2007 Nitto Tire King of the Street - Battle For The Throne

'03 Cobra convertible
Gainesville, GA
Horsepower: 10
Ride and Drive: 8
Engineering: 9
Drag Race: 3
Fit and Finish: 9
Popular Vote: 9
Total Score: 77.9

Score another Nitto Tire King of the Street victory for Modular Powerhouse. MPH customer Michael Kidd won the KOTS in the May '05 issue with his '03 Mustang GT. Michael's GT featured a Kenne Bell supercharger and nitrous; a combination for which MPH has become famous.

This time around, MPH brought Jeff Mingledorf's '03 Cobra stuffed with a twin-turbocharged Pro Line Racing Engines Four-Valve engine underhood. The squeeze remains an MPH staple, but MPH owner Tim Barth says the juice was never engaged during the KOTS.

Jeff purchased the car new in 2003 with plans to enjoy it in stock form. That lasted just more than a year, but Jeff says he started with the foundation--performing a solid-axle swap and a Maximum Motorsports install binge. After those additions, Jeff and Tim began adding horsepower and other goodies including stronger brakes, racing seats, a rollcage, harnesses, and a rear-seat delete. After some time, Jeff decided to get serious and make real power. MPH added the built engine, a custom twin-turbocharger kit with 61mm ball-bearing turbos, a new fuel system, and an upgraded T56 transmission. Jeff's favorite story is when he outran his brother at the dragstrip with the Cobra while his brother was at the wheel of his Viper. "I'm never gonna let him live that down," Jeff says.

So how did Jeff come to win the Nitto Tire KOTS, you ask? In a nutshell, his Cobra did everything well--except its quarter-mile performance, but that category matters little so MPH's Tim Barth didn't try that hard to post a big number. The one thing that stuck out with Jeff's Cobra was that the car felt solid, which is hard to do without a top to support structural rigidity. Everything about it felt connected, from the engine to the transmission to the car's suspension. The car acted as one main component, not many components bolted together. The road race-oriented suspension was tight, but conservative enough not to beat you up. The Cobra was stable on its feet.

Since Jeff's primary goal for the Cobra centers around road racing, the power doesn't come on down low. It comes on at higher rpm once the car is planted, which is what you want in a road-race car. Jeff's car was docile down low--almost stock-like. Once the turbochargers start doing their thing, the Nittos begin screaming for traction, and your pulse quickens with every gear change. By the time I had the car slowed down, my hands were sweating profusely. It's a good thing the Cobra had A/C to cool us down.

Speaking of staying cool, when Jeff and I arrived back at the track after the Ride and Drive portion, we had to sit in line for more than 30 minutes. How many 900-plus horsepower cars do you know of that could idle for more than 30 minutes without overheating? We know of one, and that's Jeff's Cobra. We kept waiting to see the water-temperature needle to head to the warm side, even with the air on, but it never happened. That was astonishing. We sat comfortably in the Cobra Misano seats until we were through the line.

There were two drawbacks to Jeff's Cobra that we noticed on the Ride and Drive. First of all, the on-off switch for a clutch the car possessed. It took some getting used to, and we never really mastered it before the end of our short trip. Second, the car shook too much at idle, but once it hit 1,000 rpm, the shake disappeared. We never figured out the origin of the shake, either.

Moving down the road, though, is when the car really shines. The car cruises well, and Fifth and Sixth gear make for a comfortable cruising rpm. Jeff's Cobra carried with it a nice crisp exhaust note, which made the Ride and Drive that much more pleasurable.

To bring home the KOTS crown, Jeff's car made a segment-leading 932 corrected horsepower to score a 10 in the all-important Horsepower category. With the aforementioned driveability concerns, Jeff's Cobra scored an 8 in the Ride and Drive category. Tech Editor Jones gave Jeff's Cobra a 9 in Engineering, and Editor Turner gave him the same score in the Fit and Finish category; ditto for the Popular Vote category. Jeff and Tim weren't too concerned with scoring well in the Drag Race category, and as such, scored a 3 in that category.

As you can see, Jeff's car did everything well--OK, maybe everything but going fast in a straight line, but in every other category he scored nothing lower than an 8. That's what it takes to win KOTS.