IN THIS FEATURE Cobra rules the race tracks Ferocious presence 207mph with more to come The gates of automotive heaven A fairly grown-up way of passing the time

Certain people will regard such a comment as sacrilegious, Carroll Shelby (who had the first one imported into the US impounded) among them. And, on the face of it, it's hard to see how a plastic-bodied, South African built imitation of one of America's greatest racers could deserve even to sit in the same sentence as the great Daytona. Is this not to the Daytona what endless numbers of grotty GT40 replicas are to Ford's finest racer? Not quite.

For a start it too was designed by Peter Brock, using his original drawings. The chassis is the work of the same man who did the Daytona's chassis but this time starting with a clean sheet rather than having to adapt the Cobra's archaic suspension. Forty years on, they even used the same test driver.

No dimension in common with original

The result is a car which looks almost identical to a Daytona Coupe despite the fact that they have not a single line or dimension in common. Of course it is beautiful but what you notice most is its ferocious presence. From the jutting nose, past the side-exit pipes to its fabulously abbreviated tail, it sweats purpose from every inch of its composite body.

The cabin is a work of art too: simple, minimalist and pure 1960s race car. There are small chrome-rimmed dials everywhere, a fat three-spoke steering wheel, no-nonsense switches, leather bucket seats and a fly-off handbrake.

No-nonsense interior

But where even good replicas often fall down is matching the performance of the original and, it's true, the Le Mans Coupe does not boast the same level of performance as a Daytona Coupe. It's much faster than that.