Ginetta Cars Ltd. of Leeds, England has been a part of that “racing for everyone” tradition in the UK for 50 years, and they are going stronger than ever. At the upper performance level, the British Ginetta G20 race series is the largest single class, one-make racing championship in Europe at this time with nearly 100 registered competitors in the 2008 series. And now, Ginetta offers a performance sports car based around its formidable G20 racer at a remarkably affordable price of about $31,000 US. What fun!
There’s just something about the sportscar and racing tradition in the UK that conjures up a vision of fun and excitement like no other. For one thing, it seems that racing is just so much more accessible in Great Britain, with so many options for full-blown tour racing with all the bells and whistles. There’s races on just about every weekend, and high profile championships for people at all levels, from young teenagers to seniors.
Ginetta G20R Has It All
Built to your specification, you can be driving one of Britain's finest sportscars on the highway. And it’s super beautiful, with an authentic and solid racing look. Unlike some of the more common racing wannabe looks tooling along every highway, the Ginetta G20R speaks the tradition of “I’ve been on tracks for 50 years, where have you been?” The G20R tubular space frame aluminum chassis with fiberglass body has twin hoop roll bar, 1400cc Ford Zetec SE engine, 3.9 Anti torque differential, 5 speed ‘synchromesh close ratio gearbox, and paint colors in solid and metallic options. I think you’ll feel the sense of awesome tradition.
Since 1958 Ginetta has been dedicated to providing racing cars with high performance and affordability. This was the era of the post war resurgence in race and road racing car manufacturing which saw the emergence of other racecar brands. Many, like Ginetta, have gone on to achieve great things; the most commonly known in the US would be Lotus. The early models were special builds for British weekend warriors who wanted to drive to work and maybe race on weekends. Ginetta designed the chassis and put standard Ford mechanical components on a rudimentary chassis for a model which became quite popular, but according to Ginetta’s history recount, “still lacked that certain something that instantly attracts sports car enthusiasts to the right machinery.”
But that missing chemistry came together with a bang when their G4 model was introduced in 1961. The G4 was aimed squarely at the more demanding and competitive club racer who wanted a cost effective weekday road car and a high performance weekend racer. The new Ford engines, suited the Ginetta to a T, giving it the oomph to beat the MGB’s and TR’s and then tromp such exotica as the Jaguar 3.8’s. Such ability soon translated to an escalating tally of race successes at which point the mainstream motoring press took an interest firmly establishing Ginetta on the UK performance car map.
But while the G4 continued to improve, other racing brands began to spiral upwards in price out of the reach of the grass roots enthusisasts which built their brand. Ginetta preferred to concentrate on innovative and affordable machinery for the true enthusiast, and they continue that tradition today, offering a line of Ginettas for everyone. This includes their special models for the Ginetta 14-16 year old racers who have their own Ginetta race series schedule, and the Ginetta Senior rally racer model with its own set of teams and racing calendar. Other than Quarter Size racing for kids in the US, I just don’t know of anything comparable, and it’s really too bad.
