Ginetta G15
My 4th Car was a Ginetta G15 MK II 1973. This was a factory built car produced by the Ginetta Factory. Being at the right place & the right time allowed me to secure this outstanding car.
Pretty much a racing car for the road with a dry weight of 501 kg & powered by a 4 cylinder 998 cc 105 hp all aluminium alloy Hillman Imp engine. With twin Weber 40 DCOE Carburettors, a lightened flywheel, high light camshaft, tubular combined inlet / exhaust manifold, a 2 inch bore straight through silencer, an enlarged oil sump & top of the range NGK racing spark plugs, you get the picture this was as close to a sensible racing engine that you could probably buy for the same money. Then there was the multitude of alloy pulleys to retain the water pump drive belt from flying off at high revolutions. This engine would easily rev to 9,000 rpm & to almost 9,500 rpm.
The test drive in the Ginetta G15 was very memorable indeed. After my previous motorbike & car ownerships to date this car was in another dimension. The test drive was on private roads. The ease with which the car accelerated & the way the engine just picked up without hesitation was very new to myself at the time. We approached an almost 90 degree bend at somewhere between 80 & 90 mph & the car just went round with no drama, save for a little steering adjustment. I had never been as quick in any vehicle & probably never will again, as this was properly on the limit, akin to Lewis Hamilton’s qualifying Pole position lap in Singapore 2018. I later found out that the previous owner was a successful Hill Climb racer & could certainly drive on the limit.
The brakes were really impressive too, with a cool demonstration of super hard controlled braking, with fast modulating of the braking & with a lot front tyre scrubbing bringing the car to a very quick stop. Wow!
I always like the number plate as it had a little ‘Evilness’ about it.
You could say I was very impressed with the car & this test drive strongly supported my purchase of the car. On returning from the test drive there were 2 heavily imprinted footprints of my shoes on the passenger side bulkhead!
I enjoyed many miles of spirited youthful driving in the Ginetta G15, with its race car handling. The very stiff suspension, a low down raked seating position, firmly holding you in small bucket seats & aligned to a small steering wheel, requiring only small flicks of the wrist to steer the car, was a fantastic initial experience to the world of performance car driving.
The Ginetta G15 was my 1st introduction to the Hillman Imp Engine. A much underrated engine which was produced with a capacity of 875 cc. This engine proved to be masterpiece of design in the late 1960’s & early 70’s. If only the British Car Industry was better placed, at the time to develop such an engine, the end result could have been so much better for the Imp. Its competitor the Mini survived, although I was never a fan as I was a big supporter of the Imp.
At the time of ownership, having my first performance car I probably didn’t fully understand – the everyday realities of a highly tuned engine. For myself the Ginetta G15 was faultless in its day to day role of commuting (in all weathers, including snow) & weekend driving. One day on the motorway all of a sudden I heard a loud mechanical vibration. At first I thought this was the silencer had possibly become loose, also the power was down quite significantly & it felt like it was running on 3 cylinders. As I was close to work I carried on eventually reaching work with no more apparent faults. The engine just kept going in the same poorly state.
…This story continues on my next blog for my Ginetta G15
