A shark, dressed like a tank!!

Testing or taming the SCG 003C?

James Glickenhaus is an American investment banker and stock exchange magnate, he runs Glickenhaus & Co and is a former movie director. He started collecting motor cars early on, it was mostly race cars and especially Ferraris. He is an avant-gardist when it comes to extraordinary automobile design and development. He assisted in the design proposal for the one-off Ferrari P4/5, and commissioned Pininfarina to produce the car for himself. The P4/5 is based on the Ferrari Enzo, however, when faced with the idea of racing the P4/5 at the 24hr Nürburgring Race, he then re-commissioned Pininfarina to design the Ferrari P4/5 Competizione, which is based on the Ferrari 430 Scuderia.

Hot off the press with his fresh new project, which kicked off on the 17th December 2013, he once again demonstrates his brilliance and shining taste for visionary car design, state of the art engineering and clinical construction. The SCG 003C will be a completely new car, built from the bottom up and adopting a racing spec carbon fibre chassis and a V6TT ( Twin Turbo) engine. After a lengthy period of intense and rigorous preparation work, it was time to put all that hard work and effort onto the track for a thrilling series of test runs.

On the 13th and 14th January of last month, the Cameron Glickenhaus Racing Team presented themselves at the twisty Vallelunga circuit to take part in the second ever test session of their newborn, bringing both the #001 and the #002 chassis, both sporting their very striking winter camouflage livery, and completing a run of around 200km, focusing specifically on fine-tuning and sharpening the steering, and to complete further development work on the heat shields.

One of my networking friends, Gabriele Epifani, was exclusively invited to the SCG 003C test days and was very close to the action, this gave him the opportunity to take all these amazing and fantastic photographs. Gabriele is a bike and motorcar enthusiast, based in Rome and working there as a lawyer, he is also a part-time automobile journalist. You can find him regularly at some exciting petrolhead events all around Italy. Two intense days of extremely hard work that ended without major problems, except for one solitary "goose-bump" raising off-track moment for Nicola Larini, a small mishap that unfortunately led to the premature abandonment of the tests for the #001 chassis.

However both examples will debut at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show scheduled for early March, and then they will finally take part in the 24h race at the Nürburgring within the same month, and they will almost certainly take part in several other endurance races, including Spa.

The very same James Glickenhaus, at the end of these riveting two days, said he was very happy and satisfied with the test they had just concluded. "The project SCG 003C is finally something of solid and concrete, a GT car, that in full compliance exists between the GT and LMP1 classes. "He also comments: "The twin-turbo V6 engine ( Honda derived, but developed internally by the Turin based Autotecnica Motori n.d.r.) is broad with torque from low revs, and is proving to be the best of choices for us. The road going version is already being tested and developed at the track, and the ability for this car to modulate from the road to the track is one of the greatest strengths of the entire project. 

These tests have demonstrated and brought to light, that we can make many more improvements to the entire package, and for that reason we will be back on track in Croatia as early next week for a five-day test, to continue our journey for the upcoming race at the Nürnburgring. But as I mentioned earlier, the future of this car is not only for the tarmac on the track, but also for events such as Goodwood Festival of Speed, and the concourses of Villa d'Este and Pebble Beach. As with all the cars in my collection, it will have a second purpose in life, even on everyday roads. "

Senior Engineer and the Programm Director of the SCG 003C, Paolo Garella said:" We are very pleased with the progress and the potential shown by the car. The engine has a fabulous torque output and is dispensing torque in a way that is nothing short of perfect, the suspension has proved to be completely planted to a point, and even though we have encountered some minor issues, we have already identified and found an easy resolution, and this only concerns the power steering. Our goal is to accumulate as many miles as possible both now and in the next test at Rijeka, anf then to tackle the final test in February with Dunlop, our technical partner, ahead of the VLN race on March 28th at 'The Ring'.

Californian driver Ken Dobson, a veteran of LMP races, also present at Vallelunga, along with countrymen Christopher Rudd and Jeff Westphal, and the substitute tester of chassis #002, at the end of his driving shift, commented: "Firstly it's so amazing and exciting to be part of such a project. The first time I drove the car I got a brief glimpse of the potential, but in these two days of testing here at Vallelunga, I could push harder on the slick tyres and I can finally say that my initial impressions have been wonderfully confirmed, the car is fantastic and I cannot wait to test it again and explore the limits even further!"....

Summary                                                                                       

At the Geneva car show, the SCG 003C will make its world debut and will be exclusively presented to journalists, potential buyers and the general public. We're very curious to hear their feedback and also if Jim Glickenhaus has come close to realising his dream taking a step forward into the world of automobile production and customer car sales to finance his car racing programme. Two versions will be offered, one for the road and one specifically for racing on the track. The road cars will be street legal in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and possibly in the US. It will have several engine choices including Twin Turbo V12's. Clients can take advantage of the bespoke personal customer service, by also having access to all the areas like engineering, racing and testing. I am quite certain that the small family style environment and backstage ambience will only enhance the client's thirst for enjoyment and for creating thrilling new memories with his/her new toy.

The look of the SCG 003 C is wild and extreme, it has beautifully crafted butterfly doors in a triple wing design, that are integrated into the contours of the coachwork and the cockpit. The very prominent nose accentuates the very wide snout and displays an almost cheeky grin with shark's teeth. For sure this will attract many admirers and quite probably people who are looking to invest in extraordinary or quirky looking masterpieces as these motor cars clearly are.

I am totally in love and captivated by the very fashionable camouflage livery, it gives the car a wreckless yet adventurous presence and it will also be in-tune with the upcoming trends for Spring/Summer 2016 that I spotted recently at the Munich Fabric Start Fair. Camouflaged prints and the Military theme is one of the main iconic fashion designs and circulates quite frequently within the fashion circus. This was also echoed by Ami Leverton, a presenter from the trend forcasting agency "WGSN" during her denim speech at the Munich Fabric Start.

For me personally, it is the only fashion theme that offers several combinations for daytime and evening, from glam to sexy or just a casual worker style. I am a big fan of the elegant shades of green, but my favourite is Army Green, and with the addition of some glossy materials it will give my outfits a sexy and daring touch. Some fashion styles for him and her, inspired by the SCG 003C.



Source: FerrariChat.com, Gabriel Epifani, Roadandtrack.com
Photo Credits: Gabriel Epifani ©, Jul K,