The mid-sixties was a
prolific time for the Walklett Brothers
and Ginetta Cars Ltd. The G4, introduced in 1961 had been steadily developed
and by 1966 had become a very successful and quite civilised sports car. Its
very light weight also made it a competitive racing car, in particular the G4R
with independent rear suspension and a variety of Ford power units, notably in
the hands of “works” driver Chris Meek. During 1964 Ivor and Trevers Walklett
had produced an advanced glassfibre monocoque chassis, for Formula 3
single-seater racing. Production difficulties dictated that only three cars
were built, but the G8 showed promise in the hands of Chris Meek, and valuable
lessons were learnt about the design and manufacture of rear-engined formula
racing cars.
So it was perhaps no
great surprise that two years later a new rear-engined GT racing car, the G12
was launched in 1966, aimed at GT racing in general, and the Motoring News GT
Championship in particular. Using the 997cc Cosworth SCA engine (as used in
F3), the G12 made its debut in the autumn of 1966, and in the hands of Chris
Meek (again) and Willie Green, was soon taking not only class wins, but lap
records and outright victories. Its success lay in its diminutive size and
ultra light weight, and the availability of Ford’s Lotus Twin Cam engine, and
dominated GT racing through 1967 and into 1968. The G12 is considered to be the
first British designed and built rear-engined GT car; but was eventually to
fall victim to its size as Lotus and Chevron caught up, with bigger 2-litre
cars (Lotus 47 and Chevron B8). Production of the original G12 came to and end after about 30 cars had
been built, but the “modular” componentry, and suspension design would
re-appear in the G17 and G18 single seaters for Formula Four and Formula Ford
in 1969. At the same time the G16 appeared (a “big” G12 capable of accepting
2-litre or V8 engines) to redress the Lotus/Chevron issue, but was not as successful
as its predecessor, and Ginetta Cars was now concentrating on the Imp-engined
G15 road car.
Altogether about 35 Ginetta
G12s were built “in-period”, and a further batch was sold into the Japanese
market from 1989 to 1992.
GINETTA G12 #
7032
The Ginetta G12 was a
“game-changer” when it was launched in 1966. My own G12, chassis # 7032, is one
of the last in the original chassis number sequence, which I acquired in the
early nineties whilst Technical Director of Ginetta Cars in the post-Walklett
era. At the time I was competing a Jedi-Yamaha and had also acquired an ex-Scan+Sport
Reynard 853 as a rolling chassis. The Reynard was then
fitted with a Honda 998 power unit for hillclimbing and Monoposto circuit
racing.
A Swedish
enthusiast who had seen this picture of the Reynard in a feature in
Autosport by Marcus Pye, decided he just had to have the car, so it went to
Sweden, but without its new Honda engine and transmission, which was now
sharing a barn with the G12. Inevitably I installed the ex-Reynard engine into the Ginetta on an
“experimental” basis (and partly
inspired by the Kawasaki-engined G12 built by Ginetta for the Kawasaki
Motor Corporation in 1989).
The
“experimental” transplant continues
to this day, and #7032 has been driven
by James Tearle and myself since 2000……………..
Ginetta G12 #7032
has spent most of its competition career as a GT, but now runs in “spyder”
form.
