There were 4 Cobras at the autocross in Denver on July 19. They were beautiful
cars. They were registered as a '65 COBRA ROADSTER, '02 REPLICA COBRA, '02
SUPERFORMA COBRA, and a '03 FFR COBRA.
I expected them to turn relatively fast times but they were all struggling to
keep these cars on the course. One of them never completed the course all day.
On their last run, one driver seemed to get it together and then spun at the
finish (it was a straight line approaching the finish) and hit the timer head,
destroying it. Also all 4 of them exceeded the 93 dBA sound limit and will not
be allowed to run again unless they get the noise down. Maybe they were really
bad drivers but with my 2000 Datsun roadster, I beat the fastest Cobra by 7
seconds and the slowest by 15 seconds on a 55 second course. We were all in
the Street Prepared category so allowed mods were equal.
Gary
"I'll keep my Datsun, thank you"
http://www.rmsolo.org/
-------Original Message-------
From: "Raper, Sidney" <Sidney.Raper@getronics.com>
Sent: 07/31/03 09:39 AM
To: "Roadster list (E-mail)" <datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net>
Subject: (OT) Factory five type 65 Coupe
>
> I took a little of my lunch break yesterday to go to the local Mustang
restoration facility. They are also dealers for the Factory 5 cars. I thought
that some folks on the list may be interested in my observations.....
The Roadsters (427 S/C replicas) look nice. The glass work looks pretty
good - they had a reputation for bad quality when they first started, but it
seems to have improved. The chassis looks good and strong, but you think
that Roadsters need storage space! There is very little in these big
ground pounders. When they are done, they look good - not spot on replicas
(the
wheel offset is a big give away), but nice sporty cars.
The shop also had a Daytona Coupe replica. It looks good, but some of the
lines are "off" from the originals (yes, I know that all 6 were each a
little different - Dan Gurney's car had a taller roof for example), but the
overall effect is good. It looks to be a neat little car - that is if you
are slim and short. I am 5'7", and a bit overweight (240lbs), but the weight
was not the big issue. You need to be a contortionist to get into the
car. Once in, it is snug, but the steering wheel is really close to you and
the shifter is behind you. (they used the T5 transmission - if they had
used the Galaxie transmission as the originals used, it would have been
better.) The car would be awfully uncomfortable for more than about an hour or
so. It felt rather Closter phobic as well....
Mandatory Datsun content. I will have to move the cars soon - need to get
to that part of the garage!!
Sid
(Datsun Roadster and Cobra dork....)
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