Lewis Hamilton, Roscoe’s bulldog and Shelby Cobra roadster

If George Russell continued to carry out his “official duties” this past weekend, representing the Mercedes team at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, driving the 2013 W10 car and also communicating with fans and sponsors and signing autographs, he would partner had a very different program.

Lewis Hamilton chose to relax completely on the eve of the British Grand Prix, which he has already won 8 times, in the company of his faithful friend, the bulldog Roscoe. Several photos appeared on the pages of the seven-time world champion on social networks, accompanied by a short comment: “The best thing is to spend a day away from home with my buddy.”

But the attention of car experts, of course, was not drawn to a dog, but to a car in which Lewis and Roscoe drove on the roads of England in fine weather. It was a 1967 Shelby Cobra 427 roadster. The production volume of such machines was quite small, mainly because not all of them have survived to this day, and the auction price of a good example can exceed $5 million.

When Hamilton bought the first such car more than a decade ago, he first turned to Carroll Shelby himself, then alive, for recommendations (the legendary American racer and designer passed away in May 2012).

“When I found the first car like this, I called Carroll Shelby and asked her to look into it for me,” Lewis said in an interview with GQ. “According to him, it was one of the best copies he had seen in a long time, completely original.

Carroll died a month after I bought that car. And soon I bought another, 1967, which I actually use more often, because I want to keep the first, 1966, in perfect condition.

So now in the Lewis collection there are two nearly identical roadsters, apparently differing only in color – one in the US and the second in the UK.