The Shelby Mustang that scared a Top Gun fighter pilot

As we wandered through the paddocks to go see the owner, the car chunters in alongside us after a session on-track. A sticker on the rear end, “Caution: Driver may be A Sleep at the Wheel,” is a fun play on the name of the owner, beloved Goodwood Members’ Meeting Governor, Nicholas Sleep. As it reverses into its paddock shelter, it coughs into a slumber and Sleep clambers out, looking chipper but worn-out. After he’s got his bearings, we wander over and ask him how his session went.

“You’re just so busy in it all the time catching it and it’s really quick,” Sleep blusters. “The momentum is very momentous. You’ve got all these little rises that unsettle the car. It’s an original car, with an original chassis so it’s flexing all over the shop. We call the car ‘Old Woody’ because it’s so wooden to race. They weren’t really designed to be race cars – they’re flowy and imprecise, it wallows and it’s big. Once you’ve set it up for a corner, you’re set. We’re very fond of it but it’s an acquired taste.”

As a seasoned Goodwood Governor and historic racer, Sleep has a few points of reference to give what is a fairly damning review of the GT350 as a driving experience. But he loves it for what it is, all the same.

“The T70, the Cobra are purpose-built – even the Rover gives you confidence,” he explains. “The mistake almost all the time is to overbrake for the corners. You sort of have to be a little bit brave – it doesn’t have great brakes and you have to trail brake it – and you’re just waiting to catch, catch, catch. You can turn it on the power quite happily but it’ll over-rotate quite quickly. It tends to skip a little bit in the corners.”

So, no surprises, an original Mustang drives like an original Mustang. Compromised, but oozing with charm; more cruise liner than Tom Cruise… It’s been a racer all its life, too, as one of the original 500 GT350 race cars built in 1965 for Class B SCCA racing. As above, from new, the car has quite the illustrious ownership history. Speaking of Tom Cruise…

“The first owner was a guy called Jay Shap, he trained Top Gun fighter pilots,” Sleep explains.

“He raced it reasonably well in the SCCA for about five years on the West Coast in the B-Class, alongside the Cobras in the A-Class. There are lots of records of its race history. I spoke to his son, who confirmed the chassis number and said it’s the only car his dad wished he hadn’t sold.”

“He sold it to one of his pupils, who owned it for six months before selling it really quick. This hardcore fighter pilot reckoned this Mustang was too much for him, can you believe that? The car passed along to Dick Roush – it’s always been a racer, on the West Coast of the States. Dick Roush used it on the road, too. There’s a great story about him drag racing a Corvette between the lights, with the line locker he installed.

“The car then came to Europe for the purposes of historic racing with none other than Indy 500, Daytona 24 and Sebring 12-winner, Bobby Rahal. He raced it at the Spa Six Hours, about two or three years before we bought it. We used it a lot at Spa, we’ve done Le Mans Classic, too.”

So, apart from the cool history, what keeps Sleep interested in his boaty old Mustang?

“It’s unsettling for sure, but it gives you the joy of being alive. There’s 460bhp going straight to the back wheels. It’s all about character. It’s got loads of spirit, it’s big and safe. We just love it.”

The thrills are there to be had if you’re brave enough. And as it turns out, ‘brave enough’ apparently, is braver than a Top Gun fighter pilot. We’ll be seeing plenty of such brave souls attacking Goodwood once again when the Revival kicks off in two weeks’ time.

Photography by Toby Whales.