2012 Ginetta G60
In the last 6 years Ginetta Boss Lawrence Tomlinson has taken the British marque from a nostalgic relic of the 60’s – 70’s and turned it into what is today a formidable player in on the British Motorsport scene. Himself an accomplished racing driver with an impressive engineering background Lawrence is gifted with a striking ability to ‘do it right’, few are better placed to fully understand the purist love of driving and his very tough, very high standards are all evident in Ginetta’s new sports car, the G60.
The G60 is rare by any standards, with plans for only 50 to be produced each year for global distribution, but rarer still is a modern car company who have purposely engineered-out any and all superfluous electronic gadgetry. The carbon fibre G60 is built by the same impassioned team who build our world beating race cars, indeed it shares the same 3.7 litre cyclone engine as its 185mph GT3 racing stable mate.
Selfish and unremitting in the pursuit of the perfect driving experience the standard of the race-tech engineering speaks for itself; producing the natural and very real sense of handling and performance any red-blooded driving enthusiast craves, strike that … needs.
‘Quality, Value and Innovation’ is the Ginetta by-line and the G60 is evidence of that philosophy.
The beautiful lines of the bodywork mirror its predecessor the F400, however under the much admired carbon fibre exterior lurks a very different machine.
In recent history Ginetta have designed and built each of its models from a blank sheet of paper, but when Lawrence discovered the Farbio project was in need of investment, he ‘simply couldn’t let such a beautiful car go to the wall’ so in 2010 he stepped in and moved the production from the small Bath facility to Ginetta HQ where he set about evaluating the project, initially branding the existing cars with the moniker ‘F400’.
Whilst the F400 was without question a beautiful car with stacks of potential, existing cars had something of a mercurial nature with the individual examples exhibiting very different characteristics from their siblings, each more prototype than production-ready.
Adhering to his stead-fast belief that the proposition to each and every customer ‘must be right’ Lawrence made the decision to halt F400 production and start again from the beginning.
Ginetta has deconstructed the original car keeping only the exterior shape, whilst making minor improvements to aerodynamics by adding carbon fibre cooling vents and a revised splitter. Underneath, the carbon fibre shell is bonded to a new stiffer tubular steel chassis accommodating the Ginetta-sourced naturally aspirated 3.7ltr, 310bhp engine and 6 speed manual gearbox with an ATB limited slip differential for effective power delivery. The suspension has been re-designed incorporating unassisted rack and pinion steering and aluminium billet uprights for stiffness and improved handing. There are new larger grooved and drilled disks with Alcon 4 pot brake callipers all round – making the G60’s deceleration as impressive as its acceleration. The ECU and wiring harness is bespoke for improved reliability and the driver’s position has been re-evaluated; the pedals have been realigned and even the accelerator pedal grooves changed from a horizontal to a vertical plane for smoother throttle deliverance.
Once the power delivery and handling were perfected it was time to do away with extra weight and ‘nanny’ aids. Gone are the servo brakes, power assisted steering, ABS and traction control.
What you have left is a beautiful, addictive, carbon fibre sports car, capable of 0-60 in 4.9 seconds with a top speed of 165+ mph weighing just 1080kg.
Worthy of its new ‘G’ badge we are extremely proud to present the £68,000 Ginetta G60.
In Detail
type | Series Production Car |
built at | Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, England |
price £/td> | £68,000 |
predeccesor | 2010 Ginetta F400 |
engine | Ford Duratec 37 60º V6 |
position | Mid, Transverse |
aspiration | Natural |
block material | Aluminum |
valvetrain | DOHC, 4 Valves per Cyl w/VVT |
displacement | 3721 cc / 227.07 in³ |
bore | 95.5 mm / 3.76 in |
stroke | 86.7 mm / 3.4 in |
power | 231.2 kw / 310 bhp @ 6500 rpm |
specific output | 83.31 bhp per litre |
bhp/weight | 287.04 bhp per tonne |
torque | 390 nm / 287.6 ft lbs @ 4500 rpm |
body / frame | Carbon Fiber Body over Steel Chassis |
driven wheels | RWD |
front brakes | Steel Discs w/Alcon 4-Piston Calipers |
rear brakes | Steel Discs w/Alcon 4-Piston Calipers |
steering | Unasisted Rack & Pinion |
f suspension | Double Wishbones w/Coil Springs |
r suspension | Double Wishbones w/Coil Springs |
curb weight | 1080 kg / 2381 lbs |
front track | 1870 mm / 73.6 in |
rear track | 1885 mm / 74.2 in |
transmission | 6-Speed Manual |
top speed | ~265.49 kph / 165 mph |
0 – 60 mph | ~4.9 seconds |