Lee Noble’s come a long way in a few years. Not that you could tell when you meet him. Face mask on, covered head to toe in glass fibre dust, he’s as hands on now as he’s always been, despite his name now adorning cars that are the product of a multi-million pound business.
Achievement
A visit to see the new M15 brought home to me just how much Lee has achieved in such a short time. As the dust cover was lifted from the new £75,000 supercar, there were little clues all around that this is marque now respected by component manufacturers the world over.
No longer does Noble have to find parts to fit their cars from the catalogues of the big name suppliers. Instead, the likes of AP Racing, Pirelli, Sparco and Graziano are all eager to be involved in Noble’s projects from the off, and more than happy to build components to match Lee’s requirements.
The fact that Noble is launching a car costing £75K can’t go without comment. In recent years we’ve seen a number of fledgling companies attempt to enter this sector with little success. It’s a hugely bold move after all. Companies with no heritage will always struggle to compete with the household names of the supercar world. The Porsches and Ferraris of this world have much experience to draw upon and anyone new to the party has a lot of work to do to gain credibility in their company.
Noble has now tipped the balance though. With the M12 and M400 they achieved worldwide success and such enormous credibility for the marque that they can now enter this sector of the market with authority and - an albeit short, but respected - heritage.
Shock of the M15
The M15 came as a shock to most of us who were expecting a slightly refined M14 – the car which debuted at the 2004 British Motor Show. That car, based heavily on the M12 chassis was put on ice whilst Noble dabbled with other projects and by the time Lee returned to it, his thinking had changed considerably.
Lee thought he could do better than the M14 and heavily influenced by his experiences racing an M400, he set about making some fundamental changes to the underlying design.
The engine was turned through 90 degrees resulting in a longitudinal setup. Bolted into a much, much stiffer chassis, this setup allowed a spacious install. Peering under the rear hood reveals the twin-turboed V6 sitting in a cavernous engine bay – easing cooling, easing maintenance and allowing the rear mounted gearbox (courtesy of Graziano).
Noble has developed the V6 (Ford block, Noble components), to produce a staggering 455bhp and an equally impressive 455 lb-ft of torque. They reckon there’s more in it yet, but with one eye on federalisation, they’re trying to keep things a bit 'sensible'...
This configuration also allows a reasonable (for a sports car) sized boot at the back of the car which would take a medium sized suitcase at a push. There’s also space at the front for some more soft bags resulting in a Noble that at last is capable of touring.
Moving to the cabin we reach one of the more controversial areas of the car.
Dropping yourself into the cabin, the first thing that hits you is the beautiful smell. The leather clad Sparco seats and leather clad cabin have such a strong aroma. Suddenly it feels a lot more special than it looks.
There’s certainly scope to improve the style of the interior which is marred by some nasty air vents and a fat steering wheel. Safety considerations heavily influenced what components were used within the cabin, but hopefully before the car goes into production the aesthetics of the cabin can be put on a par with the aroma!
External styling
The photos used at launch certainly gave us an accurate view of what the car looks at, but as with any studio shots what they fail to convey is the impact this car has in the real world.
While many of us will sit at our keyboards and argue about the rear lights or the shape of the gearstick, it’s not until we see one of these cars roar past us on the motorway or see one parked amongst the other exotica at the ‘Ring or in Monaco that the true impact and sense of occasion will come to bear.
It’s a large car with dramatic lines, which I believe will appear even more dramatic in the real world. The genuine exclusivity of this car will also make it a talking point wherever it goes.
Interior aside, Noble should have no problem justifying that hefty price tag – it’s a testament to Lee Noble that we all simply accept that the car will ride and handle exquisitely. Coupled with those looks and that power, we’ve just witnessed a significant milestone in British – nay, world - motoring history.