Thread: Backdraft 427 Cobra

Welcome to the 4 Art! I love the Backdraft stuff...and Kudos for going with a beast aof a 427 setup...so cool!
Guys...check out Backdraft...sick stuff: Backdraft Racing - Home of the Backdraft Roadster

building one of these is on my short list. Shooting for a Kirkham roller, and a 427 SOHC Cammer under the hood.

-Markus-

Originally Posted by TechArt Dreamer

It's not a real cobra....it's a reproduction by backdraft.

-Markus-

Beat me to it.

Congrats on the great car!! Sorry for the noob question, but is this just a visual replica or is it built to handle? and how does the replica from one company vary from another? Please dont make me get my fire suit!!
Cheers!!

How I love the diversity at L4P

Originally Posted by Bivin Sebastian

Congrats on the great car!! Sorry for the noob question, but is this just a visual replica or is it built to handle? and how does the replica from one company vary from another? Please dont make me get my fire suit!!
Cheers!!

The RT3 is a well built car. Coilovers up front, multilink in the rear, good sized brakes. Amazing rep, and the OP's is a great example.

Replicas vary in every way you could imagine. Modified bodies, drivetrain, wheels, suspension. Some will have composite bodies, and a few will be aluminum( kirkham).

You could probably write a small book on what's out there custom wise for these cars.

-Markus-

Originally Posted by Bivin Sebastian

Congrats on the great car!! Sorry for the noob question, but is this just a visual replica or is it built to handle? and how does the replica from one company vary from another? Please dont make me get my fire suit!!
Cheers!!

Hi Bivin

Thanks for your comments, the car is a total experience to drive. Markus hit on some of the key points already, I'll add a little bit more detail since you were interested. The Backdraft Cobras (RT3 is the model) are all factory assembled and come standard with BMW front and rear suspension (IRS) and brakes (I believe they use E46 spec'd parts). The car also comes standard with front and rear stabilizer bars and fully adjustable coilovers. Backdraft even offers an upgraded M3 suspension, but to be honest that is overkill since the car weighs in at ~2300 lbs, the standard suspension and brakes are designed for a car that weight 1000lbs more so the ride is plenty stiff in stock form. It also comes standard with 17" wheels, 255 upfront, 315 rear and you are putting down the power on wide sticky drag radial Nittos.

With those detail you can imagine the car is built for performance. However, you are sitting in a 2300lb car with 500+hp and NO ABS, traction control or any on board computer controls to keep you pointing in the right direction. the power to weight ratio is ~4.5 lbs/hp so a good driver is pushing 0-60 in the ~3.5 sec range and 1/4 miles in the ~11's (and I've seen guys who run 10s).

So to answer your question, the car is built to handle, but it's not a BMW, Porsche or Ferrari that you can push to the limit with ease. You need to actively pilot this car at all times, and if you're coming around a tight corner and mash the gas there's a good chance you're coming out of that corner pointing in the wrong direction.

Beyond the look of the car, the sound is what really drew me in. From idle to red line the exhaust note is just amazing, nothing on the road like the sound of a 7 liter V8 rumbling through two uninhibited side pipes

Hope you found these details helpful
Cheers,
Art

^Do...WANT! BMW components??! I had no idea. I also like the idea of Backdraft putting the thing together as opposed to me f'ing it up after work or on the weekends. ;-)

Bivin and OP: There's a great debate on the "American" forum from a few months back about the diff Cobra companies. Just search for Factory Five or Superformance.

Nice car! Welcome to the 4

Art, congrats on the BD 427!

These things are unreal when it comes to the acceleration. Just remember they have a 90" wheelbase and will swap ends if you're not paying attention. Ask me how I know this!

By far, the most common thing that happens to me is at a 4 ways stop; no matter if I'm the last guy there, I'm ALWAYS waved to go first!!! My wife has driven with me for hundreds of miles and she watches other drivers just watch /stare/take videos/pictures, thumbs up, people yelling woo-hoo or hell yea. The most precious: watching kids just stare and/or get excited. They never see anything like this during their daily commutes to day care of school. I dropped off my then, high-school daughter, a few years back to some function near school and a few "guy-friends" saw this; the next thing you know, they drop by to oogle and take pictures of it while it was in the garage.

I found this little letter that's made the rounds already in many Cobra forums but I think it bears repeating:

Driving a Cobra Replica

"If you want to just gas and go, and never have to worry about replacing an alternator, or snuggling down the header bolts, or getting a wet leg driving in a rainstorm, or learning how to set your carb float level, or driving in traffic on a warm winter day
with "winter gas" in the tank, get a Corvette. "

With a Cobra Replica you have to remind yourself that you
are driving a hand made race car on the street. There is no compromise for anything other than pure speed. These cars are brutal and unforgiving, with all the refinement of a medieval battle ax. Like being in a relationship with an exotic dancer, you can never take anything for granted. These cars don't have millions of miles of testing refinement before you get yours. For any trip longer than an hour, you need earplugs, and goggles, and carry Advil and eye drops. You will need to learn to "read" the clouds for rain in your path, and have experience in unwrapping your frozen fingers from the MotoLita. You will experience lady passengers "wetting" the passenger seat when you merge into traffic from an on ramp, and then nearly burn their calf getting out of the car.


You will have all the invisibility of a burning Hindenburg, and flee from underground parking lots when uncountable car alarms are screaming your departure. When you shop, you will remind yourself that these cars get more attention than a dead body in a parking lot.


With a power to weight ratio better than almost every supercar, you will find your 1/4 mile times traction rather than power limited. On the other hand, when you stage, out of the corner of your helmet's visor you will see almost the entire audience lining up at the fence, most with cameras up. If you track on a road course with a Porsche club, owners of expensive German machines will come to the fence to watch you power out in smoking oversteer. You won't even try to start your engine in the garage, but push it out onto the driveway, else your loyal watch dog will croak from the exhaust fumes. If you idle next to other "sports" cars at a traffic light, by the green, their girlfriend will be coughing green phlegm into her hanky, yelling at her date to just go! When you refuel, you might as well prop the "bonnet" open, because you are going to have to show your motor to just about every other guy there. When you order your wings at Hooters, your waitress will whisper in your ear "take me for a ride." When you stop at the red light, the girl in the convertible next to you will invite you to "take my top off too."


When you slowly pass a troop of Harley riders, they will look over and give you thumbs up. When you want to ease out into traffic, other cars will immediately pause to let you go ahead of them. When your engine has its hot, crackling, intimidating exhaust sidepipe aimed right at the flank of the GTO, or the Z28, your exhaust pulsation's slowly unscrewing his lug nuts, the other car will remain motionless, as if the slightest quiver of his car will cause your car to stomp it dead. When you leave it open in a parking lot, and come back to find your sunglasses and cell phone still sitting on the tunnel, it is because your car has sullenly warned those who came over to admire it "touch me and I will rise up here and kill you dead."


When you put that tiny silver key into the ignition, and begin your start countdown, your car will whisper "take me for granted, and I will kill you."


When other drivers just hop in and snap up their belts while backing out of their parking space, you will still have two more minutes before you even get all the Simpson's properly on and snugged down. Pulling up in a Cobra Replica is like landing an F4U at an ultralite convention.


In summary, very, very few drivers want this kind of attention, or can tolerate all that a formidable Cobra Replica demands. These cars are intolerant mistresses.


But remember, there will come a day when you have to hang up your car keys for the last time. And perhaps you want to say then "I did it."