Racer Dick Smith did what no one else has ever accomplished, in 1967. At Daytona International Speedway, he raced his Cobra 427 SC at 198 mph. Ford employees clocked him at over 200 mph.
While Mr. Smith has the fastest time ever recorded in a real Cobra, Morris Clement, of Gurnee, Illinois, certainly has the swiftest Kirkham 427 SC of all time, bar none. He's never been down to Daytona to run his roadster over 200, and that's one of the few tracks in the U.S. large enough to accommodate such a feat. It has run over 185 mph at the Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin-track Road America, which is considerably smaller.
If Morris ever brings his Kirkham to Daytona, the only question will be how much over 200 mph will he be able to achieve. You see, his Cobra is not anywhere close to being a re-creation of the original. He didn't build it to win shows. He and his brother Steve created it with one notion in mind: to make it the fastest road course-racing Cobra ever, real or replica.
When he took delivery of the turnkey minus car, the first thing Morris did was take it all apart. He and his brother had a well-conceived plan for building the Cobra. Based upon Morris' accomplished racing career in SCCA GT1 and GT2 from 1980 through 1990, with Steve serving as his pit crew chief all those years, the brothers had all the knowledge they needed for turning this aluminum beauty into a racing beast without peer.
They started with the chassis. Enhancements to the foundation occurred at Chassis Service Unlimited, in Waukegan, Illinois. CSU beefed up the already stout Kirkham tubular stainless steel frame by completely reinforcing it with TIG-welded 316 stainless tubes. They also welded in door bars and additional Petty Bar frame tubing in the passenger compartment and added further reinforcement tubes from the rollbar to the chassis. Morris moved the Wilwood front rotors and calipers to the rear and installed Wilwood six-piston calipers and 13x1.75-inch rotors in the front. The brothers fitted 3-inch diameter silicone cooling hoses to both the calipers and to the rotors. Others use plastic hoses, which will catch fire should they come in contact with super hot headers. Silicone hoses won't burn so easily and are superior in race applications. Comprised of 6061 T6 aluminum, CSU also fabricated a 3/16-inch thick bellypan and attached the pan sheets with Grade 8 bolts every 3 inches. The bellypan both gives the Kirkham a smooth, aerodynamic underside and provides a stiff backbone to the already rigid chassis, analogous to how the back wall of a bookcase adds structural stiffness.
Kinetic Racing Engines built the Shelby aluminum 427ci FE engine to displace 496ci and to produce 700 hp and 660 lb-ft of torque. As of this writing, the engine is being enhanced to make 800 horses and about 760 lb-ft of torque.
For the engine, Morris required something much more macho than the original 427ci FE cast-iron Ford mills from back in the '60s. Kinetic Racing Engines in Detroit supplied a Shelby aluminum big-block FE that started life as a 427ci-but thanks to a 4.25-inch bore and a 4.3-inch stroke, displaces 496 cubes. The engine has a 12-quart dry sump tank from Kirkham, as well as a Stefs oil pan that's a hybrid of sorts. Where the pan bolts to the bottom of the Shelby aluminum block, it's billet aluminum. The Stefs pan has a 2-inch billet aluminum lip for achieving a no-leak seal when the pan's bolts are torqued tight. The 3-inch wall below the billet aluminum and floor of the pan are sheet aluminum, which is much easier to modify, should there be chassis or header fitment issues with the engine. Inside the pan, there are three scavenge pickups. The dry sump oil tank runs off the crank on the front of the engine, so there's no chance the oil pump can turn the distributor. Morris simply flips a switch and spins the motor for 30 seconds or so before firing up the car. This enables oil to get to the top of the engine. For supplying sufficient fuel to the massive Dominator 1080-cfm four-barrel carb and that burly big-block, the brothers installed a 42-gallon Fuel Safe fuel cell that has three collector tanks, each with its own internal GM low-pressure fuel pump. The fuel is pumped from the two side collector bins to the tank in the front of the fuel cell, which in turn is pumped to two external Holley black case fuel pumps that blast the petrol to the ever-so-thirsty Dominator four-barrel via stainless hard fuel lines.
To clearance the custom 16-inch air cleaner, which was modified to fit the carb, Chassis Services Unlimited fabricated a custom aluminum hoodscoop. They also fabricated brake-cooling ducts in the body, to which the brothers Clement fastened the 3-inch silicone brake calipers and rotors cooling hoses. Fabcar Racing in Indianapolis supplied the Kirkham's rear wing, to which Chassis Services fabricated the rear structure that supports it. CSU also came through with the front air dam and splitter.
From start to initial finish of this fastest-in-the-universe Kirkham Cobra 427 SC, it took Morris, Steve, their engine builder, and the team of professional race car fabricators a total of two and a half years. Especially at the '07 Run 'N' Gun, the roadster flew like no other Cobra before it or since. You'd think Morris would be ecstatic over his creation. He is, but he knows he can get an additional 100 hp and another 100 lb-ft of torque by changing the pistons, installing special lifters, and bumping up the compression from 10.8:1 to 13.5:1. The engine is back at Kinetic Racing Engines and is again in pieces.
Is a racer's work ever done? In the case of Morris Clement, that's an emphatic no. He didn't place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd from 1980 through 1990 in SCCA GT1 and GT2 races from building slow cars or driving like a rookie. He didn't win three National Championships, GT1 in '89, GT2 in '87, and GT2 in '84 out of sheer luck. Suffice it to say, his Kirkham Cobra 427 SC is and always will be the fastest Cobra ever, real or replica, for as long as he's drawing breath on this planet, or for as long as he wants it to be. From what we've heard about the late Dick Smith, he'd harbor no jealousy over Morris for creating a faster Cobra. Heck, if he were still around, he'd probably be offering the Clement brothers advice on how to make it better. Amen to that.
Rest in peace, Mr. Smith, and Godspeed, Morris.
A Kirkey molded foam vintage racing seat supports the driver, while Kirkham's leather Cobra-style seat accommodates the passenger. |  | 
Under race conditions, it's important to keep your brake rotors' operating temperature at less than 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit and 350 to 400 degrees for the calipers-otherwise various components will start to fail. Seals in the calipers will crack and deteriorate. Rotors will become glazed over and can warp. You'll start to feel a mushy pedal as you enter the most difficult off-camber turn on the road course. |
As payback for all those years being crew chief, while big brother Morris raced to glory in SCCA GT1 and GT2 classifications, Steve presently races the Kirkham. We're guessing the brothers Clement get along great. | | |