My Best... Kill.... EVER!!!! More fun than a barrel of ponies :)

[Guest bastaad525]

okay this one is almost good enough as to sound TOO good, it just played out a little too perfectly, but I swear it is 100% true, and has just reminded me why I went thru so much pain to put together this little Z o'mine.

 

 

Driving home from work this morning (I work graveyard shift), nice quiet Sunday, no traffic really to speak of, driving my Z which is so nice since it's been raining so much lately and I really haven't had a lot of chance to drive it (or rather, haven't wanted to chance driving it). I'm on a wide 3 lane (each way) street, big center divider, I"m in the middle lane. Coming up to a light I see this red car a ways back rushing up at a very high speed... he moves over to the right lane and approaches the red, and lines up next to me... well lines up IN FRONT of me... he pulled forward about halfway into the crosswalk. It's a nice dark metallic red Mustang, from the last generation (late 90's to 2004). I'm looking ahead and maybe about 100 yards up there are parked cars in his lane, so I"m thinking, this guys gonna go for it, he sees a beat up old piece of sh*t import (that would be yours truly) and figures it will be no contest to get out in front of me. And then I notice the Cobra emblem on his front fender. And I'm thinking... oh sheez... this guys got an S/C and almost 400 horses... should I even bother?

 

Light turns green, and I take off sort of agressively... like half throttle, trying to be ready and get the turbo spooling in case he goes for it. Looking over, he isn't even barely moving... huh???

 

Ah well... so much for some morning fun.... But wait, there's more!

 

I get to the next red (this is the valley, where every light turns red JUST FOR YOU), and this guy has jumped lanes over to the left now, I'm still in the center. He's coming up beside me again, and this time as he slows to a stop, I hear him revving his engine... alright, let's play I know I'm toast but I want to see how badly he'll beat me... I mean, the cars been parked for the most part of the last 3 mos, let me at least stretch her legs a bit.

 

The light goes green pretty quickly after he pulls up, I give one good rev and start to slip the clutch out, didn't bog hardly at all, just a chirp from the tires and off I went. He squeak's his tires a bit (squeaks? SQUEAKS? okay surely he's just feathering the throttle so as not to unleash that 400hp of fury until he's hooked? or is he just toying with me?) but by the time he gets moving I'm already a good car length on him. Shift into second, as for a brief moment I see him catch up a bit, and I figure okay NOW he's not playing around... well it was fun being ahead while it lasted. But by the top of second and into third... what's this? I'm PULLING AWAY FROM HIM!! Stick my hand out the window and give him a "Bye Bye" gesture . Pulled up to about 80 and figured that was enough, we both know he's beat... but what's the deal? Where'd his 400 horses go??

 

Sure enough, the next light is red, and within moments, we're both sitting at it again. I look over and the guy looks kinda mad, but his friend is laughing pretty good, and nods over to me.

 

"What year is that" I ask the driver.

 

"Ninety Nine"

 

"That's the one with the supercharger right?"

 

"Nah" ... what's this? I'm confused... thought all the late model Cobra's were supercharged... what a let down....

 

"that's too bad" I say with a grin

 

"nah, don't need one!" my grin gets a bit bigger

 

I look forward just in time to see the light go green. I didn't think anything of it for a split second... I mean, I won already... he's not gonna go again. But sure enough, he does. In retrospect, I'm thinking maybe he thought I only won because I got a little head start on him, since there was a brief moment where he looked like him might catch me, maybe he thinks he coulda beat me. Well... I wasn't at all prepared the second time, but I'm having a blast, and I dont want to just give this one away. I launch horribly, bogging it BAD, and he's out in front 2-3 car lengths of me. Well that was fun... wait, what's this? I'm into second, and reeling him in! Into third, and I'm passing him quick... at least a good 10mph faster than him by this point... by the time I shift into fourth I'm about a car on him again, and pulling away, so I let off. Now he KNOWS he's beat. Sure enough, the next light as red as we approach... what was that last bit he said before taking off about not needing the S/C? I look over *evil grin*

 

"You sure?" I reply. And his friend starts laughing hard again... driver looks even more miffed.

 

Well, light goes green, and no, this time he didn't go, we both pull away amicably... about a block down, he pulls next to me, and is yelling something to me, but I can't hear him over that wonderful Mustang exhaust note.

 

"Dude I cant hear you your car is too loud!"

 

His friend repeats his question:

 

"What motor do you have in there?"

 

"2.8 liter straight six!" he frowns, and I'm thinking... hahah that's gotta hurt, but no, he's wise to me...

 

"What turbo?" he says

 

DOH!

 

"T3"

 

Nods and smiles...

 

I say "yeah but yours sounds better", then fall back, change lanes behind him, and make the next left. For the rest of the drive, I'm wondering... what about the supercharger?? I'm thinking this guy must have just had a regular GT with a body kit and put the Cobra logos on there himself... which leaves me kinda dissapointed, since I already know I'm way faster than a regular GT, and I wanted for it to be a Cobra so badly. Well... the cool thing was, I just happened to get the middle road on this one.

 

Looked up '99 Mustang Cobra and found out that indeed, this year they did NOT have the S/C, but were just a much better V8 than the GT. Rated at 320hp and 317ftlbs, with a curb weight of around 3400lbs. Acceleration numbers are 0-60 in 5.4 seconds and 13.8 seconds in the 1/4 mile. So that's some useful info to have for me, considering I'll probably NEVER actually get down to a track. I know it's not accurate at all but I think I can safely say, if I was 2-3 cars ahead of him and pulling away by 80mph even after he had a head start, and guesstimating that I should be at close to 100mph in a 1/4 mile, means we still had a little ways to go to reach that distance... I must be good for at least a mid 13, and that was with a crappy launch to boot! I just wish I'd had a little more time to ask him a few more questions... like, I have no idea if his was bone stock or what. All I could tell was that it was a manual trans. He had some Ford Racing stickers on his rear quarter windows... worth 5hp each of course so there he wasn't stock!

 

Well, stock or no this is easily the most powerful car I've raced against since doing the turbo swap, and maybe the fastest (I raced a silver Evo once I think those are supposed to be a little faster?), and now that I know the numbers on his, I'm pretty jazzed that I not only beat him but DECISEVELY, even when he had a pretty mean head start. Yeah he had a friend in the car but they both looked like they were in shape... whereas I"m a big guy 6'3" and close to 300lbs. Not that that makes up for the extra 1000lbs his car has on mine

 

Ah well... good times, good times.

[Guest tony78_280z]

Nice story, you tell it well.

[zeeboost]

Hah! What a coincidence -- I killed a Cobra in my yellow 240zt on Friday. I wasn't even planning on it at first. Story:

 

Towards the end of work, a guy from work (his name is Guy) asks me for a ride home.

 

"Sure," I replied.

 

As we left, I came up to my first red light on a 6-lane road (just like yours was -- 3 one way and 3 the other). I was in the middle lane, and I pull up next to this mid-late 90's Cobra on my right. I didn't really think anything of it, but then I saw his hand start waving around in the air -- when I looked over at him, he was giving me a thumbs up, so I told Guy to roll down his window.

 

"Awesome car, man!" he shouted, "I have a '76 280 at home that I'm restoring."

 

"Cool!" I responded. "Where do you live?

 

"I live out in the country, but I work over at *******; you should swing by sometime and I'll show you where I keep it."

 

"Sounds good..." at this time I noticed the light was green, "well, take it easy!"

 

As I started to drive off, he floors it and shoots off, so naturally, I accept his challenge. I floor it in 1st, just shifting at 5,000 rpms. By the end of 2nd gear my nose is a few feet in front of his, with the sound of my BOV echoing off his door, revealing my secret weapon (BTW, I can hear all 8 cylinders roaring as they struggle to keep up), and then 3rd gear at about 4500 rpms I had put about 3 car lengths in between us before I let off. We both just cruised to the next light, where he began praising my car.

 

"Holy crap, I couldn't catch that little booger!" He chuckled in astonishment. Just as soon as I was about to ask him if he had any modifications to his SVT (I knew he at least had one -- the dual 3" exhaust with what sounded like Flowmasters) the light turned green, so we both took off, and unfortunately, I had to turn off the road.

 

If I can only remember where he said he worked...maybe some day I'll see him again

[olie05]

Great story bastaad525!

 

I guess we can make this the street racing thread now...

 

Comming home from work saturday morning (3am-ish) I was on a major highway (5 lanes wide) and this little crx came up next to me looking like he wanted to play. Now, I know that crx's aren't very powerful cars and I shouldn't waste my time with my monstrous Z, but my friend was following me in his altima, and his previous car was a nice CRX HF-body SI-engine hybrid, So I kinda started going a little, maybe up to about 85mph and pulled ahead of him, and then I see him starting to come up to me in my rear view mirror. As soon as he was next to me I downshifted to fourth and just put it down to the floor. Needless to say, the CRX became a small dot in my mirror. ...and he was trying.

 

It was fun for me 'cus I never street race, and hardly ever find the need to put the gas pedal all the way to the floor.

[Jolane]

Yeah, I am not too sure about the Cobras. I went to lunch with a co-worker in his late 80's Porsche 944T, yeah, a 4 cylinder turbo. On the way back we ended up at a red light next to a Cobra. Both sides new the deal. He had only the driver, the 944 had two heavy weights (okay, not really heavy weights, but ~400# of D&P. Anyways, to my amazement, we had ~2 car lengths on him before everyone shut it down. We were at ~100 by that point.

I know his 944T has had some work and is fast, but I was really expecting more from the Cobra. Glad it wasn't my car...

Joshua

[Guest ON3GO]

my best kill in my blue Z was a cobra too. but it was a supercharged 04 model.

 

going down i45 here in houston on the feeder road, just waiting for a ramp to come up so i can get on the highway a 04 black cobra came along side of me and reved the crap out of it next to me.

 

i didnt rev back but i nodded my head and gave him the thumbs up.

we didnt have any room at all to play so we held back abit and waited for some room to clear up.

when some room came up we went from a 30mph punch.

he got the jump and put about a car on me. when i shifted into 3rd i gained my ground and put a fender on him, nail forth and put a car and a half on him, then nailed the brakes as a light was coming up.

 

they guy yelled out "awesome" and we both waited for the light to turn green.

i was shaking abit as i remember my foot on the clutch pedal was shaking abit.

BAM light turns green and we shoot off. he spun abit and i put about a car and a half on him, nail 2nd and he gained abit and is about a car back. i hit 3rd with the same results as before and put a car on him. hit 4th and he is about 2 or so cars back and we back off.

 

pulled into a gas station and talked for abit, he was so shocked and was pretty happy to see a car like mine beat his. he was a killer nice guy.

said he had a H pipe with no cats and also a cat back after that.

he was running on stock tires but he has drag radials at home, also had a smaller pulley on it and thats it.

 

i was super impressed, i thought i would have lost to a stock one but when i heard he was modded up i was like "NO WAY!"

 

one of my fav races i had.

 

oh that and the race agaisnt the T-type

 

mike

[Guest Magnum Rockwilder]

The 99-02 Cobras are n/a. They have a DOHC version of the 4.6 that puts out 245-265whp depending on how drunk the engine builder was. Ford claimed 320hp, but they were sued repeatedly for false HP claims. They run mid 13's to low 14's at 100-104mph, with the 99's being the slowest.

 

The '03-up's have 390hp/390tq claimed. They put about 380/380 to the wheels, so they mean business. They run high 12's/low 13's at 108-111mph.

[Sumo]

Isn't the 99 Cobra the model year that a lot of Ford owners got "pissed" off at because when they dynoed the car it came out with a way lower H.P. number? Then Ford claimed that it was some rough castings that were not removed in the cylinder heads but most of the buyers knew it was B.S., so eventually Ford switched it to the supercharged engine?

[Guest bastaad525]

The 99-02 Cobras are n/a. They have a DOHC version of the 4.6 that puts out 245-265whp depending on how drunk the engine builder was. Ford claimed 320hp' date=' but they were sued repeatedly for false HP claims. They run mid 13's to low 14's at 100-104mph, with the 99's being the slowest.

 

The '03-up's have 390hp/390tq claimed. They put about 380/380 to the wheels, so they mean business. They run high 12's/low 13's at 108-111mph.[/quote']

 

 

LOL you guys are killing me here... I wanted to think I had blown the doors of this 'really fast' car SO badly, but you guys are just squashin that! Ah well... better to know the facts than to have a swelled ego based on inaccurate info. Actually after looking around on the web a bit more I found more info that pretty much agrees with what Magnum Rockwilder said, as far as they tend to put down a bit less power than they ought to. 265 at the wheels is close to the claimed 320 at the flywheel but yeah it's a little short. Still, even at 245-265rwhp that makes it the most powerful car I've raced (again, there was that one silver Evo I raced but those only put down about 240hp stock) and I guess probably the second fastest. It's just hard to imagine any car that makes that much commotion (talking about the Cobra again) NOT being really really fast. By the way why are the '99's the slowest?

 

Well, now I find myself wishing even more that it had been one of the supercharged ones... having read a bit more, I actually think I could have given a one of those a run for it's money, so long as it was bone stock on stock tires They are pretty limited by traction on street tires and yeah worth 'only' about a low 13, which I should be able to pull off in theory in my Z, I know other guys have pulled low 13's in similiar setups, 240's running about the same boost. It makes sense given my vehicles weight and HP (2700lbs with me in it, approx. 240rwhp).

 

Well, it was still a priceless race for me, just because of our little 'dialog', and the fact that the guy was visibly pissed while his friend was laughing it up... and me feeling all slick telling him he just got dusted by a 2.8L six only to find out he was no dummy and knew what was going on Damn turbo I recirculate the BOV and it's still too loud! Better he knows it's turbo I guess than to think I'm just a cheater running nitrous. Then again as I said I dont even know if this thing was stock, the guys comments, and the general sound of the car (MEAN), suggest to me it might have had some stuff done to it but I guess I'll never know. *kicking myself for not asking*....

[Guest Magnum Rockwilder]

way why are the '99's the slowest?

 

http://www.atomicfrog.com/mirrors/www.blueovalnews.com/cobra_problems.htm

[Guest bastaad525]

Ouch...

 

so who really knows exactly what I was up against... I guess any useful kind of comparisons are out. Sucks for owners of '99's.... The sad part is that it seems Ford is really not willing to do anything to fix the problem. Funny... this is kinda similiar to what happened with the RX-8... it came out claiming like 250hp if I remember right, but owners kept complaining, and I think there was a lawsuit or a thread of one, so Mazda kept lowering the rated hp number.. dunno what/if they did anything to appease the people who already bought one.

 

Kinda funny coincidence how Mazda is now owned by Ford, eh?

[Z-Gad]

OK, I'll share too...

Yep, got to do a little interstate jaunt w/ an 03 Cobra the end of last week in my daily driver 280 turbo... The Cobra passed me on a 4 lane road and I saw the "supercharged" emblems as it went by and heard the supercharger under the hood... I figured I would drop in behind him and see where it would lead...a few miles up the road, the 4 lane road ends and turns into a 6 lane road (3 each way). He just happened to be going the same direction that I was and we came off of a ramp onto the 3 lane interstate, kinda easily moved around a few cars until we had an opening. The Cobra was in front of me and rolled into the throttle (not expecting much from me I guess). I downshifted to 4th and began rolling into the throttle as well (instigating-I know, I should leave the poor Mustangs alone). Finally I see a little puff of exhaust as he figured he'd run away from me. He gets a little jump, I floor it (17 psi and SP57 turbo) and creep up to his bumper, I have to feather the throttle a little as I was accelerating faster than him and do a couple of speed up to his bumper and drop back moves until we catch traffic. When we get close, I slow down (my fun was with the Cobra and not the rest of the traffic on the interstate). He slows as well, but starts darting in and out of traffic to get ahead. I just stayed behind and drove w/ the flow with a little wry smile wondering what was going through his mind as this old Datsun (if he even recognized what it was) ate up his supercharged Mustang.

[Guest goldraven]

whelp, I've got my own Cobra kill story as well over the last week. A buddy of mine in high school I saw last week at a party, well we got to BSin' about cars 'n such, turns out he was driving his '01 mustang cobra S/C and he still had his street slicks on it from the 1/4 mile that day. We were both getting tired of the lame *** party so we decided to head out and run each other.

 

I was in my '80 SBC. I was on my normal stock tires.

 

At go he launched really hard, after first he had a good car and a half on me. I had a great launch regardless of my trailing position. after second I pulled to half a car behind, and once I hit fourth I was on my way past him, we raced up until I was at around 140, then we cut it off...I had a good 3 cars on him. He was really shocked but gave me props. This was one of my first if not the first real street race I've done in the Z, i'm not really big on it, but it was very exciting to go against something worthwhile. We would have raced again, but the rain just started to come down. It was a very satisfying kill, I'm trying to get the car sold here soon, so this one will probably live in my memory of the car as a definite highlight. The most priceless look is when people are completely stunned of the 'ole car's speed...ahhh, its damn addicting.

[crazy280]

Bastaad, don't feel too bad. If you killed an Evo, that's better than killing a '99 Cobra, cause they're faster than the '99 stang, even though they are less powerful. They run low to mid 13's at around 100mph, because of the all-wheel drive they get the most killer launch possible, which gives them the good e.t. but they don't have the power for a better trap speed. So if you beat one, consider yourself proud!

[WickedWild]

It's not a pony kill (done that) it was a Neon, wasn't really a kill. Just a statement. One of my little brothers friends got one of the new turbo Neons with a stage one Mopar kit and a really loud bov. I was following him through town and had the luck of catching a red light next to him in the middle of a hill. I lanched too high on the throttle for the hill and my crappy Kuhmo Supra tires. Spun the tires really bad all the way through first, and till I shut it down at the top of second (he ran up on a car). Dead even the whole way. The smoke was soo thick that the auto light on the Silverado behind me turned on. We get to where we were going and his statement was "I was exspecting you to fly by me, then I saw the smoke."

[Forrest]

 

Looked up '99 Mustang Cobra and found out that indeed' date=' this year they did NOT have the S/C, but were just a much better V8 than the GT. Rated at 320hp and 317ftlbs, with a curb weight of around 3400lbs. Acceleration numbers are 0-60 in 5.4 seconds and 13.8 seconds in the 1/4 mile. So that's some useful info to have for me, considering I'll probably NEVER actually get down to a track.[/quote']

 

Ahhh, the myth of street racing.

[Guest Magnum Rockwilder]

he was driving his '01 mustang cobra S/C

 

'01's are n/a. The first supercharged one was '03.

 

Are you saying he had an aftermarket blower?

[Guest bastaad525]

Ahhh, the myth of street racing.

 

nah dude come on I'm being realistic. I'm not gonna use that as some guidline to say "I know I can run x.x time", but at least it gives me a little general idea where I stand. If X number of people in '99 Cobra's run X 1/4 mile time (the average I found when cruising Cobra sites for a stock '99 was a high 13), then is it so bad to assume this guy was running right around there? And if he's running around that, and I'm beating him by 4 car lengths and pulling away from him by 80mp (yes I know there's that whole thing about did we start at exactly the same time and all that, I'm not a noob, but even the second time when he got a BIG head start on me and I still whupped him), then I think that is good EVIDENCE that I should be good for a faster time then what the average '99 Cobra owner gets. So, I should be faster than a high 13. But whatever, I'm just using it as a general ball park thing, not treating it like a science.

 

 

About that Evo race, yeah I was pretty jazzed that I beat him but I will say it didn't seem he got a great launch... he seemed to bog a bit either that or they have laggy turbos. He didn't spin his tires at all, not a peep or a squeak did I hear, he just kinda jumped forward, then visibly bogged, then went. We actually came off the line just about equally, which is BAD for an Evo, considering I still launch only okay in my car... haven't quite mastered my clutch slipping yet... I expected him to LEAP out in front of me. Tell you what though those Evo's got SHORT gears he had to shift SO rapidly.

 

For all the guys who beat Cobra's... we should start a club... "Snake Eaters"

[Sparky]

 

For all the guys who beat Cobra's... we should start a club... "Snake Eaters"

 

You could use the old griffen Datsun logo and just put a snake in his mouth...little stickers on cars..like a secret club...you could even have a secret handshake.

[Guest goldraven]

'01's are n/a. The first supercharged one was '03.

 

Are you saying he had an aftermarket blower?

 

Yesm.

 

I can ask him the specs on it if you are particularly interested, I didn't really bother.

 

Nick