Saturday Night Cobra Wreck

[Tony Ripepi]

Hello to All,

Saturday evening my wife and I were relaxing here at home when the phone rang. It was my 17 year old daughter who had just left to visit a friend here in Danville.

She was a bit excited because she had parked her car in the friends driveway, gotten into the house looked out the window to see her VW Golf bounced in to the air by a Cobra.

My wife and I went to the scene of the accident, NOBODY WAS HURT IN EITHER CAR. The owner of the car was in the passengers seat, he had bought the car three weeks ago, the driver was a friend and they had been drinking at the friends house near by. I called the police and as we watched they did the test, handcuffed the guy and put him into the cruiser. He later blew a .23 into the breathalyzer. In CA you are DWI over .08.

My teenager was lecturing the guy before the police got there about driving a Cobra on residential streets too fast, I heard the comment from her to him " ARE YOU CRAZY THESE ARE VERY POWERFUL CARS AND YOU NEED TO BE CAREFUL".

Lots of lessons here....It was pretty quiet when the teens standing around watched the handcuffs go on in front of the guys wife and 9 month old baby. The good news nobody got hurt. Drinking and driving absolute stupidity, drinking and driving a Cobra absolute insanity !!!!!!!!!!

The VW drove away, the Cobra is an SPF with a 351 and it was on the back of a wrecker. Typical Cobra, the driver was coming out of a right hand turn with too much throttle, the back end broke loose and it spun into the driveway and hit the parked VW and spun backwards into the bushes in front of the house.

There have been some recent threads about new owners and accidents, this one hit too close to home, we need to be aware and help all of our bretheren be aware that these are race cars in thin disguise. I will try to bring some pictures of the Cobra and the VW to the BACC breakfast so we can see what happens to one of these cars when you do wreck them. The Cobra was trash from the windshield forward.

Best Regards,

Tony R.


[This message has been edited by Tony Ripepi (edited 04-16-2001).]

[Grant Garrison]

Tony--

"Sobering" thought given I'm about to take delivery of my Superformance.....

[Speedracer]

Yikes. Can the pictures of the Cobra and the VW be posted on the web or emailed to me? You say the Cobra was trash from the windshield forward -- did the whole front end get crushed, including the chassis, or did it just look bad because there was a lot of broken fiberglass? I have not purchased a Cobra yet, and I am curious as to whether any of the replicas (or the originals) are any good at keeping their passengers alive if the worst happens. I think I have narrowed my choices down to ERA, Superformance, or (if I wait for my budget to catch up) Kirkham.

[Tony Ripepi]

Hello Speedracer,

This happend a few months ago and Insurance company has totaled the SPF. The factors were repair the Fiberglass, straighten the frame, R&R any broken items etc. The cost of the repairs vs a new roller from SPF dictated a new roller.

The replica Cobras with the Fiberglass bodies are similar to the Corvette in that a bump will result in substancial damage and repair costs. The analogy I have heard in the past was comparing the fiberglass body to an egg, the point of inpact imparts the force of the blow to the entire structure and results in a large number of cracks.

Best Regards,

Tony R.

[Speedracer]

Tony,

Thanks for your reply. I've seen wrecked Corvettes -- they look awful. Under the broken fiberglass, however, the steel chassis holds up pretty well. Was the cockpit of the Cobra damaged? How much damage was there to the frame? Was there much damage to the VW? Superformance talks about front and rear crumple zones in their brochure (and ERA mentions front crumple zones), which suggests that they've made some effort to keep the passengers of their cars alive if they crash. I wonder whether it's enough . . .

Is there any way to see those pictures?

Regards,
Speedracer

[Tony Ripepi]

Hello Speed,

I only have pictures of the VW the repairs came to $6K+ the damages were on the right rear and the entire rear suspension. From what I could see on the SPF the front rails were warped, radiator (The street was covered with Raidator fluid and oil from the oil cooler)punched through, Rt. front wheel broke, both front fenders and doors cracked and the hood was turned into a teepee.

The engine looked like it took a shot on the front but, I don't know if there was any damage there. Obviously hoses, connectors, puke tank etc. were all beat up. The driver and the passenger both walked away without any obvious physical damage. One with one without handcuffs........

The owner was the passenger and he was heart broken and I thought pretty lucky the way it turned out.

Tony R.

[Tom T.]

Hey Repoopi,

Are you going to Thunderhill tomorrow?

TT

[Speedracer]

Tony,

Thanks again for your reply. I would think it takes a big impact to break one of those wheels (and lift a Golf into the air). But then it doesn't take a great deal of damage to require a $6K+ repair. Cracked doors sounds scary -- could you tell whether the passenger compartment had collapsed at all? Obviously, the important thing is that nobody was hurt. It does make me wonder how much more of an impact it would take before the passengers would have been hurt, or worse. I've looked at the SPF frame and it looks strong. Also, it is apparently made of heavier guage metal than most Cobra frames -- .160" wall thickness, while most are .120" or .125". And yet . . .

By the way, if the driver was drunk enough to blow a .23 (!) it seems to me that it should have been pretty clear to the owner that his buddy shouldn't be driving anything, let alone a Cobra!

Regards,
Speedracer

[Back in Black]

West Coast cars are the safest, from my research. They are totally redesigned from a safety vantage, including some side impact protection. Check out the spaceframe with front and rear crumple zones, and the other safety features. These cars are built like a brick you-know-what:

www.cobrakit.com

[Dennis Kurelis]

Originally posted by Back in Black


West Coast cars are the safest, from my research. They are totally redesigned from a safety vantage, including some side impact protection. Check out the spaceframe with front and rear crumple zones, and the other safety features. These cars are built like a brick you-know-what:

www.cobrakit.com

I'm considering buying a new West Coast Cobra. I can't seem to find many owners to talk to. Can you help?

[casaleenie]

What's the rule for flying? eight hours from bottle to throttle.
or twelve hours from bottle to throttle??

I'd ask a Northwest pilot but I'm sure they wouldn't know...

It's been posted that the first year you own a Cobra you are a little intimidated and very careful... The second year is when the trouble starts...

[Mohuska]

I have owned one for quite awhile. I think that they are one of the most well built, solid cars out there.....e-mail me if you want more info

Mike

[Doug I]

Originally posted by casaleenie


What's the rule for flying? eight hours from bottle to throttle.
or twelve hours from bottle to throttle??

I'd ask a Northwest pilot but I'm sure they wouldn't know...

...

12
sometimes it makes for a very late start to the day.

[cobradriver]

Sec. 91.17 - Alcohol or drugs.

(a) No person may act or attempt to act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft --

(1) Within 8 hours after the consumption of any alcoholic beverage;

(2) While under the influence of alcohol;

(3) While using any drug that affects the person's faculties in any way contrary to safety; or

(4) While having .04 percent by weight or more alcohol in the blood.

If it good enough for pilots.......................

[Tongue Pirate]

I can't imagine giving a friend the keys to my cobra even if he was sober. I've read many of these threads & heard numerous stories of people having had serious accidents in cobras even as experienced drivers. To be honest I am a little afraid to get in her the first time & take her down the road. Giving the keys to someone who is not afraid scares me even more.

[RedBarchetta]

I've had my SPF all of about 45 days now. Not ONCE have I not had the thought go through my head on ANY turn at ANY speed that told me "Resist.....resist.....stay off the throttle until you are pointing straight!"

This advice was gathered on this very forum prior to the purchase. Thank you to those that posted it repeatedly.

-Deano

[clayfoushee]

Most company rules are 12 hrs.....stricter than FARs, but in any event, with random alcohol tests, anything registering over .04 (that's the accuracy/sensitivity limit of the machine) will result in removal from duty, even if it's been more than 12 hrs.

Al, I used to work for Northwest. Yes, we had a celebrated incident, but so have America West, Virgin Atlantic (recently), and there have certainly been others at major airlines that the news media did not latch onto. It's a disease and in any population a rare percentage have the disease and can't control it. Fortunately, it's a relatively rare occurrence among airline pilots.

I agree that cars should be viewed almost the same as airplanes.

[kountzecobra]

I guess someone must have done a search for "Wreck" or "Cobra Wreck" to drag up this old thread.