Cobra Driving Takes Skill

[PANAVIA]

A great deal of the time, we see cobras come in that are beyond evil and are true angry machines to drive.

One thing I try to tell all of our customers is - In modern cars you have thousands of engineering hours in software, and probably a few captured German scientists driving with you. In a Cobra the only software is the squishy bit holding onto the steering wheel. ( you )

You determine braking, shifting , turning , rate of yaw , power application, all of it.

wherever you are though , make sure your car has been looked at by someone who is interested in how the whole car drives and not just the engine.

we have pulled out so many badly engineered, ill thought out throttles , brakes, clutches and the rest and replaced them with things to make the cars run and drive well.

Its not "who makes the nut" --its "the Nut who makes it" - so in addition to seat time and pilot training in type, make sure your ground crew is up to the tasks, or you could end up being a first rate Forrest Ranger with the splinters to prove it.

AKA: Drive it like Bondo' but dont crash it.

[scottj]

Originally Posted by PANAVIA

A great deal of the time, we see cobras come in that are beyond evil and are true angry machines to drive.

wherever you are though , make sure your car has been looked at by someone who is interested in how the whole car drives and not just the engine.

we have pulled out so many badly engineered, ill thought out throttles , brakes, clutches and the rest and replaced them with things to make the cars run and drive well.

Its not "who makes the nut" --its "the Nut who makes it" - so in addition to seat time and pilot training in type, make sure your ground crew is up to the tasks, or you could end up being a first rate Forrest Ranger with the splinters to prove it.

AKA: Drive it like Bondo' but dont crash it.

When I purchased my car 14 years ago I took for granted that the design and engineering was correct. I assumed that some of the traits the car exhibited were simply “the nature of the beast”.

Having gone through the car from front to back, reverse engineering, modelling, and doing motion analysis on just about everything, I realize I was wrong.

Some of the major changes I made were to engineer and fabricated a new pedal assembly to correct the improper geometry of the original one… engineered and fabricated motor, trans, and differential mount locations to correct the driveline angles... revise front suspension geometry… and the most important change… re-design and fabrication of the independent rear suspension linkage points.

The elimination of the rear suspension bump steer transformed what was once a “handful” into a very easy to drive and stable experience… relatively speaking at least, considering the HP level and a 90” wheelbase.