Driving to my folk's home in Carmel last week with my wife, both of my Pit Bulls in their kennels, a weeks worth of luggage in the trunk and a full tank of gas I came across a 6-speed 2003 cobra with a lone driver attempting a fly-by. I pinned the throttle, starting at about 85 mph, just as he passed me, blower whine and all, and in about two seconds he stopped pulling and I began reeling him in. I guess He could not believe what happened because he attempted to take me a couple more times with the same result.
A stock trimmed blown cobra is rated at almost 400hp and 400 lb./ft. of torque, his had at least an exhaust, intake and pulley mod from the distinct sound it made, and is lighter than my car, which is a stock, save for H&R springs, normally aspirated 349hp '00E55. He was driving like a scalded cat, but just couldn't get the job done. I kinda felt bad for the dude. I knew the new supercharged E55 could take a cobra, but I didn't think mine could, especially with about 500 extra pounds of ballast, until I fixed her up a little.
Chalk up yet another reason as to why I love my car.
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Great story! I have the same car and similar things have happened to me. I think the extra torque in the E55 gives it the edge. It is a fantastic car all around...class, style, power, safety, need I go on.
Yes, I am aware that that the gearing is much more freeway oriented in My E55 than is the cobra, stock or otherwise. I believe, however, that at only 85mph, it shouldn't have made that much of a difference, especially since my car was so weighed down. I have had my share of fixed-up (blown, turboed, nitrous charged...) mustangs, camaros and 'vettes, and none went fast very well, not as well as the mercedes and Porsche cars I have owned. The only thing the domestic cars had in their favor was pure power for the buck, and now that wasn't even enough to pull away from my loaded down 4-door family car at such a moderate speed. Now I race a 240+ mph, 7 second turbo Hayabusa with over 420 hp at the wheels, so I don't think my AMG is a rocket by any means. It's just that I was surprised that one of the highest horse-powered, limited edition, domestic sports cars lost so easily to my car. As for test driving an E55 that felt slow, I can't comment. All I can say is that mine is faster than the cobra I raced the other night.
I have to say, I think the secret is in what you said about the Cobra's aftermarket bits. Truth is, auto design is so tight these days that it's rare for anything but the very best add-ons to actually do any good - all too often, the person who straps on this or that gedget does it themselves, and then equates more noise out of the non-stock exhaust with more power, when in fact the stock item delivers the right back-pressure, etc, to make the car run properly.
So most likely your stock 55 was simply in a better state of tune, taken as a whole.
Since hooking up with that cobra a couple of weeks ago, I have been curious as to how my car would hold up on the freeway against another cobra, just in case the first modified car I raced was some sort of aberration. It just so happens that a neighbor has one, a bone stock '03 6-spd with about 6,000 miles on it and in perfect tune. I told him I wanted to see how much his 50 extra ponies made his car when compared to mine. He took the bait and was happy to oblige. The only difference to my car was that this time I decided to try it without the extra 500 pounds of weight. We got side by side on a freeway with a long, uncrowded straight and at about 65mph he punched it and I followed suit. His car immediately and steadily lagged behind more and more the further we went. At about 135mph he was at least 20 cars behind and falling. We tried it two more times and his car got slower each time, his supercharger was certainly blowing more and more heat, adding to its inefficiency. He even tried it starting in 2nd once, but to no avail. I just kept her in drive, not messing with the slap-shifter. My buddy from up the street told me that my cobra owning neighbor ordered a nitrous kit since our little meeting. Cheater!
I do not discount the story here, just seems like
something's not right. 20 cars is a bit much. However,
cobras gears get a little long in the tooth above 3rd gear
Actually I said 'at least 20 cars' and I was not exaggerating. He said he fell 25 cars back, but who's counting. We have spent lots of dyno time with both cars, fords' claims on HP is a little optimistic and most german manufacturer numbers are conservative. We have also seen about a dozen mustangs blow their trannys with less than 30K on the odo, all were modified. These cars are not really in the same class and comparing them is kinda silly. I just thought the viewers of this forum would get a kick out of my experiences. I have had 7 mustangs (new and old) in my life and they were all fun for the buck.
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