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G20 Championship Introduction |
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Written by Paul Trowbridge
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Tuesday, 21 March 2006 |
 The 2005 season is the tenth successive year of the Ginetta racing series which was celebrated at the Ginetta Festival at Rockingham in August. Following the successful introduction of the current G20 model in 2002 the series bucked the trend in much of UK motorsport, providing ever bigger grids and it now lays claim to be the biggest single-class series in the UK. Over 60 drivers will have taken part in the championship this year including famous names like Tiff Needell, Richard Dunwoody, Luther Blissett, Louise Goodman and David Brabham, who won the Snetterton race.
The championship has been contested over eight rounds with competitors counting a maximum of seven scores for their overall position. Nobody would claim the specification of the cars to be a “high-tech” one, for the simple reason that it is not. Indeed it is a very simple formula and herein lies much of the attraction. The cars use sealed Ford Zetec 1.8 litre engines, with Ford fuel injection and Pectel race ECUs, delivering 155bhp. The Ford gearbox and differential ratios are all closely specified in the regulations and with the series run on controlled Dunlop tyres, AVO dampers and Sunoco 76racing fuel, it is constantly able to ensure competitive racing at sensible budgets.
At the same time the series can realistically be seen as a stepping stone to GTs and several of the teams have been developing GT versions of the G20 with the aim of being on the UK series grid next year. However it is not all about progressing up the ladder, and the Ginetta Cup is without doubt one of the friendliest series in the UK with competitors finding the camaraderie a magnet and thus competing year after year.
Thirty six drivers have scored points so far in the 2005 championship and the Ginetta teams and drivers will have a chance to compete again this year in a four-race winter series at Brands Hatch and Croft in November. The championship will move to the recently-announced Dunlop ‘Great and British’ package in 2006 after spending a successful two years as part of the British F3 and GT calendar.
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Ginetta Info 