Some Noble questions...

After doing a search and not coming up with too much here, i was wondering what the consensus was regarding the Noble... (1) would you guys classify it within the pure trackcar class? (2) has anyone experienced the car yet? (3)how difficult and expensive is it to convert to US standards?

thanks

Rob

 

www.1gracing.com

(I assume you know about this, but...)

 

log in here:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/

plenty of info from owners

 

I love the car and I have posted a few things about it here. I haven't driven it myself, but I know people who have, and they rave about it. Certainly, there are some quality issues, as there are with most limited production cars (read Ferrari), but these aren't meant to be daily drivers. I see the Noble M12 GTO as the poor man's F40 although, with the value of the dollar dropping, they may not be 'affordable' for long.

I'm not sure where you are located, but they show up often at major events at Road Atlanta. I assume they do the same at other venues. Surely they must be at Mid-Ohio since their US arm is based in Cincinnati. If you show sufficient interest they will let you test drive it. Then you can make your own decision.

 

ross and karmavore...thank you. i was unaware of both sites

Bill, I'm in Monmouth County, NJ and will be attending events in CT and PA in the coming months, hopefully I'll get lucky there.

a friend of mine just let me know that they're a nightmare to get to US spec and you supposedly have to drop in your own engine... any truth to this? ( i will be hitting up this websites shortly)

thx again

rob

 

That car looks cool, I wouldn't mind having that. That looks too cool to be just a track car IMHO.

 

In order to sell them in the USA they have to be sold as kit cars. You buy the rolling chassis from 1G Racing, buy the twin turbo Ford drivetrain and contract someone else to drop it in. By doing it this way you are considered the manufacturer. 1G Racing should have all the contacts. I don't believe that it's a nightmare, unless you decide to use a different powerplant, in which case there may be a lot of cutting and pasting necessary to make it work.

 

I've driven it and it will blow your socks off. I've owned a few porsches and m3's and driven a 996 turbo. The noble has the best steering of any cars I've been in. It communicates soooo much without a harsh ride. It is quite perfect just as Jeremy Clarckson says.
As far as speed.....I hit 130 in it before I knew what was going on. Call Dean at 1gracing and see if he is coming to a race in your area. He is a nice guy and a general car guy. Tell him Jeremy AKA TheForce sent you.

go to the pistonheads.com forum as well as gto3.com

 

I have yet to see one in person but there is one that pops up at a late night spot where all the rice rockets meet up. I noticed on a local forum that they were all raving about how nice it was. It sounds like a hell of a car for the money.

 

There were a few at a trackday recently, one broke down, didn't see much of the others unfortunately.