EXCLUSIVE EXCLUSIVE EXCLUSIVE

One of the really big pieces of kitcar industry news this year is the return to his roots of LEE NOBLE, with this year’s National Kit Car Motor Show witnessing the debut of Lee’s all-new BUG:R.

One of the industry’s greatest ever designer’s Lee left us for a while being ‘ahem ‘discovered’ by the mainstream press who raved, just the like the 1000-or so customers, about his M12. A stunning pure drivers machine.

So, some 31-years after he lit the blue touch paper by announcing his Group C-inspired Ultima, which was akin to a spaceship arriving at the National Agricultural Centre in Warwickshire favoured by our industry.

Not only did Lee’s Ultima share obvious design cues with Porsche 956/962 World Endurance racers Lee would go on to prove its performance credentials by dominating the 750 Motor Club’s then new Kit Car Challenge series, dominating the championships for five years in Ultimas driven by himself and customers such as Ted Marlow, Nigel James and Bob Light.

So dominant in fact that the cars were effectively outlawed from the series in 1989. For five years, the format was invariably thus: Lee and his Ultima mates would clear off from the start, dicing with each other and often being over a lap ahead of the nearest rival…I was there the day that Ted took Lee out at The Hairpin at Mallory Park …

Lee sold the Ultima project to Ted Marlow in 1991 and moved onto a succession of other kits such as the Mk4 (P4 replica), Noble 23 (Lotus 23), Midtec Spyder and M10 all sharing the Noble trait of fine performing and handling machines…

In the early noughties, Lee really found his deserved fame and recognition with the M12, as mentioned although departed the company he founded, Noble Automotive some five years ago, not before leaving them with his last design, the M600.

Since then, he’s gained a reputation as a handling ‘troubleshooter’ brought in as a kind of horse whisperer to sort out other people’s projects as well as a few false starts of his own for whatever reason.

At last though he’s back in the kitcar fold with the refreshing BUG:R, something totally different that was only started last October. Lee has been working with Coventry University graduate, Chris Denn on BUG:R and has founded Specialist Sporting Vehicles…

The car crosses over so many sectors, it’ll appeal to many for a variety of reasons, but it really is a welcome arrival to our scene and the first time that Lee has created such a car, a true single donor vehicle too, using the Ford Mondeo Mk3 (2000-2007) for its parts. Donors that can be had for as little as £200, too.

At the time of writing kit prices had yet to be set but the starter kit (chassis pack) will cost sub-£5000, meaning that you should be able to on the road with a DIY self-build from around £12,000.

We’ll have the EXCLUSIVE first road test on the BUG:R in TKC Mag VERY SOON …

More information from www.leenobleautomotive.com ENDS.