RARE GINETTA FOR OULTON RACE
G4r to tackle this weekend’ s gold cup
The most significant Ginetta G4 will return to racing this weekend after spending nearly all of its life in the USA.
The G4R racing version of the production G4 was built for the Sebring 12 hours in 1965 and has recently been shipped back to the UK and restored for new owner Mark Halstead.
Dan Eagling from Lifetime Racing has been heavily involved in the project and will race the car in Sunday’s Guards Trophy race at Oulton Park.
This important car in the Ginetta story was built by the factory as a one-off prototype for the 1965 race, and was numbered chassis 4/0195. It was raced by three Americans but retired with a blown engine. More than 30 years ago, Ed Valpey bought the car at a farm sale in the US, knowing it was a Ginetta G4R but not that it was the original 1965 Sebring car.
More recently, British racer Halstead was in discussion with Tony Ingram in the States over purchasing another G4 when Ingram heard that the Sebring car might be available for sale. It took more than two years before a deal could be agreed with Valpey.
Trevor Pyman, registrar for the Ginetta Owners Club, was able to confirm the full history after seeing photographs of certain unique features of the car.
“The car needed restoration to bring it up to current race standards,” said Halstead. “This was started as soon as possible because there are no off-the-shelf parts suppliers available for this model. The car was finally ready in March.”