August 14, 2017
Ted Taormina is a total gear head who works on a number of high end sports cars at his facility in San Carlos CA.. Ted was inspired to build a Superformance MK III (licensed Cobra Reproduction) with an Italian flair reflecting his Sicilian heritage and it was his dream to set a world speed record last held by Dick Smith in a Shelby Cobra achieving a 198.047 mph some 50 years back. Having taken some aerodynamic courses in college and by studying the styling on the Ferraris and other supercars he worked on he realized he would need to make some modifications to keep the Cobra stable at high speed, some of those modifications included front canards, spoilers and diffusers along with aluminum belly pans to control the paths of the airstream. Ted also make a modification to the trunk to incorporate the roll bar into the body work. Originally Ted was going to install a V12 engine to mimic one he built for racing legend Phil Hill but went with a 427 FE with a 700 horsepower output engine instead. .
With the stock set up and windshield Ted was e he was able to reach 160 mph at Mohave Air and Space Port in October 2016. After a few runs, fuel delivery issues and high winds stopped him from breaking the records but he knew he would be back and he knew he had a lot to do if he was going to break the record and reach his goal of driving over 200 mph.
In the spring of 2017 Ted was given the opportunity to run it at the same location and shattered the record by going 201.1mph.
The jet runaway allows for a 1.5-mile measured distance as the balance is left for the cars to slow down and safely come to a stop. It had rained the night before and the winds were calm. On his first run, Ted ran an impressive 191.8 mph but knew he had more power and after the second run be was able to set a new official record of 201.1 mph.
Taormina noted the Superformance MKIII was still pulling and he feels he could go faster with a longer launch pad but is satisfied with the record for now.
After some research we discovered that Dicks record had actually been broken in 2015.
Worlds fastest Cobra official Speed Records.
Dick Smith 198.047 mph - Shelby Cobra 1967
Virgil Benton 199.0 mph - Shelby Cobra 2015
Ted Taormina 201.1 mph - Superformance MKIII 2017
