FORD'S Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe History
The story of the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe is all about how, in 1963, it was realised that there was a real need for increased speed over the traditional body design of the original Cobra roadster sports car. Pete Brock, the designer of the Daytona, recalled: “Carroll Shelby said: ‘I want to go to Europe, and how are we going to go faster?’.” At the time, the 289cu in engines were already getting as much horsepower as they reliably could, so the only other way was to reduce wind drag. While the Cobra roadster had established supremacy on short road courses, many of the European tracks have longer straightaways, longer than an entire lap of many US circuits.
After examining pre-war German aerodynamic studies, Brock felt he could use their ideas on a new body design. He then drew up a rough outline of what the car would look
