Not that there's much wrong with Jaguar based copies which utilise the strength and robust nature of Browns Lane's cast iron content to accept the power and torque of the Cobra clone's staple diet of V8 vitality. Indeed, Gardner Douglas continues to produce a Jaguar based version of the GD427, which outsells its Euro stablemate by a significant degree. However, that doesn't alter the fact that the GD Euro represents a design advance for the techno nuts seeking something rather more refined than the traditional fare of brute force and relative ignorance.

Just a few years ago, there was a wide range of very similar specification, Jaguar XJ6 based, V8 powered Cobra clonery on offer from an extensive list of companies. Today, a few of them are gone. Why? Well, there are a variety of reasons but high on the list must be that most Jaguar based Cobra copies seemed to stop development about ten years ago. Since then Hawk and Crendon Replicas have gone for greater authenticity with their twin tube ladder frames while Dax has instigated a highly productive development programme chiefly centred on the supertube spaceframe chassis for its top selling Tojeiro. But Gardner Douglas is unique in going back to the drawing board and penning a brand new chassis for its car to accept the customer's choice of Jaguar or Euro componentry. 

The reasons for the new frame concerned the desire to be able to use new components throughout in order to better equip the car for sale in European markets.  Compliance with all necessary regulatory requirements was also a consideration well in advance of the announcement of SVA. With Jaguar having long ceased production of XJ6 parts, Ford was the obvious answer both for the company's co operation as well as the more advanced nature of the components themselves. There was also the strong desire to create a Cobra that would reflect modern standards of handling, ride, reaction and road holding.  XJ6 componentry was competent and convenient but it was also Stone Age in comparison to the latest generation of desirable mechanical underpinnings. The design was thoroughly and extensively tested in the most punishing of arenas; namely the racetrack. Gardner Douglas entered a 500bhp works car in the Retro GT race championship and came away with back-to-back championship wins in 1996 and 1997. There's not a lot you can say after that save that the development programme has had an outstanding influence on the driveability of the current road cars.

Hein Cooman's car was built for him by the Gardner Douglas factory. It's a pretty standard Euro spec build save for a few concessions to the enormous engine power. In place of the standard Euro Ford differential, Hein's car retains a Jaguar unit, which the company recommends for power outputs in excess of 350bhp. There's also a handling kit comprising sports road springs, alternative Avo adjustable dampers, a front anti roll bar, 17" wheels and aluminium, four pot front calipers clamping 300mm ventilated discs.

So what's under the bonnet? It's a small block Chevy 350 with a few internal modifications.  The result is a capacity increase to 383cu ins (6.3 litres) and vital statistics of 475bhp @ 6,000rpm and a huge 460ft lbs @ 4,700rpm hence the difficulty experienced by the Netherlands in containing the thing. It's also interesting to note that the brawniest of the original S/C cars boasted just 425bhp @ 6,000 and 480ft lbs @ 3,700.

There's a strong tendency to refer to cars with this much grunt on board as 'the beast' but we won't because it isn't. Sure, when it cuts loose it takes a bloke with balls and a great deal more confidence and ability than most to take it to the limit, but the overriding impression of driving the car pretty hard is how easy it is, especially over similarly equipped Jaguar based cars. It's not that GD's Jag spec model is at all wayward; just that the Euro car is far more nimble, agile and responsive. Weight for weight, the two are pretty close with the heavier Jaguar components winning the battle by about 30kgs (65lbs), but it's the drastically reduced unsprung weight and the handling package fitted to this particular Euro that tips the scales heavily in its favour for pure driveability.

Hardly surprising is the fact that it's a left hooker. Of more relevance is the immediate impression of awkwardly sited pedals. Actually the GD pedal box is adjustable, offering between 4" and 5" of travel. That said, it wasn't distance that posed the problem; more the seemingly awkwardly offset nature of the installation. Even so, it didn't pose a problem in driving the car so we obviously thought it more important than it actually its.  Certainly Hein doesn't mind. That aside, the GD cockpit is a pleasant place to be. Again it's pretty familiar Cobra fare but the diamond stitched leather trim enhanced the attraction.  The other novelty was the speedometer registering 300kph (187mph). Nor is it an idle boast. GD's race car regularly clocked speeds around 170mph.

With big engines of such awesome power delivery, one expects fire, brimstone and an angry, lumpy tickover in reaction to twisting the key but, in contrast to expectations, the event proved an anti­climax. Sure, it makes a noise; it's positively encouraged to do so via GD's interlinked twin exhausts with massive 3" diameter tail pipes comfortably exceeding the plan form of the vehicle and acting as a red rag to an SVA inspector! That said, it idles cleanly if noisily with each 780cc piston enunciating a clearly identifiable beat. Blip it and they slide into one another to create a fair impression of rolling thunder.

Carroll Shelby is famous for uttering the immortal phrase, "There ain't no substitute for cubes", the inference being that cubic capacity creates acceleration. In fact it's torque that does the trick and this thing musters an axle twisting 460ft lbs.  The original S/Cs had more at 480 and recorded figures of 0 - 60mph in 4.8 seconds and 0 100mph in 11.7.

Having played myself in and found a straight stretch of deserted rural highway, I can well believe Hein's car can emulate those figures but, while doing it, the abiding memory is of how controllable it felt. Aside from the awesome punch of 383 cubes let loose, there's very little fish tailing off the line, not that much wheelspin, the steering feels firm and endlessly communicative and the car sits solid on the road, never feeling as if it's getting away from you. It's the same when you gain the confidence to push it.

Driven at a slightly less frenetic rate of knots, the GD Euro is still a very, very fast car. Peak power chimes in at 6,000rpm but you're a better man than I if you can get it up there from third onwards. And it's not that the engine is at all unwilling. In fact it's unusually enthusiastic for a Yank V8. It's just that 3,000 in third is where the crisis of confidence makes itself felt. In first and second you can punch it all the way to 6,000 if you want, the mechanics describing a flat torque curve from 3,000 on up to 6. But when you hit third the need for a longer, wider road is strong. 3,000rpm in third is an even 100mph. The realisation that you've got another 3,000 plus two additional cogs to go suddenly alerts you to the fact that the car is capable of a hell of a lot more than the driver.

The steering is brilliant.  This car is fitted with a quick rack having just 2.5 turns between directional extremes. It's a standard option for the Euro-­spec car. This car is also carrying quite a bit of castor, making the steering feel possibly a little heavy for road use, but the upside is a rarely experienced degree of feel from a front end with 8½" rims and 45 profile rubber.

Cornering is an absolute revelation. There are bucketfuls of grip at the front end that haul it round even the most tortuous of twists taken at high speed as if it was doing 30mph through town. It just goes where you point it and doesn't seem greatly concerned at what speed it happens to be doing when you put in the request. The back end is similarly obedient but you only need a smidgen too much throttle to set it swinging. But rather than the immediate remedial action necessary to contain a heavy Jag based rear end, this thing comes back into line with an easy armful of almost casually applied opposite. It's that quick rack again.

The GD Euro is endlessly confidence inspiring, and as you get the hang of it you rapidly come to chuck it about like a point and squirt Seven. You've just got to remember that it's got a great deal more to squirt than Caterham's finest.

This machine is an out and out performance car. It's also a road car and, sadly, roads fill up with traffic to the extent that performance cars can't always perform as they'd like to. No problem as this thing is an absolute pussycat when stroked along with the ebb and flow of the rest of humanity.

You don't need first. In fact, with so much torque you don't really need anything below fifth, but I found second was fine for pulling away while minimal revs allowed me to bypass third and drop into top, in which gear it'll happily roll along with just l000rpm in evidence. Thereafter I alternated between fourth and fifth depending on what was in front and what speed it was doing.

Actually, this policy of minimising gearbox wear on alternate cogs is perfectly acceptable when you want to get a move on but if you're up to the job and want to really give it a blast you need to use the gears.

I've heard it said that the majority of cars in the Cobra replica club have either four cylinder or V6 motors. If that's you, I in no way mean to cast aspersions on you car. Indeed, if true, this rough statistic would tend to show that that major attraction of the kit form Cobra is its classic shape. However, for me what Cobras are all about was rammed home with rude force on that deserted stretch of rural blacktop.

I've driven many cars and revelled in the varying standards of performance of a high percentage of them. Cars as different as Japanese K class, three cylinder, 660cc screamers, performance three wheelers, crossflow Caterhams and many more but, though deciding which I like the best is a tricky one, there's just no arguing with one inescapable fact.. If you want to know what Cobras are all about, you need to drive one with 475bhp under the bonnet and the technical ability to use it. The sensation of putting your foot down and surviving the resultant noise and mechanical shenanigans is truly unique. If you've got a car that'll do that and turn the corner at the end, chances are it's a GD427 Euro and I'm not a Dutchman. I love it.