PH Heroes: Noble GTO 3R
It was the British sports car that was good enough to take on the world. Ollie Stallwood drives the Noble GTO 3R
His CV includes the Ultima, Ascari Ecosse and the McLaren F1 but in 1999 he set up Noble, and the first product is the gawky M10, followed by the M12. With its Ford Mondeo rear lights and slightly awkward wheel arches the M12 was never going to keep Pininfarina awake at night but this didn’t matter one jot – the motoring press loved it.
The M12 won Autocar’s annual grip challenge and came second in its Best Driver’s car contest. Jeremy Clarkson squeezed into one and named it his Driver’s Car of the Year three years running. Then Noble decided to get serious. The 2.5-litre Ford V6 was ditched in favour of a 3.0-litre V6, smaller turbochargers were added to minimise lag, and power increased to 352bhp. Noble had created the M12 GTO-3R (via the GTO 3), its new flagship supercar. The car was loved by the public and journalists alike and it sold well. Then it disappeared.
To find out if it still lives up to the hype I’ve come to Marque II in London’s Vauxhall, a high performance sports car club that has a Noble on its fleet. The 3R got a re-styled nose that gives it more of a finished look and in silver, in the flesh, it looks stunning. The styling is part-street racer, part screw-you. It’s not the prettiest car on the planet but standing still it looks like one of the fastest – mean and purposeful.
The 3R received a Getrag six-speed ‘box and limited-slip differential so it should be the most focused yet. First can be a little tricky to find but once you are away the Noble shows itself to be surprisingly easy to drive through traffic. The V6 is torquey (350lb ft) and the only issue is the limited visibility.
After I have crawled out of London I find a stretch of road and open the Noble up. The V6 has a smooth delivery and the turbos kick-in progressively, but once they are spooled up the Noble feels every bit as quick as its 3.7 seconds 0-60mph would suggest. You are catapulted forward on a huge wave of boost which pins you into the back of the seat.
It is totally composed, the suspension soft and supple but with almost zero roll going into the corners. With no electronic aids and crushing twin-turbo power making swift progress is a learning curve. The Noble will be there for you but you have to ease yourself towards the limit, squeezing more power in with each turn.
The steering is reasonably quick, with 2.6 turns lock-to-lock, making the car darty and too much speed in the dry will result in gentle understeer. You start to realise that thanks to the combination of wonderfully sorted suspension, tractable engine and effortless acceleration the 3R is undoubtedly one of the quickest cross country tools around, even today.
If you haven’t driven a Noble it would be easy to dismiss it as another low-volume British sports car that had the nerve but never quite the ability to take on the supercar elite. But to drive it is to fall in love. You are reminded why you love cars in the first place and in particular fast, exotic, rare cars like this.
There is a simplicity and sense of purpose to the Noble that, coupled to an almost child-like vision of how a supercar should look, make it fascinating. Everyone seems to love the Noble - it’s not weighed down by image issues like other fast cars and it just gets on with it. There’s a race car rawness about its persona but it is easy and rewarding to drive. The GTO 3R will be sadly missed.
Thanks to Marque II for the loan of the car.
(www.marque2.com/020 7582 2223)
If you are thinking of buying a car, drive down to one of the dealerships and just take one out for a test drive
Dont worry about spare parts etc, they are all very easy to get hold of and there are many dealers who service these cars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZwA-KblalQ
I might have neglected to say that I'd changed a couple of things beforehand...
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