Ginetta
G40 GRDC
Imagine
you wake up tomorrow morning and decide you absolutely have to go motor racing.
Just where do you start? Even if you have unlimited funds, there’s a
bewildering mass of series to choose from, and a different answer from
everybody you ask for advice. The route from pipedream to pitlane is so heavily
paved with complications it’s a wonder anyone ever starts a race at all.
The
Ginetta Racing Drivers Club is the Leeds sports car firm’s hand-holding
solution. For a smidge under £ 30.000 you get a road-legal Ginetta G40 race car (to
keep) and entry to a four-round season (with two races at each) supporting the
British GT championship.
Ginetta
can help run the car at each round if you need a hand, and puts on a couple of
track days with tuition to help get you up to speed before it all kicks off, as
well as putting you through your race licence test. As all-inclusive packages
go, it’s a fairly comprehensive one, and aimed squarely at people trying to
find their way into the sport. It’s open to drivers with limited experience
only – hardened competitors aren’t allowed.
As
part of Ginetta’s cunning plan, however, there’s also a separate GRDC+ class
for the same car open to more experienced drivers, so there’s a ladder in place
for GRDC drivers to progress beyond their first season.
An
endearingly titchy two-seater coupe, with fibreglass bodywork hiding a robust
tubular chassis and integrated rollcage. There are several types of G40, from
the short-pedalbox, 100bhp version raced by 14-17 year olds in the Ginetta Junior
championship to the 165bhp GT5 Challenge model for senior drivers.
The
GRDC-spec G40 Club car sits in the middle power-wise, with around 135 bhp from
its 1800 cc Ford Zetec engine and an MX-5-sourced H-pattern manual gearbox in
place of the noisy Hewland sequential race ’box found in other species of G40,
hooked up to a limited-slip diff. It runs on Michelin road tyres rather than
slicks. In theory, you could drive to the track, race, and drive home again; in
practice, quite a few GRDC drivers actually do.
An
evolution of the original G40R road car (last seen in CAR magazine’s pages in
October 2011), the Club car is essentially the company’s only road-going
offering now the G60 has been put on ice. Although Ginetta might still build
you a regular G40R if you really, really want, the barely pricier GRDC package
makes more sense. The R was always a thinly veiled racing machine rather than
an easy-going road car, after all.
Push
the weighty hydraulic clutch home, slot the light gear lever (crooked like a
crank handle for easier reach) into first and you’re away. This is a car with
no power steering, no ABS and certainly no stability control. ‘It’s designed to
be a car that a novice driver could take to its limit,’ says Ginetta boss
Lawrence Tomlinson. ‘It teaches you how to drive, and how to drive properly.’
That
it does; with a short wheelbase it’s relatively twitchy, and on road tyres it
squirms around merrily under braking. It’s unnerving at first but after a while
you begin to trust the car, and understand that it won’t bite. In fact, it’s a
car that comes alive the harder it’s pushed. And the five-speed gearbox is a
peach, so precise and forgiving you’re unlikely to miss a gear in the heat of
battle.
With a relatively flat power delivery the G40 never quite feels
quick in a straight line. No matter; corners are what it’s all about.
The
brakes need a good old shove. They get it stopped though; with only a little
over 800kg to lug around the car sheds speed very quickly, and while there’s no
ABS you’d need to hit the middle pedal very hard indeed to lock a wheel.
Massive
fun. Yes, it is noisy – the car we drove on the road wasn’t fitted with the
optional Touring Pack, which includes extra sound deadening (and carpets), but
even then we’d suspect you’d need to shout to maintain conversation with a
passenger. The engine’s bolted straight to the chassis, after all.
There’s
plenty of space for two, however. Despite its pint-sized outward dimensions,
there’s a surprising amount of room inside a G40. The FIA-spec seats have
enough fore-aft slidability for the tallest and shortest of drivers, and the
steering column adjusts for rake and reach. Getting in and out is the only
tricky bit – posting yourself through the letterbox gap between the low roof
and rollcage aperture is a manoeuvre from the more advanced chapters of a yoga
textbook, the trickiness compounded by the stay-less door continually swinging
shut on you.
Elsewhere
on the options list is air-conditioning and a heater. Quite a large number of
GRDC customers so far have specced both for road use – and some have asked for
a cup-holder, too. An immobiliser is standard, but for ultimate peace of mind
you could always take the steering wheel with you.
The
car we drove had the anti-roll bars left in their race setting but everything
else softened off, and the ride was remarkably pliant. Neither speed bumps nor
steep driveways posed any problems, and the handling balance was reassuringly
neutral – and fun.
While
the steering in the car we tried on track was on the truckish side of heavy,
the car we drove on the road was fitted with a new rack currently in
development that’s just fantastic – surprisingly light yet with the feel to
match any Elise or Caterham.
Source
: carmagazine
