MCxQubed

i think you will be much happier with a cobra, even if it does have more miles the engine is built for it

PushinTheLimit

Since you mentioned open tracking, I would strongly suggest looking into the Mach 1 over the Cobra. I know that goes against most of what people have suggested here, but anytime you are doing open track events, forced induction will always cause headaches. Sure you can go out there and run the car with a blower and it'll be fine... for awhile. You will eventually run into heat soak problems and it will ruin your fun out on the track.

For strip and autox duties, either car will work fine. And the solid axle isn't as bad as some make it out to be... if you build it, you can make it work good for open track purposes. The Mach 1 will have plenty of power to run well beyond any newbie's abilities on the track. So I would suggest starting there and getting as much seat time in the car. If you do decide to do open track stuff... getting the Mach 1 will leave you some extra money for consumables that you will be chewing up on a weekend basis (fluids, brake pads, rotors, fuel, etc).

turbo232

i never had any heat soak issues with my supercoupe or turbo v6. not once.

mustangman02232

my biggest issue with the Mach was that it was never offered in a vert. Which if your just cruising around, would be a big thing to consider in my opinion, (once you have a vert you cant live without them) Pretty sure the only thing to sway me would be an azure blue mach with low miles for a low price

PushinTheLimit

Have you ever ran a 30 minute race? Or have you open tracked for 20-30 minutes at a time? If not, then you wouldn't see heat soak. It just happens to forced induction cars, even if they are properly setup for it. Just a by-product of using FI.

I'm not knocking the cobra cause of that... because it is an incredible car. But, if anyone wants to get serious about open track stuff, JMO but I would shy away from any FI car and use a NA car for that.

boduke0220

with the right heat exchanger, IC, and maybe even meth..heat soak can be reduced pretty good from what i hear

turbo232

yes i have. my biggest issue was the diff trying to cook itself.

Ryan86272

Golden eagle is right. With those mods you listed that helps at the drag strip. Taking a car to seabring is completely different. Its nonstop high rpm driving.

I love auto x but the money in open track events is crazy. Let alone the stress on your car for 30 straight mins. Drag strip is like 8-14 seconds of beating your car.

boduke0220

Yea i saw that in some guys sig on svtp, the open tracked his car alot (red with black hood, big wing etc) and he had all kinds of stuff, im sure it still heat soaked though

PushinTheLimit

Even guys that run the stock pulley on the Eaton with all cooling mods will still see heat soak. If we are just talking about time trials where its a one lap race, then forced induction is just fine and you can get away with it. Just get your fast lap done in the first 1-3 laps.

My suggestion to the op is determine exactly your goals for this car purchase... if you really want to open track later on, I would lean more toward the Mach 1. If you want alot of power and a car that can do a little bit of everything pretty well, then the cobra is what you want. I bought a cobra thinking I would really get into drag racing and autox. When I got into open tracking and now road racing, I saw all the headaches that went into running forced induction on the track and made a switch over to vettes.