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EARLIER THIS YEAR, MSD’S BEN WHIBLEY TOOK PART
IN A TRACK DAY AT BRANDS HATCH WITH GINETTA
CARS AND HAD THE CHANCE TO CATCH UP WITH
18-YEAR-OLD CHAMPION AND GINETTA FACTORY
DRIVER CHARLIE ROBERTSON.
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T R A C K
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I
was able to take the G40
out on track with the
very experienced James
Littlejohn, who was brave enough
to sit next to me. I managed to put
my racing boots on and had a few
laps being pushed by James. As I
only had a few laps to get my
bearings, it wasn’t as fast as you’d
expect, but it’s a beautifully
balanced car and similar to the
Caterham Academy car while
being a tin top, which makes you
feel you are driving something
more special.
While I was there, I had a few
laps with Charlie Roberson who
took me out in a G55. I’ve been out
in WTCC cars, BTCC cars, single
seaters and I raced for years too,
but the G55 just blew me away
with the brakes and grip of the
tyres. I’m a big fan of the Ginetta
family of cars on the BTCC pack-
age (probably more so than the
touring cars themselves) but now
I want to race one too. The noises
of the engine and gear shifts are
something you need to experience
yourself. If you have a chance to
be in one of these beauties, take it.
Robertson is the 2015 Europe-
an Le Mans Series champion and
recently competed in the Road to
Le Mans race in the sole Ginet-
ta LMP3 car. He did well to lead
almost the entire first half of the
race but a problem in the pits
dropped them to third. Teammate
and Ginetta boss Lawrence Tom-
linson took over and pushed hard,
regaining second place before a
spin put him in the gravel, sadly
losing them a place on the podium.
I had the chance to speak to
Robertson about his recent suc-
cesses in the Ginetta G57 at the
V de V race at Catalunya after a
front row lockout in qualifying.
He says: “It was the race debut of
the G57 and all four cars finished.
We went in confident with the
car but there’s way more perfor-
mance to come.”
The first race of the season
tends to be a big learning curve
with a new car but it all went well
for Robertson and Ginetta, as he
explains: “The car ran perfectly
the whole weekend, although
there were a few small issues with
engine mapping, but we learned
about the car and the perfor-
mance. Other than that it ran
smoothly. As it was the first race
weekend of the year we wanted to
make sure it all ran as expected,
which it did.”
Of course, the car was tested
and fine-tuned by the team to
perform as well as it did. Robert-
son says: “We had done a lot of
testing and done a base setup on
the car and learned a lot about the
chassis from LMP3 last year so we
had a good base to start from. The
engineers know what they are do-
ing, so when we report on the car
having a little more front-end, they
know the changes that need to be
made. I’m still learning about the
car and developing as a driver, as
it’s more complicated than any-
thing I have ever driven. The car
responds to the changes instantly
on track.”
There’s a huge difference in
speed around Brands Hatch
between the G55 and the new
G57. Robertson would do a G55
lap in around 49 seconds while
the G57 can do it in 43 – an as-
tonishing difference over such a
short circuit. Robertson explains
the improvement in performance
further: “It’s so fun to drive and I
love the downforce of the car. You
GETTING TO
GRIPS WITH THE
GINETTA G57