Hello all,
I am new to this board, but not to f-bodies, this is my fourth 4th gen, i simply love these cars. Here we go, i am in Canton with my buddy in the car with me, and we see a mustang up ahead in the distance. We get up behind him, and i realize it is an 03 Cobra (cobra on back bumper, lay down type spoiler), so i am kind-of thinking twice about trying him. We eventually get up to a red light side by side, and the man driving it verified it is an 03, supercharged Cobra (convertible, i think i forgot that part). I told him i am probably going to get my *** handed to me, but lets go just for the hell of it. Light turns green, I launch perfectly (ASR off, and no tire spin, thats once in a million) He spins pretty bad, but then hooks, i got him by about a length right off the line. We raced from the dead stop up to about 110-115 mph (where's the sheriff when you need him) and when we let off, his nose was at the rear of my door. Is there something wrong with his car? My car is totally stock, and so is his, he had 15k on his car, mine just went to 50k last week. I know the problem wasnt the driver because he was driving that thing like he hated it, just like i was in the SS. I pulled over and talked to him, he was an awsome dude, we complimented each other, and went our separate ways. After the race i went home, parked the car, and couldnt get the grin off of my face, i told her what a good girl she was, and how she made me very proud. Any thoughts on this? Is an m6 ls1 ss suppossed to be able to run nearly dead even with these supercharged cobras? I have not taken my ss to the track yet, but i plan on doing so here in a few weeks, before i start modding.

 

the convertible adds weight, and with him spinning, it is very possible that you could keep up with him or beat him (like you did)
they are mid 12 second cars with a great driver iirc, so with him spinning, him at the rear of your door sounds credible
good race man

good to see another ohioan in here also

 

convertibles wont run mid 12s stock.



with him spinning and the extra weight the outcome makes sense.

 

I guess you are right, i think i remember a magazine (motor trend, orcar and driver) where the 03 vette vert beat the 03 cobra vert. How bad would i get beat by a hardtop, is it a massacre like the mustang guys make it sound?

 

if i remember correctly GM managed not to add any significant weight(if at all)to C5s convertibles.thats why these two cars were evenly matched.


massacre?no.

 

Like everyone said it's the Cobra vert's extra weight that makes it a drivers race stock for stock.

SS Coupe 3439lbs/310rwhp = 11.093lbs/rwhp
03 Cobra Vert 3,780lbs/355rwhp = 10.648lbs/rwhp

The Cobra Vert still has the better power-to-weight (which is why he was inching on you) but traction and drag become very big factors. Congrats.

Just for completeness sake here's the Coupes power-to-weight.
03 Cobra Coupe 3,665lbs/355rwhp = 10.324lbs/rwhp

The a much bigger difference to overcome.

 

Maybe if i take all interior plastic, spare, seats, carpet, radio, and go to the track with about a 16th of a tank, i can come close to that power to weight, lol. Thanks danno, that sums it up, i love camaros, and hate mustangs but ford finally did something right when they made those. I have some serious respect for these cars, even they do have a 16 valve advantage, and supercharger, they do run very well. Thanks for all the replies, hopefully you guys can give me some advice in the near future when it comes time to mod....LT1's are bad enough, i cant wait to tear into this thing!!!

 

If he drove better he should have got you, the 03 Cobra verts still trap more...But w/ average drivers it would be a close race

 

355rwhp....must have been a weaker Cobra...lowest stock I have seen is 365..highest, 381.

Amazing that people forget the rwtq those motors put out...

I used to be a believer in the whole weight to power ratio...then I bought a Lightning. It has horrible aerodynamics compared to many performance cars, yet some how is laying some smack. Almost 490 rwtq the instant you hammer it and it holds it. That sorta skews it a bit for a vehicle that shifts @ 5000 rpm.

4800lbs/401 SAE rwhp = 11.97lbs/rwhp...just looking at those numbers alone, does not look to promising. Truck runs times in sig on stock F1's.

Power to weight tells only part of the story.

 

Sounds about right. Good kill.

 

Cantonracer, how often are you in the canton area? What color is your lightning, i have only seen a few around here. Those things are bad ***, i ran one in alliance, with my old 95Z m6, i was stock but it think he was modded (i could be wrong), i wanted to cry when we got done racing, he smoked me pretty bad. Nothing makes you feel worse then getting embarrassed by a pick up. There is actually a guy around here with a f150 with a stroker engine (dont know what cubes) but his truck is not even close performance wise to a stock lightning.

 

Oh yeah i forgot to ask, since you are from around here, do you know anywhere close where there is a dyno? I would like to get mine dyno'd and know where to go to get a tune when i mod a little, thanks in advance.

 

310rwhp is a bit optimistic for an '00 LS1 M6. 355rwhp for an '03/'04 is also low. Most are in the mid-360's and up. In fact, I've was told by the shop that dyno'd my car that 'verts are typically a bit stronger than coupes. That shop dyno'd an '04 the week before I was in...it made 410rwhp.
IMO...dyno numbers don't tell the whole story.
On the street, you can't account for a bad launch or a lazy RT. What might show up as a difference of a few tenths at the tree is noticed on the street as a "slower" car. Add in a relatively powerful car with a manual trans and the margin for error decreases. What would reflect as a 1/2 second advantage (or more) at the track is easily lost on the street if you can't get the car out of the hole and drive it.
A heavy 'vert is probably a few tenths and a few mph quicker...but that's not much on the street.
Nice run!

S.

 

www.bigshotdyno.com

 

looks like convertibles dyno similar to me.



a guy with an 03 convertible told me he dynoed at 366.