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Step 1. Understand What Factors Affect Your Rates
Become an informed insurance consumer. Every insurance company takes a slightly different approach to pricing auto insurance, and that’s why rates vary so much from one company to the next. The basic facts -- who you are, where you live and what you drive -- are used by all insurance companies. Prior claims, traffic tickets, annual mileage, zip code, and even education and occupation will affect your rate. In some states, insurers may use an insurance credit score for rating or underwriting. Lastly, your coverage, deductibles, and the safety features of your cars will contribute to your final rate.
The ongoing saga of the Farboud GTS is like the evolution of a beard. First, the original GTS could be likened to a deep, five o'clock shadow. The Farbio GTS that came next was akin to whiskers, some substance. Then, Ginetta came in and rebadged it the F400, making it a Tom Selleck-inspired super-‘tache. Now we have the final, fully-grown Chuck Norris beard: the Ginetta G60.
Ginetta boss Lawrence Tomlinson loved the old F400 dearly, but wanted something a bit more consistent. He halted production of that car and set to work on the G60 you see above. It houses a 3.7-litre Ford ‘Cyclone' V6 engine - the same engine used in the 185mph GT3 racing Ginetta - mounted in the middle, sending 310 horses and 288 torques to the rear wheels. 0-60mph is quoted as 4.9 seconds, while top speed if somewhere north of 165mph.
The body is still an F400, albeit with new carbon fibre cooling vents and a revised splitter, but its been bonded to a new tubular steel chassis, housing that V6, a six-speed manual and an ‘ATB' limited slip diff. The suspension is of double wishbone variety with coil springs, there are 355mm grooved brake discs, the wiring has been redone to make it more reliable (handy, that), while even the driver's pedals have been realigned.
Oh, and Mr Tomlinson also thought it wise to rip out the power steering, the brake servos, ABS and traction control. That's right. No assistance for your arms, legs or tiny brain. As a result of this and the use of carbon fibre, the G60 weighs in at just 1,080kg.
There are some creature comforts though, such as sat nav (to see which hedge you're ploughing into), Bluetooth (to alert loved ones of your imminent hedge-ploughing), audio (to drown out your screams) and climate controls (to remove the sweaty-palmed panic) all housed in a 7in centrally-mounted touchscreen.
Ginetta says the G60 "is rare by any standards", and just 50 will be built each year, at a cost of £68,000. Customer deliveries are expected to begin in February 2012.
We'll reserve judgement on this V6-powered carbon fibre go-kart until we drive it, but does the premise appeal? A lightweight, uncompromised mid-engined sportscar?
Sebastien Ogier, in a Citroen DS3 WRC, has won Rallye de France Alsace for the first time following a nail-biting finish to the world championship qualifier near Strasbourg this afternoon.
Ogier fended off the MINI John Cooper Works WRC of Spaniard Dani Sordo on the event-closing Power Stage in Sebastien Loeb’s hometown of Haguenau. The seven time-world champion wasn’t in action following his retirement on Friday morning when his factory Citroen suffered a rare engine failure.
Victory for Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia marked their fifth triumph of 2011 following wins in Portugal, Jordan, Greece and Germany earlier in the campaign. The result also puts Ogier back into contention for the drivers’ world title with two events remaining.
Petter Solberg, in a privateer Citroen, finished third with Mikko Hirvonen the first factory Ford driver home in fourth to maintain his championship bid.