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Like all Noble cars, the M600 is hand-built in Leicestershire, England, and already has a
waiting list. This $330,000 street-legal racer eschews computerized systems in favor of precise engineering. The M600 supercar goes from zero to sixty in less than three seconds. The M600's no-frills, all-power aesthetic would have appealed to notable racing fans Steve McQueen and Paul Newman. Unlike its Formula One cousins, which operate with paddle shifters, the M600's six gears are operated the old-fashioned way, with a gearshift. |
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Consider the vaunted supercar: As the name implies, it's not a form of transportation for mere mortals. Exotic and powerful, supercars are performance-focused vehicles descended from Formula One prototypes. The names of supercars throughout history roll luxuriously off the tongues of automotive enthusiasts: Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari F40, Lamborghini Murciélago, Bugati and Porsche. Obviously they are monumentally expensive and exceedingly rare. Typically the supercar is a European creation, although there have been a few American contenders over the years, such as the Ford GT, the Dodge Viper, and some special editions of the Chevrolet Corvette.
But while supercars have their roots in the racetrack, they still have to be domesticated. Over the past decade, this has meant the installation of numerous electronic systems that affect the way these stomping beasts handle, accelerate, and shift gears. Peter Boutwood, the managing director of Britain's Noble Cars, thinks all this “digital” intervention, managed by onboard computers, has robbed the supercar of its essence. So his company decided to produce a street-legal but track-ready throwback.
The M600 was officially revealed last summer, and what the world got was pure, thundering performance. The M600 weighs only 2,800 pounds (a BMW M3, for comparison, weights almost 4,000), and it's motivated by a 650-horsepower V8 engine, complete with twin turbochargers, that was originally developed by Yamaha for Volvo. Here's the twist: The M600 has no antilock braking system to assist the driver in keeping this zero-to-sixty-in-less-than-three-seconds car in check.
Traction control is present as an afterthought, although it can be used to modulate the engine's massive horsepower, which is mechanically prepared to go faster than 200 mph. Unlike most contemporary supercars (and many run-of-the-mill production cars these days), the M600 lacks Formula One-derived paddle shifters. Instead you work through the car's six gears the old-fashioned way, with a gearshift lever. (Noble believes that paddle shifters are less reliable.) It runs on premium fuel only. The interior isn't luxurious, but it is arranged both for the driver's comfort and for effective control of the car at very high speeds.
“We take pride at Noble in creating a car aimed at the pure driving experience,” Boutwood says. “We think that there is a niche market for those drivers looking for a car that rewards the driver without inappropriate and sometimes unnecessary intervention of computer assistance.”
Boutwood argues that the “analog” M600 is the antithesis of “digital” supercars, and the implication is that while modern technologies may enhance the ultra-high-end auto experience for some, they isolate the driver from the pure pleasures of operating an exquisite machine. Instead, he says, “we rely on fine chassis tuning and setup,” meaning that once all the bolts are tightened, the driver's only assistance comes from the brilliance of the car's engineering.
Of course this raises an obvious question: Is the M600, for all its retro appeal, ultimately as safe as the electronically insulating competition? “We've performed over 20,000 miles of actual road and high-speed track testing without incident,” Boutwood says. “It is of vital importance to our ethos that our cars have a purity without compromising comfort, confidence, or safety.”
Boutwood is aiming for a particular kind of customer. To put it bluntly, the M600 isn't for poseurs. For approximately $330,000, you're buying something far more serious than a glistening piece of finely crafted madness—you're buying a car that could conceivably be entered in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and go tread to tread with the purpose-built race cars that dominate the event. This is a car that would have appealed more to Steve McQueen or Paul Newman, celebrities who possessed true racing credibility, than to arriviste Hollywood types lusting for brand-name velocity.
Adding to the mystique is that Noble is a minuscule operation. All of its cars are hand-built by a staff of fewer than two dozen automotive artisans at Noble's base in Leicestershire. There are currently around fifty people on the waiting list, and Noble expects to build only about that many cars each year.
The M600 doesn't come cheap, but Boutwood believes that it plays an essential role. “There's a place for computer-based supercar technology,” he says. “However, before the M600 there were few alternatives. It comes down to having a choice. We believe that those cars that have been historically the best and most rewarding driver experience are the Ferrari F40 and the McLaren F1.”
With the M600, Boutwood bows to that lineage. Both the Ferrari F40 and the McLaren F1 were street-legal vehicles that, with modifications, moved effortlessly into second lives as true race cars. Whether Noble will be able to follow in those large footsteps remains to be seen. Early reviews from the British motoring press have been good, if not outright gushy. One reviewer even credited the M600 with having “perfectly acceptable everyday manners”—still more refined than your usual supercar. You didn't want a completely tamed animal, did you?
Matthew DeBord is a writer based in Los Angeles. He covers the auto industry for Slate’s Big Money and has contributed to the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Daily Beast, and the Huffington Post.
Photography credits:
- Courtesy Noble Cars
- Courtesy Noble Cars
- Courtesy Noble Cars
- Courtesy Noble Cars
- Courtesy Noble Cars
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