Kickin' it at Carroll's

In Texas motorsport there isn't anyone more famous, or who has made a more significant impact on international motorsport than Carroll Shelby. From the very begining of his motorsport career Carroll has close ties to the United Kingdom. Even today his influence can still be seen as the two stripes which he made famous on the Shelby Cobra's livery are still seen racing around tracks.

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to hang out with Carroll's daughter Simone who I had met earlier this year along with Carroll and his wife at the Barrett Jackson Car Auction. Simone showed me around a town called Henley where we had lunch and had a chance to catch up with what her family are Carroll are up to. Simone told me about a road rally that she had participated in earlier this year where she beat Patric Dempsy in a race between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. After lunch Simone was also kind enough to show me around the Shelby estate, a 7 bedroom mansion, which looked to this simple Texan as something out of the movies! Walking around the home which was full of personal items was like walking through a museum of motorsports golden years.

(some of the things around the estate, notice the rocking horses' name)
Afterwards we met a few of her friends Kate and Mark who both have interesting backgrounds. Kate is a high powered executive at a company called Manpower and Mark is involved with automotive development for Land Rover. Before signing on developing components for Land Rover hespent a few years working for the Williams Formula 1 team! The evening was made up of some intersting conversations and we had a great time.

The past week has been very busy, I feel like everyday I have been going hard and not getting to bed until 11.30-midnight and then back up again at 6 to get back to Palmer!! I hope you are doing well and I will do my best to get caught up on a few posts this week!

Cheers

Michael