Run and hide little cobra

[Power Surge]

Originally Posted by mr bruce

The speeds quoted were from the 60s ,185 at Road America, check the record books, any Cobras running those speeds then? 215 at Daytona, best I've heard a Cobra run there is 198, back in the day. The Cheetah was no slouch back then, even with it's drum brakes, and so called poor suspension/aero, and only 4-5 cars being run. Fergettabout comparing todays cars, too many variables. Deep enough pockets for development and an ace driver, I'll go Cheetah. There's a Cobra on everycorner, hell I leave mine out in the alley all winter.

Yes, the Cheetah is fast, but to me it's not impressive. It's a chassis with a body draped over it. Big deal. Anyone can make something light go fast. When I was in high school, my buddy had a T-bucket with a 600hp small block Chevy in it. It was fast. So what. It was a chassis with a motor. Doesn't take much talent to make a chassis with a high hp motor go fast.

As for the Cheetah doing 215 mph, I am going all in with a super huge BS. Even todays best supercars with 10 times the aerodynamic engineering and more hp struggle to hit 215 mph. There is so much involved with that kind of speed, such as proper ducting for the cooling system, years of downforce testing so as to not become an airborne projectile, etc etc. There is no way a Cheetah did 215mph unless it was dropped off cliff (and even then, it'd have to be a high cliff).

Also for the record, I also don't believe for a second that an open top Cobra roadster did 198mph either, so this is not based on Cobra bias.

And last night I spoke to a friend of mine who raced at Bridgehampton in the 60s along side Cheetahs. He said the saying at the track was, and I quote, "those Cheetahs are so fast because they are trying to outrun the ugly". He also mentioned that while incredibly fast down the main straight, they were easily passed on most turns by cars with half the hp.