Out on the street, the Cobra R exhibits no rough edges. Even though much of the sound insulation has been removed to further lighten the vehicle— it still reg*isters a hefty 3610 lb.—the Cobra R doesn't inflict the same kind of body punches you'd expect from a race car. Despite the heft of the suspension and the absolute lack of body roll, there is enough fore-and-aft compliance to make the ride bearable. The action of the rack-and-pinion is linear, with a nice solid feel. The unit is from the Cobra and ben*efits from a new boost curve and stiffer T-bar to enhance on-center feel.

The throaty exhaust barks with an ur*gency that is directly proportional to the accelerator angle. The Cobra R is bru*tally fast. Without much effort I found myself hitting 135 mph on a long open straight. Coletti believes the car is good for 170-175 mph and was preparing to take the car to Ford's 5-mile oval in Kingman, Arizona, to do just that.