Author Topic: G40 Cup Car, How to identify  (Read 6700 times)

Offline Fifress

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G40 Cup Car, How to identify
« on: January 03, 2017, 12:22:04 pm »
Hello good people, first off a great happy new year to all of you :)

Now, g40 cup cars, I want to know how to identify them.

I might have found one here in Portugal, there was G40 trophy early 90's...
Its got
-the roll cage (not the original one though)

-Speedline wheels (in portugal they used these, not sure over in UK)

-the guy talked about ABT modified ECU

-chassis ZMY tag? everybody here talks about it has to be ZMY to be a cup car (my daily and ex G40 were ZNY and ZPY)

How can I know for sure this is the real deal?

This car was raced afterwards, rally...wich makes sense if it was a cup car to begin with, already had all requirements etc

Only thing concerning me is that this one got a sunroof, people here say cup cars didn't have sunroof...

Thank you, please give me you opinions and advice


Offline Ian Johnson

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Re: G40 Cup Car, How to identify
« Reply #1 on: January 03, 2017, 12:38:03 pm »
I own an original 1991G40 cup race car along with another member on here called G40motorsport, I believe 50 cup cars were originally built and none with a sunroof as they were motorsport cars and not registered.

Roll Cage was Safety devices
Wheels were 13" BBS on G40 cup
ECU was Stock G40 Digifant...........only difference being a smaller supercharger pulley to increase boost and possibly a different Eprom chip but not sure if this was allowed in the regulations.
Suspension was Sachs with adjustable Camber/Castor top mounts
Solid front ARB Blocks

My G40 Cup car


Offline Ian Johnson

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Re: G40 Cup Car, How to identify
« Reply #2 on: January 03, 2017, 12:47:50 pm »
For info my Chassis code is ZMY

Offline sleag40

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Re: G40 Cup Car, How to identify
« Reply #3 on: January 03, 2017, 04:52:04 pm »
ZMY chassis prefix just means built in 1991.

Offline Fifress

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Re: G40 Cup Car, How to identify
« Reply #4 on: January 04, 2017, 10:15:28 am »
OK, cool
Thank you for the replies!

Here in Portugal they used speedlines (5 point star) instead of stock BBS's.
Possibly the eprom is modified by ABT, what I was told anyways
I did spot adjustable suspension.. but this could be something that the previous owners installed
The rollcage is not the original one, it has been upgraded and is now made of thick tube and looks far stronger
ZMY stands for M-1991 and Y-assembly plant Pamplona,Spain .... its curious because every Cup car has the ZMY tag

Ian, does your registry show diferent kw's compared to regular  G40's?
Here the power is stated on the registry papers, I was told it was diferent

The other main diference is the sunroof, but this being a cup/rally car I can imagine this chassis has been swapped but kept the same Vin numbers of the original cup car

Offline hayesey

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Re: G40 Cup Car, How to identify
« Reply #5 on: January 04, 2017, 11:42:38 am »
would cup cars be the same in every country though?  What Ian says is true for the UK but I'm sure there must have been more than 50 in other countries, and possibly lots of other differences too.  In the UK they had race suspension using Sachs inserts and some height adjustment using shims.  The engines were totally standard in the UK.  But most Cup Cars will probably have been modified since the original G40 Cup since they'll have been used in different racing series after that which all had different rules and allowed for changes.

Offline Fifress

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Re: G40 Cup Car, How to identify
« Reply #6 on: January 04, 2017, 01:09:15 pm »
Correct, here in Portugal we had a series called   'TrofĂ©u Polo'- meaning Polo Trophy in wich these cup cars were raced, someone told me 32 were sold here.
Does not mean they were all the same, but key modifications on cup cars should be the same, contrary to UK here they used speedlines instead of the original bbs
If it had a solid roof i would almost know for sure.
Roll cage is very similar to the one on Ian's car, it was at one point bolted but now I can see its welded to the chassis (bolts still there).
Also the license plate squence is diferent from the other G40 cup cars in portugal, still registered as 1991, but with all that hardware from the cup cars... I wonder if it was a g40 cup car that crashed badly and had all transfered to another chassis (with sunroof), keeping the same vin numbers and plates.
If only i had access to the G40's raced in portugal


Link to some pictures of Portuguese cup

http://g40power.forumeiros.com/t239-trofeu-g40-vila-do-conde   
« Last Edit: January 04, 2017, 01:11:24 pm by Fifress »

Offline Ian Johnson

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Re: G40 Cup Car, How to identify
« Reply #7 on: January 04, 2017, 04:21:16 pm »
The Cup also came with a Gemini Plated Diff which I think was a 3:3 ratio.........still have the original but I run a 3:9 now

Couple of pics for reference

Cup Original ARB Blocks



Sachs suspension with Cup adjustable top mounts


Offline Fifress

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Re: G40 Cup Car, How to identify
« Reply #8 on: January 04, 2017, 04:54:33 pm »
Now with this info and visual proof I really want to go back and check out what I got.
The rollcage on the portuguese cup cars seem a bit diferent, only one beam across instead of the X, although mine has the X
The stabilizer bar was placed diferently than Ian's and had adjustable control arms, maybe a subframe like PPP?, don't recall seeing adjustable top mounts though..
Maybe its just a modified G40...can't really tell without having another look

Offline Ian Johnson

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Re: G40 Cup Car, How to identify
« Reply #9 on: January 04, 2017, 04:59:16 pm »
The single bar roll cages were on the MK1 polo cup cars

Offline Fifress

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Re: G40 Cup Car, How to identify
« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2017, 05:41:45 pm »
Guess that is because we were too cheap to get the X rollcage on the cup cars :P , the one I suspect being a cup car has the X rollcage instead of the single bar like the portuguese cup cars

Offline hayesey

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Re: G40 Cup Car, How to identify
« Reply #11 on: January 05, 2017, 09:28:40 am »
they didn't come with a Gemini diff but the rules allowed for one to be fitted if people wanted to.  So some had them and others didn't.

While we're on the subject, if anyone has any spare parts for a gemini diff, I'd be very interested in buying some!  Especially the top cover plate.

Offline Ian Johnson

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Re: G40 Cup Car, How to identify
« Reply #12 on: January 05, 2017, 05:09:33 pm »
Wasn't Yoof selling one?

Offline hayesey

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Re: G40 Cup Car, How to identify
« Reply #13 on: January 06, 2017, 09:33:02 am »
not a gemini, he was selling a gripper and I already have one of those in my car currently.  It's just I have an original gemini from a cup car sat on a shelf at home, the bearing race snapped off the top part of the casing some years ago and I've been unable to ever find a spare part to fix it.  Which is a shame because it's a good piece of kit.

Offline hayesey

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Re: G40 Cup Car, How to identify
« Reply #14 on: January 06, 2017, 09:36:25 am »


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