VIN: the works Shelby Cobra Daytona chassis CSX 2299
History of CSX 2299
CSX 2299 was the most successful of Shelby’s six Cobra Daytonas. From its nine competitive outings during 1964 and 1965, the car scored five class wins including back-to-back victories at Le Mans.
It was the first Cobra Daytona to be completed at Carrozzeria Gransport in Modena and made its competition debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June 1964. Part of a two-car entry, it was reserved for Shelby’s best drivers: Dan Gurney and Bob Bondurant.
Gurney qualified tenth on the grid, three paces ahead of the next quickest GT class entry (AC Cars own experimental Cobra Coupe).
By the second hour, Gurney was running sixth overall.
Following stints from Bondurant, by midnight the pair were fourth.
At 5am on Sunday morning, they had climbed to third, but CSX 2299 eventually finished fourth behind a trio of Ferrari Prototypes. The car set a new Grand Touring-class distance record and finished ahead of the fifth and sixth-placed 250 GTOs, thus preventing a Ferrari whitewash.
Gurney and Bondurant next appeared in CSX 2299 at the Reims 12 Hours, but a broken gearbox casing ended a troubled race.
Driving solo, Gurney then won the Grand Touring class at the Goodwood Tourist Trophy heading a Shelby class 1-2-3 with third, fourth and fifth overall.
In 1964, the Tour de France was also part of the World Sportscar Championship. Shelby entered CSX 2299 under the Ford France banner with Maurice Trintignant in the driving seat and Bernard de Saint-Aubain navigating.
Held over ten days, the tour comprised eight circuit races, eight hillclimbs and 6000km of regularity road sections in between.
Trintignant most notably finished second in the race at Reims on the Saturday, won the Sunday race at Rouen and placed third in the Monday race at Le Mans. A couple of handy finishes in the hillclimbs meant he and Saint-Aubain led heading into the night regularity section after Le Mans.
However, the route comprised many short stages to prevent work on the cars and it claimed two of the three Cobra Daytonas. CSX 2299 was retired with a damaged wheel bearing.
As all three Cobra Daytonas failed to finish, it was Ferrari that won the 1964 World Sportscar Championship.
CSX 2299 had no such reliability issues in 1965. Five outings yielded class wins at Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans with no DNFs all year.
At the Daytona 2000km, Jo Schlesser, Harold Keck and Bob Johnson drove the car to second overall and first in the GT class. It was part of a historic Shelby 1-2-3-4 finish that saw the GT40s and Cobra Daytonas turn the tide on Ferrari’s dominance of Sportscar racing.
Bondurant and Schlesser then placed fourth overall and took another GT class win at the Sebring 12 Hours.
After Sebring, Alan Mann Racing looked after CSX 2299 for the rest of 1965 as Shelby’s focus shifted more towards the GT40.
The remaining races of 1965 were all based in Europe and the lack of a works Ferrari GT threat meant the title already looked Shelby’s to lose.
While in Alan Mann’s custody, the Daytona Coupes were pushed just hard enough to wrap up the championship.
With Jack Sears at the wheel, the car initially failed to start at the beginning of the Oulton Park Tourist Trophy. Sears did well to eventually place seventh overall.
Sears was then joined for the Le Mans 24 Hours by Dick Thompson.
No less than five Cobra Daytonas were entered for the race, but only CSX 2299 finished.
By 10pm, it had taken on the mantle of lead Cobra in seventh overall behind an all-Ferrari top six.
At midnight, Sears and Thompson had moved up to fifth and were the only car anywhere near the lead quartet of Ferraris.
However, the car soon needed a lengthy stop to have its radiator repaired and, when dawn broke, the two remaining Cobras were well back and sounding a bit off tune.
At 7:30am, CSX 2299 was the only Cobra Daytona left.
A high attrition rate meant that, by 10am, just 18 of the 51 starters were still going. Sears and Thompson eventually made it home in eighth overall. They finished first in the five-litre GT class and were the second Grand Touring car home.
CSX 2299’s final appearance was a gentle run at the Coppa Citta di Enna where Jack Sears finished fourth overall and second in class.
As with most of the Cobra Daytonas, CSX 2299 was sold after the 1965 campaign.
In later years, it was acquired by Salt Lake City industrialist, Larry H. Miller.
Notable History
Shelby American
Viking Blue with White stripes
22/06/1964 WSC Le Mans 24 Hours (D. Gurney / B. Bondurant) 4th oa, 1st GT5.0 class (#5)
05/07/1964 WSC Reims 12 Hours (D. Gurney / B. Bondurant) DNF (#15)
29/08/1964 WSC Goodwood Tourist Trophy (D. Gurney) 3rd oa, 1st GT2.0+ (#21)
20/09/1964 WSC Tour de France (M. Trintignant / B. de Saint-Auban) DNF (#188)
Guardsman Blue Metallic with White stripes
28/02/1965 WSC Daytona 2000km (J. Schlesser / H. Keck / B. Johnson) 2nd oa, 1st GT3.0+ class (#13)
27/03/1965 WSC Sebring 12 Hours (B. Bondurant / J. Schlesser) 4th oa, 1st GT5.0 class (#15)
01/05/1965 WSC Oulton Park Tourist Trophy (J. Sears) 7th oa, 4th GT2.0+ class (#22)
20/06/1965 WSC Le Mans 24 Hours (J. Sears / D. Thompson) 8th oa, 1st GT5.0 class (#11)
15/08/1965 WSC Coppa Citta di Enna (J. Sears) 4th oa, 2nd GT3.0+ class (#20)
Later sold to Larry Miller, Salt Lake City, Utah
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Ford - https://www.ford.com
