Carroll Shelby had a good relationship with Ford at Dearborn after the AC Cobra. But the Cobra was too blunt-nosed to achieve speeds of 200mph on the Mulsanne straight so a new aerodynamic coupe body was required for Le Mans racing. Peter Brock designed a new aerodynamic coupe body to comply with racing regulations and was restricted to an almost standard AC Cobra chassis and mechanics. Brock designed the body mostly by eye, and achieved a top speed 20mph faster than the Cobra coupe. After the first prototype, the bodywork was contracted out to Carrozzeria Grandsport in Modena. Just 6 cars were built, and achieved race successes in both 1964 and 1965, with fourth overall and GT class win at Le Mans in 1964, and numerous wins in 1965. Changing regulations for the 1966 World Championship led to development on the Daytona Coupe coming to an end, and Shelby devoted his effort to the Ford GT40 project.