RE: Ginetta confirms development of 600hp supercar

[Jimbo89]

The Crack Fox said:

Macboy said:

Frimley111R said:

Ginetta have minimal experience of building a high quality road car and this will have to be as good as if not better than perfect to be competitive. Making race cars is still a world away from making road cars.

I simply don't understand why they don't make quick road cars from their racers. I love the overall lines of this, below, and appreciate it was built for racing but it looks kit-car-shonky to me.

Edited by The Crack Fox on Thursday 31st January 11:40

My thoughts exactly.
Ginetta is a great little brand who I really want to do well, but they have a fair bit of 'previous' when it comes to the quality of their product.
A mate raced for a season in a factory G55 and I don't think he ever finished a race due to a plethora of mechanical maladies.
I went to watch him at Brands and he never even got to sit in the car as it broke down during the first stint with the factory driver.
It was quick mind - I think it started on pole!
That's the frustration for me. Fundamentally good, quick cars, just not developed enough to rely on.
Not sure I can see this particular project succeeding but I hope to be proved wrong.
A strong Ginetta would be good for the automotive world. The more competition the big boys have the better cars we'll all get as a result.

The G40 is a road car, I have one and I've driven it on the road. It doesn't have the quality and the shut lines of a Porsche Cayman by any stretch of the imagination but I didn't buy it for that. As for reliability I think they're generally reliable as racecars and road cars, use quality bought in components, are easy to work on a cheaper to run than most factory race-cars.

Here's mine at Tesco, before the livery...


I'm not expecting this thing to be a rival for a McLaren or Porsche, I don't think Ginetta are either! PH's have made that comment comparing them. This thing is billed as using a racing spec sequential transmission and they're not exactly refined!! These guys are a low volume manufacturer and I can't imagine they're going to be pulling all their resource off the race car development to chuck at this.

Last year they had over 350 drivers across mulitple championships round the world racing thier cars (and winning). If they make a hundred of these and then give up it's still a great little addition to the car world IMO and I would have thought there would be more enthusiasm on this site.

To Quote thier website;
Utilising leading race technology and precision engineering to create a true driver's car. This is not another supercar from a car company: this is a supercar from a top-tier motorsport manufacturer.

I can see this being the antidote to the all too easy modern supercar, rather than a rival and all the better for it.

I don't know, might be rubbish but good luck to them.

[anonymous-user]

Jimbo89 said:

The G40 is a road car, I have one and I've driven it on the road. It doesn't have the quality and the shut lines of a Porsche Cayman by any stretch of the imagination but I didn't buy it for that. As for reliability I think they're generally reliable as racecars and road cars, use quality bought in components, are easy to work on a cheaper to run than most factory race-cars.

Here's mine at Tesco, before the livery...


I'm not expecting this thing to be a rival for a McLaren or Porsche, I don't think Ginetta are either! PH's have made that comment comparing them. This thing is billed as using a racing spec sequential transmission and they're not exactly refined!! These guys are a low volume manufacturer and I can't imagine they're going to be pulling all their resource off the race car development to chuck at this.

Last year they had over 350 drivers across mulitple championships round the world racing thier cars (and winning). If they make a hundred of these and then give up it's still a great little addition to the car world IMO and I would have thought there would be more enthusiasm on this site.

To Quote thier website;
Utilising leading race technology and precision engineering to create a true driver's car. This is not another supercar from a car company: this is a supercar from a top-tier motorsport manufacturer.

I can see this being the antidote to the all too easy modern supercar, rather than a rival and all the better for it.

I don't know, might be rubbish but good luck to them.

Well said. That's a great looking car.

[lezdix]

Mr Overheads said:

fblm said:

Mr Overheads said:

I repeat I’ve seen the car, that’s a photo in the story above not a render.

Does it have the profile of the second pic? That looks viper sexy to me.

No idea, they had set it up so you could only see the car at the angle photographed above.

First Disclosure of interest: I drive a Heritage Ginetta and love the marque.

I want this car to succeed and am very disappointed with the sadly not unexpected community negativity: If it's not one of the big boys it's going to fail.
I first came across this car in August last year (it was a physical car back then to, not a rendering) and was only shown it after being sworn to secrecy. Sadly I've forgotten a lot of the teccy stuff I was told but one thing I remember does conflict with the speculative news reports, but that may be my memory.

It'll be way out of my budget so cannot influence its success, but for one I wish LNT and the project well.

Re-The new TVR. I quite like what I've seen but after being in it I hope Ginetta do not go down that route. I found it not as aggressive as Heritage TVRs, but not as luxurious/comfortable as the big boys fat supercars, it fell in the middle without satisfying either camp. A bit like BRE no I'll leave it there

Edited by lezdix on Thursday 31st January 15:26

[MX6]

These G40's looks great, I've not seen one before.

[Jimbo89]

MX6 said:

These G40's looks great, I've not seen one before.

I'd reccomend a closer look.

They're a really good looking little thing in the fibreglass. Very classic proportions and very compact.



This was our grid last year for Spa, with both the GT5 Challenge and G40 Cup cars on shared grid.

[Maldini35]

Jimbo89 said:

The Crack Fox said:

Macboy said:

Frimley111R said:

Ginetta have minimal experience of building a high quality road car and this will have to be as good as if not better than perfect to be competitive. Making race cars is still a world away from making road cars.

I simply don't understand why they don't make quick road cars from their racers. I love the overall lines of this, below, and appreciate it was built for racing but it looks kit-car-shonky to me.

Edited by The Crack Fox on Thursday 31st January 11:40

My thoughts exactly.
Ginetta is a great little brand who I really want to do well, but they have a fair bit of 'previous' when it comes to the quality of their product.
A mate raced for a season in a factory G55 and I don't think he ever finished a race due to a plethora of mechanical maladies.
I went to watch him at Brands and he never even got to sit in the car as it broke down during the first stint with the factory driver.
It was quick mind - I think it started on pole!
That's the frustration for me. Fundamentally good, quick cars, just not developed enough to rely on.
Not sure I can see this particular project succeeding but I hope to be proved wrong.
A strong Ginetta would be good for the automotive world. The more competition the big boys have the better cars we'll all get as a result.

The G40 is a road car, I have one and I've driven it on the road. It doesn't have the quality and the shut lines of a Porsche Cayman by any stretch of the imagination but I didn't buy it for that. As for reliability I think they're generally reliable as racecars and road cars, use quality bought in components, are easy to work on a cheaper to run than most factory race-cars.

Here's mine at Tesco, before the livery...


I'm not expecting this thing to be a rival for a McLaren or Porsche, I don't think Ginetta are either! PH's have made that comment comparing them. This thing is billed as using a racing spec sequential transmission and they're not exactly refined!! These guys are a low volume manufacturer and I can't imagine they're going to be pulling all their resource off the race car development to chuck at this.

Last year they had over 350 drivers across mulitple championships round the world racing thier cars (and winning). If they make a hundred of these and then give up it's still a great little addition to the car world IMO and I would have thought there would be more enthusiasm on this site.

To Quote thier website;
Utilising leading race technology and precision engineering to create a true driver's car. This is not another supercar from a car company: this is a supercar from a top-tier motorsport manufacturer.

I can see this being the antidote to the all too easy modern supercar, rather than a rival and all the better for it.

I don't know, might be rubbish but good luck to them.

Great shot at Tescos


I agree with your sentiments - best of luck to them

[MX6]

Jimbo89 said:

MX6 said:

These G40's looks great, I've not seen one before.

I'd reccomend a closer look.

They're a really good looking little thing in the fibreglass. Very classic proportions and very compact.

I'm enjoying looking, some great action pic's there. Really good to see these cars in action and on the road too, something different and not the same old humdrum stuff. I can't afford to buy one though unfortunately.

[R400TVR]

I find it sad that every time another sports/supercar is announced on PH, the default reply is "not as good as a McLaren, GT3 etc". When did buying a drivers for fun car become an exercise in brand snobbery? These are the exact people who will one day homogenise cars into self driving blobs with a BRAND badge stuck on the front to make the required 'statement'.

[anonymous-user]

Noble has already demonstrated that an expensive car, vaguely assembled and with no dealer support simply isn't what buyers are looking for. There's no need for Ginetta to repeat the experiment.

It's nothing to do with brand snobbery. Lotus has a pedigree as long as anybody's arm but they still can't sell the cars. If the cars (including after sales support) don't fit the market, people won't buy them. Koenigsegg proved this point with poor reliability and a service support structure based around "send your car back to the factory in Sweden". Now where's that "new TVR" we've heard so much about??

[Robert-nszl1]

R400TVR said:

I find it sad that every time another sports/supercar is announced on PH, the default reply is "not as good as a McLaren, GT3 etc". When did buying a drivers for fun car become an exercise in brand snobbery? These are the exact people who will one day homogenise cars into self driving blobs with a BRAND badge stuck on the front to make the required 'statement'.

I know there is a bit of inverted snobbery at times on this site, but to suggest GT3s and Mclarens are only bought because of brand snobbery is a little far fetched. They are bought because they are very good cars! And let's face it, while Porsche is an established brand, Mclaren certainly isn't. And people aren't being negative about Ginetta per se, they are questioning the likely competitiveness of their super car offering. Spending £100k+ on a car isn't something most people do with their eyes closed, recognising some have less interest and just a lot of money. But this car won't be for the latter group anyway. It will (or should be) aimed at people like me. I've owned TVRs in the past so I'm not averse to cars that aren't as well finished as the bigger brands, but time has moved on. Like most I hope the new Ginetta is a great car, but like most expect it might struggle

[Sport220]

[quote]
Here's mine at Tesco, before the livery...


[/quote]

Love these. A shame they haven't sold many of them (road cars)

[anonymous-user]

R400TVR said:

I find it sad that every time another sports/supercar is announced on PH, the default reply is "not as good as a McLaren, GT3 etc". When did buying a drivers for fun car become an exercise in brand snobbery?

''ought to serve as a rival for lightweight supercars such as the McLaren 600LT and Porsche 911 GT3 RS''... the article made the comparison so it's hardly an unreasonable subject for posters to opine on is it? I'd have thought it will more likely be a rival to the Exige but for some reason the article chose to put it up against the almost faultless RS. If it even gets close it'll still be brilliant. Porsche probably spends more on R&D in a day than Ginetta has ever.

[housen]

R400TVR said:

I find it sad that every time another sports/supercar is announced on PH, the default reply is "not as good as a McLaren, GT3 etc". When did buying a drivers for fun car become an exercise in brand snobbery? These are the exact people who will one day homogenise cars into self driving blobs with a BRAND badge stuck on the front to make the required 'statement'.

it think it was how the article was presented


with big news !!!

and mclaren and gt3 competitor



also is the porsche badge just a brand ? or 70 years of hard racing and development to bring us the finest examples of 911 or other models to our lives ?

Edited by housen on Friday 1st February 07:30

[_Leg_]

_Leg_ said:

Nope. They just aren't that kind of company. I raced a Ginetta for a season and I'm local to the factory so I got to know them quite well and visited many times. It's a race car factory, neither the people nor the company has the mindset nor set up to make high quality road cars.

We'll never see it. Just some headline grabbing.

Ginetta saw my post and invited me up to see the car. How wrong was I!

Epic looking thing and even in prototype guise it’s surprisingly well put together. Mechanically they have had it banging round circuits without any issues but trim etc wise I was really surprised at the quality. Shutting the doors gives a satisfying, solid ‘thunk’, panels (all carbon) already look like a full production car and the design looks great.

Made a nice change to see a new car that doesn’t actually look like anything else (beyond the given that a car has to have certain elements to be a car).

The rear is possibly the best I’ve seen on a new car in a long time. The front isn’t pretty but it looks pretty aggressive and impressive. Lots of wings and winglets, in and outtakes giving a distinct but coherent look. Personally I would paint the carbon light clusters body colour as with all the other carbon on show at the front there’s a little too much going on.

Interior wise things are a little less evolved at this stage but they have fixed (to the tub) seats with moving pedals and steering wheel. I sat in it (I’m 5’10”) and it fits like a glove. I reckon you would be fine up to 6’4” easily, maybe more.

The engine is mostly under the dash too so absolutely front mid engined. It’ll have more than the 600bhp quoted in this article and weigh less than most supercars so should be a beast to drive.

They’re taking it to Geneva for the full reveal so if you’re there make a point of going to see it. My chequebook is twitching.

I do some occasional YouTube/Facebooking when I can be bothered so hopefully I’ll get chance to do a proper review at some stage.

Hats off to em. I apologise for jumping to conclusions.

Edited by _Leg_ on Friday 1st February 12:27

[Tired]

Cool post!

[isaldiri]

_Leg_ said:

Epic looking thing and even in prototype guise it’s surprisingly well put together. Mechanically they have had it banging round circuits without any issues but trim etc wise I was really surprised at the quality. Shutting the doors gives a satisfying, solid ‘thunk’, panels (all carbon) already look like a full production car and the design looks great.

Interesting update there. Does sound like potentially a good car but do you think Ginetta can actually translate that build quality level to production volume? Making a decent 'nice' prototype is one thing but making a couple of hundred is another.

[anonymous-user]

_Leg_ said:

Ginetta saw my post and invited me up to see the car. How wrong was I!

Epic looking thing and even in prototype guise it’s surprisingly well put together. Mechanically they have had it banging round circuits without any issues but trim etc wise I was really surprised at the quality. Shutting the doors gives a satisfying, solid ‘thunk’, panels (all carbon) already look like a full production car and the design looks great.

Made a nice change to see a new car that doesn’t actually look like anything else (beyond the given that a car has to have certain elements to be a car).

The rear is possibly the best I’ve seen on a new car in a long time. The front isn’t pretty but it looks pretty aggressive and impressive. Lots of wings and winglets, in and outtakes giving a distinct but coherent look. Personally I would paint the carbon light clusters body colour as with all the other carbon on show at the front there’s a little too much going on.

Interior wise things are a little less evolved at this stage but they have fixed (to the tub) seats with moving pedals and steering wheel. I sat in it (I’m 5’10”) and it fits like a glove. I reckon you would be fine up to 6’4” easily, maybe more.

The engine is mostly under the dash too so absolutely front mid engined. It’ll have more than the 600bhp quoted in this article and weigh less than most supercars so should be a beast to drive.

They’re taking it to Geneva for the full reveal so if you’re there make a point of going to see it. My chequebook is twitching.

I do some occasional YouTube/Facebooking when I can be bothered so hopefully I’ll get chance to do a proper review at some stage.

Hats off to em. I apologise for jumping to conclusions.

Edited by _Leg_ on Friday 1st February 12:27

Awesome

[otolith]

I really hope this succeeds (and the TVR), because I find the idea that the only sort of cars we can have are the ones which are manufactured by massive companies with the same priorities and methodologies (i.e. massive engineering spend on trivialities to make sure that any moron can own them painlessly under any circumstances while making the manufacture as cheap as possible) a bit depressing. The result of that approach is that cars have to be either so generic that they offend nobody and can be sold in massive numbers, or hugely expensive.

[_Leg_]

isaldiri said:

Interesting update there. Does sound like potentially a good car but do you think Ginetta can actually translate that build quality level to production volume? Making a decent 'nice' prototype is one thing but making a couple of hundred is another.

It is a challenge, no doubt about it. They’re using some tech from their LMP cars which eases the pain somewhat and have taken another building on for production so they’re approaching it properly.

It may also be more limited than 200 but I can’t be specific.

I can be quoted on PH as saying I’m struggling to see anything new that I want to buy. Everything seems like the previous car plus a bit more power, a new gadget or ‘better aero than the better aero we did last time that does fk all below 100mph anyway but it’s noticeable on your new road car’. The Ginetta at least looks and feel different.

They’re further along, and with better quality and implementation than I imagined is all I can say. Both with regards to the car and their plans. What tomorrow will produce I couldn’t say but I wish them good fortune.

[andburg]

As with others i wish them luck.

The sunday service i attended there was great and they were incredibly open.

power/weight and shape make me think this is probably more aligned to the Vulcan as a driving event rather than something to chase lap times with.

The LMP push was severely hampered by funds given the Chinese sponsor never really showed up, a shame as one of my neighbours was one of the drivers.

the car will be far beyond my means unless i get some major luck anyway