Noble in the USA

Noble in the USA

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honkety hank

Original Poster:

7 posts

258 months

Friday 16th May 2003
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Just saw an advertisement in Autoweek for Nobles.

Car costs $53,000 less engine. I will call them and see what the skinny is.

Hey, Noble even beat TVR to the USA!

jboswell

7 posts

258 months

Friday 16th May 2003
quotequote all

Just saw an advertisement in Autoweek for Nobles.

Car costs $53,000 less engine. I will call them and see what the skinny is.

Hey, Noble even beat TVR to the USA!


I drove the M12 demo two weekends ago at Dynamic Motorsports. It works like so.

Hi-Tech (Superformance to you and me in the US) can make 300 Nobles per year. English Single Vehicle Approval limits importation to 200. The US gets the rest.

The car I drove had a three-liter Duratec, built in the US, putting out a putative 365hp.

If you are seriously interested, call Dean Rosen at Dynamic Motorsports, 1-800-29-SNAKE.

I believe that a car with A/C. radio, et al is $57,995 plus motor and transmission, for which you can expect to pay between ten and twenty thousand dollars.

fizz

251 posts

277 months

Saturday 17th May 2003
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Any web information available?

ikey

23 posts

272 months

Saturday 17th May 2003
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While I am disappointed by the lack of TVR, for those who can live without TVR, there is now: Lotus, Morgan, Caterham, Dare/Ginetta, and NOBLE available in the USA!
Congrats to NOBLE for coming to the USA.
BTW, I checked the Noble dealer list and do not see any listing in the USA or web information--but I did see the advertisement in Autoweek, too!

jboswell

7 posts

258 months

Monday 19th May 2003
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More information on the Noble M12 in the USA:

Although the cars are built by Hi-Tech in SA, which produces "Superformance" cars for the US, in this case these cars are NOT being sold as Superformances or through the regular Superformance dealer network. The distributor is 1G Racing, and you can reach them at

1-866-M12-NOBL

The 800 number I gave previously is the general Superformance number, and depending on where you call from in the US, you might be put in touch with a dealer who is not handling the Nobles... so call the above number for more information.

I am not affiliated with Dean or 1G Racing in any way but I suspect you will be very pleased with them, as I have dealt with Dean in the past to my great satisfaction.

Now for a generic Noble-in-the-USA note. The UK and US are very different places, and they take occasionally very different views on cars, which might lead you to believe that the Noble is perhaps not suited for "American" conditions.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The car mags go on and on about the ballistic thrust and amazing handling of the car, (and in three-liter US form it's even more so) but what they don't tell you is that you can hustle it down a crummy, mis-maintained US road without shuddering in sympathetic mechanical misery. It's a real car for the real world, even in the land of hamburgers and SUVs.


The 1g Racing website is in development, will post when it's done.

>> Edited by jboswell on Monday 19th May 19:27

joust

14,622 posts

266 months

Monday 19th May 2003
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Give the Noble pulls 1.2G - will they have to rename???

fish fried fred

41 posts

276 months

Thursday 22nd May 2003
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Can you order one without the wing?

I'll see one in the flesh at Elkhart Lake this summer and decide if it is worth $70,000...

Kudos to Noble all the same.

joust

14,622 posts

266 months

Thursday 22nd May 2003
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fish fried fred said: Can you order one without the wing?
Err - it looks pants without it....

J

airoom

54 posts

269 months

Saturday 31st May 2003
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Just rerad in CAR that the wing serves no functional purpose--so there!

amg merc

11,954 posts

260 months

Saturday 31st May 2003
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airoom said: Just rerad in CAR that the wing serves no functional purpose--so there!


Does anyone know what the facory's position is on this?

I'd prefer without so may have them drill the four holes and blank them thus (initially?) going sans-spoiler!

goodlife

1,852 posts

266 months

Saturday 31st May 2003
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amg merc said:

airoom said: Just rerad in CAR that the wing serves no functional purpose--so there!


Does anyone know what the facory's position is on this?

I'd prefer without so may have them drill the four holes and blank them thus (initially?) going sans-spoiler!


Exactly what I'm going to do. There are apparently 4 bolts holding the wing in place, so 4 rubber caps should suffice. Might not want to order the car without it as it many effect resale.

jacques

4 posts

259 months

Saturday 31st May 2003
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Hey Jboswell enjoyed your remarks, can you tell me in which US publications (and issues) the Noble features?
Regarding the wing, the factory told me that the wing is functional and aids stability at higher speeds.

joust

14,622 posts

266 months

Sunday 1st June 2003
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Given the wing is a 'perfect' "inverted" wing shape (even down to having <2.5mm radius at the trailing edge - hence it apparently has to be taken off for the SVA), and it is set at a significant attack angle (and can be modified either way) I can assure you it is perfectly functional!

If you want you can generate your own lookie likey one at www.pagendarm.de/trapp/programming/java/profiles/NACA4.html and then take the point definitions and play with the attack angle in any model you like (the Technical Director of our German company wrote the application...(

J

Fixed the link

>> Edited by joust on Sunday 1st June 20:30

amg merc

11,954 posts

260 months

Sunday 1st June 2003
quotequote all

joust said: Given the wing is a 'perfect' "inverted" wing shape (even down to having <2.5mm radius at the trailing edge - hence it apparently has to be taken off for the SVA), and it is set at a significant attack angle (and can be modified either way) I can assure you it is perfectly functional!

If you want you can generate your own lookie likey one at www.pagendarm.de/trapp/programming/java/profiles/NACA4.html, and then take the point definitions and play with the attack angle in any model you like (the Technical Director of our German company wrote the application...(

J


Justin, link doesn't seem to work?!

m12_nathan

5,138 posts

266 months

Sunday 1st June 2003
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try it without the comma on the end

joust

14,622 posts

266 months

Sunday 1st June 2003
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And the program to play with the results can be found at http://raphael.mit.edu/xfoil/

BCA

8,651 posts

264 months

Sunday 1st June 2003
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So is the wing attatched to the body then? does that mean the body in the Noble is stressed as part of the structure??

If it is attatched to the body but the body serves no real purpose structurally I can only assume the rear wing just crushes the bonnet against the body at high speeds???

Or have I missed something. Either way, the wing makes the car. Bah why do I have to wait sooooo long for GT4 to be able to get an idea of thier capabilities?!!

kkkaty

68 posts

277 months

Tuesday 3rd June 2003
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I hate to move off the thread, but if you were in the USA, would you wait for the TVR or get the Noble?

joust

14,622 posts

266 months

Tuesday 3rd June 2003
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Wing is attched to the body, which in turn is bolted directly onto the rear engine subframe.

As to squashing the body - i'm sure it will flex slightly, but then so would a metal body.....

Important thing is that the wing generates negative lift which is passed through the body, through the chassis to the wheels...

J

airoom

54 posts

269 months

Saturday 7th June 2003
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Curious about whether the NOBLE is a vaible alternative to a Porsche Carrera. The Carrera you can use every day and drive in all conditions. Could you do that with a NOBLE?