It sounds like the Cobra is very true to its original form. Tyre technology and suspension geometry in the 60's was no where near what it is today. Even though it is a beast to handle by todays standards it was a dream racecar for Ferreri haters in the mid 60's. It handled better and had a higher top speed than most anything on the track at the time.

Quote from http://carrollshelbyinternational.com/history/

"In 1965, the Shelby-American Team, racing Cobra’s at the 12 Hours De Reims In France, scored enough points to win the prestigious FIA World Championship of GT cars. Taking the title virtually owned by Ferrari for a decade.

Building on their success, the Shelby-American Team began racing Ford GT4O’s in international competition. The result? A win at the LeMans 24 hour race In 1966. And another in 1967. At the request of Ford, Shelby began developing a high-performance Mustang for the street and track. The popular success of the Shelby Mustangs of 1965-1970 were, in large part, the result of Shelby’s racing and design skills. But Shelby’s vision of building another high-performance car would continue."

Why did people, especially Carroll Shelby hate Enzo? He was very cocky. He looked down on everyone around him as inferior and useless. Yes he built a great empire and amazing sports cars but his attitude was over the top and unwarrented. Shelby made it his own personal agenda to take him down a few notches and succeded