What's the news?
Ginetta, the UK-based maker of lightweight sports cars, is stepping it up a notch with its first-ever supercar, destined to be revealed in full at the Geneva Motor Show.
The dramatic-looking supercar - which has design language taken from Ginetta's motorsport exploits with its 2019 LMP1 - boasts 376kg of downforce at 160km/h, which is only five per cent less than Ginetta's LMP3 competition car. It has a large, underbody diffuser, a huge aerofoil rear wing, plenty of body-ducting and 'slash-cut' side-exit exhausts, lending the Leeds-built vehicle plenty of menace.
Overall, the Ginetta supercar weighs 1,150kg, as it has a carbon-fibre tub, and is said to have a power-to-weight ratio of 553hp-per-tonne, which - with a bit of back-maths - means the 6.0-litre, dry-sumped, normally aspirated, 90-degree V8 engine delivers 636hp or thereabouts. That's backed up by 700Nm of torque, with the V8 lump (developed entirely in-house by Ginetta) mounted in front of the driver but so far back behind the leading axle that the manufacturer says it is 'mid-mid mounted' - and enough to give the car a 49:51 front-to-rear weight distribution.
Power is sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed sequential paddle-shift (these are made of billet aluminium) gearbox and a carbon propshaft, while the steering is hydraulically assisted for maximum feel. There's a carbon-fibre wheel in the cabin, too. The Ginetta's wheels are 19-inch items at the front with 20-inch rims on the rear, behind which sit a set of carbon-ceramic brakes.
Although the Ginetta supercar is obviously an extreme vehicle, the company says that it will be comfortable enough to use daily, even citing a 675-litre boot and a list of equipment such as ABS, traction control, a reversing camera, automatic headlights, parking sensors, air conditioning, heated screens front and rear, wireless phone charging and more as part of the vehicle's appeal.
Each owner will have a bespoke specification programme with plenty of configuration options available to them, while customers will also get a tailored seat fitting to ensure each car suits its driver perfectly - the pedal box is adjustable, as well. Ginetta will reveal more details on the exact mechanical data and all customer support initiatives at the Geneva show.
Ginetta's chairman Lawrence Tomlinson said: "Racing at the highest level has taught us that to win, you have to have your overall car concept and every detail exactly right, and we've brought that same philosophy to our first supercar. Starting with a blank sheet of paper allowed us to create a true mid-mid engine design with an all-carbon monocoque, LMP-derived aerodynamics and an in-house designed powertrain resulting in a driver-orientated package for the road."
The price is going to be high, though. At the moment, the only figure stated is 'around the £400,000 point', which would be €466,000 on a straight exchange and significantly more once our taxes are added in. Ouch. Nevertheless, just 20 Ginetta supercars will be built in the first full production year of 2020, and 60 per cent of that allocation has already been sold before the car was even revealed.
Anything else?
You can watch a short video of the new Ginetta supercar in action, right here.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FQ9g9sa_UQw" width="560" height="315"></iframe>