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- Enzo_Guy
- GTP EnzoGuy
I don't suspect you will, you have to look elsewhere (as is quite often the case for muscle cars, sometimes other cars can give you clues). I seriously doubt the fanboy types are going to argue with me here (unlike other unnamed websites), so I'll just be blunt.
Shelby was busy with a lot of stuff, he was yanking his Cobras out of the SCCA, the Daytona and MKIII were being built for the FIA, so the engines were likely similar to those in the old Cobras since they already were legal in the SCCA and proven winners. Though based on the SCCA Cobra racing engines, they would have likely received the same improvements as the Daytona for an extra kick under the hood to cope with that new 350 in the Corvette. You're looking at 390hp conservatively and 420hp would have been possible even without the Paxton; it's going to peak somewhere at or above 7500rpm, I wouldn't believe anything over 8500rpm for peak or redline. I personally would lean more conservative and stay 390-400hp, these were endurance racers so they wouldn't have wanted things too high-strung or else they risk mechanical failures. Than again, Shelby's reputation was to run until it blows so I'm 50.50 as to whether he would've cared about durability. That Daytona coupe clocked 180mph (190+ by some accounts) on a public road in England, that'd be about 400hp even so it's a fair assumption that the GT350R was using a nearly identical motor.:yup:
So, what do we make it in GT5? After significant testing of muscle cars, the old bias-ply tires would have fallen somewhere right near comfort soft in straight line performance.
Original GT350 1/4-mile: 14.9@95mph
Original GT350R 1/4-mile time: 12.9@110mph
Ballast: I added 140kg to account for fuel and driver
GT5 GT350R #1: all stock, engine rebuild, 317hp/341ft-lbs, 1268kg+140kg
GT5 GT350R #2: lots of parts, stage 2 engine, stage 1 Jenny Craig, varying power for test, 1166kg+140kg
GT350R #1 (street version):
First up I nabbed a 14.662 so I limited it down to 306hp and got a 14.768. Pretty close, I'm guessing the real life test car had a couple extra pounds in it, otherwise it's obviously the street version.
GT350R #2 (the real deal):
Other parts I threw on was just the racing exhaust (moves peak power up in the rev range), landing the car at 397hp/394ft-lbs. My instincts tell me the competition version was likely run on much stickier tires; 400hp ain't gettin' any 12.9 unless that car weighed a lot less then 2600lbs or it had some good slicks, which I've found older slicks to be a hair slower than racing hard tires. I got a 13.151 and 3 more runs were all in the 13.1-13.2 range. I threw on the ECU (again moves power, now peak is at 6700rpm) and now I've got 417hp/401ft-lbs, first try was a 12.916 so I'd say that's about as good as I'm looking for.
As it pertains to GT5 (and no reflection on its true specs), to achieve true GT350R performance go for stage 1 weight reduction, stage 2 engine, ECU, and racing exhaust!
Just for the hell of it I'll see if it can match the Daytona's top end. Daytona gears are 2.32/1.69/1.29/1.00 with 3.09 out back, obviously I won't be using 5th. Same tires with those gears hit 178.8mph, given the Daytona was a little lighter and more aerodynamic this also seems to be pretty close to the GT350R's real number. So there you go, in GT5 it equates to about 417hp and 1166kg.
Don't even get me started on the Cobra! The actual 427 medium-riser was pushing 480-510hp around 6500rpm (ECU and racing exhaust are a pretty good way to replicate that), although there was also the 428 Police Interceptor you've probably never heard much about (far more intensive to replicate, but interested parties should look into the history of the Cobra 428). There's also another possibility: in '65 Chrysler whined (McLaren learned from them) to NASCAR and got Ford's new 427 SOHC "Cammer" banned along with their own Hemi by mistake (Ford doesn't care because they're too busy trying to win Le Mans). Most, if not all, of the NASCAR engines were built and ready to ship, leaving Ford and Chrysler with stocks of hand-built monsters; these were sold under the table through well-connected performance dealerships and many found their way into street-legal cars. There have been rumors that one or two Cobras actually left the factory with a Cammer (would've been 650-700hp at 7500rpm) under the hood, although I don't know if any modifications would have been necessary for hood clearance. But as you can see, we aren't even out of Shelby territory and we're already up to our ears in possibilities of what could go where!
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Only time I've ever seen a true Shelby CSX chassis, I got to hear that thing leave and there's just nothing quite like a high-strung 289 (imagine my shock when he romped on it leaving, must have hit 6000rpm easy, no game/video can come close to that sound and the way it sends chills up your spine).
Only car older than 1980 I've owned that was numbers matching was a '78 Trans Am with an auto, 3.08 gears, and a Pontiac 400 (not the Olds 403, I'm a Ford and Pontiac guy, I wouldn't take anything less than the real deal Pontiac block). Here I am in high school, all my friends drive their farm trucks and old beaters, I'm rolling around in a '78 Trans Am, the Burt Reynolds Bandit car and not that '79 wannabe, and it had freakin' t-tops man! Sold it and never owned another automatic car since.
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