MN:
Probably the biggest thing with these cars when you’re new to them – Respect, respect, respect. In general you’ve got a machine that people haven’t seen the likes of in about 35 years. The weight to horsepower ratio, as a rule, has seldom been seen outside of the exotics. At about 5.5 pounds per horsepower the only thing that equates to it is in the high power motorcycle area. In these days of low displacement high revving cars the Cobra is a throwback to the earlier true muscle cars.
As ScottJ mentioned you need to put your ego in a box and put it on a shelf somewhere for at least a month after you get the car. Ego will get you into trouble faster than an unexpected
oil slick on the road. An adage that was common to helicopter pilots when they transitioned from relatively docile UH-1’s to the Cobra gun ships was that, if you didn’t pay attention it would turn around and bite you in the butt. The Cobras were faster and more agile. Same difference with transitioning from your daily driver into the Cobra. Pay attention to what you’re doing until you develop a new set of automatic driving habits. Negative habit transfer can get you if you relax too much during the wear in period.
One of the best places to get to know the car, if you can find one, is a big empty parking lot. With nothing to run into you can practice launches and find out what the car feels like when the back end breaks loose. The objective here is to get to know what the car is going to do on a hard launch and be able to counteract it and keep it pointing straight ahead. Just driving around in circles while slowly increasing your speed will cause it to break loose and you’ll get to know what it feels like at the critical point just before it happens.
Get in the habit of planning ahead. Don’t just base your actions on the car in front of you, base them on the car two, three or four in front of you.
Local autocrosses will provide you with an opportunity to take the car to it’s handling limits and are irreplaceable in getting to know the car.
A high performance driving school if there is one in your area would be one of the best investments you could make.
Spend as much time as possible in the car and get to know where everything is. You don’t want to have to look down to find anything while your busy trying to keep it pointed in the right direction.
Above all, have fun with the car. Respect its capabilities but don’t be afraid to let it out as you get used to it.
DonC
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