RE: Ginetta Team Driver A Le Mans Record Breaker

[Dodgey_Rog]

Adrian Gumball said:

Great PR;)

Spot on, anything to cause a stir in the paddock, think of the exposure.

[groomi]

Can you remember when you were 17. Now imagine lining up on the grid at Le Mans!

He's one lucky kid and I hope he has a great race.

[blueg33]

StuB said:

Brilliant news for Nigel and his racing mad family! I am sure he will surprise more than a few people.

It's also a great coup from a PR perspective by Ginetta, so congratulations to them too.

In fact, it's superb to see a British Car & British team with British drivers and I will definitely be there chearing them on. Aren't they using Zytek engines too? Wow, a completely British entry in fact.

Less than 3 weeks to go now

Come on Ginetta!

I believe that either Ginetta or LNT (ginettas parent company) own a big piece if Zytek. Apparently a Zytek engined G50 is on the cards!

[dino ferrana]

will_968 said:

bradmitchell said:

why didnt they put Matt Nicol-Jones in the car...? he has won the senior Ginetta championship twice, is current British GT4 champion (driving a Ginetta...) he also runs his own race team and knows how to set a car up... A baffling decision by Ginetta.

I think it's obvious that there's rather more to a decision like this than just picking a driver based purely on their results record.

I guess other considerations would be the driver's consistency, how tough they are on the cars, how easy they are to work with, their keenness to work with you, their availability, their price, the publicity they generate as well as probably many, many other factors.

Good luck to Ginetta and all the guys.

And in answer to the above - it was Tom Kimber-Smith that was with them in the Panoz when they won GT2 on their first outing. He was one of Richard Dean's drivers in the JLR formula ford days.

I was thinking of Danny Watts rather than Tom Kimber Smith. Danny won an F3 race after Bruno Senna paid for him to do it to say thank you for his coaching. He hadn't raced an F3 car for 2-3 years and immediately went out and won the race against a top field.

[Just-In]

As I've ststed in another thread, Max Chilton was sixteen when he drove the Arena Zytek at Silverstone two years ago, so although this guy may be the youngest brit at LeMans he aint the youngest to compete in LMP1.

[RacingPete]

blueg33 said:

Apparently a Zytek engined G50 is on the cards!

Already built as I saw it in the factory back in March.

Good luck to them all at Le Mans, Nigel is a very good driver (along with the rest of his younger siblings who drive around their parent's Elvington Airfield standing up in a full size car as they can't sit down and drive due to being too small)

Though the comments about Matt Nicoll-Jones earlier are spot on, he is a very quick driver and probably quicker than Nigel in a G50... but as a work entry with work staff they will always pick someone closer to home.

[dandarez]

I posted up a few days back about this.

AT LAST some sitting up and taking notice. Nigel Moore will not be overwhelmed by this - you should see him drive! His sister Sarah is currently leading the Ginetta Juniors Championship and her boyfriend is Jake Hill who has just recently won in the Juniors.

Tomlinson is no fool and would not do this for publicity.

Remember, this is just the LNT LMP1 car, there are 2 other Ginetta-Zyteks lining up at Le Mans. I'm backing the Ginetta LMP2 car to take the spoils in that section. Wait and see.

Lotus's old adversary is back in a big way!
Taken a long long time to get to Le Mans but poetic justice after Chapman 'pinched' the tobacco sponsorship deal from Ginetta in 1968 preventing the Le Mans line-up of 3 Ginetta G12s.

[v15ben]

There is some merchandise in existence as some of the Yorkshire PH guys have seen me wearing it, but I don't think it's on general sale yet

As for Nigel his family do run a go-karting business IIRC so I guess they probably had a good chance to practice their driving

[tail slide]

Great news in every way

LT is obviously very adept at making the most of his racing background, with commercial acumen too, a transformation not seen at Ginetta since their glory days of the '60's.

At this rate I'll be deserting my road/track TVR's to have a Ginetta again.

[1]

RacingPete said:

Though the comments about Matt Nicoll-Jones earlier are spot on, he is a very quick driver and probably quicker than Nigel in a G50... but as a work entry with work staff they will always pick someone closer to home.

It is also a great illustration of how you can go from karting all the way to Le Mans driving only Ginetta's (as they now own Zytek).

Much the same as Renault have done in single seater's.

[madbadger]

The Surveyor said:

Very best of luck to Ginetta... if they win, he wouldn't be old enough to drink the champagne though!

Paul

Good job it is in France, then.

Good luck to him.

[Hole Digga]

Good luck to the lad

If your good enough, your old enough

Im sure LNT won't of taken the decision lightly, he will obviously lack LM experience but imagine who much it will benefit him in a few years if it is a regular entry!!!!

Ive worked for Lawrence and he is not one to mess around with people he thinks are not capable of delivering the goods so I'll be cheering when (hopefully) the car crosses the line for LMP1 victory

[FC3SCorey]

Wish I had rich parents


Too cool though, much kudos for being so young and in such a prestigious event in the highest class, best of luck.

[StuB]

StuB said:

therealpigdog said:

british car, british engines, british drivers - what's not to like?

being in leeds they are my local team too! just a shame no merchandise available.

I've mailed their PR agency to get them on the case! Will post back if I hear anything.

Great news. I've just heard back from the lovely PR lady (Hi Aimi ) and they have a large order due for delivery, hopefully due in enough time for delivery pre-Le Mans, but they will have a stand in the merchandise village anyway. I've even had an offer of something in the post if they get stock in time.

Edited by StuB on Friday 29th May 23:12

[zac510]

I saw that picture in Autosport.. is it real? The colour looks almost fake like a digital pic!

[therealpigdog]

StuB said:

StuB said:

therealpigdog said:

british car, british engines, british drivers - what's not to like?

being in leeds they are my local team too! just a shame no merchandise available.

I've mailed their PR agency to get them on the case! Will post back if I hear anything.

Great news. I've just heard back from the lovely PR lady (Hi Aimi :wave and they have a large order due for delivery, hopefully due in enough time for delivery pre-Le Mans, but they will have a stand in the merchandise village anyway. I've even had an offer of something in the post if they get stock in time.

excellant - I've emailed them too - hopefully they can get it out in time for the trip down and it will be sensible prices rather than village prices.

[dandarez]

As a taster coming up to Le Mans I was expecting last weekend's news to be up in lights on PHs, but no, nothing!

At Rockingham at the weekend the Barwell G50Z was out (invitation) and it totally decimated the whole field! WHY is this not getting mentioned?

Here is the results to show you what I mean - LOOK at the field of cars it trounced!

1. Bryant/Osborne Barwell Motorsport Ginetta G50Z 1hr 00min 02.390secs INV

2. Brown/Fisken Rollcentre Racing Mosler MTR900 +0.616secs GT3
3. Jones/Jones Preci-Spark Ascari KZ1R +1.584secs GT3
5. Wilcox/Burton VRS Ferrari 430 +19.585secs GT3
5. Scott/Wilkins ABG Motorsport Dodge Viper +22.672secs GT3
6. Howard/Smyth Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin DBRS9 +24.491secs GT3
7. Hyman/Warren Chad Racing Ferrari 430 +35.955secs GT3
8. Simonsen/Lester Rosso Verde-UCB Ferrari 430 +48.793secs GT3
9. Bentwood/Walker RPM Ford GT +1min 17.042secs GT3
10. Abbott/Sims Rob Austin Racing Ginetta G50 +1 lap GT4
11. Firth/Moore Team WFR Ginetta G50 +1 lap GT4
12. Stinton/Thomas Stark Racing Ginetta G50 +2 laps GT4

[Just-In]

Is the Z a GT3 or a GT2 though? Awesome all the same, that Mosler is very quick!