C4S VS Cobra!

Let me set up the scenario right. There is this track that has what they call "FunDayz", where basically anybody who has done at least one DE can bring their car and run on the track for 8 hours if they wanted to. It is a 2.5 mile, 14 turn road course. They don't run if it rains. Last Friday night poured buckets of rain into Saturday am. Forecast was rain all day long. Wouldn't you know, sun came out at 10 am. I was on the track at 12 noon. There was only one other car there, a Mustang Cobra!!! It had Hoosier tires, suspension mods, rollcage, racing seats, 6 point harness, and some other mods he didn't elaborate on. Still a daily driver when he swaps the hoosiers with street tires, says the owner. Owner was a nice guy. He lives in the area, has been driving that track for several years. Me, in the C4S, stock with street tires, have driven that track twice now. With the rain that night and in the am, nobody else showed up. We had the track all to ourselves, and even management just let us do what we wanted. Man, talk about ecstasy (well, not quite, but you know what I mean). I used up two tanks of gas. We didn't see each other on the track initially, just in between runs. Finally caught up to him later in the day, and I followed him around to get a bettter idea of the driving lines from the veteran. After two laps, he signaled me to go ahead and pass!! I did, and I ran away from him!! Turned out, he was giving it all he had. To be honest, I was giving it all I had too, with my completely stock C4S! I believe I was also at the limit of my tires, hitting apeces and curbs on entry and exit, squeeling all the way . Loads of fun!! Maybe time for P-Corsas and coilovers!

I'd say the driver of the stang was missing something. I ran with a stock cobra with an excellent driver at Pocono and could not believe how fast the car was around the track on street tires. Especially in a car like that the driver means so much.

Just wondering, ED. What car did you drive at Pocono when the Cobra was there?

out of curiousity where is the track and what is it called

[quote]Originally posted by Silver1.8T: <strong>out of curiousity where is the track and what is it called</strong><hr></blockquote> The track is called Nelson's Ledges. SCCA, FASTRAXX, assorted schools and clubs go there. Here's a link: <a href="http://www.na-motorsports.com/Tracks/Nelson.html" target="_blank">Nelsons Ledges</a> Here's the 2002 schedule, if you're interested: <a href="http://www.fastone.com/Nelson99/02Calendar.html" target="_blank">Nelson Sked.</a> T The above incident occured last Saturday. I was going to see how I'd do against "Detroit Iron". I guess I found out against an experienced racer . Sunday's run got rained out. Too bad. This was supposed to be specially for SCCA competition licensed drivers and cars, but was also open to anyone else. I would have liked to see how I would do there. <img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" />

Just can't wait when I get on the track Sept 20/22 at Thunderhill and later in Dec at Laguna Seca . Just hearing your sentiment about how much fun your having on the track reminds me there are others just as enthused as I am and driving the car to it's potential. If you should ever come over to San Francisco Palting- brewski's on me <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" /> . Regards. Mike

Boxster w/ Kuhmos. the cobra was on street tires and looked stock, definitely no suspension mods. It could not keep up in the infield but was amazingly close. A setup stang should be able to run very fast same as almost any car truly setup. The car does make lots of power and the new ones can be set up to road race competitively. No offense to you, but you were driving a stock car on street tires. A set up stang should have been able to at least keep up. As great as our cars are, they are not invinceable.

I'm impressed Palting, wish you all the best and keep it up

Thanks, Targa. Ed, you should do better with the X51 against a Cobra. The Cobra would pull away from me a bit at the straights, but for some reason I could reel him in at the turns, particularly at the long carousel. When you run your X51, I'd be curious to know if you can induce power oversteer on turns. The best I can do with my "measly" 320 HP is convert the plow to a neutral attitude by full throttle, or a controlled oversteer by brief throttle lift. Mike, there are two tracks I plan to make a special effort to drive on someday, sometime. One of them is Watkins Glen, the other is Laguna Seca. When I get to Laguna Seca, next round will be on me <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" /> .

Power oversteer... from what I've seen its so far, while being very gentle, the car will power understeer. The rear just plants and you go STRAIGHT! I'm autocrossing it this weekend and will get a better feel. The car still has not had the suspension done, the parts at trickling in from Germany so it is a factory alignment on a US 030 which we all know leaves a little to be desired.

[quote]Originally posted by Ed Newman: <strong>Power oversteer... from what I've seen its so far, while being very gentle, the car will power understeer. The rear just plants and you go STRAIGHT! </strong><hr></blockquote> I was just watching the Eagle F1 footage. With the 500+ HP on tap, the Ruf turbo transitions from the plow to oversteer on exit at WOT. According to Bell, anyway. Maybe the neutral attitude I get with the C4S at WOT on exit is the front wheel drive biting in. It certainly can't be from the missing 180+ horses! Man, that RUF is a nice car!!

Palting, do you know what year the Cobra was. Just curious as I am a Ford dealer and was considering a new Cobra when I was smitten by my 996. The '03 Cobra is quite different than older versions with a supercharged 400+ hp v8. I have driven them on the Bondurant track in Pheonix and they are smoking fast with tons of torque down low. The 996 is in a different league in handling,tightness and EVERYTHING ELSE,but I think a new Cobra driven well should have been pretty fast.

Enjoyed your exchange. Wish I could race

I have never been to tracks. What is good starting point?

Bruce, the Cobra was not brand new. Maybe 2 years old? And I did not say he wasn't fast. It took all I had to catch up and overtake him. I was just a little bit faster at max effort, but faster nevertheless . Before we get too far afield, this is about two guys who happened to have the perfect opportunity to have a whole lot of fun with cars they both loved. This is not about Porsche is better than Cobra. This is about a guy in a C4S, putting everything he had and knew against a guy in a Cobra, also putting everything he had and knew, into that glorious afternoon. The fact that I finally passed him is just icing. He crawled all over my car inspecting it, and I crawled all over his car also inspecting it. At the end of the afternoon, we had agreed to see each other the following day and go run against the SCCA racers as well as each other again. Unfortunately, that got rained out. I'm sure I'll see him again, not only because we both live close to Nelson's Ledges, but it turns out he also frequents Porsche DE activities. Maybe next time I see him, I'll have track tires and coilovers, heh-heh-heh Drk996tt, I got started by joining the local Porsche club. That got me into DE's, nearby racetracks, and just general info on what one can do with the Porsche. I made a mistake on dates at one time and showed up at a Corvette autocross event. I got invited anyway, so I ran with Corvettes that day. Did jacks**t since I was still learning the car, but it was fun . So, if you read on a Corvette board about a C4S that did jacks**t against Corvcttes, that's probably me!!! Anyway, join your local Porsche Club, or just find out where the Corvettes, BMW's do their activities and join in.

Palting, Great post! Glad to hear that the C4S holds up well against a Rust Belt Classic. Let us know if you proceed with the mods. <img src="graemlins/drink.gif" border="0" alt="[cherrsagai]" />

Believe me, I think the Porsche is awesome. I LOVE MINE! Thats why I bought it. I don't like the "this is better than that" threads. Just wanted to know what kind of mustang it was so I could fantasize better-wishing I was there at the track, too. Thanks for sharing your stories. It makes being a car junkie more fun. I AM NOT ALONE! I think.