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Reply to "Tracking Pantera on Race Track"

The Cobras have some of the same issues. Mostly the 427's which are the coil spring cars.

If you think of it a Pantera is a rear, mid-engine car. A Cobra is a front, mid-engine car.

The last of the 427 Cobra street cars had the handling ironed out to the point that they were "relatively safe" to sell to the public.

The first group had problems with "snap steer". Just one good bump in the road and the car would make a 90 degree turn.

That's if any 500hp/500ft-lb 2500 pound car would ever really be "safe"? Wink



The Pantera that was offered to the public as a "sports car" had understeer engineered into it at EVERY consideration.

In this great big "free" world that most of us now live in, you can do anything that you want to your car as long as you can get your state to issue at least a "passed safety inspection" sticker.

Now, as soon as you start to change parameters on these cars such as tire/wheel size combinations, ride height alterations, shock and spring combinations NOT to mention putting a 650ft-lb monster in the back, YOU have drastically RE-ENGINEERED THE CAR.

Even the Pantera REAR brakes were purposely UNDER engineered so as to not induce braking oversteer in the car.



Now if you went out of your way to copy as closely as possible a factory Gp4 race car in EVERY consideration, you PROBABLY could get along going pretty fast with the car first time you jumped into it. That's my opinion anyway.

BUT believe it or not, the "ENGINEERS" did a heck of a lot of testing and development on the racecars to basically make them that ALMOST any idiot could get in and go fast in them first time.

All the driver is, is the monkey who pedals the car. As Austin Coyle once said of John Force, "stop blaming loosing on the chief engineer not giving you enough horsepower to win...once in a while the monkey ACTUALLY needs to pedal the car for a win". Shocking I know!



What most of 'US' (including me) have done is re-engineered an extremely sensitive design on so many parameters that the end result under "extreme duress" like even on an open track day can, may and IS unpredictable.

IF you seriously want to go fast on the track then YOU need to get to the track a week before the "race" along with YOUR five man pit crew, several sets of tires with various compounds, several sets of anti-sway bars, and several sets of springs with adjustable shocks.

Run the car there all week day in and day out, mark the braking points on the track,maybe even change brake pad compounds! Best if the track is empty so you need to rent the entire track for the entire week, then MAYBE you are ready to go out on the track in public? Maybe. If you think you are finished spinning the car and flat spotting all of those nice expensive tires? Best to do that in private. Hum?



There are only a few among us that truly know the settings and combinations on THEIR Pantera?
Probably not many are willing to share that information, for a number of reasons including but not limited to liability (you can still get killed out there).

Also I'm not sure if "their" personality profiles would technically qualify them as sane either, but I digress.

Frankly, it's a lot easier (not necessarily easy) to fly an F-15 at Mach 1 then it is to drive a modified Pantera fast on a closed track. A modified Pantera is likely very dangerous and unpredictable. It's low so it doesn't roll over that easy but best to use a trussed roll bar and the roll over check valve for the fuel tank.

I'm not even sure I have the rebound setting right on the shocks? That nose comes up way to easy over the cordaroys in the road for my liking. I keep thinking, get down, get down, get down. Eeker

A box stock 71? That's another story, skinny tires and all. I know what that car is going to do. I KNOW how fast I can go though a corkscrew...maybe?


Bosswrech thinks it would be a good idea to drive my car in the Silver State? I think he needs to think more seriously about that though?

I only run 8 & 10 inch Campis. Those in effect are a limiting device of sorts. After all "a man has got to know his limitations". You need to know the cars also.

Would anyone consider lending me their COMPLETELY stock '71 on track day? It's probably the safest of the bunch? Big Grin
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