Drag race - stock 458 Italia versus 65 Shelby

Oh, I understand what you are saying, but what you implied was price had everything to do with it, and it does - but for outside reasons. It is nobody's fault that inflation occurs, just as when the Shelby came out in its' day and beat the crap out of the 'fast' cars from the same era and eras prior to it.

Heck, I am in hobbies today that if you throw enough money at them you too can win a championship. I have.

 

Love the GN, that was a seriously entertaining launch.

Looking forward to the results of the race.

 

Although my dad raced Mustangs and all my Uncles have muscle cars I am for sure a Ferrari fanboy. I have very little driving experience in drag races and none in Ferraris (yet) I can't help but come in and comment on how awesome this whole thing is.

The Shelby could have a chance in one of the races because there are so many variables and its very driver dependent.

I know Tommygold can't touch his 458 but if anyone from Novitech or any Ferrari shop guy could put his hands on the 458 for a few hours it wouldn't be close at all. That's simply a testament to how great the 458 is although you do pay for it

 

I doubt very much that you can put a set of tires on a CJ mustang, 68-1/2, 69 or 70 and run 11s.

A good tune and tires will get you low 13s. Been there and done that. in 1978.

Blue print, headers, 4:56 gears tires and an NHRA legal camshaft, shift at 6800.

11.33.

 

LIGHTNING STUCK.... Quoted from the Cobra thread: http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/showthread.php?t=109196&page=15

I don't know if Blitz just got lucky or if he was rope-a-doping him the whole time but he did it. I'll admit to being completely amazed.

I did not follow the whole thing but to the best of my knowledge, Blitz had never run better than like 12.8 in practice.

[btw the above is third hand, neither of the two drivers posted yet but it was posted by several people who were apparently there.]

 

This was a cool little story, two really sweet cars.

 

Amazing.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Great story.....good old fashioned drag racing!

Nice to take my mind off all the crap in this world for a few minutes.

Thanks to all those who participated.

 

Talk about a lightning strike. Well, assuming he is telling the truth. In his own words:

Then he magically pulled 10's all day long? You be the judge.

Apparently the bet was $400,000. Tommy should just raced for pinks.

 

Here is the video:

http://www.twitvid.com/TUR1H

 

Yeah unless your car is having some serious problems, you can't just go from 13s to 10s. My guess is sandbagging. I see it alot at the drag strip, but with motorcycles, that guys bring to "streetrace" and keep them tarped in between runs, then when they do run them, they go slow off the line, race about the middle 1/8 mile and then coast through the end.

I had a 97 z28 all prim and proper with alot of NO2 and I had some guy in a riced out eclispe convertable want to race me for a couple hundred bucks. I said I would race him for 5 bucks, and felt bad for it because A) I don't think he had ever been to the drag strip and B) I honestly believe he thought Fast and furious was true to life in you bolt 8 parts on something and BAM 9 second car. well, my 10.5 sec run at 133 bested his 16 second at 80something. He didn't even stop at the ticketshack, he just turned left and left the track lol.

I bet his friends never let him live that down. But, as a rule, if someone is wanted to bet you alot at the strip or on the street, they are doing it because they know kinda what you run, and they know they can beat you.

 

I have a Kirkham with one of Keith's motors. Although (or because) the car and the are old tech, tuning for conditions does matter. So if it was improperly tuned, not running on slicks and a first time driver vs. tuned, slicks, experience, then there definitely is some time to make up. Even the difference from the Yokohama tires to Avon race radials on my street car made an incredible difference in hook up.

 

Is $400K really true?

 

I scanned the discussion on the Cobra forum the other day and I thought I saw $100k as the wager.

 

The guy who posted the video said 400K. Dats all I knows.

 

Blitz is a good friend of mine, and I was in vegas for the race, was there during the week for the prep too. It seems that some people here think blitz was sandbagging tommy, I assure you that is absolutely not the case. I have known Blitz since we were in bootcamp over 10 years ago, and you will never find a person of higher integrity. He told everyone to bet on him from the beginning, and that he was going to put the pedal down and either wreck or win, thats exactly what he did. everyone knew that his car had a power to weight ratio that was better that the 458s, the issue was would blitz be able to control that power without killing himself. the 458 is capable of running low 11s all day long with the driver only having to put it in ''D'' and hitting the gas. the 3 practice runs we did in the lead up to the race were 11.6 ,11.2 and an 11.2 that got super squirrely and almost killed blitz. suffice to say, 99% of the people that know tommy and blitz were betting heavily against the cobra. Blitz performs better under pressure with adrenaline, and race day was no different.

 

Well, being that the Cobra obviously isn't stock, it's only fair for Tommy to ship his 458 to Underground Racing to make it as non-stock as the Cobra for a rematch. A pair of shiny ones might even the odds a bit.

The thread over at ClubCobra was a good, refreshing read with the 458 being lauded as the champion, amidst a board of Cobra owners. Yet the Shiny Cobra was indeed the dark horse.

 

The Cobra always had the power to weight ratio, it was always just a question of traction. As a few of us predicted, IF the Cobra could hook up, it would win easily.

That's no small feat, but with the track prepped and decent tires it apparently got sufficient grip and was pretty much gone....

Old age and treachery can overcome youth and technology...

Not to say that the Cobra is a better car, clearly it isn't. It is loud, uncomfortable, crude, and it doesn't take nearly as much skill to drive the 458 to almost as fast a time. But it does go to show you that drag racing is a specialized sport and some pretty crude cars that have big motors can get down the track in a hurry.

 

From a Cobra owner's perspective, those two sentences are directly contradictory.

 

the cobra remains one of the greatest sports cars ever!

 

It isn't a Cobra, it is a Kirkham. This build is fairly typical of Kirkham cars. This race was between these two cars. Anytime you start the ya but, if car B added this mod... then the whole point of the race goes out the window.

You could always slap a solid axle in the Kirkham, add some race tires and turbos or a blower to make it faster down the 1/4 mile.

 

Why not have a drag race with a 289 car. That way they will be matched by cubic inches.
Or close 4.7 vrs 4.5.

Better yet how about real cobra instead of a replica.

Of course, of course. The 289 ( even in FIA form) wouldn't be able to keep up with the 458. Even with todays cylinder heads it would be no contest.

Lets not forget a real street 427 car, with a stock 427 not a stroker. Street tires etc.

Set up as road course.

What do think. 60's lump technology has it's place.

 

I know of another Cobra replica running a 289 engine that runs in the 10's consistently. All motor, no blowers or nitrous.

As far as racing an original Cobra? From the beginning this was a race between a Kirkham and a 458.

As far as a road race between these two cars, as good as the Kirkham suspension is compared to the originals, and even with more power and less weight than the original... The Ferrari would eat its lunch. 50+ years of chassis advances will do that.

Unless it is raining, the Kirkham will always be more fun to drive.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTf0bj7Ho0U[/ame]

 

It is highly unlikely that it has an iron head 289 leaf spring car with 1.87 intake valves.

We all know that any ( real )stock car from the sixties will not run 10.s or 11s in the 1/4 mile.