Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Cheshire and Staffs Region has organised a tour round the Ginetta Cars facility in Garforth, Leeds on Friday 14th November. Tour will start circa 10:30am and take approximately 2 hours.

Places are limited to 40 people with priority given to Cheshire & Staffs members, though there should be plenty more room for forum members or members from other regions to join in.

About Ginetta:

Ginetta cars was founded by the Walklett brothers in the 1950s and has a rich history producing specialist sports and racing cars. In late 2005 Ginetta was acquired by LNT Automotive, a company run by experienced racing driver and successful businessman Lawrence Tomlinson. His aims remained in line with the original founders of Ginetta; to continue producing innovative, capable and above all, great value sports cars.

In mid-2007 Ginetta moved to a state-of-the-art factory near Leeds, with a target to sell 200 cars a year. Trained engineer Tomlinson himself penned the base specification for the Ginetta G50, which was produced to celebrate 50 years of Ginetta production, and became a successful GT4 and award winning racing car.

In March 2010, Ginetta acquired the Somerset-based sports car manufacturer Farbio, and re-badged their car the Ginetta F400. In March 2011, Ginetta launched the G55, running in the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup and built to the GT3 class regulations. In October 2011 Ginetta launched the G60, a two-door mid-engined sports car developed from the F400 and powered by a Ford-sourced 3.7-litre V6 engine.

Ginetta build a range of racing and road cars and have just announced the purchase of Juno resulting in the Ginetta-Juno LMP3 class concept that they hope will return Ginetta to Le Mans!

Please PM me or email me to register your interest / your place. The event is two months away so gives you plenty of time to book a Friday off!

Bump...

We have had some folks from Cheshire and some from the North West step forward, but so far that's it. There is plenty of space on this tour. Please post here if interested or PM me for details.

List so far:

David Watson
John Biddulph
Graham Copestake
Randy Sweeting
Tony Levy
Dave Mercer
Gordon Bayley
Ian Highfield
Barry Stenhouse

Love to go but sadly my P car is tucked up in the garage for the winter by then, plus a bit of a hike from the south coast. Hope you guys have a really interesting visit though

Considering this. My Porsche is an all year round car and a November run might be a fun thing to do. Why shut them away for months at a time?

Just experience Richard, when your calipers and disks are a frozen lump of salty/gritty/ice and its so cold that you can't even wash it all out for several days, and you end up with a caliper overhaul and new disks as a result. Plus I am driving an appreciating asset, which I will try to protect within reason.

The more the merrier. And I won't tell if you don't turn up in a Porsche...

I will be taking my daily driver 928 though!

Count me in please. Have booked the day off. Shame WFR isn't still going as we could head there in the afternoon.

Andrew Smith
Thames Valley region.

Hi everyone,

I will contact all that have registered their interest to update you on the latest for the Factory Tour at Ginetta. Unfortunately, Mike Simpson (Commercial Manager) informed me this morning that key members of their team now need to attend the Cologne Motorsport Show which clashes with the 14th. He also suggested that we would not see them at their best given that commitment.

So he has apologised for the inconvenience but requests that we move our visit to the 21st November @ 10:30am. He can guarantee availability that date.

So sorry if this messes up holiday plans etc but it is outside my control. If you could reconfirm your interest if you still intend joining the tour, I would be very grateful.

Regards,

I can make the revised date - count me in please.

Hi Folks,

I currently have 34 people registered for the visit to Ginetta on the 21st. Anyone else who wants to come along please reply / PM. I need to give the factory numbers next week.

Some have also expressed interest in meeting up on route. Current suggestions are Birch Services (8:45-9am) on the M62 for those using the M6 or Donington Services (8:30-8:45am) for those using the M1. Other suggestions welcome.

Plan will be to find a pub locally for those that wish to stop for lunch prior to returning home.

Will confirm details shortly though we currently have 28 definites plus another 4-6 maybes. Mike Simpson has now asked me for firm numbers, so any more folks wishing to join in, please PM.

Current plan once the tour is finished is to decant into a pub called the Arabian Horse, Aberford, recommended by the factory. I need to phone them too given that Friday lunch will probably be busy...

Just a reminder that the Ginetta Tour is on this week. I have not far off 40 people attending from TiPEC, DDK and another club so should be a good crowd.

Provisional arrangement is either a) meet at Birch Services M62 @ 8:45am or b) meet at Ginetta's factory, Garforth, Leeds, LS25 2DY ahead of the tour starting 10:30am. It should last circa 2 hours, after which I am trying to get some tables reserved at the Arabian Horse, Aberford (been recommended) once I have validated how much parking space they have.

I'll meet you at the Ginetta factory. Thanks for confirming all details.

For the benefit of those attending the tour, Mike Simpson has advised that parking at the factory may become an issue given the numbers attending. There are a few spaces within their factory boundary in front of the building, otherwise we'll need to park outside on the adjacent street.

See you in the morning!