5 mighty American cars to see at the Goodwood Revival

Ford GT40 Roadster

There are four Ford GT40s racing here this weekend, all of which are interesting in their own right. But we’re honing in on this 1965 GT40 Roadster.

Chassis GT/111 was the 11^th of 12 pre-production prototype GT40s, and the fourth of five Roadsters. Built in Slough by Ford Advanced Vehicles, it was fitted with a 4.7-litre V8 and a five-speed manual gearbox and was entered in the 1965 Targa Florio. Driven by Sir John Whitmore and legendary US racer Bob Bondurant, it was at one point running in third position, but the race did not go to plan, with an eventual final-lap DNF. 

Chassis GT/111 returned to the UK as the GT40 Roadster project was scrapped. Also scrapped was the car itself, or so it was believed, until it resurfaced in 2006 having been stored on a mattress in a garage in London for decades. Restored to this lovely Linden Green paint colour, just as it was for the Targa Florio, GT/111 has been a regular at Goodwood and other motorsport events across the world ever since.

This is a unique part of the GT40 story, one not to be ignored if you spot it in the Revival paddocks. It’s strutting its stuff this weekend in the Whitsun Trophy.

Shelby Cobra Dragonsnake

If you’re going to have a Cobra, Fuchsia Metallic paint seems highly appropriate, wouldn’t you say? This is the Shelby Cobra Dragonsnake, chassis CSX2093, believed to be one of only three ‘Dragonsnake’ examples produced outside of the Shelby factory. 

The ‘Dragonsnake’ name adorned the most extreme Shelby-build Cobras, with an uprated 4.7-litre Ford V8 engine, reworked suspension, an improved gearbox and fatter tyres. This stunner was built in 1963, racing at a number of tracks and hillclimbs, before being taken by its owner Jim Costilow to drag strips across the USA. With its original red paintwork replaced with 31 layers of the eye-catching pink you see today, it claimed drag event victories and records wherever it went, including records that belonged to Shelby factory cars, which didn’t do much to please a certain Carroll Shelby.

This weekend it’ll have seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson at the wheel for the Stirling Moss Memorial Trophy. Be prepared for oversteer at every opportunity. 

Ford Battlebird

The Freddie March Memorial Trophy delivers close racing each and every year, with cars such as Cooper-Jaguar T33, Aston Martin DB3S, Ferrari 500 TRC and Maserati 300S serving up a distinctly European flavour. Cast your eyes to the bottom of the entry list-however, and you’ll notice a very un-European entry: the Battlebird. 

Sitting in the mix like a quarter-pound smash patty atop a delightfully light, fragrant Panzanella salad, the Battlebird, owned by Bill Shepherd, a single-seat hooligan with no roof and no windscreen. 

In 1957, Ford constructed two speed record cars to promote the Thunderbird, one with a supercharged 5.1-litre V8, the other with a 7.0-litre naturally aspirated V8, both featuring lightweight construction and aluminium panels. This car is the 7.0-litre hero, and while mechanical gremlins meant it only managed 165mph in record attempts on Daytona Beach compared to the supercharged car’s 204mph, the two cars together did what they needed to do to promote the Thunderbird.

Sadly, it was wrecked during production for an Elvis Presley film, but before the 77^th Members’ Meeting it was revived by Shepherd and has been raced enthusiastically ever since. When you see it flying down the Lavant Straight this weekend, its herculean V8 propelling it past otherwise very quick cars, remember this: it still runs on original spec drum brakes. 

Ford Shelby Mustang GT350

Fighter pilots are brave human beings, flying at several hundred miles per hour through high-G manoeuvres at low altitude. But it's either time to reassess how brave you think fighter pilots are, or come to terms with how scary this Ford Shelby Mustang GT350 must be, as one of its former keepers — a fighter pilot — sold it soon after buying it because he found it too intimidating. 

One of the original 500 GT350 racing cars built in 1965 for Class B SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) racing, the first owner was Top Gun fighter pilot instructor Jay Sharp. He raced it for five years before selling it to another fighter pilot, and it was this individual who moved the car along after a matter of months because he was too scared to push it to its limits.

A handful of other very lucky individuals either owned or raced it in the following decades, including Indy 500, Daytona 24 and Sebring 12 Hours-winner Bobby Rahal, and its current keeper Nick Sleep. The car is highly original, with one modification specifically for Sleep: a sticker on the rear bumper that reads “Caution: driver may be a Sleep at the wheel”. We doubt anyone within a five-mile radius will be asleep when the Fordwater Trophy gets underway. 

Scarab-Offenhauser F1

If we asked you to name an American Formula 1 team, there’s a decent chance you’d say Haas or Cadillac, or perhaps even Penske or Eagle. But what about Scarab?

Scarab is one of the lesser known F1 outfits to hail from the land of line dancing and baseball. Founded in the late 1950s to produce various sportscar racers, Scarab entered the world of Formula 1 in 1960 with two front-engined, four-cylinder powered cars. They proved to be unreliable and off the pace, and achieved a single race finish of tenth place in the final event of the season, the US Grand Prix at Riverside. 

Despite an underwhelming racing record, you have to admire the Scarab-Offenhauser F1. Driven and owned today by Mark Shaw, it personifies the attitude of ‘if you never try you’ll never know’. What’s more, the car adds some American spice to a Richmond & Gordon Trophies field that’s packed with European creations, cars like the Cooper-Climax T53 that raced against the Scarab in period, plus the Ferrari 246 F1 Dino, Lotus-Climax 16 and BRM P48.

Photography by Jordan Butters, Nick Dungan, Pete Summers, Jayson Fong and Toby Whales.