Quote:
Originally posted by PDHse
Great thread, really enjoyed it.
(Mr Legate just wondering in your book Cobra , the first edition it shows pictures of Ken Miles at Goodwood. He is watching the cobra undergoing scrutineering. I know that his car failed the scrutineering but did he actually get to drive it in practice? . Also did he ever race a cobra in Britain.)
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Firstly, no more Mr.Legate PLEASE!! Be like other people - "Oi you" is perfectly adequate, or Your Exellency if you really must.
I am reasonably certain Ken did drive that car in practice, but I've been informed that he also practised with Willments spare car, CSX2130 (the car in the photo is 2131). As I am in regular touch with the owner of 2130, he and I would kill to lay hands on photos of Ken Miles driving that car in practice - somebody somewhere must have taken a photo. Does anyone out there know anybody who was taking photos during practice!!!!! Have contacted a few photographers, but they only covered the race.
2130 was out at Brands Hatch a few weekends ago, having a pre-season run and sounded very good.
As you may know, Shelby called for Miles to come over to the UK to shake down the Willment Cobras because Bob Olthoff complained that the handling was hopeless, so Ken was sent for to show how it was done. He drove out of the Brands pit lane and stuffed it into the bank at Paddock, having travelled some 200 yards....the handing was hopeless.
On the fuel price topic: I have had the dubious pleasure of owning 2 Chrysler Voyagers with the 3.3 engine. My first fill-up cost $110 and was good for around 180 miles if I was doing local trips. Too expensive and no brakes (how do you stop them things in the US? Or do you just have more road...)
A friend recently brought one of only 2 Ford Excursions in the UK owing to a complete lack of taste and a desire to be rid of a Trans-Am. As the fuel gauge was a tad low, he decided to fill it up and said goodbye to £150 ($276). The bad news was that it only got him 180 miles up the road! However, great fun driving around London and molesting cabs (taxis). The downside was that it wouldn't fit through the width barriers on Chelsea Bridge!
Back to Cobras! One of the 427s to escape from Frimley prior to the Lubinsky Shuffle is currently being completed as a full-race car (as a sister car to his 427 road example) and is now fitted with a 427 NASCAR side-oiler stroked to 510cu.in. with a Holley 1150 carb. It has a 13:1 compression, chucks out 680bhp and 690lb torque. It runs on 120-octane race fuel which over here costs (are you seated?) £16 ($30) a gallon. When it ran on the dyno it was drinking 35 gallons an hour. But - what a pair!!