'00R Pace Car???

[cobra186]

I was looking through some ebay listings and ran across a picture of a '00R with "official pace car" and blue manufacturer plates. The car has an american flag decal down the side. Anyone ever seen this car before? Know which race it paced? What build# the car is? Or where its at now?


The other decals look like they say " Grand American" & "Rolex"



Here's a link to the auction with the picture... can't seem to pull out the one pic I want.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/94-9...ryZ33638QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[cobra186]

I give up on just the pic showing up..errrrrr

 

[SVTLightningSD]

He means this one...

 

[comprepsvo]

I thought Barber's used one as a pace car.

 

[93SVTCobra]

I know that at least for 2003 Ford gave Grand Am a Focus and the Cobra R to use as pace cars. I've got a bunch of pictures of both cars from VIR.

 

[ShelbyGuy]

I have pics of the 00R and the Focus at Daytona 2004. The Focus actually paced the race.

 

[99COBRA2881]

Sweet.

Note: The right rear quarter window that has the NACA duct for the rear diff cooler.

 

[b_tone]

That was one of the early development cars that was used prior to production, it was also the car that was run down in AZ for a 24 hour test prior to production. At least if my memory is correct.

I would also be surprised if there were a production 00R model rather than a GT (or V6) VIN with all the 00R pre-production parts.

 

[Cobra R Man]

That was one of the early development cars that was used prior to production, it was also the car that was run down in AZ for a 24 hour test prior to production. At least if my memory is correct.

I would also be surprised if there were a production 00R model rather than a GT (or V6) VIN with all the 00R pre-production parts.

Does that equate out to: It might be a mule.oke: :beer:

 

[R Model]

Hey gang,

My friend Mark and I were headed up to Daytona for the fall Historic Races a couple of years ago. We come out of the tunnel under NASCAR turn 4, heading for the infield, and we hear this engine noise that is very familiar.

We keep going and then see this red blur that is making all of this noise screaming down the backstretch. We stop and as the car enters turn 3 and heads up on the banking, we see that it is a Cobra R. We had heard some stories about one hanging around the Grand Am series and sure enough, here it is. The car comes off the banking and disappears into the old pit area.

We keep driving around until we reach the west horseshoe where we were set to meet some friends and enjoy watching all of the old race cars doing their thing. A few minutes later, here comes that red blur again making that noise that we all know so well. What a thrill!

Later on, we visit the pit area and there is the car parked by the media center -- just like the pictures that were posted earlier in the thread. It was kind of funny to see, right off the bat, that it had a damaged splitter. Sound familar? It had some other unusual stuff like the safety lights and the special window duct that was also mentioned earlier. But the most interesting thing to me was the mega dollar Goodyear Eagle Supercar F1 tires that it was doing its best to wear down. We later heard that when we arrived, which was during the lunch break, that they were apparently giving some VIPs a very fast ride around the old historic speedway. Must have been nice.

In the end, it was kind of like those MasterCard ads where the punch line goes something like "seeing a Cobra R at speed at Daytona -- priceless".

Steve

 

[Robert M]

Hey gang,

My friend Mark and I were headed up to Daytona for the fall Historic Races a couple of years ago. We come out of the tunnel under NASCAR turn 4, heading for the infield, and we hear this engine noise that is very familiar.

We keep going and then see this red blur that is making all of this noise screaming down the backstretch. We stop and as the car enters turn 3 and heads up on the banking, we see that it is a Cobra R. We had heard some stories about one hanging around the Grand Am series and sure enough, here it is. The car comes off the banking and disappears into the old pit area.

We keep driving around until we reach the west horseshoe where we were set to meet some friends and enjoy watching all of the old race cars doing their thing. A few minutes later, here comes that red blur again making that noise that we all know so well. What a thrill!

Later on, we visit the pit area and there is the car parked by the media center -- just like the pictures that were posted earlier in the thread. It was kind of funny to see, right off the bat, that it had a damaged splitter. Sound familar? It had some other unusual stuff like the safety lights and the special window duct that was also mentioned earlier. But the most interesting thing to me was the mega dollar Goodyear Eagle Supercar F1 tires that it was doing its best to wear down. We later heard that when we arrived, which was during the lunch break, that they were apparently giving some VIPs a very fast ride around the old historic speedway. Must have been nice.

In the end, it was kind of like those MasterCard ads where the punch line goes something like "seeing a Cobra R at speed at Daytona -- priceless".

Steve

Steve - What a neat story about your first hand encounter with this 00R pace car. It would be interesting to see what Ford did for front facia and splitter support for this 00R to regularly run around a track at high speed. Even if the "pace" was slow, I'm sure some of the media "turn the thing up", and I'm sure that there has been some interest by drivers themselves to "take it for a spin" over the years before the race festivities begin, and after the spectators are gone.

Priceless!!

R