Lightest Cobra?

john chesnut · #1 (**permalink**) 04-23-2008, 03:32 AM

I agree that a "heavy" Cobra with 450hp can make you crap your pants! I like cars with razor sharp handling (with out race car harshness), steering and braking. My new chassis is an evolution of a chassis that I have been building for Dragon. At run n gun th car proved to be an exceptional performer. With stock 405hp and stock suspension it won the road racing, drag racing, and autocross. I am not a "driver" so the performance is even more impressive. For small block powered cars with street tires, I won the road racing by, I think 5 seconds per lap. I also beat any big block time. There were alot of Cobras in the event. The second place car was a Dragon. As an added bonus my car gets over 30mpg.
I love Cobras of all types. New suspension technology offers many advantages. Some of the design considerations are roll center, scrub radius, anti dive, anti squat, center of gravity, bump steer, camber gain, roll steer, scrub radius, king pin inclination, and there is more! Get it right and the car becomes an extentsion of you. That feeling is majic.
Just being light isn't enough and by itself doen't insure a great car. Every thing else has to be right too!

Naumoff · #2 (**permalink**) 04-23-2008, 03:58 AM

The attraction of a Cobra is its beauty, brute speed and seat of the pants thrills.

John you build an incredible car but it misses the spirit of the original Cobra.

A comfortable, great handling and good fuel economy car ain't no Cobra!

Dwight · #3 (**permalink**) 04-23-2008, 06:15 AM

My Lone Star 5.0 EFI weights 2315 with no gas or driver. 46% front and 54% rear. 120lbs of gas changes the front/rear ratio.

Dwight

Dwight · #4 (**permalink**) 04-23-2008, 06:34 AM

The lighter you get a Cobra, the wider the tires need to be. A 2100 to 2400 pound Cobra is one hell of a street car and the size of the motor does not matter. Good tires and better brakes are what you need on a Cobra. 225 RWHP will make a rocket out of these little cars.
With 400 RWHP you do not have to fear any street car. Yea threre are 600 hp rice burners out there that can blow you away but they don't have the beautiful lines that we have.

Race track, different story.
IMHO Dwight