If you had mentioned the name Glickehaus to any automotive enthusiast just five years ago chances are they would have had no idea what you were talking about – myself included. Fast forward to the grid on the afternoon of the start of the fearsome Nurburgring 24 Hours and there are more people saying the G word than any other as hoards jostle to just get a glance of the two cars being prepared like zombies to fresh flesh. That is no mistake, two cars – both SCG 003s. There is one more and arguably the most famous car that was due to be participating, the P4/5 Competizione. Unfortunately P4/5 C, that was also due to be driven by Chris Harris and Jethro Bovington, was crashed during qualifying by the third driver. A bent chassis meant it was beyond repair on track and the car would have to be sent back to the factory.
Following sunrise on the second day of racing start I left the comfort and of the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus hospitality box and headed to a very different box situated in the pit lane. I had popped in a couple of times through the night where both remaining cars had also spent a lot of time due to a very small part that had been breaking and took much precious time to replace. The hive of activity under the eerie deep blue of the nights sky had been replaced with relative calm and heavy eyelids that burst into life as a race car of some sort sputtered by. Among the sleep deprived team stood a man wearing what can only be described as a cowboys hat, the man being Jim Glickenhaus, the founder of SCG himself.
You would imagine that a team owner would be watching their race cars like a hawk, and Jim was – but he managed to do this whilst standing in the pit garage and effortlessly answering my questions relating to the future of the the racing team both on and off the track. Off the track I hear you say? Yep, Glickenhaus have always wanted to create the most insane track cars in history – and they have, why else do you think the cars on the grid to start one of the most grueling races anywhere in the world wear yellow and blue New York State license plates? They are road legal. That being said, they do need a few tweaks and a race team to get them ready for intense skirmishes on track.
The foundations of our surreal conversation was a car that we hope to see completed in the next few months, the finished and production ready SCG 003. 003 ringing bells? It should, it obliterated the Nurburgring track record that was set by the Pagani Zonda R…by a full five seconds. Don’t forget, it will be road legal unlike the Italian flame spitting speed freak.
Jim tells me the car is propelled by a Twin Turbo Honda V6 tweaked by Autotecnica Motori and bodied in a full carbon shell almost identical to the cars whizzing around us on track as we conversed, it promises to make the likes of the LaFerrari and P1 look like kindergartners against the Cleveland Cavaliers 7 foot tall shooting guards. Cute. That being said, the offering from Woking and Modena boast close to 1000 horsepower, the SCG 003 looks slightly underwhelming on paper at around 600. Jim reiterated that it’s not about power, it’s about using it as he alludes to the mad horsepower race with the new boys such as Koenigsegg forgetting that you can have all the power in the world and only ever use a single digits percentage on the street. The 003 is much more usable and accessible he promises me. The price for this astonishing piece of kit that is capable to smashing lap records globally is likely to be just as incredible as you would expect.
With that Jim and I turned back to the wall of screens in the garage and crossed our fingers that the remaining 003 on track would finish strong as I pondered how sensational it would be to see much a machine snaking through the streets of New York or circulating London’s M25. SCG are taking it to new levels – bravo.
Weight counts against you.