Gojirra99

Noble today unveiled its latest supercar, the new M15. The 455 hp M15 accelerates from 0-60mph in less than 3.3 seconds and 10-100mph in less than 8 seconds. It keeps going all the way to 185mph, too, and has been tuned for rapid acceleration throughout the range rather than an easily achievable 200mph top end speed. “The M12 is a great car, but it’s very focused and I wanted to produce a supercar people could use every day,” said founder Lee Noble. “It was time for Noble to take a big step up in terms of refinement, practicality and style.” The car is priced at £74,950 in Britain. No word if it’s coming to the U.S.

source : leftlanenews

Lexmex

I was reading Road & Track the other day ans saw an ad, http://www.1gracing.com/

However, it does not come as a complete car, missing engine transaxle, strange stuff.

Stage3

iTrader: (3)

Not as nice looking as the M12... But I'd still rock it 'till the cows came home!!!!

DASHOCKER

iTrader: (2)

The m12 looks better to me. Still handbuilt I hope.

Richie

Not a handsome car imo

Gojirra99

Text & photos courtesy Noble Automotive Ltd.
04-04-2006


In Brief

Noble Automotive has today staked its claim to a place amongst the highest echelon of the world’s sportscar manufacturers with the launch of the new M15.

Building on the success of the no-compromise M12, the M15 is a more mature Noble with luxuries including Satellite Navigation, impeccable ride and 300 litres of luggage space!

“The M12 is a great car, but it’s very focused and I wanted to produce a supercar people could use every day,” said founder Lee Noble. “It was time for Noble to take a big step up in terms of refinement, practicality and style.

“We’re delighted with this new car’s all-round skills and the I reckon there’s not a car in its class to touch it dynamically. After all, it’s still a Noble!”

With a 455bhp version of the tried and trusted three-litre twin turbo engine Noble has come to rely on, this is also the quickest car ever to emerge from Barwell, Leicestershire. With the complementary figure of 455lb/ft of torque, all in a car that weighs slightly more than 1200kg, the M15 is devastatingly fast.

The M15 accelerates from 0-60mph in less than 3.3 seconds and 10 100mph in less than 8s. It keeps going all the way to 185mph, too, and has been tuned for rapid acceleration throughout the range rather than an easily achievable 200mph top end speed.

Supreme cornering skills and a confidence-inspiring chassis are part the DNA and, in this respect, the M15 promises to be the best yet. The spaceframe chassis with integral rollcage is 57 per cent stiffer than the M12 that has won plaudits throughout the world and intensive development has ensured that the fabled Noble handling on the limit is even better than before.

At £74,950 the M15 pitches straight into battle with the established supercar brands, but Noble is happy to meet them head on. “Hopefully people that test this car will see it as a real alternative to £130,000 exotica, as well as the immediate competition in the price range,” he said. “We know we’re taking on tough opposition, but I’m sure this car is going to take us forward in a big way.”

Exterior

The M15 boasts immense road presence, yet is only 181mm longer and 31mm wider than the M12 at 4270mm and 1905mm respectively. It remains a lithe machine at slightly more than 1200kg, lightweight engineering is a part of Noble's DNA.

Yet despite the M15's compact dimension, the M15 is a spacious, luxurious car with room for luggage, astonishing crash protection and a chassis that is significantly stiffer than any Noble before it. This is a luxurious sportscar with dragon-slaying performance as standard.

It's stylish, too. From any angle there's a feature to hold your gaze. The aggressive curve of the wings at the front, coupled with the Boomerange-style headlight fairings will announce its arrival in dramatic style.

The low-slung stance, muscular haunches and huge air intakes define the seductive side profile and the fastback rear proves you don't need ugly, drag-inducing to achieve downforce.

Noble never puts form before aerodynamic function and a more efficient shape helps the M15 to its estimated top speed of 185mph. More importantly, this and the huge diffuser that has proven itself in battle on the company race car, help plant the rear to the ground at speed.

This is the most refined, the most complete Noble to date, and with production strictly limited, stunning shape will retain its impact for a long time to come.

Drivetrain & Performance

The mid-mounted, twin-turbocharged V6 used in the M15 is the most powerful engine ever fitted to a road-going Noble and has been developed over seven years and millions of testing miles.

A sublime combination of low-end driveability and top end power, the latest version of Noble's engine delivers 455lb ft of torque at 4850rpm and 455bhp at 6800rpm. And 96 percent of this power is available from 5200rpm, making the M15 an effortlessly quick car.

On-road performance is everything you would expect from a company that already produces one of the fastest accelerating production cars in the world. The leap from 0-60mph arrives in an incredible 3.3 seconds, from a standstill to 100mph takes less than 8 and this car will keep going all the way to 185mph.

The M15 scores big over other models with its effortless acceleration beyond 130mph, improved significantly due to a cleaner body shape and more efficient intercooler and turbocharger performance.

The drivetrain is installed longitudinally for the first time in a Noble, increasing cooling and turbo performance dramatically. Weight distribution has also improved over the existing model to 42:58 percent, front:rear. due to the engine and gearbox assembly being moved forward by 300mm.

Since the M15 is the most versatile Noble ever produced, it has been designed to take higher mileages with less maintenance than the M12. Here, the in-line drivetrain configuration comes into its own again, with excellent accessibility around the engine and ancillaries, reducing servicing and maintenance downtime.

More info on roadholding & interior HERE

source : worldcarfans

STIG

I agree. It's ugly.

GFerg

Dont like the way this looks. Very blocky. M12 definitely looks better.

Gojirra99

WCF Drives Noble M15 Development Mule
by Nick Hall
Photos by Jakob Ebrey
05-05-2006

Noble Flies Business Class

Just occasionally the opportunity comes along to sample the industry at work, to drive the semi-finished heart and soul of a sportscar without the added trappings of luxury, electric windows and speed-sapping refinements. And when that car is the Noble M15, the drive becomes all the more compelling.

Noble is a sportscar company that has built an entire reputation on the M12 and took its place at the head of the British industry after just two years of trading. Now the next in the lineage is almost upon us.

Lee Noble has taken a brave gamble with his new car. Priced at £79,450 in the UK, the niche manufacturer known for no-compromise sportscars that 60 per cent of owners took to the track, has invaded territory already comfortably occupied by the likes of the Porsche GT3, Aston Martin AMV8 and BMW M6. All these cars come with decades of heritage, acres of style, spectacular comfort and performance to spare. In short, Noble has its work cut out.

“We know what we’re getting into,” said Lee. “Dynamically, though, we know this car will destroy everything in its class and a good few others, too.”

It only needs to sell 600 cars a year around the globe, though, to consider the car a raging success. And Noble has established such a cult reputation with the M12, especially in M400 guise, that this should be a relative breeze. Cars are already selling by the bucketload in the UK, it will be snapped up all over Europe thanks to full Type Approval and the US – a buoyant market shifting almost 100 M12s a year – is an obvious cash cow. This is a car that, on its own level, is going to work.

The battered chalkboard black development mule is nothing to look at and looks like a half-finished, home-brewed Noble copy constructed from a Toyota Celica and a teenager’s warped imagination. Inside the essentials are there, but it’s a hot, noisy working environment. But as soon as you slot the familiar Ford Focus-style gearstick that’s attached to a custom built six-speed ‘box into first, dial in some revs and drop the clutch, such things become less than relevant.

Noble’s M15 claws in the horizon like almost nothing on Earth. This development mule is basically a race car, and so comes stripped to the bare bones. That goes some way to explaining the 0-60mph time of 3.3s and 100mph dash in 7.8s, but even with fully loaded interior the M15 will still weigh just 1250kg and do 60mph in less than 3.5s and top out at more than 185mph.

Weight hurts everywhere: in corners, under acceleration and on the brakes. So Noble’s commitment to a lightweight frame ensures his car will take the fight to anything in its powerband.

Power comes courtesy of the Duratec 3-litre V6 that starts life in the Ford Mondeo, but only the block is the same and with two giant turbochargers added to the mix this car produces 455bhp and a conveniently remembered 455lb/ft of torque. It’s tried and trusted technology and, intriguingly, has gone well beyond 500bhp in race spec. As the gearbox is rated to 650bhp, it’s not hard to see a future where a hardcore version hits the market.

In the mule, the noise under hard acceleration could make your ears bleed, a V6 powerplant is a pulsating, agricultural sounding thing when compared with the V12s on offer from Ferrari, but it has its own charm and is much lighter. And the turbocharger whine is an exhilarating thing in its own right, combined with the smell of a car working hard seeping into the cockpit, it’s a pretty heady cocktail.

But in the finished article things will be a great deal more civilised. The M12 was a hardcore machine that relayed every noise and inflection to the cabin. The M15 has sound insulation, is decked out with carbon-fibre seats decked out in the finest Italian leather, as much luggage space as a BMW 1 Series and even a state-of-the-art SatNav system.

After the wild child M12 that provided six small zipper bags for luggage and not one concession to every day life, the M15 is a brave new world for Lee Noble. You can tell he’s looking forward to replacing the 911 parked outside his office with his own car.

“I wanted a more mature car and you could see the one thing that the M12 really lacked was luggage space,” he said. “I initially planned a replacement for the M12, but when I really got into it I realised there was a lot more I could do with the car and take Noble to a higher plane with a new model.”

Despite the 48-year-old’s eponymous company only coming into the world in 1999, with the M10, he has designed cars for decades. His previous works include the Ultima supercar, which is still going strong, the 200mph Ascari Ecosse and a variety of fast-selling kit cars. Of course the M400, the most powerful M12 that won countless Trackday and Sportscar of the Year Awards, cemented his reputation, but Noble has long been considered one of the chief exponents of chassis and ride engineering.

The M15 won’t come with any tricky gadgets, bar ABS and traction control, nor a racing style carbon-fibre chassis, but it doesn’t need them. Noble has produced a supremely balanced, lightweight, and stiff car using a spaceframe design that helps keep the price under control. In keeping things simple Noble has managed to produce a car that won’t just destroy the cars in its price band in a straight race on track, it will also take the fight to much more expensive machinery from the likes of Lamborghini and even Ferrari.

He relied on solid, mechanical engineering rather than a raft of electronics, the mule car didn’t even have the traction control or ABS, but it still worked like a dream on a wet Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground.

Serious work from partners including gearbox manufacturer Graziano, which also supplied Ferrari, AP Racing that supplies the clutch and brakes, Pirelli, who threw enough rubber at the company to keep Springfield’s tyre fire in business for weeks and Bilstein suspension has helped Noble produce the car he always dreamed of. He has had to compromise on the interior, thanks to Type Approval issues, but those that drive the M15 will swiftly learn to look past the dashboard into the middle distance as the car eats everything in its path.

Noble has worked tirelessly, taking this car the length of Britain under its battered black clothing, through the mountains to Monza and across Europe on several occasions. Even now they’re learning and making subtle changes. Despite offering ballistic performance, the M15 must behave impeccably through town and swallow up speed bumps as effectively as it does rivals.

Bruntingthorpe’s expansion joints can toss a car off the straight and narrow at 170mph and spin it out altogether as you jump on the brakes. Not this one, even without the electronic assistance it still carved its course like a knife and soaked up the major impacts from the road surface.

Noble’s yellow badge may not be as instantly recognisable as the Prancing Horse, but this car will wipe the floor with one on pure performance grounds. The M6, 911 and Aston wouldn’t see which way it went. The M15 simply corners like a Japanese bullet train at speeds that would send most sportscars spinning off the road. It simply skipped sideways even through a river running across one treacherous corner, it won’t even go sideways without duress.

A Noble will always tend towards understeer when pushed beyond its limits, which helps the average driver stay out of trouble. Stamp on the throttle and you can swing the back end round, but it’s always your choice and this car will make you feel a much better driver than you really are.

And despite costing less, it’s more exclusive than the Ferraris that hunt in packs through all the world’s major capitals and is the cognoscenti’s choice. The styling is dramatic, with a hint of 360 about the front end, American supercar-style box-section sides and a fastback rear that finds all the downforce it needs without resorting to a huge rear wing. It’s an imposing and angular car, but it’s elegant, too, and with the creature comforts offered it’s not hard to imagine it becoming the must-have fashion accessory.

The M15 is a step up in class for Lee Noble, but it’s no gamble. This car is a surefire winner.

source : worldcarfans

Gojirra99