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I am close to finishing my new Cobra. It weighs under 2000lbs, complete and ready to roll. I pretty much over built everything, I believe that I can get it as low as 1850lbs. I will be posting pictures and beginn advertising on this site in a few weeks. The new car will make it's debut at Carlisle next month.
Here are some details. I love Cobras but didn't want 60's suspension, wheel, tire, and brake technology. I am 6'2' tall and weigh 230lbs. So I wanted long and wide footboxes and a big cockpit. I also wanted side impact bars and front and rear breakaway crush zones. I designed and built a semi monoque aluminum chassis with a completly welded in trans tunnel that serves as a backbone. I used C5 vette suspension, wheels, tires, brakes and differential. The vette runs a transaxle which I could not use as it would make the trans tunnel too wide. I engineered a new input shaft and conversion that converts the diff to using a driveshaft. The Vette's track is too wide in the rear by 3 3/34 inches and almost 6 inches in the front. I duplicated the Vettes suspension cradles but narrowed them up. I had a new steering rack made and new rear axles as well. The rear cradle has mounting plate (like an engine plate) to which the diff directly bolts to. The trans tunnel is welded to this plate. The tunnel essentially becomes a huge torque (tube). This feature is unique and I am seeking a patent for it.
My chassis has 5 inch ground clearance but places the floor 4 inches lower than a stnd Cobra. I then routed the headers up and over the footboxes which extend completely to the front cradle. I have 48 inches from the back of the cockpit to the pedals face. I sit in the car with my feet straight out. The footbox is 16inches tall and 16 inches wide at the pedal.
I am running a seat 3 inches off of the floor for me. On the passenger side I set the seat height at stnd Cobra height. This allows me to run the fuel tank under the passenger cockpit. This keeps weight low and centered and eliminates weight behind the axle centerline which causes a pendelum affect when cornering.
I am running a dimensionally stock Cobra skin. My body is non stressed, and fits the chassis like a FF body does. My body is hand laid and uses a layer of gel coat, 1 layer of glass, 1 layer of carbon fiber, and another layer of glass. This hybrid body is about 1/8 thick, is extremely light but is stiff and strong. The idea is that you can paint this body with out worring about print through and still have the benefits of carbon fiber.
There are alot of other details but this gives you an idea. I will offer several bodies for the same chassis. Only the front and rear body mounting clips are different. The body choices are the Cobra, a Cheetah, a Daytona coupe, a 23 t bucket, and a Dragon.
As I said I will begin advertising my new kits in a few weeks. If you have any questions feel free to contact me.
I think that my Cobra will be the lightest. It is a Modern Supercar wrapped in a Snake skin! John
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