RE: Ginetta G55 Hits The Racetrack

RE: Ginetta G55 Hits The Racetrack

Friday 4th March 2011

Ginetta G55 Hits The Racetrack

Silverstone shakedown for new British GT machine



The new Ginetta G55 racing car has undergone its first test at Silverstone National.

Boasting a 3.7 litre Ford engine, Hewland gearbox, cool air induction kit, up-rated front and rear brakes, new exhaust system and stunning new bodywork with improved aerodynamics, the retail price has been set at £75,000 - hopefully making the G55 a cost-effective stepping stone into GT3 racing, the company says.

Teams running the current Ginetta G50, which has won multiple GT4 championships worldwide, will be able to upgrade their existing car to the new G55 for £25,000 or take advantage of a new part-exchange system.


"The G50 has dominated GT4 since its launch 2 years ago and proved itself as a real stepping stone into the GT4 arena. By introducing the G55 into the new Ginetta GT Supercup, I want to broaden Ginetta's offering to all drivers expanding our career ladder even further and offering a route into GT3 - whilst still providing an affordable way to enjoy top level racing," says Ginetta boss Lawrence Tomlinson.

The first customer cars will be delivered in two weeks' time, we're told, but sadly there are no plans to produce a road-going version of Ginetta's latest machine.

Author
Discussion

Stew2000

Original Poster:

2,776 posts

177 months

Friday 4th March 2011
quotequote all
All this time of me posting on the forum, it finally gets some real news. biggrin

Munter

31,319 posts

240 months

Friday 4th March 2011
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While I do like Ginetta. I find it disappointing that Ginettas cars never end up as road cars. It adds something to the racing when you see a car (visually) like the one that passed you on the motorway at 1000leptons on the way to the circuit, dicing with one you saw last week.

Should be good fun to watch the Ginettas on the BTCC weekends again though.

Obiwonkeyblokey

5,399 posts

239 months

Friday 4th March 2011
quotequote all
Im sure that the G50 was offered as a road car and is perhaps still available as a road car. I know Ive seen a couple in paddocks around the UK - most probably Ginettas own cars. However it requires people to come up with circa 60-70k of their own money which has been difficult recently not to mention for a low volume manaufacturer.

Fantastic work with the racecars though.

Graham

16,368 posts

283 months

Friday 4th March 2011
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Not quite sure how it can be a GT racer without any road cars.. Having had a close look at them though they would be more of a track day road car than a daily driver without a lot of mods.

imho there should at least be some road cars possibly based on the size of the company.


cracking looking car though, and there is certainly a fantastic number of g50's racing.


andy97

4,691 posts

221 months

Friday 4th March 2011
quotequote all
Obiwonkeyblokey said:
Im sure that the G50 was offered as a road car and is perhaps still available as a road car. I know Ive seen a couple in paddocks around the UK - most probably Ginettas own cars. However it requires people to come up with circa 60-70k of their own money which has been difficult recently not to mention for a low volume manaufacturer.

Fantastic work with the racecars though.
Hmmm, I have seen "factory prototype roadcars" on display in paddocks of various race tracks but I have never seen one driven on the road (not even to and from said race paddocks!) & I don't remember seeing any road tests by the usual magazines.

I think the G50/ G55 etc are fantastic cars but its a bit of a scam IMHO to race them in British / European GT4 etc when you can't buy a genuine road car version. (same is true of the Mosler & Ascari, I suppose, although I do think a very small number of road cars may have been built)

jellison

12,803 posts

276 months

Friday 4th March 2011
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Awesome development - Great looking device.

This is waht TVR should have done 10 years back. Binned all their cars and just done something like this with a road and race option only. Keep it simple Stupid.

What power does it have.

Fantastic shapes in the body front and rear.


dandarez

13,246 posts

282 months

Friday 4th March 2011
quotequote all
Tomlinson has certainly transformed the company since he took over, but the 'road car' has still not materialised.
A 30k road car would sell very well imo. So still a way to go to match the original idea of the Walkletts genuine road cum race cars. But then it's a different era. The F400 (ex Farbio now owned by Ginetta is of course a road car, but £90k?)

The E-type celebrates its 50th anniverary this year...
so does the gorgeous curvaceous Ginetta G4 and you can still have one today.

The G4 was a genuine road race car which could embarrass much more powerful machinery and still does.



The shape is simply timeless.




Edited by dandarez on Friday 4th March 11:17

andy97

4,691 posts

221 months

Friday 4th March 2011
quotequote all
dandarez said:
Tomlinson has certainly transformed the company since he took over, but the 'road car' has still not materialised.
A 30k car would sell very well imo. So still a way to go to match the original idea of the Walkletts genuine road cum race cars. But then it's a different era.
I doubt a G50 could be done for £30K but a G40 could (is?). I do think that a basic version of the G50 could sell, though - sort of Elise standard of fittings. IMO TVR faild because they started getting too ambitious & tried to take Porsche & Ferrari on but didn't have the investment/ skills to do top quality interiors & trim etc.


dandarez

13,246 posts

282 months

Friday 4th March 2011
quotequote all
andy97 said:
dandarez said:
Tomlinson has certainly transformed the company since he took over, but the 'road car' has still not materialised.
A 30k car would sell very well imo. So still a way to go to match the original idea of the Walkletts genuine road cum race cars. But then it's a different era.
I doubt a G50 could be done for £30K but a G40 could (is?). I do think that a basic version of the G50 could sell, though - sort of Elise standard of fittings. IMO TVR faild because they started getting too ambitious & tried to take Porsche & Ferrari on but didn't have the investment/ skills to do top quality interiors & trim etc.
I didn't mean a G50 - I meant just 'anything' road/race orientated as the original idea was all those years ago. Many of us thought the G40 was the way, but something seems to have stalled this progress. I agree with your view about taking on the likes of Porsche and Ferrari etc, it doesn't work. The F400 as said is 90k. Who is going to buy it, even though it is a superb car? Very small numbers. Yet something in the 30k area and you reach potential buyers everywhere. BUT then that's a different ball game to selling even very low volume.

jake15919

738 posts

164 months

Friday 4th March 2011
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The fact it exists is reason enough to celebrate.

Stew2000

Original Poster:

2,776 posts

177 months

Friday 4th March 2011
quotequote all
The 1.8L G40 "race" car is 25k.
A new 2.0L Focus Zetec S is about 18k.

I'd have the G40... if I had the money.
I'm sure if you just phoned Ginetta they would get it registered as a road car for a reasonable price.

chevronb37

6,471 posts

185 months

Friday 4th March 2011
quotequote all
To the best of my knowledge, this prototype is the nearest thing to a G40 road car. I am unaware of the G50 being homologated for road use in any respect, which rather makes me wonder how it's been running in GT4 for so long. I can only presume the drivetrain is homologated and SRO need GT4 cars like Bernie needs an end to civil unrest in the Middle East:


The F400 is in limited supply, but this is LNT's personal transport. As well as at the factory, I also saw this car at the Autosport 1,000kms at Silverstone last year.


I support Ginetta's racing endeavours and am delighted to see cost-effective and tidy-looking racing cars produced in Yorkshire, using British supply chain principles. However, without a line-up of road cars, like Marcus Pye, I struggle to wholly buy into the GT racing claims.

The Angry Gopher

336 posts

182 months

Friday 4th March 2011
quotequote all
It's great to see Ginetta sticking to what they know best and carving a niche with their development of race machines, at a time of great economic uncertainty.

You don't have to make road going cars to be a success in the British automotive industry, and I fear that if they had ploughed a fortune in to the research and development of road cars they probably wouldn't be here today.


Stew2000

Original Poster:

2,776 posts

177 months

Friday 4th March 2011
quotequote all
Since 2008 the website has had the G50 R price listed as TBA.


GrahamG

1,091 posts

266 months

Friday 4th March 2011
quotequote all
The G50 races in GT4 through a reg that allows one make racers (not the only car that is allowed through this route)

LNT told me in January that the first batch of roadgoing G40s were in prep but would come after 2011 race car orders were fulfilled

The F400 is in limited production in Leeds

jayfish

6,795 posts

202 months

Friday 4th March 2011
quotequote all
Lovely looking thing and that really does look like a number plate 'hole' in the rear, maybe in the future...

Munter

31,319 posts

240 months

Friday 4th March 2011
quotequote all
jayfish said:
Lovely looking thing and that really does look like a number plate 'hole' in the rear, maybe in the future...
I doubt it. As mentioned above the development costs to turn it in to anything other than a trackday special would be to much to make it profitable.

I want to see them on the road. But I can also see why I don't.

Stew2000

Original Poster:

2,776 posts

177 months

Friday 4th March 2011
quotequote all
Munter said:
jayfish said:
Lovely looking thing and that really does look like a number plate 'hole' in the rear, maybe in the future...
I doubt it. As mentioned above the development costs to turn it in to anything other than a trackday special would be to much to make it profitable.

I want to see them on the road. But I can also see why I don't.
Example #1 biggrin




--edit--
"GinettaCars Ginetta
We are testing the G55 today at Donington park. Dry weather for a change...bonus!"

--edit--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MTysVXFg9M

Edited by Stew2000 on Friday 4th March 14:31

RacingPete

8,845 posts

203 months

Friday 4th March 2011
quotequote all
GrahamG said:
The G50 races in GT4 through a reg that allows one make racers (not the only car that is allowed through this route)

LNT told me in January that the first batch of roadgoing G40s were in prep but would come after 2011 race car orders were fulfilled

The F400 is in limited production in Leeds
I had a similar conversation with Lawerence last year and he said the G40 is a road car, you just have to register it yourself and pass the SVA for it. Though I have noticed the indicator switch gear has only just been built by Ginetta for the start of the race season this year - so I guess now they have that they are one step closer to a road version.

But you are going to have to live with the race car interior design it seems.

A Scotsman

1,000 posts

198 months

Friday 4th March 2011
quotequote all
Ginetta have been promising a road version of the G40 for a while now but it's never materialised. It's such a pretty car I think it would sell like hot cakes but if the idea is to buy a race version and get it SVA'd then the price would have to reflect that hassle.


As to the G55 I'm really looking forward to seeing that run and what lap times it achieves compared both to the G50 and the Porsche Carrera Cup cars. That's what will determine whether its good value for money or not because an extra £25k on top of the G50 price is a lot of pennies per extra horsepower.