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Ginetta cars

Ginetta Cars is a British car company founded in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England by the four Walklett brothers (Bob, Ivor, Trevers and Douglas) in 1958. Ginetta Cars produces road cars as well as racing cars. In 2005, GKD Sports C purchased the rights to the Ginetta G27 from Martin Phaff and the car has since been revamped quite a bit. Changes have for instance been carried out that affects aerodynamics and styling, and the car is now sold as the GKD Evolution. In 2006, the GKD Evolution was declared Car of the Year by Which Kit Car magazine.

Ginetta Racing Cars

Ginetta carsAs mentioned above, Ginetta has always been associated with motor racing. In recent years, the Ginetta Cars G20 race series has met with great success and gained plenty of media coverage. Guest drivers such as Roberto Austini has participated, and the 2005 race was won by Matt Nicholl-Jones driving for Academy Motorsport. In 2006, a Ginetta G20 GTR coupe run by the Richmond Racing team participated in the British GT Championship. The same team has entered the 2007 Championship. In addition to this, there is also a junior race championship available for drivers aged 14-17 years.

Ginetta Road Cars

The first Ginetta road car was created as a kit for enthusiasts and named the G2. This kit consisted of a tubular frame chassis to take Ford components and aluminium body. No more than roughly 100 kits were produced until the G3 was introduced in 1953. The G3 had a glass fibre body was produced until 1961, when the G4 took over. The G4 had a glass fibre GT style body and employed the new Ford 105E engine. It also had a coil springing suspension at the front and Ford live axle at the rear. The G2 and G3 had been designed with competition in mind, but the G4 was more of an all-around car. While still being very competitive in Motor Sport, the G4 could be used as an everyday car as well. By 1969, over 500 Ginetta G4 cars had been produced, with a variety of Ford engines. In the beginning, all Ginetta G4 cars were open, but in 1963 a coupe was introduced. The Ford live axle at the rare was also replaced by a BMC axle that year.

Ginetta designed cars produced by other companies

Ginetta is not the only company offering Ginetta designed cars. In 1995, a Swedish company named Gin1 did, for instance, start production of a Ginetta G34 that was designed to run on a Volvo engine. Gin1 was able to purchase engines directly from Volvo and also managed to get it type approved. Sadly enough, the project folded when just a few Ginetta G34 Volvo-version cars that been produced.

DARE – Design and Research Engineering – was founded in 1991 by two of the original Walklett brothers and Trever’s son Mark and is now producing an updated Ginetta G4. DARE has also developed a separate set of cars, the TG and DZ which has received a lot of praise.