cobras.
Perhaps it was during practice that the "X" was added to easily differentiate the Cobra's in each class.
I didn't notice the 'X' in some of the photos. I suspect those were taken just before or during the race.

I've attached another photo of the pit area looking from the other side at a few of the Cobras.
Rich

Are you sure that this wasn't just a Cobra/Chevy thing and the Cobras were just "Brand X"? There was lots of taunting going on between the Corvette and Cobra people then.

[honker]

shelbydoug, this what you mean by taunting  Sports Car Graphic magazine.

There is an XP on this car as well, I think this was the first race for the Cobra ?

Mike

[shelbydoug]

shelbydoug, this what you mean by taunting  Sports Car Graphic magazine.

There is an XP on this car as well, I think this was the first race for the Cobra ?

Mike

No Mike. It was between the drivers, the mechanics, the race teams themselves.

At one point one of the teams put a Ferrel cat in the trunk of another car. The thing wound up being terrified and attaching itself to the cars driver...painfully.

If they could have thrown hand grenades at each other and gotten away with it, they would have.

The picture in your post is what we now refer to as a "photo opportunity". 

[propayne]

Scan from my August 1967 issue of Sports Car magazine.

- Phillip

[CSX 4133]

The XP designation was required by SCCA as the Cobra had not yet reached it's production numbers to qualify for "Production class" of SCCA. So they ran as X Production cars in the interim per SCCA Reg's. Found on Page 15 of the article attached.

Interesting article with vintage photos of Corvette & Cobras of the day.

https://books.google.com/books?id=363HifpJYnsC&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=SCCA+designation+of+XP+on+Shelby+Cobras&source=bl&ots=V94xz5KiwC&sig=ACfU3U07H_ETLcZk-AIhgu3XmJLwhjQVOg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwimlfnMjK3iAhWZJjQIHdQdB3kQ6AEwC3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=SCCA%20designation%20of%20XP%20on%20Shelby%20Cobras&f=true