"Staggering" sums up the Noble M12 GTO-3R. For an inexpensive supercar, the perofrmance of the M12 GTO-3R is amazing: a 0-60 time of 3.7 seconds with a maximum speed of over 170 mph.
Yet this a compact, mid-engined coupe with only a 3-liter engine. There are only about 30 car models built today that can sprint to 60 mph in less than four seconds, and almost all of them are over $200,000, except those ultra-lightweight jobs with motor cycle engines. Many supercars, like the Porsche 911 GT3 S, for example, can't quite do it.
Light and simple
The Noble is a low coupe, with the look you can only get with a mid-engined layout. Above all the M12 GTO-3R is amazing value - yours for less than £50,000 or about $100,000, These are sports cars in the true tradition of modern sports and racing cars started by the likes of John Cooper, Colin Chapman and Eric Broadley - light, simple with good roadholding.
It just shows that you don't need 6 liters or more with 500 plus bhp to build a supercar. Sure, with 500 bhp you can get to 190 mph or more, but off a race track that doesn't mean a thing.
So who's Noble? It is a small firm started by Lee Noble, who has designed a number of cars including the Ascari Ecosse supercar. The first Noble was the M10, an open two-seater with a Ford 2.5 liter V-6, and this soon evolved into the M12. M10 was the tenth car Noble had designed.
His aim was to produce a car that was spacious and civilised, and that "anyone could drive fast without feeling intimidated." Now they produce over 200 cars like that each year, and export to several countries including the USA.
Distinctive lines with air dam and three front air intakes
The Noble looks the part, with the typical low nose and an air dam stretching across below the three air intakes. The lamps are the small, modern halogen type, behind streamlined plastic panels. In the sides are neat air intakes forward of the rear wheels, which apart from being useful, break up the slab look of the sides. The sloping roof extends into flying buttresses that slope back into the tail on each side of the engine cover. At the rear, one spoiler is built in, but there's also a wild separate spoiler on a pair of legs above the tail.
Inside, the layout is simplicity itself, with the main instruments in individual pods right in front of the driver, and the minor instruments on the central console. The short gear level pokes up above the deep central tunnel.
Twin-turbocharged V-6 engine....
At the heart of each Noble is a twin-turbocharged 3.0 liter V-6 mounted amidships and driving through a six-speed gearbox to the rear wheels. The car is very light - and this is where the performance comes from: the combination of plenty of power, light weight and a small frontal area.
It's hard to believe that the 352 bhp V-6 engine of the M12 GTO-R3 starts life as Ford's all-aluminum unit. Most of the internal parts are either replaced with special Noble ones, or are modified to improve performance. The twin turbocharger installation is Noble's own, and these tiny units are responsible for boosting power to 352 bhp at only 6,200 rpm - that's 118 bhp per liter, the same as the Ferrari Challenge Stradale. Maximum torque of 350 lbs ft is produced all the way from 3,500 to 5,000 rpm, giving massive mid-range power.
Exclusive Getrag six-speed gearbox
Currently, Noble is the only user of the six-speed close-ratio box fitted to the V-6. It is built by Getrag, the German specialist. The engine is mounted across the frame, so the gearbox and axle gears are in one unit, providing one of the most compact power train packages in the business. A Quaife torque-sensing diff is standard.
Simple, stiff frame
Simplicity is the theme with the chassis frame - it consists of a steel tubular space frame to which aluminum panels are bonded and riveted. The result is light weight and great stiffness - all at a fraction of the cost of the carbon fiber composites and aluminum space frames used by Noble's competitors.
Practical considerations have not been forgotten as they often are on super sports cars. Both the nose and tail section hinge up to give plenty of access to the mechanical units.
The suspension is typical of supercars, with double wishbones front and rear. The uprights are aluminum, and there are the usual spring/damper units at each wheel. The rea wishbones are widely based to give good wheel control when the power is on.
A supercar weighing just 2,380 lbs (1,080 kg)
This little pocket supercar - it is only 161 in long - weighs only 2,380 lbs (1,080 kg). Little wonder that the performance leaves owners of very powerful, exotic and expensive machines gasping. With 335 bhp per tonne you're just bound to be able to accelerate as fast as the tires can grip.
Designed as a fast road car, the Noble M12 has large 13-inch cross-drilled and ventilated disc brakes, and the 18 inch wheels are shod in 225/40 front and 265/35 rear Bridgestone Potenza S-03 tires, which give a good compromise between wet and dry performance.
Not only will the M12 get to 100 mph in 8.8 seconds, but it will brake from 100 mph to zero in 4.1 seconds. Pretty good, eh? But if youwant more performance, then the Noble M400 is the answer.
