[Trevor Legate]

Rallysnake:

Cobras on the RAC & Monte ? - no.
You have to understand the type of events these were. The RAC of the period was a 5 day (and night) blast through incredibly rough gravel forest tracks through Yorkshire, Wales and Scotland. No Cobra would stand the pounding, the exhausts would have been ripped off and the crew would have ended as nervous wrecks. I used to rally myself in those days (Cooper S with 1293cc three-quarter race engine) and the cars had to be ultra-strong, welded boxes with all lines inside, sump guards and all that crap. Few, if any convertibles would stay in one piece. The Cortinas, Escorts, Minis and 911s (even Lancia Fulvias) would have been way faster.
Same applies to the Monte, although that was a tarmac rally but run mainly on snow and ice. The Minis were the class act in the sixties and usually ran rings around 911s. The French had to invent rules to disqualify them - proven fact. Cobras? No chance!

Having said that of course, John Atkins entered his infamous road/race Cobra (COB6058) on the first running of the Pirelli Marathon circa 1990 (?) held around Europe and the classic mountain passes on the Swiss/Italian border. John can drive that car to the very edge of disaster and, as it was all tarmac and dry weather, just disappeared. All the other competitors entered into the spirit of the event and stopped at every lunch halt to sample the food, wine and maybe a snifter of brandy (or two) and continued on their merry way. John just blitzed all the stages. When everyone finished, they wondered who had won and were amazed that it was a Cobra - nobody had seen it, he was so far ahead.
The organisers requested he did not enter the Cobra the following year, but accepted his entry in a Triumph TR4. He arrived at the start with a broken leg following a skiing mishap. Guess what....? So yes, Cobras can win some rallies!!

ToyCollector

Not sure where that NASCAR 427 came from, but it was a proper side-oiler. I will be photographing the car soon and I shall ask.