A-class Cobra?

[Ske]

Never driven one of these before today and man was I in for a shock.... This is one of the few cars I believe just doesn't handle, plainly. It's not anywhere near common concepts of good and bad - it doesn't even seem to play the game.

So: I thought I'd see if I can make this car driveable at all... it's only got a few PI left in A-class so no major mods, hopefully it'll be enough to turn it into a car. The ultimate goal is to make it good enough to drive without TCS and ABS.

Has anybody tried this one at all?

[Spiny Anteater]

Not without ABS I haven't, but I have tried it without TCS. The Cobra can be great fun, but you have to be very, very careful with the throttle. Once you get the hang of not flooring the throttle it can be a great car. Personally, I found the spec races in this car to be the most fun races so far. As for building it up in A Class, unfortunately I decided I was going to use it for the sub 500 bhp challenge, which meant I couldn't get the PI above 822 and had to use stock tyres (the tyres really do bump up the PI on this thing).

So, best advice I can give is be patient, and it will reward you. Even with a PI of only 822, it was still pretty competitive with some of my 850 tunes so stick at it. The only problem I can forsee is that you seem to prefer more understeery set-ups so it may be that the Cobra just does not suit your driving style. But give it a try, you're a fast driver so I'm sure you'll adapt to the car.

[landstuhltaylor]

It's perfect in stock form, especially with no assists. I love racing the thing on King Cobra.

[Fit4aking]

You must be a glutton for punishment.  I like running that race as practice only.  After 3-4 laps I'm ready to do ANYTHING else.

[Spiny Anteater]

After we (me, Hop & Moosejaw) ran a couple of stock races with the Cobra last night I'll be interested to see MJ's impressions of it. After 5 laps at Black Mamba he was setting some pretty decent times with the car so I'd guess he was getting used to it Be interesting to see whether we've convince MJ to love the car, or created a deep, unabating hatred

(Off Topic @Hop, that last race at MVShort, I saw you coming, thoguht I'll go around the outside and forgot I was in the NSX which turns in better than any other car, hence me chopping your nose off I think that one is probably going to go down as a 50/50 racing incident?)

[Hoplee]

racing happens. nbd

[Hoplee]

Last night I was racing A-Class and someone pulled out an American car. Of course I felt that a challenge had been issued so out of my 1967 Miura I go and into a 427 Cobra!

The best part was someone asking "You can drive that thing, Hop???"

The track was Sebring Club and I was up against all manner of AWD Japanese trash. I did have a heckuva time keeping it pointed in the right direction, since every time you change gears the rear wants to pass the front, but didn't record any penalty time and finished the race third with the fastest lap time in the room by a good half-second.

The build is simple:

all the platform bits except weight reduction, suspension (!) and transmission (what's wrong with a 4 speed? )
the largest stock wheels
the lowest PI tire upgrade
stock engine

All the settings are default except I was playing with tire pressures to keep the rear tires from melting after 3 or 4 laps. I'm still not happy with it, but last night I was running 26 psi front and rear. For reference, my time was 66.283, just half a second behind Bimmerlovere's best in one of his well tuned teutonic terrors.

and no, I wasn't using TCS.

[Blooze]

LOL - sounds a little too much like taking a nap on a bunch of nails...

$

[bimmerlovere39]

Last night I was racing A-Class and someone pulled out an American car. Of course I felt that a challenge had been issued so out of my 1967 Miura I go and into a 427 Cobra!

The best part was someone asking "You can drive that thing, Hop???"

The track was Sebring Club and I was up against all manner of AWD Japanese trash. I did have a heckuva time keeping it pointed in the right direction, since every time you change gears the rear wants to pass the front, but didn't record any penalty time and finished the race third with the fastest lap time in the room by a good half-second.

The build is simple:

all the platform bits except weight reduction and transmission (what's wrong with a 4 speed? )
the largest stock wheels
the lowest PI tire upgrade
stock engine

All the settings are default except I was playing with tire pressures to keep the rear tires from melting after 3 or 4 laps. I'm still not happy with it, but last night I was running 26 psi front and rear. For reference, my time was 66.283, just half a second behind Bimmerlovere's best in one of his well tuned teutonic terrors.

and no, I wasn't using TCS.

I like that... Teutonic Terrors...

[landstuhltaylor]

The car is very good in the right hands. I was able to capture fast lap by a full second on Black Mamba in a room with Fit, Hoplee, and Open2nd.
Of course, I wasn't using TCS.

[Fit4aking]

That round we did on Maple valley looked more like a bad drift video than a race.  I was impressed with the car overall but I had already won the factory spec races.  I may need to look into building one up a bit, they seem like a lot of fun.

[Spiny Anteater]

Challenge for you then Fit - I only did the spec-races about a month or so ago. Go out and beat my times

[Fit4aking]

Lets take this outside 

Jk.  At least take it over to the speedshop.  All challenges are to be issued at the door. 

[Hoplee]

I was running the Cobra last night with a bimmerlover style decel diff setting of 91 and 29 psi in the front tires versus 26 psi for the rears. I was able to power through the turns very cleanly for a Cobra and finished 1st in a full room. These tire pressure settings may help those of you running the cobra.

[TheTechnobear]

hmm, i think im gonna have a go at this - a kind of personal challenge to improve my driving technique

sounds like a A850 on King Corba (i hate that track ) , what kinda lap times you getting?
... anyone tried on motgei (sp?)