JALOPNIK - The Ginetta G55 GTA Makes Modifying A Street Car Seem Silly
Anthony Magagnoli November 27, 2020
Any car designed to operate on the road requires a lot of engineering effort to make it street legal and comfortable enough to drive without a helmet. You may not understand how much those efforts inherently compromise a car for the track until you’ve driven a machine designed for track greatness from the very beginning. Behold, the U.S. Ginetta G55 GTA.
So, you think you’ve made your car into a pretty serious track day car? You just bought a high-end track weapon to dominate your favorite HPDE (High Performance Driver Education) school? You probably don’t realize just how compromised it really is.
A good sports car will survive on the track. A great car will do reasonably well there, with the level of performance on track being inversely proportional to its road manners. With enough money, the addition of active suspensions, active isolators, active aero, and more can reduce the compromises of a road car headed for the track — but they all add weight. And adding more money in carbon fiber bits can only help so much. Turning a road car into a dedicated track car is largely an exercise in undoing and re-engineering what was originally designed while physically removing as much excess mass as possible, but a car’s origins can never be fully hidden.
What Is The Ginetta G55?
The alternative to that is something like the Ginetta G55. A purpose-built race car, which doesn’t come with any of the inherent compromises mentioned above. The chassis is a rigid tube frame with an integrated FIA roll cage. The suspension geometry is optimized for track use with no consideration for passenger comfort. Its single purpose is to maximize tire contact patch to the road. There are no bushings to allow excess tired deflection or dilute the communication of what the tires are doing. There are no electronic aids to interfere with a pure driving experience, or to save your ass when you screw up.
This specific car, the G55 GTA (which stands for “GT Academy”) is built for an entry level rung on UK manufacturer Ginetta’s expansive race car ladder. It is a trainer, track toy and racecar intended to introduce a driver into the Ginetta family and provide a tool that maximizes driver skill development. The GT Academy has been a popular in the UK and Ginetta has intentions of launching similar programs in the U.S., likely in 2021. Formula 1 star Lando Norris is a graduate of Ginetta’s driver development ladder and you could be, too!
