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The Ginetta G40 is a
sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
which has been built by
Ginetta Cars Ginetta Cars Limited is a British specialist builder of racing and sports cars based in Garforth, Leeds, West Yorkshire. History 20th century Ginetta was founded in 1958 by four Walklett brothers (Bob, Ivor, Trevers and Douglas) in Woodbri ...
since 2010. It is available in two versions; a road-going version, named the G40R, and the race version, the G40, which is available in two specifications; one of which is the G40 Challenge, the other is the G40 Junior, which were designed for the Ginetta GT5 Challenge and the Ginetta Junior Championship respectively. The G40 replaced the Ginetta G20 race car, and also replaced the road version of the
Ginetta G50 The Ginetta G50 is a specialist GT4 class-developed racing car, designed by Ginetta Cars. A road version of the car was planned, but did not enter wide-scale production; instead, the smaller Ginetta G40 was launched. Development In late 2007, ...
.


Race versions

The Ginetta G40 Challenge was introduced in 2010, supplementing the Ginetta G20 in the one-make Ginetta GT5 Challenge. At launch, the car used a 1.8-litre
Ford Zetec Ford Motor Company used the Zetec name on a variety of inline 4-cylinder automobile engines. It was coined to replace "Zeta" on a range of 1.6 L to 2.0 L multi-valve engines introduced in 1991 because Ford was threatened with legal acti ...
-based
inline-four engine A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the ...
, generating a power output of , and using a 5-speed gearbox, with the car weighing . The car was available in 2010 for £24,950, plus VAT, and featured 280mm discs all round. The engine in the most recent versions generate , and weigh , using 6-speed
Quaife R.T. Quaife Engineering, Ltd. is a British manufacturer of automotive drivetrain products. It designs and manufactures motorsport and performance orientated gearboxes, gearkits, differentials, steering racks and axle kits, along with many other as ...
sequential gearboxes. It received Autosport's National Car of the Year Award for 2010, two years after the G50 had received the same award. In addition to the Ginetta Junior Championship, the G40 has been entered in the Britcar series. In the latter series, it won its class at the
Britcar 24 Hours Britcar is an endurance sports car racing and touring car racing series in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1997, as a result of a discussion in a Nürburgring bar between Willie Moore and James Tucker. Folklore has it that James Tucker and J ...
, held at the Silverstone Circuit on its debut in 2010, and finished 12th overall, driven by the works
Team LNT Dr Lawrence Neil Tomlinson is one of the UK's most successful entrepreneurs and innovative engineers. He is the founder and owner of the LNT Group and also the owner and chairman of Ginetta, an english motorsports manufacturer and race series ...
team's drivers
Lawrence Tomlinson Dr Lawrence Neil Tomlinson is one of the UK's most successful entrepreneurs and innovative engineers. He is the founder and owner of the LNT Group and also the owner and chairman of Ginetta, an english motorsports manufacturer and race series ...
, Mike Simpson, Steve Linn and Nigel Moore, also proving to be the fastest Ginetta, as it finished one place ahead of a GT4-class
Ginetta G50 The Ginetta G50 is a specialist GT4 class-developed racing car, designed by Ginetta Cars. A road version of the car was planned, but did not enter wide-scale production; instead, the smaller Ginetta G40 was launched. Development In late 2007, ...
. At the 2011 edition of the race, the top G40 finished 26th overall, and fourth in class; this time entered by Rollcentre Racing, and driven by Richard Skyes, Jake Rattenbury, Brian Saunders and Mark Davies. In 2012, a G40 once again finished 12th overall, and fourth in class; this time, driven by Piranha Motorsport's Simon Mason, Rory Bryant, Ryan Ratcliffe and Chris Bialan. Ginetta also built a less powerful variant of the G40, named the G40 Junior. This utilizes a restricted version of the 1.8-litre Zetec engine, to comply with MSA regulations, and was used in the Ginetta Junior Championship (replacing the G20), a series for 14 to 17-year old drivers that is part of the
British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...
's support package. Initially run on Michelin Pilot Cup tyres, which were treaded, the series moved to slick tyres for 2012, only to revert to treaded tyres for 2013.


Road version

In 2010, Ginetta decided to cancel plans to produce a road-going version of the bigger
Ginetta G50 The Ginetta G50 is a specialist GT4 class-developed racing car, designed by Ginetta Cars. A road version of the car was planned, but did not enter wide-scale production; instead, the smaller Ginetta G40 was launched. Development In late 2007, ...
, and instead built a road-going variant of the G40, named the G40R. The race car's 1.8-litre Zetec engine was replaced with a modified 2.0-litre
Mazda MZR engine MZR is the brand name of a generation of Inline-four engines engineered and built by the Mazda Motor Corporation from 2001 to the present. MZR stands for "MaZda Responsive". The MZR generation includes gasoline and diesel powered engines ranging ...
, generating a power output of at 7,000rpm and the 6-speed manual gearbox shared with the
Mazda MX5 The Mazda MX-5 is a lightweight two-passenger roadster sports car manufactured and marketed by Mazda with a front mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. The convertible is marketed as the or in Japan, and as the Mazda Miata () in the United Sta ...
; however, the road car also includes the full race-spec rollcage. This configuration enables the car to accelerate from a standing start to 97km/h in 5.8 seconds and attain a claimed top speed of , the performance figures aided by its low weight of . Ginetta claim a fuel economy figure of 29 mpg, and carbon dioxide emissions of 181g/km. Prices started at £29,950. Autocar gave the car a rating of 4 out of 5; praising the car's engine note and driving feel, but criticizing it for inconsistent steering weight and for an unfinished cabin. What Car? gave the car a rating of 3 out of 5, praising its performance and handling, but criticizing its lack of safety features, its poor refinement, and its lack of equipment. The Telegraph gave the car 4 out of 5 stars, praising its driving feel, but criticizing the body's finish. Auto Express gave the car 3 out of 5, praising its on-track behaviour, but stating that it wasn't really suited to everyday usage. Ginetta planned to sell 100 cars annually.


See also

* Ginetta GT5 Challenge * Ginetta Junior Championship


References

{{Ginetta Cars , state=collapsed Ginetta vehicles Cars introduced in 2010 Sports cars 2010s cars