Noble M12 GTO

The first of the cars to hold the Noble name of its creator Lee Noble.,the M12 GTO was produced in 1999 and represents the first sportscar built in Leicestershire (well the bodies were produced in South Africa).
The one below showed up at a recent car meet and to be fair wasn’t getting the attention it deserved, despite it being 14 years old it still looked fresh and how you expect a fast road/track car to look. It’s even got a huge rear wing.


Noble took the Ford 2.5ltr V6 Duratec engine as found in the Mondeo and strapped two Garrett T25 turbo chargers to it upping the power to 310bhp, this would be replaced in later cars with the 3ltr V6 with 352bhp, before mounting it mid-ship in a car that weighs less than 1000kgs. That resulted in a 0-60mph time of 3.7s and a top speed of 165mph. That put it in Ferrari and Lamborghini territory but at half the cost, in 1999 it was only £40,000.

It must be good as when it was tested on Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson even liked it, despite a few niggles!!!!-

http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/1840844470

 

I do like this car, its proportions are just spot on, the huge wing the driver centric dash and those bucket seats, definitely a road car that’s meant to be unleashed on the track every once in a while to let it stretch it legs.

 

 

 

 

For more information-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_M12