It's going to interesting to see what happens. Here's the senorio:

*Ford-USA most certainly wants a Falcon-type car to spice up Mercury.

*Ford-USA evaluated at least a few Falcons, including the 24 valve 5.4 Boss version. Bill Ford was impressed big time, and so was J.Mays (though I don't know why the head of design was taking one through it's paces).

*Like GM, Ford has quite a few "not invented here" types who are comming up with plenty of reasons not to import it, even though the new BA Falcon was engineered with export to the US a possibility (even the fuel tank is relocated under the rear seat).

*Unlike GM, Ford-US doesn't really have the money to expand it's Australia's facilities, and is perfectly happy to let it's Australia continue with only the New Zealand & Australia market (Unlike GM, the US arm supplies large RWD cars to the midle east & other countries).

*Finally, also unlike GM, Ford aparently as of yet has no international RWD chassis program that can be used to incorperate all it's operations. That may change this comming year, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it yet.

 

A couple:
http://www.dynoperformance.com/artic...ails.php?ID=28
http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...2_0305_cobvet/

 

You might not want 1963 again. GT 40 was a nice Lola once Ford dropped a 427 in it. Want the real racing history that's so easy for some folks to not get exaclty in focus? Taking nothing away from the GT40, but it was numbers that helped and it was a struggle for the car that many forget about. I'm old enough to have been there...

Let's not forget that DNF still means what it did then, Did Not Finish.

http://www.sandcastlevi.com/racing/gt40-fia.htm

 

Outside of a stripped hardtop 6spd aka Z06-lite, the Cobra runs over the vette. Course, it's hard to stomach. But the average Cobra is turning a 12.8-12.9@111-113. The average hardtop is turning about a tenth slower et @ 108-110.

current Cobra is 3750lbs/420hp = 8.92lbs/hp
current C5 is 3250/360 = 9.03lbs/hp
'06 Cobra (call it a porker again) 3750/500 = 7.5
C6 (say it is a lightweight) 3100/405 = 7.65

There ya go friend. Under the BEST assumptions of weight in favor of the C6 vette, the Cobra will outrun it easily. Forget about the gross underrating Ford is doing on its FI motors.

Base C6 is snakefood.

 

Wow LOL. Thats gotta be a record in itself.

 

I don't know about you, but I rarely drive in a straight line for only a 1/4 mile at a time.

 

Well if the C6 cant beat the beat next cobra I think they should pull the entire program before introducing it to the public in a month or so.

They should just take one of those old Geo Metro bodies, tub it and squeeze the LS7 in there. It wouldn’t weight more than 2500lbs. That thing would eat Cobras all day. I think that should be the next Vette.

Man who cares! I’m astounded that this argument has gone on this long. Geezzz. The next Vette will live up to its name. The more competition the better.

 

I'll still don't believe that Chevy will let a M*stang out accelerate their C6. I don't even believe they'll let it out run their 5th Gen!

 

Your still under the asumption that the Cobra will have 500 hp. Your et's mean nothing. Take an 03' C5 coupe(which is faster than the 00' hardtop thanks to non advertised power upgrades) and it will be over 110 no problem, I have seen some go as high as 114. Either car is neck and neck and the driver will determine the winner. So you saying that the Cobra runs all over C5's is still a gross exaggeration and to already claim that the almost totally unknown 06' Cobra will walk an 03' C6 is just total speculation. That is the point I am trying to make.

 

"On paper, the Cobra's supercharged 4.6-liter/390-horsepower/390-lb-ft DOHC V-8 looks to defeat the Vette's normally aspirated 5.7-liter/350-horse/375-lb-ft OHV V-8. But, given the Fords' 532-pound weight disadvantage and rear-wheel hop, the Corvette proves slightly quicker off the line. The Cobra lagged just 0.14 second to 60 mph and 0.10 second and 0.01 mph covering the quarter mile."

The Cobra convertible can't beat a C5 convertible.

Cobras are cannon-fodder for a Z06, and a dead heat with a base C5.

A C6 is gonna lay down the law.

 

Maybe I'm not understanding the Dyno chart right, but that guy says the 'Vette has a RWHP figure of 345....but looking at that chart, it actually peaks at about 375. Why did he say it only has a max of 345?

....and look at that ZO6 Torque plateau

 

You got the chart mixed up. The Cobra is the orange curve peaking at 375. The Z06 is the dark red curve peaking at 345

On the head to head to convertibles, it looks like a chopped vette controls its weight much better than the chopped stang. I think the stang convertibles are pushing 3900lbs+.

 

Did anyone catch Hot Rod TV last night on Speed? They went head-to-head with the current supercharged Mustang Cobra and the Subaru WRX STi. What surprised me most was the statement that both cars had the same 1/4 mile ET. (Although that was on street tires and the Mustang Cobra had some traction problems.)

If the current Mustang Cobra can't even top a WRX STi in the 1/4-mile with a supercharger, how can Ford possibly have its sights set on Corvette?

Aim lower boys!

 

Someone also forgot the all-important drag coefficient.

New mustang = Brick.
C6 = Aerodynamicly Invisible

 

Nice website! Interesting link too.

I never claimed the GT40 finished every race, dude. Who has?
You be interested in posting the same manufacturer's sheets for Ferrari? They had no DNF's did they? (PS - I'm no spring chicken myself )
You wanna post how many Ferrari teams were in each race compared to Ford teams? You wanna post the development dollars Enzo put into his 250-GTO's, Test Rossa's? 250GT's? 275LM's? How about their track records? (Enzo didn't keep changing competitive designs just for fun you know.)
Funny how the 275LM Ferrari looks REMARKABLY like the earlier Ford GT40's, no?

Lastly - Isn't it funny how the same basic winning GT-40 lasted from '64 thru '71 in the same basic form? (PS - recall Ford pulled out of ALL RACING in '70/'71.) The car couldn't have been all bad to make it that far, could it?

And FWIW -
"What would have been the deciding race at Monza was canceled, giving Ferrari the World GT Championship by 84.6 points to Cobra's 78.3 points. The Ford-Ferrari war escalated even further in 1965, when Shelby mounted an all-out attack, led by redesigned Daytona Coupes, that resulted in Cobra winning the World GT Championship by 124.9 points to Ferraris 61.6 points. "

"In 1966, Ferrari introduced the 330P3. But Ford's all-out assault on Le Mans produced victory for Ford, with a 1-2-3 sweep by its GT-40 Mk. IIs. In 1967, the Ferrari prototype racer was upgraded to the model 330P4, but Ford again won Le Mans, with the GT-40 Mk. IV of Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt holding off to win over the Ferrari 330P4 of Mike Parkes and Ludovico Scarfiotti."

"Despite the World GT Championship victory of Shelby's Cobra and the four consecutive Le Mans victories of the Ford GT-40s, during the decade of the 1960s Ferrari still dominated sports car racing. The prancing horse won 23 World Sports Car Championship races and the championship itself in every year except 1966, 1968, and 1969, which were won by the Ford GT-40. "

125 vs 62 points in a championship run sounds like a smashing to me...
Compared to an 85 vs. 78 point victory the year before where the last race was called off...
And consider - Ford didn't get committed to the racing until '63, showing up to run hard in 64. So Ferrari had a 4-year gain over Ford in the "decade of the '60's". After Ford showed up though, things changed a bit, didn't they? Between '65 and '69, Ferrari didn't seem to do so well.


1fd, I don't want to go back to 1963 - no way. My point in bringing that whole subject up was that Ford has gunned for higher performers than Chevrolet in the past, and they won at it too. It was a different time and a different culture, but at least THEY DID IT. Ford beat the Italians and Europeans at their own game - when they chose to do so and committed themselves to it. These youger guys today that are unaware of that accomplishment seem to think of Ford as a maker of appliance-grade cars due to their lack of such committment to performance in the last 25 years. Let's not open up the whole can of worms but read the label instead - NASCAR Championships, FIA Championships, NHRA Championships, TransAm Championships - Ford had it all going on in the late 60's. I am being a bit childish and sentimental, but I'm d@mn-ready to see them do it again (for a change ), and with another sincere and committed Ford-family man at the top (just like it was before), I can see them making at good run at it. In this day and time, I want to see Ford compete against the imports as much as anything - in racing and in sales.

Get this straight - I'm not saying GM can't build a great, fast car - they most certainly can - and do so in the Vette. But DON'T THINK FORD CAN'T DO IT TOO.