44-Year-old Cobra Wins Street Car Challenge

[twobjshelbys]

I saw this today on another forum:

http://www.saac.com/index.php?option...d=234&Itemid=2

[Jamo]

Hehehe...cool. Very cool indeed.

[PANAVIA]

Man that thing is nailed down.

[Jamo]

Yup...it is indeed. I spent three days in Pahrump with a couple of other Gasholes running C5s and C6s (including a C6 Z06)...looks like they used the same track layout for this event (the track has numerous options) and the Cobra's run reminded me of how tight some of the sections were. The autocross ramp was where we did our wet and dry braking training...it is extremely small, so the autocross layout was obviously tight.

Really impressed with this win, especially given the competition.

BTW...Pahrump is a muy fantastico facility.

[Hotfingrs]

I've known Bruce since the 60's. He's the original owner of the car. We raced together many times back in Ohio, and even in it's stock form, he was a fantastic driver in that car. Bruce worked for Ford, and I believe he was in charge of SVT at one time. Not to take anything away from the car, but the suspension is anything but stock. Custom made parts and suspension points relocated, probably what Shel should have done to begin with. Anyway, Congrats Bruce.

[Buzz]

The cars he was up against for the most part had been modified and massaged too, so it was a level playing field. I love it.

[Ron61]

Great. And the Cobra looks great too. Nice to see one of the old ones do well against other high powered vehicles.

Ron

[Woodz428]

Originally Posted by Ron61

Great. And the Cobra looks great too. Nice to see one of the old ones do well against other high powered vehicles.

Ron

and doing what they are supposed to...kick a$$..

[Maricopa]

Light car, big motor. Good ideas die hard!

Although the Cobra was next to last in the styling event

OTOH there is no accounting for taste....

[Xavier]

Wow, incredible videos. His road course lap does not look like he is going that fast, but obviously he did very well. Really motivating.

[lovehamr]

Originally Posted by Maricopa

Light car, big motor. Good ideas die hard!

Although the Cobra was next to last in the styling event

OTOH there is no accounting for taste....

Obviously the gay judge brought the Cobra's score down.

[twobjshelbys]

The comparison of the Cobra to the other cars is night and day. The short wheel base and power make it a very nimble auto cross car. I think it was the Steamboat Mustang rally two years ago where the two Kirkhams took first and second.

[Cobra #3170]

Thanks for all the nice comments guys, we were very happy with the results especially when they declared us in 3rd place after the style judging. The car is not show car pretty but is very functional so we were not surprised when we did not win. After about a week I was called and told that a mistake had been made in scoring the event and that we won after all so it made a fun time even better. It turns out that we beat the invitational entrants as well as all the exhibition cars too.

The rest of the story, (excuses etc.):
Our plan was for Jim to drive the autox course since he is really good and I would drive 0-60-0 and perhaps the road course too. We decided that both of us would practice the car on the road course and then decide who would run based on how the car worked. We were limited on time so all I could do was choose a set of springs that worked for both road & autox courses and adjust the front anti roll bar as necessary. We were the second car in the paddock on Saturday morning (6:00 am) and got all our prep work done before the drivers meeting even started and really thought we had a leg up on most competitors; in short life was good. Jim was the first to take the car out in the practice session and we both agreed it would be prudent to take it easy for a lap or two, unfortunately, Jim came out behind the DSE entry that had about 5 laps under his belt. Jim, in trying to stay with the DSE car on cold tires, spun on the third corner and shot off the track tearing the fuel pump wiring off and shutting the engine down. We were then unable to get any practice laps at all; that coupled with my mentioning the urge to murder him for risking my 44 year old baby, put a damper on our efforts. Jim drove the road course taking very conservative, safe lines. Despite never seeing the entire track before, he still managed a 1:46.8 on his fourth and final lap. He also pulled the ZR1 chase car pretty convincingly down the straights and in fact pulled him in the corners on the cool down lap as he was still learning the course. We figured the car could run in the very low 40's or high 30's if driven to its potential. The car that was second was actually seen testing at the track the week before and several of the drivers went to the track school before the event. At that point we concluded that since I had not driven any practice laps at all and had no feel for the new FI calibration, it would be best for Jim to drive the rest of the event.
Jim was very good in the autox (about 4 seconds faster than the closest car) but told me he did not want to risk touching a pylon so was not going all out. What really surprised us was the 0-60-0 win because many of the cars had ABS brakes. The Cobra was dead stopped at a point on the track where the other cars were applying their brakes so that made a believer out of many of the participants.
The winner is automatically invited back the following year but they asked me to either bring another car or run the Cobra in exhibition class only... quite a compliment.

[Excaliber]

...they asked me to either bring another car

Got a kick out of that, I can relate, but on nowhere near that level. My 427 side oiler with 12.5 to 1 compression won "Best Rumble" at an all Ford show. It wasn't even close, they asked me not to compete the next year.

[Maricopa]

The winner is automatically invited back the following year but they asked me to either bring another car or run the Cobra in exhibition class only...

Pu$$ies.....

[Xavier]

Fantastic story. If you would go to any car nut and tell them that the 40+ car (any car) beat the new ABS cars in the 0-60-0 they would call you a liar.

[trularin]

That is excellent!

[Silverback51]

An old car and a couple old geezers kicking A$$.

I love it.

[*13*]

That Cobra sounds pissed off! Wish the Track Footage had better mic placement & a speedometer view. Great story!

[jdean]

I love it. I always wondered how a Cobra with a good track driver would stack up to the modern (or modernized) muscle machines in some mixed events. Glad to see it kickin butt!