How long was the Cobra Guinness's fastest-accelerating production car?
 

Does anyone know how long the 427 Cobra (specifically CSX3167) held the Guinness World Record as the fastest-accelerating production car? I think it was close to 20 years, over all. From what year to what year was it the champ? And which car eclipsed it for the record?

I like to know, also

Dwight

From the supercarworld.com website...the 1986 Porsche 959 beat the cobra in 0-60 at 3.9 seconds


http://www.supercarworld.com/cgi-bin/records.cgi

I didn't think the 959 was a production car, at least here in the US. I thought someone, maybe Bill Gates, had Bruce Canepa of Canepa Design finally federalize the 959 only just in recent years.

Thanks for the link. But it isn't obvious from this webpage that they're citing the actual Guinness record book. I tried searching the official Guinness website, but couldn't find anything.

Does anyone have any other ideas/sources?

Didn't the Cobra also sport some incredible 0-100-0 time? Or was that 0-60-0? Anyone ever try to duplicate the effort in a replica?

I think it was 0 to 100 to 0 in 13 or 14 seconds:eek:

My ERA is very close to orginal specs, OEM iron heads, OEM alloy intake, flat tappet cam, top loader. The rear end ratio at 3:31 is not good for a 0-100-0 run and is higher than was typical 'back in the day'. But it will still do a hundred in 8 seconds flat. Assuming 5 seconds to stop thats 13 total, give or take a few tenths. Lower rear gear and modern sticky tires would make it even faster!

I never had an opportunity to measure the 100 to 0 time, I might try that with a passenger and stop watch just to see if 5 seconds is 'in the ball park'.

Couldn't find anything about the cobra.. but I did find this tid bit of info... The fastest time a dog has unwound a non-electric car window is 11.34 seconds and was achieved by Striker, a border collie owned and trained by Francis V. Gadassi (Hungary). The record was set on September 1, 2004 in Quebéc City, Canada.

On the 0-100-0 record, I don't have any source for this other than having read it somewhere years ago, but here it is. 0-100-0 in 10 seconds by Dan Gurney in a 427 S/C. I found it awesome at the time, and if correct, it's still awesome. Can anyone confirm this?

Guinness Book
 

Does anyone know which issue (year) the 427 Cobra first appeared in the Guinness Book of Records?

The benchmark (0-100-0) was 12 seconds with Ken Miles at the wheel. That was where the 427 earned the reputation as the fastest accelerating Street car. I'm sure tires were the limiting factor in the day.

Yes, if memory serves correctly, it was Ken Miles who drove a 427 street Cobra from 0-100-0 in 13.2 seconds. Not sure how "official" the time is, as I think it was done mainly for PR purposes. Still, that's one helluva ride!

Motor Trend magazine said it held the "record" for almost 30 years.

http://www.motortrend.com/features/s...st/index1.html

The weekly British magazine, Autocar, recently published the results of its own 0-100-0 test on five different groups of cars. Some of the highlights were:

The Top Five
11.35 sec. - Ariel Atom Supercharged
12.15 sec. - Brooke Double R
12.70 sec. - Lamborghini Murcielago LP640
12.90 sec. - Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera
13.65 sec. - Porsche 911 GT3

Other notables
13.65 sec. - Superformance GT40 Mk1 continuation car
14.45 sec. - Ford GT Roush 600 RE
14.90 sec. - Lotus 2-Eleven
15.25 sec. - Caterham R400
15.40 sec. - BMW M5 Touring (station wagon)
15.50 sec. - Audi R8
15.60 sec. - Porsche Cayenne Turbo

All-Time Fastest
9.9 sec. - Bugatti Veyron 16/4, the first car they ever tested which broke the 10-second mark

That's some pretty fast company...

C&D have said, "Cobra test driver Ken Miles has done the job in as little as 13.8 seconds" but whether that's the GWR or not is hard to say, BUT, with manual transmission and zero nannies, not even ABS, in street-legal tires/trim, the Ultima GTR is actually FIRST to Eclipse a dime in 0-100-0... and with Dacron official timing and lights, plus GPS, it is GWR for production car at 9.8 with only NA 677 bhp from Chevy 6.2l pushrod motor! 3-pedals, like 427 A/C Cobra, no electronics, no LC nor gadgetry, drove itself to test, drove itself back home. That Veyron achieved that unofficial 9.9 seconds at AutoCar Magazine annual 0-100-0 challenge, and even a Ford Focus WRC beat Ken Miles best time, so to me, it's a dash based 100 mph, or more likely 161 kph, no Magazine can afford 14 Dacron instrumentation, and crew, and never seen a submission from them to Guinness?! Not to mention, those tires on Veyron are only good for 38 miles, then it's basically $10k for sending car away to be reshod?! The Brits UNDERSTAND Cottage Production based cars better than ANYONE, so whether a full-blown built A/C Cobra, or a registered as Kitcar in America, The Ultima or Noble (Rossion from Ron/Dean Rosen after 2011), you can't go wrong!!!

And no, Bruce Canepa did NOT Federalize the Porsche 959 or other such unicorns, he made possible for the 2,500 annual miles Arrive and Show legislation from California for such as the Porsche 959, or the Maserati MC-12, whereby you could legally insure (for 2,500 miles annual) and actual drive on US Roads with, without being a criminal from the outset.

On a side not, the electronically gadget'd and 2-pedal McLaren Senna has bested the 2006 GTR, marginally, in 0-100-0 time with appropriate Dacron timing devices, etc, but for whatever reason, I haven't seen it submitted to GWR yet?! And it was LC r/t that bettered the now much improved upon Ultima, in fact, that r/t difference was TWICE the amount of time it beat that GTR by?! So look for Lee Noble's brainchild to take the RS to the track in near future!!! Keeping in mind, they CAN build with up to 1,189 rwhp if owner desires to?!

You needed to dig up a post from 2007 to make yourself known on this forum :rolleyes:

Geezus, 15 years ago? I'm sure Google was available back then too. :LOL:

"Bruce Canepa has managed to finish what Al Holbert started, and that’s to import and federalize Porsche’s 1988 wundercar, the 959."

https://www.autoweek.com/news/a21025...-be-traversed/

"Canepa then embarked on a ten-year process to get the 959 legal in the US."
https://flatsixes.com/cars/porsche-9...y-959-america/

If I remember correctly, 13.8sec. was what I read too. The only Mod. if you can call them that, was a set of Goodyear Sports Car Special tires, and it was done by a 427S/O streetcar, not S/C. Cheers Tom.

This Poster was given to me by an Ex-Cobra owner years ago, he believes it was made for the 2nd annual SAAC get together. If you can't read it all, you should be able to zoom in on it. Cheers Tom.