I am fairly sure that the Ron Thorpe 289 was at Lakeside that weekend but for some reason did not run in the actual Tourist Trophy race,perhaps he did not wish to enter the main race or maybe had a problem. The circuit at that time was a little rough and the Miles 427 suffered rear suspension failure apparently due to the rough nature of the track. I have never heard or seen a more impressive race car than that awesome 427 competition Cobra, it litteraly blew the other cars to the weeds when overtaking them. I believe the whole exercise in sending the car to the southern hemisphere was essentially a PR flag waver funded by the FoMoCo. The Ron Thorpe 289 ran with the windscreen and hardtop whilst the 427c ran as a roadster. I remember Ron Butler wearing the Shelby team uniform and Ken in his racing overalls and both where real gentlemen.RIP.