Chevy in a Cobra

[Cobra #3170]

Originally Posted by AL427SBF

Thanks Bruce, sounds like a great time and a memory all of us wish we had.



Honestly Evan, seeing how we don't know how the cars finished, and that the footage shown was a practice session, I would say you are a tad overzealous in your conclusion eh?

BTW, I would expect in an Historics race that the 427s would fair better than the 289s, that is why the 427s were built in the 1st place.

But herein lies the rub. I trust you know who Bob Bondaurant is? A racing legend of these cars and with his own racing school. Well, if you do a little digging my "learned colleague", you will find that Bob was one of the first to say that the 351 Windsor made for a better balanced Cobra in racing. You should also "know", being the well read aficionado of cobras you claim to be, that when Shelby introduced their spec racing Cobra a few years back, it was a 427 body with a 351 Windsor in it. So either Mr. Bondaurant and the Shelby team are clueless on such matters, or you are - which is it?

Why would they use an FE based engine when they were trying to control costs. A Windsor is much cheaper to produce and in the case of a spec series they are not trying to produce the fastest car just equal cars at the lowest cost. You have to remember that this is all about the money not making the greatest race cars possible. Shelby's aluminum block is about 6k to start with, you could probably build a small block for close to that at volume. I don't have the numbers at my finger tips but suspect an aluminum FE is probably within 70 pounds of a big inch aluminum small block. You would have to be Lewis Hamilton to notice that difference in dynamic handling. I think they are all good, and it just comes down to what the owner wants in his car.