No Nobles or TVRs so buy a Farbio...

[AMG Merc]

Sunday Times new Pork 911 GT3 "First Drive" article by Andrew Frankel...

"...A Lambo Gallardo is too soft, a Lotus Exige too impracticle, and now that Nobles and TVRs are unavailable, it is probably the Bath built Farbio GTS350 that comes closest to matching the GT3 for its blend of pace, practicality and price."

Well, it is nice to drive a motor that's still compared to the industry benchmark that has over 40 years of development DMs/Euros spent on it

[Duke Thrust]

AMG Merc said:

Sunday Times new Pork 911 GT3 "First Drive" article by Andrew Frankel...

"...A Lambo Gallardo is too soft, a Lotus Exige too impracticle, and now that Nobles and TVRs are unavailable, it is probably the Bath built Farbio GTS350 that comes closest to matching the GT3 for its blend of pace, practicality and price."

Well, it is nice to drive a motor that's still compared to the industry benchmark that has over 40 years of development DMs/Euros spent on it

A chum of a chum has one and he's very pleased with it - not been in it myself, would be very interested to have a look.

[BobE]

The Farbio is now the `new` Marcos - or the closest thing since the plug was pulled on the last Marcos re-incarnation. The car had been developed by Chris Marsh son of Jem Marsh the founder of Marcos and who raced Marcos cars at Le Mans.

[wessexrfc]

Just had a look at their website www.farbiosportscars.com/ looks very nice, door-scoops, not so sure!! It definitely has lots in common with the Noble. Interesting looking at the extras on the track day car, roll cage, rear wing arm rest!!??. There was once a car manufactured in this Country that had all that as standard!!!!

[BobE]

It will be interesting to see how the car measures up against the M600 - if/when the latter appears for sale. Very similar concept.

[Twerlie]

I drove the first car for them to give my opinion being a Noble owner.


....very good car, but just needed more power as i drove the n.a. one.


Supercharged one is quicker though.

[stewey]

BobE said:

It will be interesting to see how the car measures up against the M600 - if/when the latter appears for sale. Very similar concept.

Errrr.... its not quite on a par with an M400 now, so my guess is it would get obliterated. From forums and press releases the comparisons witht the M600 will be the enzo / cgt and zonda...and you can buy a new house to keep it with the change compared to the others! How much is the badge worth?

[HeavySoul]

stewey said:

Errrr.... its not quite on a par with an M400 now, so my guess is it would get obliterated. From forums and press releases the comparisons witht the M600 will be the enzo / cgt and zonda...and you can buy a new house to keep it with the change compared to the others! How much is the badge worth?

M600 against a Zonda or CGT? Really? I know they bench marked the car against the CGT but I cannot really see it sitting in the same buyers bracket if it is ever launched.

Farbio is a really interesting car and I personally think the door scoop is nice. Will be good to see them staying afloat with this model and looking at how they develop the car/brand over the next few years.

[Gadgeroonie]

is the n/a version supposed to be 350 bhp ?

[stewey]

HeavySoul said:

stewey said:

Errrr.... its not quite on a par with an M400 now, so my guess is it would get obliterated. From forums and press releases the comparisons witht the M600 will be the enzo / cgt and zonda...and you can buy a new house to keep it with the change compared to the others! How much is the badge worth?

M600 against a Zonda or CGT? Really? I know they bench marked the car against the CGT but I cannot really see it sitting in the same buyers bracket if it is ever launched.

Farbio is a really interesting car and I personally think the door scoop is nice. Will be good to see them staying afloat with this model and looking at how they develop the car/brand over the next few years.

Definately aiming it at the 'hyper' car PERFORMANCE, not PRICE bracket. Will not be in the same 'buyers bracket', but it will be in the 911, gallardo, F430 bracket. But, with another 100-200 bhp and lighter weight....no comparison! Dont get me wrong, farbio is a good car but is in danger of falling at the first hurdle at the current price. They need to be around £20000 cheaper IMO to get into the market and get a name for themselves, much like Noble did 8 or 9 years ago. Not a perfect comparison, but here are some of the top gear lap times:

Gumpert Apollo 1.17.1 650bhp / 1200kg
Ascari A10 1.17.3 625bhp /1280kg

Pagani Zonda F 1.18.4 600bhp / 1230kg
Ferrari Enzo 1.19.0
Lamborghini LP560 1.19.5
Nissan GT-R 1.19.7
Porsche Carerra GT 1.19.8 613bhp / 1380kg

Out of these, which does the M600 look like having the closest spec to? The Gumpert... almost identical engine, (4.2 v8 twin turbo)power, torque and weight. Its going to be right up there, no doubt about it. Hope they get it onthe track in the next couple of series. They do have a soft spot for them on TG..

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

Gadgeroonie said:

is the n/a version supposed to be 350 bhp ?

That's the supercharged one I believe.

[HeavySoul]

stewey said:

HeavySoul said:

stewey said:

Errrr.... its not quite on a par with an M400 now, so my guess is it would get obliterated. From forums and press releases the comparisons witht the M600 will be the enzo / cgt and zonda...and you can buy a new house to keep it with the change compared to the others! How much is the badge worth?

M600 against a Zonda or CGT? Really? I know they bench marked the car against the CGT but I cannot really see it sitting in the same buyers bracket if it is ever launched.

Farbio is a really interesting car and I personally think the door scoop is nice. Will be good to see them staying afloat with this model and looking at how they develop the car/brand over the next few years.

Definately aiming it at the 'hyper' car PERFORMANCE, not PRICE bracket. Will not be in the same 'buyers bracket', but it will be in the 911, gallardo, F430 bracket. But, with another 100-200 bhp and lighter weight....no comparison! Dont get me wrong, farbio is a good car but is in danger of falling at the first hurdle at the current price. They need to be around £20000 cheaper IMO to get into the market and get a name for themselves, much like Noble did 8 or 9 years ago. Not a perfect comparison, but here are some of the top gear lap times:

Gumpert Apollo 1.17.1 650bhp / 1200kg
Ascari A10 1.17.3 625bhp /1280kg

Pagani Zonda F 1.18.4 600bhp / 1230kg
Ferrari Enzo 1.19.0
Lamborghini LP560 1.19.5
Nissan GT-R 1.19.7
Porsche Carerra GT 1.19.8 613bhp / 1380kg

Out of these, which does the M600 look like having the closest spec to? The Gumpert... almost identical engine, (4.2 v8 twin turbo)power, torque and weight. Its going to be right up there, no doubt about it. Hope they get it onthe track in the next couple of series. They do have a soft spot for them on TG..

Where is the official spec from Noble though? I haven't seen any official information about weights/power yet so just speculations? As you note the TG track is not really that great at measuring real world lap times of performance as it is quite tight and twisty for larger performance cars so the result as somewhat squewed.

I think Noble will have enough trouble on their hands marketing the car next to established names such as Ferrari and Porsche in the 911/F430 bracket as it is so to be aiming at the 'hypercar' performance rivals? Really?

[Gadgeroonie]

the gtr did a 1:19 crikey !!!

i'm going to have to get one - a decat pipe / filter and remap = over 600 bhp !

[F.C.]

An Ultima GTR has been around that track in 1:12.8 so if you want a light affordable fast car..
F.C.

[andygtt]

F.C. said:

An Ultima GTR has been around that track in 1:12.8 so if you want a light affordable fast car..
F.C.

yes but not by TG but by the Ultima factory hiring the track and timing it.... and whilst I loved my Ultima, with the same power my noble would trounce the Ultima.

But My Ultima was officially timed at quicker than a zonda or CGT and cost less than £50k... so I think the M600 has every chance of posting same kind of performance figures if its the spec that people speculate.

[NobleGuy]

When the Ascari A10 was on TG I always thought the M600 was in a similar performance range if the unofficial bhp figures, etc, are to be believed.

I think they ran the M600 test in the US with the CGT in a detuned state didn't they?

[noble_al]

Was back at the TVR Centre last weekend test driving another Noble as life without one is dull. Since selling last Nov I've been through an E60 M5 and now a Cayman S which I've just spent a fortune on suspension and exhaust mods and it's still not in the same league as the Noble - just in case you were wondering

Mark (director) has sold his M400 and is now running the Farbio company demonstrator which is the supercharged variant. Sadly the brief for the car has erred on the side of reliability which disappointingly means around 340bhp. This in turn makes it somewhat slower than a 3R, never mind an M400 or 600 for that matter.