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I have a 991S and it is a great car. A little too great sometimes. It is so competent that to feel like you are near the edge you have to do some insane things. In Michigan the roads, do not lend themselves to that. Too many trees.
I have decided to go to the other side of the boat, old school.
I am building a Shelby S/C Cobra, All aluminum 427 Ford Stroked to 482 Cubic inches, 600 HP 600 Ft pounds of torque. Should be on the edge the whole time!
I will have 17" Rims and Nitto NT01 tires all around. Here is a photo that is very close to what it will look like.
Shelby S/C Cobra
Here are some interesting stats between the two cars.
It should be done by spring I am really looking forward to it.
Obviously a totally different car, not a daily driver at all. I did not even order the soft top with it.
In this case it is not a Kit but a complete rolling chassis. You have to install the engine and trans and do some setup work or pay to have it done. I am paying to have it done. BUT it is a hobby not just a car. It is old school so it can actually be worked on which I am looking forward to. I have not had a car I could work on in years. I also will probably not drive it many miles a year. It is rip roaring raw fun, unrefined. The nannies were left home tied up in the closet.
That looks awesome, great car. Friend of mine just finished a Factory Five car, of course it always winds up costly more than you think. Is that Roush engine in it? Hope it has really good brakes. Good luck, they have unbelievable acceleration even without the electronics.
Since I rebuilt a number of small block Chevy's I remember going into the Factory Five building in Wareham, Ma and asking if I could put a chevy small block in there, they got a good laugh.
I looked at the Roush engine but they are pricey for what you get and they don't offer an FE engine as standard. The car came with an FE Ford big block engine in 1965 and that is what I would like to stick with. I am lucky that one of a handful of FE engine experts in the country is right here in MI an hour away from home.
I am having Barry Rabotnick of Survival Motorsports build my engine. It will be extra cool because my 17 year old son and I can go down and see the progress of the build and be there for the Dyno Session.
The brakes are 12" Willwood 4 piston calipers in front and 1 piston 11" Willwood Calipers in the back.
The tires I spec'd are sticky. I'll be lucky to get 10,000 miles out of them.
But they should allow me to go full throttle in second, not first for sure.
Just an FYI, those Nitto's are R-Compounds and while you are right, they stick like glue they are not the best for a street tire for these reasons:
1) They have minimal puncture resistance, prone to flats
2) They are not full tread depth when new, which means not so hot in the rain
3) They ARE sticky and will sandblast the wheel wells slinging sand and dirt off the tire because they pick up everything on the road.
4) Noisy (may not matter on a Cobra)
5) R-Comps wear by heat cycle, not by mileage. Every time you go for a drive its a heat cycle. Eventually they get a bluish-cast to them and the stick is gone.
6) They tend to cup more than a street tire when getting worn out.
But if ya gotta have 'em - ya gotta have 'em. Have fun.
Just an FYI, those Nitto's are R-Compounds and while you are right, they stick like glue they are not the best for a street tire for these reasons:
1) They have minimal puncture resistance, prone to flats
2) They are not full tread depth when new, which means not so hot in the rain
3) They ARE sticky and will sandblast the wheel wells slinging sand and dirt off the tire because they pick up everything on the road.
4) Noisy (may not matter on a Cobra)
5) R-Comps wear by heat cycle, not by mileage. Every time you go for a drive its a heat cycle. Eventually they get a bluish-cast to them and the stick is gone.
6) They tend to cup more than a street tire when getting worn out.
But if ya gotta have 'em - ya gotta have 'em. Have fun.
Thanks for the tip, I have time to reconsider. What are your thoughts on Nitto NT05's? Knowing this thing wants to kill you I am trying to hedge my bet with sticky tires.
Detroit:
I run Nitto 555R Drag Radials on my Backdraft with a 400hp Coyote. Sticky tires certainly help but in the end it's the driver that makes the difference. With 600HP, you will certainly be able to break any sticky tire loose in 1st, 2nd and probably 3rd. You might want to find a local ride with a cobra owner to see how light these cars are and decide if you really want 600HP. I have seen 350HP cobras drivers get in real trouble..... If your going with Superformance, this is an excellent choice, they hold their value and are very close to the original spec. Be prepared for a lot of attention ....
Detroit:
I run Nitto 555R Drag Radials on my Backdraft with a 400hp Coyote. Sticky tires certainly help but in the end it's the driver that makes the difference. With 600HP, you will certainly be able to break any sticky tire loose in 1st, 2nd and probably 3rd. You might want to find a local ride with a cobra owner to see how light these cars are and decide if you really want 600HP. I have seen 350HP cobras drivers get in real trouble..... If your going with Superformance, this is an excellent choice, they hold their value and are very close to the original spec. Be prepared for a lot of attention ....
I have heard the "you get a lot of attention" part. It is interesting because that is not my goal. There are not a lot of Cobras around me so it may be exaggerated. Maybe I am better sticking with the NT01's?
I am certainly not going to be out in the rain but I don't want to get lots of flats and or sand blast the fender wells.
I don't personally run Nitto brand tires, I'm a Michelin/Bridgestone/Pirelli guy so I can't tell you anything about the NT05. If that were my Cobra, I'd install Michelin Pilot Super Sports. I have run many, many sets of R-Comps though (BF Goodrich, Hoosier, Yokohamas) and they don't stick until they get good and hot, so 600 HP romp off a stoplight isn't going to make them stick that much better than a street tire because they will be cold. They also don't stop very well when they're cold. You have to get about three laps around a track to build heat in them to get the advantage of an R-Comp, then they're like YEAH-BABY. So if you want to run sticky tires, get a autocross compound tire like the specialty Hoosier, because those are designed to stick without a lot of heat in them as there are no warm-up laps in Auto-X. They wear extremely quickly though, you'd be lucky to get 3K miles out of a set.
02-04-2015, 10:50 AM
