Ron77 Posted 7, January 2014 Report Share Posted 7, January 2014 Hi all, I am Ron and I live in California USA. I administer a small Cobra Forum and have quit Administering 3 others that I did do as it was getting to be to much work. Dish was kind enough to invite me to join as I like all cars and we allow all types on our Forum. I am retired from the old Bell Labs where I did research and development in main frame switching computers and on the satellite uplinks. I spent 16 miserable months in Korea in the Signal Courps as a high level tech on radar, radio, and nuclear stuff. Also a lot of stuff that is still classified though I don't know why as it is long past gone and in a museum if you could find any of it now. I built a replica Shelby Cobra and road raced it for years until my age and health got me to the point I quit because my reaction time was slowing down and I either wanted to be at the front or not at all. So I sold that cobra. I have an original 1969 Ford NASCAR Cobra along with pictures of Richard Petty with his that he raced in 1969. Mine has just 41K miles on it and still has the original tires. So as you can see, I am a lover of performance cars andf have only owned one that wasn't. Dish, thanks for the invitation to join your site. I will be browsing and reading when I have time and won't post a lot for a while at least as I want to get familiar with the site, but from what I have seen you have a great group and some very nice cars. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dish Posted 7, January 2014 Report Share Posted 7, January 2014 Hey there Ron, Glad you made your way across to our little corner of the web I'm certain you'll enjoy your stay here. As I mentioned to you, there's very little representation from the USA/Canada amongst our membership base, so it's great to have you in the mix. I'm sure the good folk here would love to see pics of your cars, both past and present, if you don't mind. Cheers, Dish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsr Posted 7, January 2014 Report Share Posted 7, January 2014 Welcome to the forum Ron. The original cobra sounds magnificent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rent a kill Posted 7, January 2014 Report Share Posted 7, January 2014 Welcome and G'day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dish Posted 7, January 2014 Report Share Posted 7, January 2014 For those of you interested in checking out the forum that Ron looks after, go visit: http://cobraregistry.com/ Their registration process requires manual approval by Admins/Mods, so you may get quizzed. They are a friendly bunch, much like ourselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R182 Posted 7, January 2014 Report Share Posted 7, January 2014 Welcome Ron! Enjoy your reading and post up pics of your projects ... I for one would be interested to see them (even if the engines are probably about four times the size of what I'm used too) . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMDave Posted 7, January 2014 Report Share Posted 7, January 2014 Welcome Ron. Having been a member of a couple of forums myself, I'll think you'll find everyone here friendly and helpful. I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homerlovesbeer Posted 7, January 2014 Report Share Posted 7, January 2014 Welcome Ron! I'm sure most of us would say the same, but I am sooo jealous of how cheap you can buy a car for over there. Your Shelby sounds lovely, pics please. I love travelling to the states and dreaming about what I'd buy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apex Posted 7, January 2014 Report Share Posted 7, January 2014 Welcome Ron, would be scary driving a OG Cobra on OG tyres! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
147owner Posted 8, January 2014 Report Share Posted 8, January 2014 Welcome Ron, hope you find the forum interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron77 Posted 8, January 2014 Author Report Share Posted 8, January 2014 Thanks for the warm welcome and I will try to get a couple of the pictures of my cars on here soon. The 69 NASCAR Cobra with the original tires isn't driven a lot and it isn't driven fast as I don't want one of those old tires to explode at high speed so when I blow it out I do so in 2nd gear and run it up to about 6K RPM so I am not going so fast. I have to run 110 leaded racing gas in it even though I have had the compression lowered from the original 12:1 to about 10:5. Our pump gas here will put out a fire if you throw it on the fire. I sold the Shelby and my 65 Comet to a cousin that lives in Arkansas and he has made them into show cars. He is still afraid to really open the Cobra up as it accelerates faster than any car he has ever driven. I have been browsing and looking at your cars and you have some beauties. Also love some of the scenery you have in your great country. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamR Posted 8, January 2014 Report Share Posted 8, January 2014 Welcome to OZRS Ron, looking forward to seeing pics of your cars! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dish Posted 8, January 2014 Report Share Posted 8, January 2014 Ron, please share your Bullitt anecdotes with the good folk here - I'm sure they'd love to hear them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron77 Posted 8, January 2014 Author Report Share Posted 8, January 2014 Dish, I am still feeling my way around the site and have to figure out where and how to post pictures that aren't of your cars. I have to be careful as I think I have already offended one of your members with my post in the other type cars forum when I answered a post about rear wheel drive cars not being any good. I have a Ford Taurus that is front wheel drive and I said all of my cars had been performance cars except the Taurus which is the only front wheel drive car I have ever owned and he seemed to think I was trying to compare the Taurus to his car. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dish Posted 8, January 2014 Report Share Posted 8, January 2014 I don't think RBH was offended at all Ron - probably just an escalation of misunderstanding on both your parts. As for FWD performance cars, I'd love to see the expression on your face if you were to sample one of these pocket rockets! You should make your way down here some time - yes, that's an invitation You are most welcome to post pics of your cars in either this thread or start one in our "Members' Rides" section here: viewforum.php?f=18 You are a member here after all Same methods of coding for linking/embedding pics as per cobraregistry apply here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron77 Posted 8, January 2014 Author Report Share Posted 8, January 2014 Thanks Dish, I would love to have a go at driving one of your cars around a road course. The only one I have ever seen here except in a few car shows was on the road course that is about 30 miles from my house and it went like the dickens. He could out corner me on a couple of the corners but as soon as we hit a straight I would pass him. I tried to get him to trade with me and him drive my Cobra and I drive his car just so I could see what it was like but he was afraid of the Cobra. Our road track is just over 3 miles around and goes up and down some low hills. The only thing I have seen about the front wheel drives that I wonder about was some they showed on TV Drag Racing and they said that if they got sideways they had to just stop as they couldn't pull them back straight. Not being a drag racer I didn't understand just why they couldn't back off a little and let the front wheels straighten them out. I know that I am used to having tons of horsepower and that is why I sold the Cobra was I am to old for serious racing any more and my reflexes have slowed down. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R182 Posted 8, January 2014 Report Share Posted 8, January 2014 LOL at your gas putting out fires! No idea about FWD drag racing but 'lift-off over-steer' is a common term related to these little cars, which may provide some hints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron77 Posted 9, January 2014 Author Report Share Posted 9, January 2014 OK, so I am sure of what we are talking about, what you call oversteer is what we call loose meaning the rear end wants to come around and I think and what you would call understeer is what we call tight which means the front wheels don't want to turn without chattering the tires or making them so hot the beads will melt and come loose from the rims. Not a good situation when doing a high speed turn. I always peferred to sit my car up a little on the loose side. As for the gas I had the compression in my NASCAR Cobra lowerd once but not again as it took away the top speed. I don't drive it much and use it mostly for show as I have to buy racing gas to run it correctly. Our gas is so crappy now that it ruins even lawnmowers and gardedn equipment if you don't buy all brand new stuff that was made to run on this junk. I go to the place I get my racing gas and get 95 octane unleaded there to use as it is expensive but not as much as buying all new lawn & garden equipment every year. I am trying to learn as much as I can about your cars and asked a question or two about the motors in the Forum for other types of cars and I think it is in the Mustang thread. Ron LOL at your gas putting out fires! No idea about FWD drag racing but 'lift-off over-steer' is a common term related to these little cars, which may provide some hints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R182 Posted 9, January 2014 Report Share Posted 9, January 2014 Yep, you got it right Ron. I guess in many everyday FWD cars if you threw it into a corner it's very likely it'd have large amounts of understeer and you'd keep going straight. That's the brilliance of the RS cars (and other high performance FWDs), their chassis is set up such that their grip and turn-in to a corner is just amazing. For those that really know what they are doing with the car (not me, lol) there is also controllable oversteer available (often under a sudden reduction in power - 'lift off oversteer'). Used correctly this will help tighten the line and get the car in and around the corner very quickly (you see a bit of it in that Ring video Dish posted). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron77 Posted 10, January 2014 Author Report Share Posted 10, January 2014 Thanks for your understanding of some of my gaffs. I don't mean to offend anyone and I know that we use some different terms for the same thing. Also I have a dry sense of humor which has gotten me into trouble all of my life so don't take anything I say as serious unless I state that it is so. We have no Renaults here and it is hard to really understand just what a car of any type can really do unless you have exposure to them and have tried them out. I was amazed at the power some of your members told me they were getting out of their engines and the handling is really great. I have emailed with Aussies quite a bit but they are on the Cobra Site down there and we are talking about the same type cars so we understand what each is saying. But I am slowly learning thanks to the help of some of your great members. You are all more than welcome to come over to our Cobra site and browse around and join if you would like. We have a great group from South Africa that really does some fantastic work on their cars. Do you have many car shows where you show your cars? Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dish Posted 10, January 2014 Report Share Posted 10, January 2014 Understandable Ron - it takes a little while to understand how each character ticks in an online community, and tone isn't the simplest thing to communicate effectively via text only. Being a large country with spa***ly populated regions in comparison to the USA, we generally hold social and drive days in each city from time to time. The only official event we hold is an annual National Meet, usually alternating between the states of Victoria down south (where I am) and New South Wales immediately to our north. Many of our Renaultsport members are also members of the general Renault clubs around the country, which hold annual shows of their own. There are also a few combined French or European events that we get out to. We too have a few South African members hanging around here. If you see reference to 'SA' it will more than likely mean South Australia however! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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