tin-man needs some advice.......

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by tin-man

it would seem to me if I was driving I would have crushed the hell outa the breakpedal and thus there would have been two sets of skid marks, one from the front wheels and certainly one set from the rear wheels while they spun round, am I right?

No, you are wrong. As soon as you lock up all four wheels with the brakes the car goes in a straight line (remember, no ABS on a Cobra). All you would have accomplished by that is to wreck the car on the other side of the road. Learning the basics of "weight transfer" is absolutely mandatory. Cobras are particularly dangerous because of their short wheelbase. That short wheelbase is the same as a short radius of a circle; the circumference is then reduced. What that means to you is that the car comes around on you much faster than a long wheelbase car would -- once you realize it's happening, it's usually too late. Believe it or not, the only prayer that guy had, once he realized he was too fast in to the curve, was to stay off the brakes. (Porsche 911 guys, like my brother, like to chime in here that this is when you accelerate, not brake.) In a similar vein, yet different, Cobras pose another challenge because of their ability to break the rear loose with the tremendous torque that they produce. That's entirely different than a drop-throttle oversteer condition, but can be just as lethal. There are threads on here having to do with peformance driving classes for new Cobra owners, or tips for learning what your car does out in a stadium parking lot where there is nothing to hit (and a drizzly day helps, as well).