My drive in a downpour...

[750hp]

Queensland - beautiful one day, tropical downpour the next..... The weather forecasters spoke of "scattered showers" throughout Sunday. That sounded good enough for Dad and I to head down to Sanctuary Cove for the monthly Cobra Club breakfast. There was no rain for the first 40 kilometres or so, then it just drizzled a little as we got closer to the coast.

Just as we're parking the car - DOWN IT COMES !!!! Absolutely pouring down - best guess was that around 4 inches of rain fell within an hour, blocking all exits to Sanctuary Cove. Southbound had nearly 5 feet of water over the road Northbound only had a measly foot and a half - still more than enough to stop traffic.

There were only 4 Cobras that braved the weather, so after the roads opened, Dad and I rugged up and headed off, just behind John White (King Cobra at Nationals - 400TT). No more than 200 metres down the road, the realisation that my engine, a full spool rear end, 11" wide tyres, and most importantly NO WINDSCREEN WIPERS was going to make the drive home somewhat of a challenge. I was sitting so that my face was above the windscreen, as I couldn't see a single thing through the screen. Raindrops feel like hailstones, and tilting my head backwards to peek over the screen meant that rain was also going up my nose....

Thank goodness we made along the highway to the first service station to buy some Rain-X. That made all the difference, and then it was just down to the matter of keeping the car on the road. Once I could see where I was going, the drive wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. EVERYBODY that drove past just had to stare at us - whether to give us a thumbs-up, just to smile, or to generally piss themselves laughing at the two guys that were totally saturated in the little sports car....

By the time we got home, the water in the footwells was up to our ankles. I was trying to be gentle when slowing or accelerating - to prevent wheelspin of course, but more importantly to stop the tidal wave of water that would bash both of us in the shins !

Yep - it's safe to say that it'll go down as one of our more memorable drives !

Here's what the driver's seat looked like during the rain.....

[Jase]

Thats one wet seat. But I like your steering wheel!

What are you going to do about drying the thing out? I guess its all "weather proofed" to start with?

Curiously, as someone who's looking to build one of these in the next few years, I would have thought that wipers were a RWC requirement?

Sounds you had a heap of fun though.

[chuckmynatt]

Shoulda brought an umbrella!

Chuck

[BMK]

Shoulda brought soap..

Bernie

[750hp]

Chuck - while I was considering my options, I drove around the block looking for a park out of the rain. Some Japanese tourists heard the car first, then went crazy taking photos as I cruised past while still holding the umbrella !

[chuckmynatt]

LOL! You Aussies kill me!

[Excaliber]

Well I'm in good company! Just this week I rode my motocycle into town and got blasted by a rain storm coming home. SO bad some cars pulled over and stopped and waited for the storm to clear.

My boots looked a lot like your seat!

Was it cold during your rain storm? Doesn't really get "cold" here, I don't mind all "that much" getting caught in the rain, with the Cobra (it's happened) or the bike. I actually found myself laughing on the way home thinking about how stupid I must look to other motorists!

But I hate the cold.....

[Eljaro]

750hp,
you definitively need a drain hole in your seats. One in the footwell too !
Now you know what a toneau is good for.
Put it on if it pours and wait out in a bar untill it's over.

[750hp]

Eljaro - there's the hole for the 5th harness belt, but it didn't quite fill the seat that far. I went to town with the drill when I got home. What a bonus - the car dried out quicker, and with all I holes I drilled I removed a few pounds of unnecessary weight. (Maybe not that much !)

Ernie - I look at bike riders in amazement when I see them toughing out the big storms. There seem to be enough inattentive motorists to look out for alone, without having the weather against you as well. The temp was fine today - probably about 65 or 70 degrees.

[chuckmynatt]

I think I would've had a heart attack! I'm one of these morons that will drive 5 miles out of my way in order to avoid a 1/2" wide trickle of water coming from someones slightly mis-aligned sprinkler head! Of course living in Las Vegas, rain is almost never a problem (except today).

Chuck

[Doug I]

it's good to see a steering wheel on the familar side of the car.

[PCC]

Well Craig - me too had an eventful weekend.

Saturday, visited Harbour Town and drove through torrential rain on the motorway. Luckily I was in the Landcruiser and thought good job I'm not in the Cobra!

Sunday, looked outside and could see some blue sky to the north so decided to have a run out to Redcliffe for the Wheels of teh Century Car Show. Thought the sun always shines on Les at Bracken Ridge

Not so..........................it poured it down from Nudgee north. Thought got this far, might as well keep going and park her up on the showground and recover.

Reached the show only for the rain to continue dumping on the showground (The obligatory Aussie tarp doubled up nicely for the tonneau cover keeping the cockpit dry - not bad for $20 from Supa Cheap ).

Anyway, only about 50 cars there - probably due to the weather - what if I can drive a no top there what a lot of wuzzies!.

What a mixture of cars, bikes etc. from a $2,000 lancer to a 69 Shelby Mustang (Picture attached)

Judging started at 11.30 with 7 judges taking 10 minutes per car. Based on my calculations it would have been 2PM before they got to mine so decided upon leaving at the first sign of no rain.

Absolutely bucketed it down all the way home, but what power slides the Cobra did at the lights in Redcliffe (too wet for the Police to be on the roads!) She handled beautifully all the way home (I think I''ll stick to the Falken 451's in future).

As wet as your's Craig in the cockpit. However seats remained dry - you did'nt wet yourself on your return did you?


Ended up with plenty of water on the floor - mainly entering from the edge of the windscreen (common Cobra fault). Problem is that I have heat insulation stuck to the floor so will be soggy for the next few trips.

Although dreadful weather we did enjoy ourselves and the Cobra ran 110%.

No doubt other road users looked on in amazement / dismay, but it was satisfying to know that we didn't get wet one little bit. Even the traffic lights went our way

COBRA - dry or wet - GOOD FUN

[Excaliber]

Biker logic:

With everybody pulling off the road because the rain was SO bad, I had the highway to myself! Hammer down.

[PCC]

Forgot to mention as I drove through Redcliffe a heap of Austin Healey's were parked up next to the beach.

The rain never seemed to bother these guys.

Mind you they are British

[PCC]

Monsoon season is upon us.........

Option 1 Hardtop at $3,000

Option 2 Tonneau at $1,000

Option 3 Matching brolly from Woolies ($20)

and if all fails the $20 tarp.

Improvisation

[Rebel1]

WooooHOOOOOOO!!!

It worked!!!!

Knew you were coming pete He's never answered my prayers before...maybe god is from the Northside.

Of course he is

[Rebel1]

Craig!

You've got the biggest engine in a local cobra
You've got the most unusual bonnet on a cobra
but.
.
.
.
Don't ya think a bidet is a little over the top in a cobra??

[Aussie Mike]

By the look of all that water your jet ski bonnet could have come in handy.

Look at it this way driving a cobra on a wet day is still better than driving a Magna on a fine day.

Cheers

[Rebel1]

Gawwddd!

Blu$$y bullies

[trularin]

Peter, wonerful picture of the GT!

Too bad you can't afford shoes. LOL