Anyone for a physics lesson? Ginetta's TD talks us through the new Akula hypercar

Ginetta built its foundation trying to make racing more affordable for entry-level competitors, and in the process, helped build the careers of professional helmsmiths... like that chap who races for McLaren’s Formula One team.

Now it’s expanded its attention to road cars, having confirmed the concept it previewed almost five years ago will finally make production. We’ve been chatting to Clive Seddon, Ginetta’s technical director, to get a deeper dive into what makes the new Akula different from the rest.

First up, what changes have been made from the concept version?

Clive Seddon: "If we roll back to 2019, the original concept from Lawrence [Tomlinson] was focused heavily on making the car rotate quickly. He has a clever analogy with speed boats, which change direction extremely fast. So with a pen and paper, we started to draw up a wishful top trumps list of numbers, like weight, power, fuel capacity and so on, but within that, we had to factor in the car’s rotation capacities with zero overhang mass. And beyond that, even the amount of weight that reaches the axle lines. So wherever possible, everything has been squeezed into the centre of the car.

"The other thing about centring that mass is the wishbone lengths. We don’t have an engine or anything else in the way of the wishbones - or kinematics, as it’s known in the racing world. And since that allows us to retain the tyre footprint, it’s fundamental to grip levels. Being able to run those long wishbone mounting points means you don’t need to switch to different modes when you’re driving spiritedly, or on a track day."

And talk us through that engine?

"It's one of the keys to achieving the top trumps package we mentioned before. If you have an engine with overhead cams and variable valve timings and so on, maybe even twin-turbo, it will have a dimension that you will not be able to get away from. You won’t be able to package that engine, with twin turbos and overhead cams and so on the way we’ve managed to do it.

"Our engine has a single cam, which sits within the block itself, as does the rest of the architecture. It means there’s very little above the cylinder heads, massively reducing size. It also means we’ve been able to slot it right between the driver and passenger, with the engine actually starting under the front windscreen. Everything ahead of it either forms part of the cooling package or the aero."

Speaking of aero, how much of the Akula’s design has been dictated by science and maths?

"We never stop thinking about performance; we are a track-focused company. It starts there, with the moment of inertia and roll centres. Aesthetically, I don’t think there is an aerodynamically great car that isn’t beautiful. The front running cars are always brilliant.

"So then if you turned a page from numbers and the mechanicals, and you think about aero, we’ve done plenty of wind tunnel testing and moulded in chevrons and other bits and pieces. There isn’t a panel on the car that remains the same as the concept, the most obvious being the roofline and the rear wing."

How much of a ‘GT’ car is it?

"The Akula has a 100-litre fuel tank, a small differential and not much else behind the axle apart from the diffuser - which sits far forward. It’s allowed to do that because the engine isn’t there, which creates actual boot space. It’s one of those rare moments when you get compound wins.

"Once we realised where the engine was going, for example, the car became quite wide. The win here is that it opens up more space for occupants, so there’s an actual glovebox. All of these things ended up just happening for us quite naturally with the way we’ve designed the car.

"We then decided not to have seats and put pads in place instead, and when the driver isn’t being moved, and instead it's the surrounding stuff that does, the wins really come to you. You don’t have to have seat rails, for example, which lowers the driving position. And then there’s a false floor in the car, and because the driver is sat so low, we get an extra amount of space under the car that we can mould for aero and cooling."

And finally, talk us through the key bits of the cabin.

"A GT car has to have a mature interior. We’re a small OEM, so we can’t just build from scratch and push every component we can through it. It has to be done wisely and with a focus on what the brief needs. And though our brief is normally lap times, it had to change for the Akula toward comfort and vibrations. 

"What is the distance between the occupants? How much headroom have you got? How do your cushions feel? Some of those things need to be variable, so the cushions can be adjusted depending on the customer’s dimensions. Another recent concept is that, since those cushions are separated, there’s room between them for extra ventilation slots. These sorts of things weren’t even in the brief, but they happened. It’s very rare in engineering that you get these moments, where, as the car comes together, it rewards you with more wins."