Don't Drive Your Cobra Until You've Watched This

[i.e.427]

Lots of great advice from a couple knuckleheads that know a thing or two.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6fFGnVYidk

[J R Jones]

This video started as a tutorial on a new replica buyer or owner in fear of driving his car. By 10 minutes the discussion had gone technical. The only advice that pertained was driving an autocross with his replica to get experience. Even that is putting the cart before the horse.
My casual observation, primarily from auctions, is high turn-over of replicas, almost all with power that exceeds that of original Cobras, which were nonetheless driver skill demanding cars.
Is that turn-over performance remorse?
What of the old saw: It is more fun to drive a slow car fast, than to drive a fast car slow.
(the same can be said of builders without builder skill and perseverance resulting in bail-out sales)
In either case, why was there no due diligence?

Analogy: When we moved from an urban condo to a country estate we wanted a dog. We attended dog shows to become familiar with the variety of breeds and bought the 858 page AKC Complete Dog Book. We have had six excellent dogs.

Methinks the statement disparaging the Facebook guy's Mustang chassis flex ignores 60 years of Ford research and development. Recent Mustangs were developed with 500, 600, 760hp and they pass all safety and media evaluations.

Bottom line I would have suggested to the Facebook OP that he take his Mustang to an autocross event. He can run it at speed and observe other cars with extraordinary performance, maybe even a replica, to find out if a Cobra replica and his tolerance for speed is a match.
jim

[BEAR-AvHistory]

The Mustang will drive nothing like the Cobra. Think he is better off taking the Cobra. Why waste the seat time? Run the Cobra at a comfortable pace to start. Build up your speed as you become more familiar with the Cobras handling. In most parking lot AutoX the Cobra is pretty much a one gear car with most engines. Launch in 2nd gear, leave it there & concentrate on the course.

One thought I have is if he/she is truly afraid of the car it should be sold. People driving scared are accidents in the making.

[john42]

Great video IMO.

Couple of thoughts.

1- 100% any new driver to a Cobra should 1000% take it to a couple of auto cross events to get a feel for the car and become more comfortable with it.
2- The Cobra shouldn't be the first car in their life they take to an auto cross event. First time auto crossers should take some normal average, safe (slow) "car" and do an event and learn the basics of auto cross and AFTER that, then take the Cobra.

Here in NH/MA the BMW CCA sponsors a car control clinic ( https://www.bmwcca.org/events/carcontrol ) which is fantastic and an excellent way to safely take the Cobra to the limits and learn what it does and how to correctly/safely recover.

It's great BMW does this and just to be clear, no BMW is required for any of their classes/events.

[Sdonnel]

First car I ever auto crossed was my Cobra. The key, in my opinion, is having a good instructor and listening to them. The car is way more capable than I will ever be and I don't plan to sink a ton of money into tires and things like that. When I pull up to tech, the comments are usually "Why would you autocross this?". Because it's fun. Best advice I've gotten so far is to look three turns ahead. Makes the run smoother.

[Papa]

I built my car to drive on the road, so I didn't go nuts with the power. I'd driven plenty of cars that were capable of exceeding the limits imposed by the rules of the road and the Cobra is no different. I drive the Cobra the same way that I drive any car on the road (except that I'm much more defensive) and don't need to know its limits, just the limits of the roads I'm driving on. If you want to push the car to its limits, by all means, do that on the track.

[TMartinLVNV]

Ditto what Papa said. I have not watched the video and I plan on driving it on Sat. Oh my!

[Papa]

I know this is posted as a sticky, but for the sake of this thread, I think items #3 and #7 pretty much cover the intent of the video and the range of comments expressed here:

Ten Cobra Driving Safety Tips

1. The two most dangerous words in aviation are, “Watch this.” The same goes for driving a Cobra. Humility is a wonderful personal trait to have for driving a Cobra safely. If you’re not humble now try thinking you’re a hotshot driver in a Cobra for a while – you will get humbled, as they say down south, “…right quick.”

2. “You don’t even know what you don’t know”. Huh? Well think about it – if you’re not a professional race car driver, you’re kind of out of your element in a Cobra. I saw a video of a Cobra going out of control and rolling because the driver missed a downshift at speed in a sweeping turn. This caused the rear wheels to momentarily lock up and the rear end to slide out and thus the rollover. I didn’t even consider that as a possibility when I’ve been downshifting all this time, did you? That’s my point; I didn’t even know what I didn’t know. That short wheel base Cobra you’re driving can introduce you to all kinds of nasty things you never thought possible. Be careful out there and learn from others. The problem with learning from the school of hard knocks is that the tuition is too high.

3. “Know Thyself”, was said by the Greek philosopher Socrates. How true it is when it comes to driving a Cobra safely. I know that for myself I’m unqualified to be driving my Cobra anywhere near its performance limits. I have virtually no racing experience, very little training and I’m in my 50’s so my reactions are not what they used to be. Instead I have the advantage (I hope) of wisdom. It is said, “The superior driver uses his superior judgment so as to not have to use his superior skill.” The most important thing here is recognizing limitations, do you?

4. I saw a video of a Cobra going out of control when the passenger door was not closed properly and the driver tried to close it while underway. The lean of the body when reaching for the door caused the throttle foot to press on the pedal. Probably not a problem in a regular car but in a Cobra that does 0 to 60 in less than four seconds it’s a recipe for disaster – especially when you only have one hand on the steering wheel! What’s the lesson here? If something falls on the floor or to the side of the passenger seat from g-forces or whatever, wait until you’re stopped (in neutral) before reaching to pick it up.

5. Beware of the club ride. It could be that you will be surrounded by some guys driving bullets (it’s been said you don’t shift a Cobra – you just chamber another round) who are in denial or unaware of their limitations and driving experience. These guys and I’m including myself, have good intentions but are young at heart so the “two teenagers in a car” phenomena is in effect. You know how it goes; they say “This is so cool, let’s do something crazy!” Two teenagers in a car will do things one teenager in a car would never do. This effect can take hold in a club ride. Use caution and don’t get caught up in it. Be a defensive driver knowing someone, because of the above, may do something totally unexpected right in front of you.

6. Street racing kills. It’s stupid and only the completely self-centered do it. It can kill you, or worse yet it can kill innocent bystanders. So just say “no” and go to a track. When that Viper pulls up next to you at the stoplight and revs his engine, then if you must, yell “Ace Raceway [or whatever your local track is called], this Friday, 6 PM.” You’ve just saved face and saved lives — and I bet he never shows.

7. Take command of your Cobra. You can’t be afraid of it or else timidity will prevent you from taking the decisive action necessary to stay out of trouble. Now you must respect your Cobra, but not be afraid of it. Analyze yourself privately deep down and determine if you’re kind of afraid of the car. If you are, then it’s time for some professional training or time to sell the car. This is supposed to be fun and if you’re afraid of the car why deal with it, it will only cause trouble. A Cobra isn’t for everyone and there’s no shame in that.

8. Don’t let anyone tailgate you – ever. Folks behind you might want to get an “up close and personal” look at a Cobra and end up tailgating you. If you have to brake hard for some reason your car will stop much faster than theirs. You have no head restraints, virtually no crush zone and you’re basically sitting on top of a gas tank. Get the picture? Pull over to the slow lane and slow down if you have to in order to get them off your tail. Attention comes with the territory when driving a Cobra and the distractions can be dangerous.

9. Do “what if” scenarios in your head. Quickly now, what would you do if you were going down the freeway and your throttle return spring bracket let loose and you went to full throttle with no throttle control. Too late, you’ve already crashed. My answer is instantaneous and simultaneous controlled braking, clutch in, neutral gear then ignition off and coast to side of the road watching out for traffic and then and only then think about what happened. The key word here is “instantaneous”. You can’t do this quickly if you haven’t considered it beforehand. Be graphic and realistic in your scenarios. What would it sound like and feel like if you went to full throttle unexpectedly going down the freeway? How much time would you have? My engine has an electronic RPM limiter so I’m not going to worry about blowing my engine by depressing the clutch at full throttle. And so what if I did blow my engine – my life is at stake here. “What if” scenarios are wonderful because they’re free, they can save your life, and as my dad used to say, they “tickle your brain.”

10. Don’t go for a drive in your Cobra to clear your head. Clear your head then drive your Cobra. This ain’t the car to be driving when you’re distracted.

11. A bonus tip: Have fun – safely.

12. Leave the alcohol for the end of the day. Maybe, a single beer with a meal, but no more. These cars can go from fun to “OH S*^T!!” faster than just about anything I’ve driven.

“There’s nothing nice about a Cobra, it’s stripped down to the essentials – a big engine, a small car, and four wide tires trying to keep the whole business on the pavement. It’s loud, smells like gasoline, and shakes, shudders, and bucks. It makes your arms tired and your feet hot. You nearly crash about once every ten minutes. It’s so damn wonderful you can’t believe it.

Cobra heard whispering to the owner: circa 1963
“When you put that tiny silver key into the ignition, and begin your start countdown, your car will whisper “take me for granted, and I will kill you.”

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[i.e.427]

I built my car to drive on the road, so I didn't go nuts with the power. I'd driven plenty of cars that were capable of exceeding the limits imposed by the rules of the road and the Cobra is no different. I drive the Cobra the same way that I drive any car on the road (except that I'm much more defensive) and don't need to know its limits, just the limits of the roads I'm driving on. If you want to push the car to its limits, by all means, do that on the track.

My dad is a great teacher (He's 83). But he always made us think as kids, not blindly follow the lead of others. This taught us all to ask questions and become very independent adults. That said, when I was 18 years old I wanted to buy a new street bike. At the time the bike I wanted was a Honda FT500 Ascot. My dad, being my dad, asked the nice salesman about the power and response of the motorcycle. The salesman wanting to make a sale replied, "this will keep him out of trouble". My dad asked again but this time added "will the power this bike has allow him to accelerate out of a problem"? The salesman then realized my dad wasn't concerned about me hot dogging the motorcycle but was more concerned about me having only one option to get out of trouble. I didn't end up with that bike and instead ended up buying a Honda 500 V4 Interceptor, a way better bike. The moral to that story is, you can be the best defensive driver, only drive the speed limit and never hot dog your car. But if you only have one option when it comes to getting yourself out of a situation, you may end up very sorry. I drive a 10 year old Ford Ranger most days. I follow the rules of the road and look out for others with eyes in the back of my head. But even in the work truck, I'm always looking for another option. That's what autocross will teach you.


Ditto what Papa said. I have not watched the video and I plan on driving it on Sat. Oh my!

I'm just trying to help. If you prefer not to watch the videos I post, I'm just fine with that. The channel is not monetized and right now I have no intention of monetizing it. YouTube forces the content creators to grow extremely thick skin. I offer advice on our channels, facebook, and here on the forum. All with vary degrees of appreciation. Both Jeff and myself talk about most of the issues we discussed in the video quite often. I have the utmost respect for Kleiner, he and I have been friends for longer than I can remember. That's why I asked him to be a part of this video.

Frank

[Fman]

Great video, I took my car out on a beginner track day the first year i built it. This was by far the best thing I ever did, I definitely don't drive around town like a mad man but getting to know the car and how it performs at higher speeds, cornering, throttle control, braking will 100% make you a better safer driver on the streets. I have also driven newer high performance vehicles but they pretty much drive themselves now and will make any driver look like he knows what he is doing. The Cobra is a different animal, manual brakes, no ABS, no traction control, etc.. it really is all driver skills in this car.

[Papa]

My dad is a great teacher (He's 83). But he always made us think as kids, not blindly follow the lead of others. This taught us all to ask questions and become very independent adults. That said, when I was 18 years old I wanted to buy a new street bike. At the time the bike I wanted was a Honda FT500 Ascot. My dad, being my dad, asked the nice salesman about the power and response of the motorcycle. The salesman wanting to make a sale replied, "this will keep him out of trouble". My dad asked again but this time added "will the power this bike has allow him to accelerate out of a problem"? The salesman then realized my dad wasn't concerned about me hot dogging the motorcycle but was more concerned about me having only one option to get out of trouble. I didn't end up with that bike and instead ended up buying a Honda 500 V4 Interceptor, a way better bike. The moral to that story is, you can be the best defensive driver, only drive the speed limit and never hot dog your car. But if you only have one option when it comes to getting yourself out of a situation, you may end up very sorry. I drive a 10 year old Ford Ranger most days. I follow the rules of the road and look out for others with eyes in the back of my head. But even in the work truck, I'm always looking for another option. That's what autocross will teach you.



I'm just trying to help. If you prefer not to watch the videos I post, I'm just fine with that. The channel is not monetized and right now I have no intention of monetizing it. YouTube forces the content creators to grow extremely thick skin. I offer advice on our channels, facebook, and here on the forum. All with vary degrees of appreciation. Both Jeff and myself talk about most of the issues we discussed in the video quite often. I have the utmost respect for Kleiner, he and I have been friends for longer than I can remember. That's why I asked him to be a part of this video.

Frank

Frank,

I wasn't trying to start a pissing contest. I grew up in my dad's auto shop, the drag strip, and I raced go-carts when I was 12 years old, so I've always been around cars and racing. What I learned about driving on the roads is that awareness of one's surroundings and driving in a way that avoids accidents is much more effective than learning to drive a car as fast as possible. I don't disagree with you that if someone is afraid of their car, that doing something, anything to get more familiar, comfortable with the car is a smart thing to do. I learned to drive in high-performance cars and was not intimidated by the Cobra. I'm sure most people can't say that, and driving a go-cart on the road can certainly be intimidating. If a driver can't get over that intimidation, they shouldn't be driving the car because they will almost certainly be more dangerous than someone that is comfortable behind the wheel. Being a defensive driver doesn't mean you have to be the slowest car on the road. It means anticipating what the conditions and other cars around you are doing and knowing how to avoid situations that can lead to an accident.

Peace,
Dave