Michael
 

Following the prompt and saying G'day to all. I joined the club to find out more about the Cobra as I would like to own one. I am currently looking at a kit as I am 6'4" tall and need the leg room.
I would be interested in any thoughts from members as to the availability of second hand cars with the extra length or what your thoughts are on a kit car built from scratch so I know I'll fit.

G'day Michael and welcome. You'll find a wealth of knowlegde on this site with answers to your current question and whatever more you have.

Generous leg room has not been afforded in most Cobra kit's. DRB, Harrison, D-Type, and the recently developed Pace 427 come to mind as being accomodating. Some like Classic Glass Cars or possibly WE Sports of Adelaide did a 4" extended version.

I'm sure you'll get a flood of responses but there is also a lot of info stored here on this topic that you can search for.

G'day Michael,

Welcome to the circus,what area are you?
There are quite a few options available ....without extending the car and your wallet!!

M2CW.....4''-100mm is way too much and way too noticable in a Cobra...I have 50mm diaganally through the doors and sil's and you wouldn't even know it was extended!!

Being 6'4'' myself I know you can get away with droppring your seat base either the amount of cushion as well as dropping the seat between the rails also by dropping the foot box to base rail level and you would be more than happy with the room!!!

OZ

Check out (750HP) Craig's Arntz he has for sale at the moment. His dad has got one to and he's pretty tall. Might be a good option and a cool car to boot.

Cheers

Michael, just replied to your email.

We have actually spent a lot of time and effort in designing our PACE 427 to maximise interior space.

I believe we can accommodate very large and tall drivers out of the box with our standard PACE 427. We are happy to customise fitment further if required.

Dimensions:

From front of pedals to backrest of seat 1120mm
Width of footwell 400mm
Maximum width of seat 520mm

Photo attached of Don who I believe is 6'5" tall seated in our PACE 427 with a full thickness sprung seat. He could even have sliding seat and sit that low.

And our pedals are lower than the seat base which gives plenty of clearance to dash and steering wheel.

I believe we have created a cockpit that is larger than that found in 4" stretched cars.

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...2_800x600_.jpg

Michael,

The Pace 427 is bigger than any Cobra I have been in. The overall heights, dimensions that I checked are in fact more than the 100mm - 4" stretch cars....:confused:

As most stretch cars have the extra in the doors I feel they don't look right. Additionally, the drivers head is well below the screen top in the Absolute Pace 427 making driving a real treat...

Just look at the photos above to see how much room Pace have in their cars. This is just a small part of the research and development that Absolute Pace have done to create a Cobra suitable for all owners/builders.

Biased - yes I am as Craig at Absolute Pace has listened to everyone who has advised him and tested for him. He took on a few of my suggestions on interior mods... :3DSMILE:

Bernie

As ozcobra said, any car can be made to fit at the build stage without much work. Buying one finished may require a bit more work to mod.

I have built my kit so that I have the seat a few clicks forward from the back of the rails. I'm 6ft and with my seat right back I can't push the pedals all the way down.

Zedn, yes you can make minor mods to make more space during & after build. But you are stuck with the major chassis and body design limitations. We have a lot of experience in performing mods to kits to get larger drivers in.

In a lot of kits, even during the build stage it would be virtually impossible to get space like we have. One issue for many Cobra body shapes is that they are shorter in height/flatter than the original cars. Some are also narrower than the originals. Then you have the chassis design that restricts your cockpit room. Without major redesign and re-certification you are stuck with only being able to perform minor mods to increase leg length, seating height etc. Size and design of transmission tunnel affects cockpit space. So does simple little aspects like where rear suspension bolts into chassis, especially with cars that uses donor suspension cradles.

Some kits are better than others in cockpit space department.

Some kits are easier to modify in some respects than others.

But I believe we have the largest cockpit available and that is because we designed it from scratch that way. Our body shape also maximises our cockpit space. And the use of a monocoque chassis design also maximises cockpit space.

In the PACE 427 every driver (even 6'5" +) can have a full thickness sprung seat with seat sliders and be low enough in the car that they are looking through the centre of the windscreen.

Even our standard pedal box has height and width/spacing adjustable pedal pads that that the pedal positions can be optimised to each driver.

And we are happy to perform custom mods to our customers requirements if they want something special.

I am hoping that because we can get very large drivers very comfortable in our PACE 427 it will extend the market our cars appeal to.

I do apologise for being so passionate about this, but as Bernie mentioned we have spent a lot of time on this and consulted with larger drivers in the club on what issues were involved.

Our PACE 427's will soon be available for sale in big and tall shops. :) (just kidding)

Zedn, yes you can make minor mods to make more space during & after build. But you are stuck with the major chassis and body design limitations. We have a lot of experience in performing mods to kits to get larger drivers in.

In a lot of kits, even during the build stage it would be virtually impossible to get space like we have. One issue for many Cobra body shapes is that they are shorter in height/flatter than the original cars. Some are also narrower than the originals. Then you have the chassis design that restricts your cockpit room. Without major redesign and re-certification you are stuck with only being able to perform minor mods to increase leg length, seating height etc. Size and design of transmission tunnel affects cockpit space. So does simple little aspects like where rear suspension bolts into chassis, especially with cars that uses donor suspension cradles.

Some kits are better than others in cockpit space department.

Some kits are easier to modify in some respects than others.

But I believe we have the largest cockpit available and that is because we designed it from scratch that way. Our body shape also maximises our cockpit space. And the use of a monocoque chassis design also maximises cockpit space.

In the PACE 427 every driver (even 6'5" +) can have a full thickness sprung seat with seat sliders and be low enough in the car that they are looking through the centre of the windscreen.

Even our standard pedal box has height and width/spacing adjustable pedal pads that that the pedal positions can be optimised to each driver.

And we are happy to perform custom mods to our customers requirements if they want something special.

I am hoping that because we can get very large drivers very comfortable in our PACE 427 it will extend the market our cars appeal to.

I do apologise for being so passionate about this, but as Bernie mentioned we have spent a lot of time on this and consulted with larger drivers in the club on what issues were involved.

Also our PACE 427's will soon be available for sale in big and tall shops. :) (just kidding)

Craig White

Michael, pop around to the various club functions and introduce yourself. I'm sure many owners will offer for you to sit in their cars. I suggest you also pop in and see what the manufacturers are up to.



Spookypt

Craig never apologise for being passionate about the product!

Spookypt