Ginetta G55

Ginetta Cars announced in November 2010 that they were going to be building a new sports car, and named it as the G55.[1] In February 2011, the car was released, as a more powerful evolution of the G50.[2] The G55 featured a Ford-sourced 3.7 litre V6, producing 370 hp, in addition to a 6-speed sequential manual gearbox, built by Hewland.[2] The new car did not replace the G50; instead, it supplemented it,[3] and the Ginetta G50 Cup was rebranded as the Ginetta GT Supercup.[1] The G55 was available for sale for £75,000, or as an upgrade from the G50 for £25,000.[3] The car made its British GT debut in the Oulton Park rounds of the 2011 season, with four separate entries competing; the best result of the event came courtesy of Century Motorsport, whom took a ninth-place finish at the second race of the day.[4] Century Motorsport were also responsible for the car's best finish of the season; a fourth place at Rockingham Motor Speedway, in the first race of the day.[4] A GT3 test mule was run by Rollcentre Racing (using the Cup engine with some GT3-specification components) in the 2011 Britcar 24 Hours;[5] however, the car failed to finish the race.[4]

In 2012,[6] Ginetta introduced a full GT3 version of the G55, which featured a Ginetta Racing-built 4.35 litre V8 engine in place of the Cup's 3.7 litre V6.[7] Previously, they had used the Cup-spec car in GT3 races.[8] Like the Cup car, it used a Hewland-sourced gearbox; however, it features wider wheels than the Cup car.[7]

The G55 GT3 made its first appearance at a Donington Park test session.[6] The GT3 car made its competitive debut at the Silverstone round of the Britcar GT series, with Optimum Motorsport entering it; they finished eighth overall, and third in Class 1.[9] The car's first win came at the Donington Park round of the Britcar series; with Team LNT and Optimum Motorsport taking a G55 one-two.[10] A G55 GT3 was used by United Autosports for the 2012 Britcar 24 Hours, with the team entering Richard Dean, Lawrence Tomlinson, Mike Simpson and Tom Kimber-Smith as their drivers.[11] The team contested under the Team LNT banner, and finished 21st overall, and third in Class 1.[12]

The G55 GT3 was announced as one of the official cars for Project CARS simulator in August 2012, alongside the G50 and the Ginetta G40 Junior.[13]

Ginetta showcased both models of the G55 at the 2013 Autosport International Show.[14] For the 2013 British GT season, IDL Racing announced they would be entering a G55 GT3 in the series (in conjunction with CWS), whilst two Works-run cars were also entered.[8]

The Ginetta G55 is also running in the 2020 ADAC GT4 championship:[15] with a naturally aspirated 3.7L engine, delivering 380 PS and weight of 1085 kg.

The Ginetta G55 GTA is being sold in North America as part of a campaign to interest people in American sports-car racing.[16] This model is also suitable for people who want a track day car for weekend time trials and high-performance driving education events.[17] The car is powered by a 270bhp, 3.7L V6 Ford engine with a dry sump and race clutch, driving the rear wheels via a paddle-shifted 6 speed Quaife helical gearbox with auto-blip. The G55 GTA weighs 2,400 pounds, and has a top speed of 140 MPH .