A lot of great replies with various viewpoints on this topic. Thanks!!! It is pretty obvious that choice of tires, suspension differences between the replicas as well as setup makes a big difference in how well any of these replicas can put the power down.
I originally asked the question because in my opinion and it is just my opinion, a replica car made of fiberglass with virtually zero safety measures built into it such as traction control, stability control, ABS, no airbags, virtually no protection from impacts on any side of it... etc... etc...
should be powered in a way that would not break traction and result in wheel spin at the tip of the gas pedal in just about any gear.
Driving even semi aggressively on the back roads in performance cars with HP numbers in excess of 500HP and some 1,000+ lb difference over the Cobra replicas as well as running state of the art street tires, it is still NOT uncommon to see the traction control and stability control to be quite busy.... With them off, all hell breaks loose in a blink of an eye as well. That's in a modern performance car with chassis and suspension designed and built with the best of the current technology and engineering for street driven cars. I'm talking about cars that come from the best of the best from Germany and Italy as well as USA...
Yes, I've been on the track, yes, I drive with "enthusiasm", yes, I have experience with over 500HP cars and yet I'm thinking that somewhere in the range of 425HP or so would be more than enough for me in any of the Cobra replica.... If I am wrong, I will just have to live with a boring Cobra for a while!
Thanks for all the replies! Would be interesting to hear even more opinions on this!