Every livery tells a story. Small designs or big, elaborate art projects all tell a story of somekind. Here's a homage to one, a Shelby GT350R that managed to compete in the legendary Le Mans 24 Hour race!
Here's the story (automatically translated from a French website):
Among the many races where a Shelby Mustang was entered, there is the most legendary endurance race in the world: the 24 hours of Le Mans!
The story begins in December 1965 when the Ford Motor Company asked its European subsidiaries to find a dealership in each country to distribute the High Performance range, namely the GT350, Cobra and GT40. For Belgium, Ford Antwerp chose Claude Dubois who was already a pilot and had his own automobile preparation workshop.
After several administrative and delivery problems on the part of Ford concerning Shelbys sold by Claude Dubois, Carroll Shelby, dissatisfied, decided to deal directly with Claude by making him official direct importer for the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg), from January 1967.
After racing on Porsche 550, Lister Jaguar, Triumph TR3 S, Simca Abarth, Sunbeam Tiger and Triumph Spitfire, Claude Dubois asked Shelby for a steering wheel to drive a GT40 for the 1966 24 hours of Le Mans. The latter replied that unfortunately it was not was not possible because Ford required F1 level drivers, which was not his case. Claude then found a wheel at Ecurie Francorchamps with a... Ferrari 275 GTB!
Ford Antwerp, finding this unacceptable for a Ford and Shelby distributor, decided to order a Shelby GT350R for it in view of the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1967. But we are still in 1966, and it is still Ford Antwerp which deals with Shelby. The file is sent to Shelby American, but without any details regarding its usefulness. As a result, Shelby sent a 1965 GT350R, chassis 5R539, and Claude Dubois collected it at Le Mans testing in April 1967.
After the tests, big surprise: the car is completely worn out! In fact, the car dating from 1965 has already experienced two years of racing in the United States, and no part was changed before shipment. The engine and gearbox were ruined, as were the axle, the brakes...
According to Claude Dubois, Shelby American had not taken Ford Antwerp's request seriously and must have thought it was a Belgian joke. Claude then goes to see Carroll Shelby, who was present with the GT40 MkIV and MkII, to explain the situation to him. He also tells him that he will indeed participate in the race for his 8th time!
After these tests in April, Claude Dubois sent a telegram to Carroll Shelby telling him that if he did not want to see him race this car in front of 300,000 spectators, he had to send him new parts.
Two weeks later, a plane arrived at Brussels airport with a box containing a 289ci GT40 MkI engine developing 390 horsepower, a new transmission, a new steering, a new axle as well as a new rear axle, new brakes, new suspensions, a new alternator... And all for free for Claude! Shelby had sent the invoice to Ford and Ray Geddes, a friend of Claude's who worked at Ford, had approved it.
Then we had to get the car ready for the race and install all these new elements in it. Claude Dubois also made some modifications: specific windscreen wiper, installation of front and rear supports to allow the jack to lift the car quickly, installation of a NASCAR-type fire extinguisher, Marchal headlights, spoilers on the front bumper to better pin the car to the ground in the Hunaudières, lighting of the race numbers (mandatory)...
For the first time in the history of the 24 hours of Le Mans, cars had to have a time of at least 85% of the fastest to qualify. The GT350R 5R539 was as fast as the Ferrari that Claude Dubois drove the previous year, but against the Ford MkIV prototypes, Claude and his teammate Chris Tuerlinckx struggled with their car in the GT category! We had to manage to complete a lap of the circuit in 4'10.
After an average of 4'13 per lap, Chris Tuerlinckx managed to take the slipstream from another car and pushed the engine to 7300 rpm, while the engine limit was 7000 rpm, to break the lap in 4'10!
The car is qualified and starts the race at 4 p.m. Shortly after the start, a car hit 5R539, causing him to lose a front bumper spoiler. Claude Dubois then had to stop two laps later to grab a spare spoiler because the car was unbalanced at high speed on the Hunaudières straight.
Because of this, 5R539 found himself in last place after 1 hour of racing. The car gradually recovered before a malfunction in the Borg Warner T10 gearbox, causing the car to retire in the 7th hour...
The car was ran in other events, notably winning at Zandvoort a few months later.
Information via: https://ponynsnake.com/1965-shelby-gt350r-5r539-24h-le-mans-1967/ - a very good read!
The livery:
Enjoy!
