Last month, I was lucky enough to be allowed behind the scenes of the supercar company Noble. Noble was created in 1999 in Leeds, UK by Lee Noble. Having previously visited Ferrari's test track and factory in Modena I was in for a surprise. Parking in a car park that consisted of about twenty bays in the middle of a grey concrete industrial estate, I was left a little underwhelmed. That was all about to change. Having explained my love for all things from Noble, I was granted entry into a large warehouse...in which no less than seven M600's rested, two of which had featured in TopGear's Italian road trip.
Noble was known for their superb handling cars including the M12-GTO Series before they really stepped up the game to bring the fight to the likes of Lamborghini, Ferrari and McLaren. The hypercar they created under the roof of their new premises in Leicester, UK is nothing short of a monster. The Noble M600. The body of the car is made entirely of carbon fiber resulting in the car weighing just under 1200 Kilos (2646 pounds). This lightweight body combined with a twin-turbo-charged Volvo sourced V8 pumping out an astonishing 650BHP when race mode is engaged, results in some truly mind-blowing acceleration figures (not what would be expected from a Volvo sourced engine!). 6O mph is dealt with is a mere 3.0 seconds and even more impressively 0-100 mph will fly by in just 6.5 seconds! For some context a Lamborghini LP-670 SV, Lambo's flagship car at the time the Noble was first delivered, would take 6.8 seconds and that is with the aid of launch control and four-wheel-drive. This car is not like the Arial Atom in the sense that it was just built for acceleration, Noble themselves claim that the M600 will hit a staggering 225mph! For some more context, a Ferrari Enzo with run out of puff at 225mph. In the wet in third gear, the power is so endless that the rear wheels will still be spinning in third gear. (For this very reason there is a fighter-jet style rocket launch button guard to stop you from turning off the traction control!)
The Noble is pretty unique in many ways in todays supercar maket. It's a much more raw and analogue car than it's current competitors, the likes of the Ferrari 458 or McLaren MP4-12C. 650BHP being fed through a manual gearbox. The interior made up of a blend of alcantara and carbon fiber, this is a car built for driving.
When you look at the characteristics of this car, the turbo charged V8, manual box, rear wheel drive, mid-engine, the bare interior and how the car seems so bespoke you realise just how back to basics this car is. Journalist Chris Harris drove the M600 and the legendary Ferrari F40 back to back and could not help but call it a 'modern day F40', surely one of the best compliments a car can possibly earn.
