I watched the TV documentary "AutoBiography: The Story of Ford vs Ferrari" before the movie. The engineering history that documentary detailed was fascinating. I was looking forward to some of that drama played out in more detail in the movie, but understandably it focused more on the people involved and especially the driver. Anyway, highly recommend that documentary. (hint: torrent is your friend)

https://www.motortrendondemand.com/detail/the-story-of-ford-vs-ferrari/108907/

https://www.amazon.com/AutoBiography-Ford-Ferrari-Special-Season/dp/B081W2Q8NF

Trying to find that, I came across a couple of other interesting ones:

There's "The 24 Hour War" and "Shelby American" on Netflix, and a couple on youtube:

https://www.netflix.com/title/80158800

https://www.netflix.com/title/81218074

My very first car was a Shelby. Okay, maybe it was the forgotten Shelby, the Dodge Daytona Shelby, but it was still a true Carrol Shelby that he personally added his magic touches to. I had the CS Turbo II 2.2l, and it was also a riot. It was a real adrenaline rush feeling the acceleration when the turbo came in hard because the acceleration came all at once after a short lag. Today's turbos minimize lag and power comes on smoothly and less exciting. To add to the excitement, being front wheel drive, it had crazy torque-steer when the turbo hit hard.

ron_shelby (resized).jpg

Ha, yeah, I knew that was coming, so just added it myself...

But if you had driven one, you wouldn't have forgotten.

The GLHS even makes this list of Top 10 Shelby cars. You gotta love a guy that gives it the acronym for Goes Like Hell. Mine had the same engine as the most upgraded Goes Like Hell S'more model, but in a cool body!

https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/top-10-shelby-cars-of-all-time.html

I'm afraid to ask what those were!

I'm not sure about the early model turbos, but by late 80s they were installing German-built Getrag transmissions specifically designed for the turbo engine with specially heat-treated and high-strength parts. Most impressive was the differential case with four-pinion design, good for aggressive launches. Likewise with the clutches, over-sized 230mm, 230mm pressure plate pattern, 8-bolt crank.

I only have good things to say about the 555 Getrag my car had, and I drove it hard: original clutch lasted over 100,000 miles. Shifted real smooth too, man did that clutch kick-back hard though, never encountered another car with a clutch requiring that much force.