The Noble M12 GTO 3R/400
This is our Noble. Its british, which means it is ALWAYS broken in some way. It has NEVER run right. It ALWAYS breaks down. And it is ALWAYS in the shop. But man is it fast! 0-60 in around 3.5 seconds or so. The shifter from the factory rubs on the frame-- Works had to shave the frame away to make it fit. The ECU cuts the fuel for some mysterious reason, and the ECU company won't release their tuning software so us over here in the U.S. of A. can possibly fix the problem-- cuz they're british and talk funny. Works pulled off the turbos to investigate, and found that the turbos have never had any oil going to them... brilliant. The car is beautiful, and always collects a crowd. It sounds nice too, a pretty open exhaust, twin turbos on a Ford V6 and a BIG TiAl BOV. And of course, like I said before, it is REALLY fast. Its alot of fun to drive-- when its working. It has real tough shifting (even when its fixed) and its got a low greenhouse. It feels like a real racecar on the street. Unfortunately, it doesn't drive like one on the track. Its so very sloppy. You see, Lee Noble is a cocky fellow, and when someone told him that you can't build a performance car without swaybars, he did anyway. So its super stiff, and is always sideways. Fun normally, but the steering is VERY power assisted. So are the brakes. They suck actually. You basically push them 'till you see smoke. It stops on a dime, but it doesn't feel like it. There's talk in the family about possibly convert the Noble into a pure track car-- first to go is the power brake system. First thing on are some swaybars-- at least a front one. Anyway. It really is a fun car, despite how much I complain about it. It was in HIN with Works and drew a BIG crowd. It was alot of fun. The car actually has the M400 engine with 425hp. Itwas the first car in the U.S. to have it before the M400 body change came out. Here are some pictures: