1965 Shelby Cobra 427 vs 2011 Ferrari 458 Italia in a $400,000 ¼ Mile Race Bet; Can You Guess Who Wins?
March 18, 2011
A no-nonsense, classic American muscle car from the 1960s going head to head with a high-tech, thoroughbred Italian supercar in the ultimate quarter mile race. What more could you ask to make this battle more interesting? Well, how about a $400,000 wager?
The story has it that Dan Bilzerian, owner of a ‘tricked-out’ 1965 427 Shelby Cobra, placed a bet that his American muscle car can beat his friend Tom Goldstein's 2011 Ferrari 458 Italia in a quarter mile race.
On March 9, 2011, the two men brought their cars down to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway racetrack and put their money where their mouth is. And no, we won’t spoil the surprise by telling you who won the bet. Video follows after the break.
AC Cobra Lives on: New Model with Corvette V8, Porsche Brakes and Gullwing Top
April 13, 2009
Forget about replicas; this one is the real deal as AC Cars has announced that it will unleash the latest iteration of its venomous Cobra roadster called MkVI at the Top Marques car show in Monaco on April 16. While retaining the seductive and at the same time muscular lines of the original Cobra, the MkVI brings a number of surprises the first one being that due to the fact that AC Cars has entered a strategic alliance with German company Gullwing GmbH, the new Cobra will be produced at the latter's plant in Heyda, Germany.
The MkVI features a handmade aluminum-hybrid body placed atop a triangulated, jig welded round tube spaceframe chassis, with racecar derived suspension. Power is provided by a 6.2-liter V8 Corvette engine producing 437HP for the standard GT and a whopping 647HP with the help of a supercharger for the GTS version. AC has also dipped its hand into Porsche's spare parts bin 'borrowing' a set of 4-pot brake calipers with vented discs (332 mm front-298 mm rear) for the MkIV.
AC Cars supports that the GTS-spec MkIV which weighs in at just 1,025kg or 2,259 lbs, can sprint from zero to 100km/h (that's 62mph) in around 3.3 seconds.
Both the GT and GTS will come equipped as standard with a new light weight gullwing hardtop. We'll have more on the MkIV after the official unveiling of the sports car.
