Compare my SPF GT-40 to a F and P car

I bought a SPF Gt-40 6 weeks ago after an 12 month search for an exotic car. I looked at Ferraris 360s and Lambos Gallardos. I have owned 5 Ferraris and 12 Porsches ,a Maserati ,a Pantera, XKEs, and numerous other makes and I must admit I have gotten tired of making contributions to dealers, parts suppliers, and mechanics 401K and college funds. The expense of keeping these boys up just keep getting ridiculous, so I centered in on looking at a SPF GT-40... A friend of mine has one and he invited me up to check it out.. After seeing if I would fit, the ease of entry and exit (yea), and playing around in it, it was something I wanted to experience... I must admit, being able to go to the local NADA parts store for "cheap" parts, and being able to call my local mechanic and not driving 4 to 6 hours for a "factory approved service shop" made a GT-40 more appealing... I found serial# 2183, a 2007 MKII, titanium with black stripes, 427 FE, 560 HP, Shelby spec engine, ceramic coated headers, transmission cooler, and zf transaxle with 1024 miles. It took a couple of months of "barting" and we came to a deal... I drove it for two weeks just getting use to the raw power of the car , checking things out and being careful... I talked to Dennis Olthoff at Olthoff Racing and decided to take it to him and do some mods and updates he suggested. The wiring and A/C mods, checking the hand brake, wheel bearing, and going over the car. Paul Whitlock did the work and he is a true professional. Very detailed and his knowledge about theses cars is endless.... I got her back and have been driving it about an hour a day... mostly on back roads getting use to way the car handles under full power and take offs. To compair a Ferrari or Porsche to a SPF GT-40 is like a rain storm to a tornado.... F and P cars are well build, solid cars that are mild to drive in comparison to a 2400 lb beast with 560 HP.... The sound, the look and the over all ambience of a F car is hard to beat... A Porsche does everything right at the right time and is understated elegance with out fan fair.... The Gt-40 does it with a big boy attitude, loud, screaming " here I come attitude".....If you think Ferraris get attention, drive down main street or go to a mall or try a drive thru at Burger King and you can create a local one man show.... Stop for gas, and it can take 30 minutes.... The car can draw a crowd in a heart beat... I have gotten the same three questions I use to get in my Ferraris....What is it ?? How fast will it go ??? and How much did it cost ???? In second gear at 6000 rpms you scare small children and grandmothers to death...Not for the shy and timid !!!!!! The car is so short and cars can not see you behind another one and they cut in front of you..... One learns this very quickly....To compare the cars one can expect refined elegance, excellent quality control in the new F and P cars. Creature comforts that make a road trip comfortable and very enjoyable... The GT-40 is not a close second in the world of a long road trips . The torque will give you detached retinas from 0 to 100 mph, the bundle of snake exhaust will will melt the wax in you ears after 50 miles, its so low to the ground one sits on the curb and rolls in, and you have better like the one you are with, because you sit really, really close. You want to make sure the air works really well, because it gets warm in the cabin even in the winter and your Band deodorant will start to break down.... Do you need a car like this ???? NO... Do you want a car like this .... YES........I love it and every time I get in it, push the start button, the hairs on my neck stand up and my neighbors windows start to rattle as I blast out of the neighborhood...I have done the NASCAR experience at Darlington, and driving this GT-40 is as close as you are going to get to that thrill.... It is demanding and exhilarating to drive, and stunning in appearance... Knowing what I know now, I would buy it again because I have not had this much fun in a car in a long time.......It requires a little work in just keeping an eye on things, make sure screws are tight, no loose hoses and find leaks after a rain storm... When the wife and I go out for dinner, we rarely take the GT... it is not lady like in a dress to get in and out so we take the P or MB car...... Later

 

If I knew how to post pictures I would... They don't call me Bill Gates around here. My wife will be back Monday and I will get her to show me how........

 

This story comes from the 05/18/09 issue of AutoWeek magazine. If you have not read it I thought you all might enjoy it... Fearless Shifter

By MARK VAUGHN

A picture of Unlike the originals, the Superformance Shelby CS GT40 has air conditioning.
Unlike the originals, the Superformance Shelby CS GT40 has air conditioning.Only a short drive from the Superformance company headquarters, the road opened up: five lanes wide, fields on either side, clear vision and no traffic.

"Go ahead, open it up," said Superformance CEO Lance Stander, who owned the very GT40 we were driving and was ready to assume some sort of risk, presumably.

So we opened it up.

Pandora and her famous box had nothing on this car. The massive, angry Roush 427 strapped on behind us like an iron-block backpack suddenly opened its big bowls of Holley and barked out all 550 hp, half of which seemed to go to glorious noise and the other half to slingshotting us down the roadway as if it were a crazed nuclear pellet gun.

"Mulsanne!" we bleated, mostly because neither we nor anyone we know can pronounce "ligne droite des Hunaudi�res" with any kind of manly flair, especially with all the excitement of that 550 hp mentioned above.

It was hard to decide which was more sensational, the tremendous lengths of pavement being eaten up exponentially below us or the deafening staccato roar of the mighty Roush Performance 427R. In either case, God bless Jack Roush. And bless Superformance while you're at it. And let's not forget to thank Henry Ford II, who got the ball rolling on the GT40 project 46 years ago; Lola chief designer Eric Broadley, who built the first GT40s; great drivers such as (bow your heads) Dan Gurney, Lloyd Ruby, Bruce McLaren, Jackie Ickx and--

Oh, man, ain't it crazy all the stuff that goes through your mind in the four or five seconds before you run out of road? A picture of Most Superformance customers choose a Roush V8 for their cars. Most Superformance customers choose a Roush V8 for their cars.

Sure, the car was awkward to drive in many ways. Visibility out the back was mostly blocked by the air filter of the big V8. Rear three-quarter vision is not really what you could call vision, either. Little round rearview mirrors sort of allow you to see before making a lane change, but mostly you're trusting to providence. Seating is way reclined, as in a race car. Even at more than six feet tall, we had to reach way down to access the pedals, and then the effort required to operate them was prodigious. Those original racing heroes were something else. Stander says that each of those points can be addressed to an owner's specifications.

Steering and pedal efforts were likewise beefy. There's no power assist here, but then, there was none in '66, either. The suspension was firm and kept the car on the ground and tracking true through wildly fast sweeping curves. The shocks matched the springs just about perfectly. Despite the minimized ride height, there was no sense here, as there often is in "kit" and tuner cars, that the shocks were left stock and the springs were just there to lower the car for looks. This is a solid machine you could race all weekend and then drive home. There's even air conditioning--which the original racing heroes didn't have.

We have never driven a real GT40 (or a real Porsche RS Spyder, Ferrari GTO or any F1 car--hint hint, reader-owners), but this car has to be the closest most normal humans will get to that feeling. The Superformance GT40 was designed and built with meticulous attention to historical detail, as close as possible to the original race cars that first won at Le Mans 43 years ago.

Superformance makes a couple of versions of the GT40, along with Shelby Cobra and Shelby Daytona Coupe replicas, which transport drivers back in time to the era when these great behemoths ruled the racetrack. The design is so close to the original, in fact, that Superformance says 90 percent of the parts are interchangeable between original and replica. A picture of Pedal effort can be adjusted to the owner's liking. Pedal effort can be adjusted to the owner's liking.

The chassis is steel semi-monocoque, with a steel roof and Gurney bubble for the driver's dome. Front and rear body panels are fiberglass. Front suspension is unequal-length A-arms in front and trailing and unequal-length arms in back. Our car had CR6ZZ Avons, 215/60ZR-15 in front and 295/50ZR-15 in back.

While you can get any number of engines, most customers choose a Roush V8 mated to an RBT five-speed manual transaxle.

The particular model we were in was a Shelby CS GT40 85th Commemorative Edition, built to celebrate the 85th birthday of the old Snakemeister himself. As you may recall, Carroll Shelby was the guy whose GT40s finished 1-2 at the 1966 Vingt-Quatre Heures du Mans. Superformance makes versions of all three of the Shelby GT40s from that year's race. Ours was the one driven by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon.

Time travel is not cheap, however. A regular Superformance GT40 replica starts at $79,900 without engine and transaxle. While it's still less than the millions you could pay at auction, our Carroll Shelby commemorative stickered at $109,999. Engines range from $12,000 to more than $37,000. Installation, which you probably want done right, is another $8,000 or $10,000. Our car as tested was $135,834. Which is still (you could tell the spouse) less than a tenth of what a real GT40 would cost.

When you think about it, that's actually pretty cheap for time travel. A picture of Rear vision in the Superformance Shelby CS GT40 is limited, but you'll want to keep your eyes forward. Rear vision in the Superformance Shelby CS GT40 is limited, but you'll want to keep your eyes forward.

2009 SUPERFORMANCE SHELBY CS GT40

ON SALE: Now

AS-TESTED PRICE: $135,834

DRIVETRAIN: 5.8-liter, 550-hp, 535-lb-ft V8; RWD, five-speed manual

CURB WEIGHT: 2,400 lb

0-60 MPH: 3.2 sec (mfr