While Carroll Shelby’s first Cobra sports cars bore astonishing power and handling, they were not immediately suited to the rigors of pure competition and were subject to constant development.
Substituting the original 260 CI engine with the new 289 CI version of Ford’s V-8 was the obvious first step, but another important change was in the offing. Initial race testing had revealed inherent problems with the early Cobra’s worm and sector steering that caused unpredictable steering geometry changes. Working with Shelby’s masterful chief engineer Phil Remington, AC Cars chief engineer Alan Turner made a comprehensive design change to the front end, incorporating the new rack and pinion system while maintaining the transverse leaf suspension. The rack and pinion cars entered production in early 1963, designated as Mark II cars.
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Interesting because A/C Bristol is the name of the original British car body Shelby used and the British had been using rack and pinion for a few years before that already.
ReplyDeleteMost notably the MGA's,and the Austin Healey Sprite come to mind right off the bat.
The Sprite/ Midget also went to front disc brakes in '63.
Another odd part, the transverse rear spring.
Healey used quarter elliptical for several years while nearly everything else at the time used parallel 1/2 elliptic rear springs. Transverse springs went clear back to the 1920's! Seems to be a bit dated technology for a hot rod sports car.
I would love to be able to crawl around in and under that model Cobra to see what else was still oh so very British while it was still being developed!
I would love to be able to crawl around in and under that model Cobra to see what else was still oh so very British while it was still being developed!
DeleteThanks and would be fun.