speedpeddler

Not a kill but worth telling.
I'm out on Thanksgiving day taking a ride in the country in my Factory Five Cobra replica. On the way home, I see a Lambo Countach coming up hard behind me with two guys in a convertible M6 filming. The guy in the Lambo is all over me, passing and then slowing down, changing lanes so his buds get good video and just being an ***. There's enough traffic on this two lane that I don't want to play so I just keep pace and enjoy the ride and the Lambo and his film crew eventually pull away.

Not three minutes later they catch a light with a long, straight open road in front and I slip in beside the Lambo and eyeball the driver. He won't look at me and moves forward a little so I can't see him. So, I roll forward a little and eyeball him again and he still won't look at me. Meanwhile, his buds in the M6 and a trucker at the light are all grinning in anticipation of the race to come.

Keep in mind now, that my car weighs 2,000 lbs, dynos at 473 HP and always wears Drag Radials. I have NEVER lost a race in this car and this Lambo will be just a snack. I was willing to give him to the other side of the intersection and know I was STILL going to smoke him.

So, light turns green, he revs it up and dumps the clutch...and stalls it. LMFAO! He never came near me again.

AMGJared

Stalls! Ouch. You would have killed him regardless.

HOWSER

Funny. Those Cobras are no joke. I've been eyeballing the coupe for a couple years now...

Cylinder Head

iTrader: (1)

Wow. His douche chills probably vibrated the bolts in his seats loose.

TemjinX2

lol...thats a funny story. I wonder how he can stall? don't lambo's come with launch control now?

Cylinder Head

iTrader: (1)

COUNTACH. Those are the abominations from the 80's dude. Reading comprehension

TemjinX2

it's not reading comprehension...i just didnt know it was a 80's lambo. you could've just informed me that it was a 80's lambo.

Militant-Grunt

He most likely didn't throw enough revs for those massive rear tires, he most likely bogged and then stalled.

HLG600

Yup. I can't imagine a Countach being the easiest car to launch. But if the guy is willing to hammer it around, he might want to work on that off the line hookup. Temjin, the last Countach rolled off the lot in 1990...with the production span starting in the 70's and carrying over through the entire 80's. I'd be curious to know how many walls were adorned with posters of that thing. With a modern, uncorked exhaust, it's just about one of the rawest sounding cars I have ever heard. I liken it to a nitro-burning chainsaw in the first vid, and a rabid banshee in the second.

Rev Up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwTaQ...eature=related

From Standstill:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2WYc...eature=related

jturkel

+1....love the sound of that car. one of my favorite cars ever produced. that standstill video is one of my favorite youtube vids (definitely favorite exhaust vid)

speedpeddler

Wow. Awesome sounding cars in those vids.

Unfortunately, I couldn't hear the one next to me due to the 473 HP thumping through the side pipes two feet from my ear on the Cobra.

Seriously, I highly recomend the Factory Five Cobra replica to anyone that wants the experience of driving a race car on the street. It's a very similiar experience to driving my shifter Kart but bigger. Certainly not for the inexperienced as these cars are a seriously overpowered handfull with a short wheelbase. Hence, the full time drag radials. Without them, it's out and out dangerous and will easily spin the tires in third gear. Because of the very loud exhaust, you can't tell the tires are spinning until your sideways or smell the burning rubber. Awesome.

tuscanraider

Wow in the the beginning of that second video its sounds like a WWII air raid siren starting.

1985mb

Yes, it certainly was the posterchild of the 1980s alright - the lamest decade of supercars. A few examples such as the 959, F40, 288GTO and 928 apart, the entire era was and is completely forgettable.

The malaise even continued into cars that were merely conceived in the 80s, such as the XJ220. A V12-powered AWD (very rare in those days) technowonder concept eventualized into a TTv6 rwd disappointment that never touched the 220mph that was the basis for its name.

Cylinder Head

iTrader: (1)

HEY! You can rip every car from that era but you stay away from the XJ220!!! That thing is still in my top 5 most beautiful cars ever designed.

1985mb

I had an XJ220 poster once. I look back and laugh at myself.

Carl Lassiter

I've seen one on the road only once, in the mid-90s. My excitement was tempered when it was nearly rammed off the road by some moron in a Ford Escort who had to prove himself with a blind bend overtake.

HLG600

It was also prone to extreme degrees of turbo lag. The OEM look was a bit bland as well. But that changed when some aftermarket guys got their paws on it.

HLG600

The one in the video has about $15K in exhaust work. Night and day difference to how it sounds stock. And that Cobra of yours must be beyond raw. Modern suspension geometry cradling a few barrels of cubic inches...and not much else. There was a Cobra built a few years ago with an 780CI motor stuffed under the hood. People tend to get very creative and go very *****-out when it comes to their Cobra reps.

Yellow R1

You have more ballz than me. Those things are death traps...no ABS, no Airbags whatsover, no headrests, no safety glass (a local guy has one & his winshield cracked about 2 ft long so it didn't look like saftey glass), no side or rear impact DOT compliance requirements....all with huge power & roads with 6,000 lbs SUVs driven by idiots. They say you only live once, but I say you only die once too. Be careful my man.

TemjinX2

I'm a gen y'er, so the only thing about the 80's i know is what i hear from other people or what i see on tv. But even i know of the xj220.

I think its great looking car. I agree it probably let down a lot of the people who put down deposits going from a v12 to v6, but the funny part is that in todays world a ttv6 would've been acceptable.

Yellow R1

How are the 1980's the lamest decade for supercars? It was the timeframe when "supercars" were actually created/born. The 80's arguably laid down the foundation for high performance sports cars. That was the decade that began the 280/300ZX Turbo, the Supra, RX-7/Turbo production ramping, Mitsubishi Starion, Twin cam/Quattrovalve & turbo intercooler technologies being put into production sports cars (advanced technologies no longer limited to the Italian makes), the Corvette again grew ballz (ie the ZR1), not to mention tuner & aftermarket firms started taking root such as Alois Ruf (for Porsche enthusiasts), the AMG Sledghammer was born....as well as in house performance options such as 911 slant nose & the M cars of BMW. Even the Americans were again producing pretty quick cars (5.0 Mustang GT, IROC Z/Trans Am with 5.7 Vette powerplants, the Laser/Daytona Turbo/Shelby cars from Chrysler).

The 80s pretty much kicked azz for the revival of performance cars after a dour 70s decade that witnessed enhanced smog (read power restricting) govt mandates, high gas prices, etc under a high tax rate/poor performing economy. The 80's helped again ignite sports car performance. Supercars & exotics took off in the 80s (512 BB, 288 GTO, F40, 911 Turbo, the 959, the M1, the Lambo Countachs improved in performance & looks, same goes for the Panteras (ie GT5), etc. I loved the 80's - the streets were alive with racin' on many a late night/desolate highway.

speedpeddler

BEYOND RAW is a pretty good description of just about ANY Cobra. That's what makes them so attractive to gear heads like myself.

Dangerous? You bet. Grossly overpowerd will do that with a 90 inch wheelbase.

Enjoyable? Absolutely! Funnest car you will ever drive...for 30 minutes. After that, you can't wait to get out and strech your back while you wait for your knees to stop shaking.

Tommy_s4

+ 1 million completely agree!!! To me the F40 is still the craziest ***** out ****ing awesome Ferrari. Twin turbo V8, and when its modified....... just wow. Here's a video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpI00qfYfjo

HLG600

Haha, sounds like I could use one of those. Be safe out there.

1985mb

Lot of good points and yes, the 80s brought a lot of tuners to our attention, including Ruf (now a manufacturer as well in Germany) and AMG (the Hammer 6.0L 32v DOHC), and gave us the M BMWs which helped pave the way for Mercedes AMGs.

But the best 300ZX, RX7, Supra, 3000GT, etc were all or almost all 1990s cars as was the best C4 Vette (the ZR1 you mention). A handful were introduced at the very end of the 80s, hardly an endorsement of the decade, which was mostly barren.

Another way of looking at it would be that the most innovation was coming out of Japan, with the Big 3, Italy, UK putting out mostly lame stock examples - apart from the notable (and mostly limited production) exceptions already mentioned such as the F40, 288, M1, 959, 928 and 911turbo, etc.

Big 3: stock Vettes, Stangs, Camaros, Firebirds, etc were pretty much well neutered throughout the decade. In 1988, a full 15 years after the oil embargo and the following smog restrictions, the best stock Mustang one could buy was a 225hp 5L v8.

Italy: apart from the race-inspired and limited producted models mentioned (F40, 288GTO, etc.), the rest were all dogs barely worthy of the prancing horse, bull or trident emblems shamelessly put on them. Testarossa, 348, Mondiale - all dogs (regardless of how many of us had TR posters back then). Alfa and Maserati - the pioneers of Italian racing heritage - had sunk to their lowest lows. Lambo - the Countach might be remembered as example of the wedged and winged shape of the 80s, the way fintail Caddys are remembered today, but I'm not sure its performance or styling will be remembered for anything else.

UK: Jaguar, RR and Bentley were all well on their way to the financial ruin that led to their takeovers by Ford, BMW and VW, respectively. The XJ220's pathetic transformation from concept wondercar to ho-hum was followed by the curious sight of deposit-holders running away in droves, and dealerships suing them to take delivery of their cars!

Germany: BMW gave us M, Porsche gave us the 959, 928 and Turbo, Audi brought out the Quattro, AMG the independent tuner brought out the Hammer, even VW gave us the GTI.

Ironically it was MB that kinda fell behind. After the W109 300SEL 6.3 (after which today's 6.2L AMGs are labeled "63") and the W116 450SEL 6.9, MB failed to bring out a similar super saloon or 'Q car', at least in the US. They did keep up their technological and safety innovations but somehow failed to adapt sufficiently to the US smog restrictions - the flagship 560SEL, SEC and SL could be had with 300hp in the rest of the world but ~230hp in the US.