Noble M600

During the course of our road test, however, the M600 went faster than a McLaren F1 in almost every in-gear increment from 20-160mph. That being the case, you might begin to understand why Noble sees fit to charge such a fee.
Because in the end it is its raw, brain-mangling performance that defines the M600. Not just in a straight line but also around corners, under brakes, during acceleration, everywhere and anywhere. What we are talking about is one of the fastest cars that has ever been built for use on the public road, in light of which £200k no longer seems quite so crazy.
And Noble AutomotiveWith the introduction of a convertible prototype for its indomitable M600 , appropriately named the Speedster, Noble is stepping into unknown territory. The English automaker is famous for creating low-production, rear-wheel-drive, mid-engine sports cars  that express pure driving experience, and despite the lack of a roof, this drophead is expected to be no different.
Like the regular M600, the Speedster should offer its passengers very little beyond a total immersion in speed. The only driving assists you’ll find on the hardtop are a rudimentary traction control system and the fear of death. There isn’t even ABS. The handling is hairy, taking a Stig   -like touch to drive well. Mounted directly behind the cabin is a 4.4-liter V-8 with two turbochargers strapped to the exhaust manifolds, yielding a total 650 horsepower and 654 pound-feet of torque.
Plumbed into the 2,645-pound body of the current M600, that’s a power-to-weight ratio of 541 horsepower per ton, a figure that bests even the mighty Bugatti Veyron . Properly motivated, we expect the Speedster to emulate its hardtop twin, blasting from a standstill to 60 mph in three seconds, running a standing quarter mile in 11 seconds flat, and hitting a top speed of 225 mph.
Given the uncompromising nature of the Speedster, it should come as no surprise that Noble’s managing director, Peter Boutwood, is a Ferrari F40  owner and former racing driver. According to Autocar, Boutwood says Noble has no immediate plans to produce the Speedster, but rather calls the prototype a “research gathering exercise.”
"If it makes production, our aim is for it to be one of the fastest cabriolets in the world," he said. Considering the long development period required for the small Noble team to actually put an idea into production, a customer-ready Speedster might not appear for some time. We’ll eagerly await the results.
Typically, when a roofless version of a sporty car is released, the overall performance is nerfed. With no material at the top to hold it together, the chassis loses a substantial amount of torsional rigidity, which yields a serious penalty when it comes to cornering prowess. Automakers often attempt to fix this with addition bracing lower in the body, but that creates weight. And weight, if you didn’t already know, is the sworn enemy of any performance measurement. It makes everything worse — acceleration, braking, lateral grip, even fuel mileage.
Given this fact, you may be surprised to hear that Noble chopped the top on its hardcore, driver-oriented M600. However, the company says it’s happy with the current stiffness of the carbon fiber body, and thus consequently left it structurally unaltered in the Speedster prototype.
The question remains: can Noble really offer all that speed in a car with unlimited headroom?
Updated 01/09/2015: Noble unveiled the M600 Speedster at the 2015 Autosport International show. The model revealed at the show is still a prototype version and the company announced no plans to come with a production version, but we have big hopes.has previous when it comes to creating cars of truly stultifying performance. Noble’s first car, designed by company founder Lee Noble, was the awkward-looking but surprisingly excellent-to-drive M10. Then came Noble’s eureka moment in the form of the South African-assembled M12, over 1500 of which were sold in six years during the mid-2000s.

The astonishingly rapid M400 was the final and most dramatic derivative of the M12 before Noble embarked on the M14, which then became the M15, neither of which saw production. The M15 did, however, provide the platform for the M600, a car completed after founder Lee Noble left the company in 2008.

M600, like any true super car, has no cosmetic exterior trimming. Body has been designed keeping aerodynamics and stability in mind solely. Designers chiseled out every single hindrance in the path of wind. Car is built of stainless steel and carbon fiber with carbon laminated exterior. This has provided it with maximum rigidity along with sufficient lightness. Majority of outside body styling is result of full-fledged wind-tunnel test statistics. Dimension-wise, M600 is 4360 mm long and 1910 mm wide with wheelbase of 2540 mm and a curb weight of around 1275 kg.