Cobra #3170 and 200 mph.

[twin turbo]

Any chance we can talk you into driving your car at the Mojave Mile or Mohave Magnum (1.5 mile)? I would sure love to see an original Cobra break that 200 mph barrier and you have the right set-up to do it. Someone's bound to do it soon in a replica. I know that Virgil Benton went 199 the last time around with a big tailwind. Have you thought about it?

[Cobra #3170]

Originally Posted by twin turbo

Any chance we can talk you into driving your car at the Mojave Mile or Mohave Magnum (1.5 mile)? I would sure love to see an original Cobra break that 200 mph barrier and you have the right set-up to do it. Someone's bound to do it soon in a replica. I know that Virgil Benton went 199 the last time around with a big tailwind. Have you thought about it?

Thank You for the vote of confidence but that is one goal that I would never attempt. I am already too old to even think about it and I would never ask any one else to risk their life doing it. These cars have no real protection so if there were an accident the driver would likely not survive. Of secondary importance is the car itself, I don't want to risk totaling an original car and making my widow penniless. I am confident the car could do it even with the poor aerodynamics with just a rear end ratio change. I had it up around 170 and it was quite stable with the stock street nose wing.
We are working very hard on it right now trying to improve autox handling, I was going to do an update here when we are done. I know this will make some Cobra people very unhappy because of aesthetics but we are trying 19" wheels now in an effort to improve performance. We are testing 19x12 rears this weekend vs 18x12 to see if there is an advantage. I plan on pulling the engine after the Goodguys Scottsdale event in November. The redo will involve destroking it, new EFI, redoing the valve train and heads with a goal of 9000 rpm and less torque with possibly more hp. The crank will be much lighter and piston speed will be equal so we should get better engine acceleration and more range in gears.
I will post all that data when the engine is complete and dynoed.
Side Note: My Co-driver just won the 2016 SCCA Solo II Super Street National championship in my 991 GT3. He defeated a new NSX, several new Z06's and a whole bunch of Porsche's. We worked very hard developing a set up for the Porsche over the last 3 months. We can now concentrate on the Cobra again.
The GT3 is a really great car but we have found that the Cobra is still 1 to 2 seconds faster in an autox and that is with the secondaries of the throttle body wired shut to cut down on wheel spin. Both cars run similar 200 tread wear street tires. If we were on race tires the Cobra would really stretch the gap to the Porsche.

[rms427]

I was at a car show in Grass Valley CA a week or so ago and there was a Superformance cobra that the owner specifically has set it up to run high speed events with the help of Superformance. He had originally planned on running it at Bonneville but it has been rained out the last couple of years. He said he was scheduled to run it at an upcoming event like the ones you mentioned. It had ground affects and full underbody to help it reach top speed.

[twin turbo]

3170, thanks for the update on your car, and a big congrats to your co-driver on the championship. I understand your reasoning for not doing it even though we all know your car is perfectly capable of going over 200. I would really appreciate any updates on your Cobra with the new changes. Cheers.

RMS, I think their are several replica's in the works to do over 200 at one of those events. Time will tell.

[Cobra #3170]

Thanks Twin Turbo, I will post updates and progress here as it develops.

[twobjshelbys]

I had mine to 140 and the front end started feeling light. The aerodynamics aren't great. I'd certainly want a full belly pan for going that fast.

I also wouldn't risk an original cobra on a mile event. But the Ford gt was born for it.

[Dominik]

Not that anybody asked, but you need approximately 400 kW to get to 200 mph, with a hardtop. That also depends on the friction losses of your tires.

[twin turbo]

Dominik, I'm curious what you base that 200 mph 400 kW (538 bhp) on?

[Dominik]

We did an extensive acceleration-coast down test with the vehicle dynamics group from OPEL/GM in 1995. The computer recorded time and speed change every meter. This way we gained an understanding of the force needed to drive a certain speed. One doesn’t even have to drive 200 mph to get that value. We accelerated from 35 mph to 145 mph on the A5 Frankfurt – Darmstadt.

In another thread somebody confirmed a similar hp needed by Dick Smith’s car to drive 198 mph. Albeit with a small screen instead of a hardtop.

We used the hoardtop because it was 40°F!

[MAStuart]

Hi Bruce Any idea what your car would run in the quarter mile. I am trying to get a handle on what my sons car would run for top speed if you could drive it to top speed. His car is #3400 pounds 122 cubic inches. It runs 141 in the quarter in 3rd gear. Not sure of rpm but I think 7300. He usually shifts at 9500. Car is a 90 eagle talon 5 speed.

Mark

[mikeinatlanta]

I can't imagine why anyone would want to take an original car up to that speed. The risk to life and property is too high for what gain?

I'm at about 700hp and 2000lb weight with my tribute car (not really a replica). I wouldn't attempt approaching 200 without any of these mods and wouldn't do any of these mods to an original car (or even a really nice replica). We'll see what it does when the time comes, but the most important mod is the cage.

From the bottom rear looking all the way to the splitter.



Hood looking at the radiator air exit and ram air box.



Nose sheet metal and ram air.



Cage

[Cobra Chris]

Bruce-

Always enjoy seeing you in Scottsdale..I love that your car is truly driven...oh and there is nothing like a cobra in silver mink...