Ginetta G20

[Matt97]

I was determined to purchase a new car this year, i was set on an R53 Mini cooper s to be used as a daily and for a step up from my current (first) car. However after thinking about it and insurance companies giving ridiculous quotes i forgot that plan. Anyway one evening i was having a look through a few internet sites and this Ginetta G20 came up and for some reason i wanted it. I did an insurance quote for limited mileage and it was looking even more hopeful so i arranged viewing. This confirmed my initial thoughts, so i put a deposit down on the car.



However it's taken a couple of weeks to finalise everything, but now i can't wait to pick the car up, as long as it's dry on the collection day!



It's a 2006 registered road going G20 which has covered just over 5,000 miles, it's only a 1.8 zetec but due to it weighing 660kg it should be good fun. I'm only 19 and my current car is a mk2 fiesta so it's a very different car, however i've managed to buy a car that has less than the fiesta .
Sorry for all the boring text and the lack of photos. More to come when i collect the car.

Regards,
Matt

[Matt97]

Thanks for the responses, feel very fortunate to be able to have the car. There is no roof option, Ginetta made a fixed roof version but that was in race form for the Ginetta junior championship. However i have seen pictures of a car that has been converted to road going spec.

Regards,
Matt

[Matt97]

Thanks for the comments , the G40 looks like it's a brilliant car and at least you get a roof! I'm not planning/hoping on crashing it, it'll take some time to get used to it though.

Regards,
Matt

[Matt97]

jakeharvey63 said:

Looks great mate! Like if a AC cobra and a MX5 had an illegitimate love child!!

Enjoy it mate, as said above, just be careful, it's a big step up from the Fiesta in every way! Although I don't envy you having no roof! Is this gonna be a daily driver?

Definitely not a daily use car

Regards,
Matt

[Matt97]

Thanks for the replies
Thanks for the info Phil, I might come along to next months meet if it's dry .

Regards,
Matt

[Matt97]

No track days for the moment , need to get used to it first

[Matt97]

NDNDNDND said:

Take it on a carlimits day, where you can safely push its limits and find out how it behaves before it surprises you somewhere!

Lovely car - I'm not jealous of most cars, but I do feel the WANT for that!

Thanks for the kind words

[Matt97]

Thanks for the comments, no mods planned for now

[Matt97]

Luke. said:

Tell me you've got a garage. Or at least a cover of some sort?

Yep got both

[Matt97]

blitzracing said:

Now you just have got to wait to show some lovely young lady a blast around the block and see what the hair do ends up like!

Not sure many women would appreciate the experience, especially if i said "watch this"

Fartgalen said:

Excellent. I like it a lot.

Thanks

[Matt97]

Grantura2a said:

I have a road registered G2 in the US. It came with the factory road windscreen that gives you much better wind protection. Mine is sprung a bit too stiff for rough roads. This can have some bad results if you are not careful. with a little work, you can cut a larger Lexan windscreen to get a little better protection. I also made stands to mount some Raydot replica mirrors with convex glass. Now, I can see in front and behind.

Have fun!

Mike T

Sounds nice Mike, any photos?

blitzracing said:

Italian G20 rip off with windscreen:

Never seen one of those before and at least with that car you get more protection with the windscreen, still like the little aero screen on mine though.

Regards,
Matt

[Matt97]

ph1l5 said:

Looks brilliant Matt


Phil

Thanks Phil hopefully meet you next month

TREMAiNE said:

Looks absolutely sublime OP.

What a car to have a 19.

This is exactly what defines PH to me and its posts like these that make it awesome!

Thanks Ed much appreciated , i feel lucky to be able to have the car.

Regards,
Matt

[Matt97]

Grantura2a said:

With and without stock road windscreen.


Mike T

Thanks for posting Mike, looks well loaded in this photo!

My new centre caps also arrived today, just got to get some nice centre badges for them



Regards,
Matt

Edited by Matt97 on Monday 16th May 20:28

[Matt97]

Fantastic weekend with the Ginetta, covered 200 miles and enjoyed every second. The only damage was to my wallet for fuel really starting to get comfortable with the characteristics of the car as well, very happy with it.



Regards,
Matt

[Matt97]

Scottyb28 said:

Do you play Sunday football? Did I spot this in the car park of your home pitch a couple weeks ago.....?

If yes, might be seeing it this Sunday for the return leg at our place..?

I don't play myself but my brother plays left back, i did take it to a game a couple of weeks ago i won't be at sundays game though, should be a close game. I guess you play for toga?

pilchard8 said:

Saw this at PH Silverstone Sunday Service, unless theres two about. Looked very clean.

Thanks very much would of been me you see at Silverstone.

RacingPete said:

Nice car... be careful when you are on track as the G20 can snap when the tails out, that releases and spins you off the opposite way - watch the juniors racing for opposite way spinning, but always loved racing them - and such an easy car to work on!

Enjoy, it looks great.

Thanks for the advise, good to hear from someone that's had good experience of the car and enjoyed it! Everything does seem quite accessible and being a lot of Ford parts should be quite cheap on the basic parts.

Regards,
Matt

[Matt97]

Scottyb28 said:

Yes I do, car looked fantastic, real head turner

Thanks

[Matt97]

Not updated the thread for a little while, mainly because I've just been enjoying the car! The weather has been quite reasonable so I've managed to use it nearly every weekend since I got it, including going to the Stoneleigh kitcar show with the GOC a couple of weeks ago. Although the extra 2.5 hours to get home wasn't fun! Only had one issue so far which was a faulty air bypass valve, quite common on this engine but not an expensive fault to rectify.

Stoneleigh...


I had no history of a cambelt change with the car so today I put a new cam belt kit on the car with a work friend. Quite happy as it's the first cambelt I've done. Removing the bonnet was needed to make the process even easier...



Regards,
Matt

[Matt97]

Krikkit said:

Nice, easy cambelt and plenty of access, living the dream!

Car looks great, any plans for track days etc, or just enjoying it on the road?

Thanks, Can't really go wrong once the timing is locked and with the front off there's miles of room, definitely living the dream! Was hoping to get on track later in the year but I'll probably put it off until next year also the current tyres aren't suited to track use so I'll want some better tread before heading out on track as well.

Robbins said:

Lovely looking car - bet its an absolute hoot to drive! You're braver than me to go (permanently) topless though.

Proper PHer (y)

Thanks, it's great fun as long as you don't mind going without pretty much everything! Although I'm probably no braver but a lot more stupid than you but the last two weekends have been warm enough to drive with no jacket or coat which was nice. Role of the amazing summer we usually get!

Regards,
Matt

[Matt97]

Craikeybaby said:

This is brilliant!

Does it have a tonneau cover or anything? Or at you just left exposed to the elements?

Thanks , no cover/roof just have to watch the weather forecasts carefully!

Andy_sx said:

Awesome car, at any age, let alone so young, congratulations!

As Pete said and you seem to have found out, they are easy to work on, nice and spacious, even for dragging loads of gravel out of it after someone drops it in the kitty litter at brands...

Thanks very much for the reply, I've found even just driving on the road I collect a fair amount of grit/stones in the front so I can imagine the amount you would collect if you went in a gravel trap!

Fury1630 said:

Excellent choice sir!
If you want to get out driving, you can do no better than the Southern Kit Car Club. Local runs & bigger adventures (one group just back from Germany, another doing the NC500 in a couple of weeks. http://www.southernkitcars.com/ or the forum's here http://southernkitcars.com/forum/. No membership fees, just banter, help & driving.

Here's my car
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Thanks for the information and that's a nice car you've got. We're you at Gurston Down earlier in the year? I'm sure I see a very similar car to yours there

[Matt97]

Been a while since i updated this thread so thought id put a post up. I've now done nearly 2,000 miles in the car and to the surprise of a lot of you on here I haven't crashed or damaged the car, so some of us youngsters can look after a nice car . Only thing that's gone wrong has been the coil pack, a common issue but an easy fix also replaced the HT leads at the same time just for my peace of mind.

I've also managed to pick up another set of wheels which came from the father of the 2012 G20 champion (Matt Flowers). Tyres are in really good condition but I would need to give the wheels a refurb before I would put them on, although I bought them as a spare set for the future anyway.

Also managed to do a couple of longer distance journeys including a nice drive down to Wilton house for the roof down wake up and also down to Castle Combe for a blast both completed without an issue and great fun had on both occasions...





Other than that just been enjoying the car when I can, only other item i've replaced is the exhaust tip as it was looking very tired and bugged me whenever I looked at it...





Kind regards,
Matt

Edited by Matt97 on Friday 26th August 06:17