Lee Noble, founder of the eponymous British sportscar maker, is making a £70,000 supercar that will take on the M12 he himself designed, but which the maker subsequently sold the production rights to. Noble left his company last year.
The car will be made by Noble's new 'Fenix' company and will stay true to the blueprint favoured by the man himself: a mid-mounted V8 with around 400bhp sending drive to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox. Driving aids will be absolutely minimal, with no ABS and negligible steering assistance. There will be a traction control system, but it will apparently be unobtrusive.
The revelation that the new car will be 'practical' is quite surprising, as is the fact it will be built largely in South Africa by the company that builds the M12 for its American licence holder, 1G Racing. It will then be shipped to Fenix's Leicestershire base for completion. Around 500 cars per year is Fenix's production aim, with sales in Europe, the US and Japan. The car is already undergoing testing, but the new Fenix unlikely to emerge in production form until late next year.
And we didn't even say 'from the flames' once.
Mark Nichol - 20 Nov 2009