AC Cobra Mark 2 1963

Sick Cylinder

Sick Cylinder

5,287
Sick_Cylinder
The AC Cobra / Shelby Cobra Mark 2 was significantly improved over the Mark 1, particularly by the replacement of the old worm and sector steering with rack and pinion (rack from an MG and steering column from a VW!). The chassis was still the 3 inch tube frame designed by John Tojeiro (sourced from the earlier AC Ace), but strengthened. The car still featured a transverse leaf spring rear suspension and all models were fitted with the 289 cubic inch Ford V8 (4.7 litre).

The most famous of all Mark 2's is the example driven to a class victory (7th overall) in the 1963 Le Mans by Ninian Sanderson and Peter Bolton. The car was fitted with a swept back Hardtop (which became known as the Le Mans Hardtop) which added approximately 15mph to the cars top speed - taking it to 161mph or 163mph depending on reports. The engine was tuned for endurance, producing around 350bhp running on a quad 48IDA twin choke setup and reportedly averaged 8mpg under race conditions.

It was the success of the AC Cobra with Le Mans hardtop which inspired the race to enter a streamlined AC Cobra in the 1964 Le Mans by AC called the AC A98, Willment (known as the Willment Daytona Coupe sadly not ready in time) and the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe which won its class in 1964 and won the World Sports Car Championship in 1965.

My dream is that PD give us this car with the following options - colour and race number change, Le Mans hardtop and standard hardtop, full width and single windscreen and a choice of liveries including the one the Shelby team used to dominate the 1963 USRRC manufacturers championship. It would also be nice if they gave an option for a louvered bonnet as modified by Ecurie Ecosse mechanic Wilkie Wilkinson for Bruce Ropner and driven in the 1965 Angolan Grand Prix by Keith Schellenberg.

AC Cobra 1963 Slide 2 Side Colour & Rear.jpg
AC Cobra 1963 Slide 3 Entry List.jpg

Above AC Cobra Mark 2 next to a Lola Mark 6 (which was purchased by Ford and developed into the GT40) and in front the factory Lightweight E Type - two cars which are also desperately needed in the game to allow period correct and competitive match ups.

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/lola-mk6-1963.310643/

Shelby Cobra USRRC 1963.jpg
 
Last edited:
Nice car Sick - I wish that roof of AC Cobra could be in same colour as the body of the car... For example if the colour of the roof would be green and the body would be also green, it would be awsome. Nice suggestion. Voted.
 
Harsk100
Nice car Sick - I wish that roof of AC Cobra could be in same colour as the body of the car... For example if the colour of the roof would be green and the body would be also green, it would be awsome. Nice suggestion. Voted.
Click to expand...

Hi Harsk - I don't understand your comment - the Le Mans Hardtop was painted the same colour - the car competed in the AC Factory race colour of Mist Green. Do you mean that if you had a hardtop option it would automatically be colour matched.

I would also like the option of driving the car with a normal hardtop - these were normally painted black - it would be good if PD could improve the aero model so that Cobras drove at more realistic top speeds - they had very poor aerodynamics as standard.

An open car option would also be good - the 289 race cars had a bracing strut running forward from the roll bar to the transmission tunnel whereas on the 427 the strut ran back from the roll hoop. A 289 race car is really needed in the game to compete with other cars already in the game such as the Ferrari 250 GT and Corvette C2 Coupe. Even tuned to the sprint race limit for a 289 engine of 460bhp I have found via my race series "Cobra Ferrari Wars" that as expected the 427 Cobra handles too well and laps too fast for its competitors in the game.


Yes - Starlight - been too busy lately to suggest any more cars!
 
Sick Cylinder
Hi Harsk - I don't understand your comment - the Le Mans Hardtop was painted the same colour - the car competed in the AC Factory race colour of Mist Green. Do you mean that if you had a hardtop option it would automatically be colour matched.

I would also like the option of driving the car with a normal hardtop - these were normally painted black - it would be good if PD could improve the aero model so that Cobras drove at more realistic top speeds - they had very poor aerodynamics as standard.

An open car option would also be good - the 289 race cars had a bracing strut running forward from the roll bar to the transmission tunnel whereas on the 427 the strut ran back from the roll hoop. A 289 race car is really needed in the game to compete with other cars already in the game such as the Ferrari 250 GT and Corvette C2 Coupe. Even tuned to the sprint race limit for a 289 engine of 460bhp I have found via my race series "Cobra Ferrari Wars" that as expected the 427 Cobra handles too well and laps too fast for its competitors in the game.


Yes - Starlight - been too busy lately to suggest any more cars!
Click to expand...
What I said is that we really should have an option to paint the hardtop in different colours apart from Black. I like it black but it's better to have it in other colours.

Yes, an open car option would be good. Especially the open hardtop. The open hardtop feature appears in GT3 & 4 but it sadly got removed. I hope that PD puts this feature back.

For Cobra Ferrari Wars: I saw that Cobra is too fast for my Ferrari... If the Cobras weren't in CFW, I would have finished 1st in Trial Mountain.
 
I would love to have this car in the game especially if we had a choice of colours (or better still liveries). The sister car to this one in the 1963 Le Mans was driven by Ed Hugus and Peter Jopp and the team was managed by Stirling Moss. Ford refused to fund an official Shelby Cobra team for Le Mans, but AC funded car number 3 and Hugus who was a close friend of Shelby funded car number 4. Sadly his car retired with a failed engine half way through the race, but not before showing impressive pace - Hugus was a great endurance racer who almost certainly competed in more Le Mans than any other American driver.

AC Cobra 1963 long thin wide.jpg


Above the Hugus Jopp car (4) and Sanderson Bolton car (3) in the pits in 1963. Below refuelling.

AC Cobra 1963 Hugus Jopp refueling.jpg
 
CSMDuty11
A hard top Cobra! just what Gran Turismo needs!
Click to expand...


Thanks for the support CSMDuty11.

As long as PD give us the option to drive with and without the hardtop and hopefully with a choice of Le Mans and standard hardtops!

The absence of a 289 Cobra from the game is a serious omission!



Thanks for the extra information Dr P - here's a picture of Stirling Moss in Team Manager pose clasping a big stopwatch!

Stirling Moss 1963.jpg
 
If they can't get hold of the Sanderson Bolton car for modelling, maybe Polyphony Digital could use the famous AC Cobra Mark 2 chassis number COB 6008 as their model, but give a range of options with hardtops, bonnets, windscreens, liveries etc. It was one of only three FIA spec cars made in right hand drive and the only one made with an extra lightweight body. The FIA spec cars have a cut down door to enable the rear wheel arch to be flared for wider rear tyres - this car was supplied by the AC factory in Thames Ditton in that form, ready to race. Further work was done on delivery by Ecurie Ecosse mechanic Wilkie Wilkinson including the fitting of quadruple twin choke weber carbs and cutting of two rows of louvres in the bonnet to lose heat. The car was raced by Croft race circuit owner Bruce Ropner, before being sold to and raced by Keith Schellenberg in the 1965 Angolan Grand Prix for Sports Cars.

Cobra COB 6008 Slide 1.jpg
Cobra COB 6008 Slide 2.jpg
Cobra COB 6008.jpg


Above the car on the grid in the 1965 Angolan Grand Prix for Sports Cars (extreme right of the bottom black and white shot). On the front row number 11, 427 cobra and Number 3 Ferrari 250 LM.

 
Last edited:

Latest Posts

Back