[ecp]

Dick said he ran 3.31 gears with a 27+" rear tire and hit about 8,000 rpm when he was recorded at that speed. Using a 27.5" tire size with .25" assumed growth in dia at speed (a real phenomenon), the speed in fourth gear at 8k = 199.54 mph. Keep in mind this also occured in competition when the cars were new and being thrashed for all they were worth, the adrenaline of beating the next guy in a major form of racing is certainly worth some extra speed. When you also take in consideration that there may have been some draft effect from other cars on the track, and perhaps a little tail wind, 198 is certainly not unreasonable, especially with a number of other dependable reports of original Cobras reaching 180. The fact is that 198 is a documented event and until someone duplicates the exact car on the same track with other cars creating draft and still can't get anywhere near it after repetitive laps, then and only then is it worth any additional effort in checking the validity of the 198 speed.