First pics: the SCG 003

Ahead of its full debut at the Geneva show on Tuesday, allow us to present our new favourite supercar, the SCG-003.

The what? OK, maybe the name could do with a bit of a polish, but the rest of it is more than worthy of your attention, for all the usual reasons and some less familiar ones. Its pin-up potential is underscored by a shape that's the work of former Pininfarina designer Lowie Vermeersch (he - and a team including Jason Castriota - did the awesome Maserati Birdcage 75th anniversary concept).

The engine is a heavily modified version of Honda's HPD twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6, good for an easy 600bhp. And the chassis is a carbon fibre monocoque, with carbon uprights and LMP2 levels of aerodynamic downforce. It's also notably smaller than the latest generation of hybrid hypercars, with a cockpit expressly not designed to accommodate well-nourished doughnut enthusiasts.

But the real juice here is in the back-story, and the man supplying the narrative. That'll be Jim Glickenhaus, former film producer and scion of one of Wall Street's most esteemed dynasties.

Jim's the first to admit that he's not short of a bob or two, and amongst other things he owns the Ford GT40 MKIV that finished fourth at Le Mans in 1967, driven by Mark Donohue and some bloke called Bruce McLaren. Then there's his stunning Ferrari Dino 206 SP, long owned by Pininfarina but sold to him at their invitation a few years ago.

You might also remember Jim as the creator of 2006's P4/5 (also by Pininfarina), an epic one-off reimagining of the Ferrari Enzo, and the P4/5 Competizione that raced at the 2011 Nürburgring 24 hours, and which subsequently evolved into a hybrid iteration that finished 12th at the same race in 2012. The only people to finish ahead of this one-off experimental car were the usual suspects - Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Basically, Jim has morphed into 2015's equivalent of those plucky Fifties, Sixties and Seventies privateers who made motor racing what it is today, before The Man took over. It's a comparison he doesn't shy away from.

"That's the excitement I want to bring back," he says. "I remember standing in the pits at Bridgehampton with Bruce McLaren in the late 1960s when this character in a cowboy hat appeared. He was driving a pick-up, and towing a wild looking car. He parked up, and slept that night in the back of the pick-up. That was Jim Hall, and the car was the Chaparral."

Jim spent much of his youth following the motorsport circus round Europe and the US. The SCG-003 is the result of that life-long passion.

"It's been a wild ride," he says. "But in essence we went right back to the start and asked, 'What is a sports car?' Back in the day you could drive your Alfa Romeo or MGB or your Aston Martin if you were really lucky through the week, then race it at the weekend. The same car. Now we have these megacar monsters with 1000bhp that struggle to get traction and don't fit on the road."

In other words, the SCG-003 is a welcome throwback to an era of smaller, lighter, more nimble sports cars. "I wanted something you could throw round the back-roads of Sussex on the way to Goodwood," Jim laughs. "Lighter, smaller, simpler and very beautiful."

It sounds bloody marvellous to us, a car that channels the spirit of a less corporate, more buccaneering era. And if you think it'll be a fragile dream, as so many are, Jim is quick to point out that his exploits in 24 hour endurance racing has taught his 35-strong outfit how to engineer a robust chassis, suspension and engine.

They've also been working with Bosch and Autotechnica Motori on that 3.5-litre V6, and it's been beefed up to such an extent that Honda are happy for it to be badged ‘SCG'. ‘So I guess I've made my own engine, too,' Jim says.

The car itself is modular, for easy conversion from road to track spec. Customers can slot in various different engines. Rather than shell out gazillions on a Ferrari FXX-K, McLaren P1 GTR or the latest arrival, Aston Martin's Vulcan, the SCG-003 is a road car/track car in one, race-ready if you want it to be. And assuming you have approximately £1.6m.

"This isn't a business for me," Jim admits candidly, "and I don't think I'll ever take a penny out of it. I want to invoke the memory of guys like Carroll Shelby and Luigi Chinetti. Those are the real heroes to me."

But there is an end game. The organisers of Le Mans 24 hours, the ACO, are changing the rules for 2017. They'd tell you, over a beer or two, that they'd quite like to see a return to the days when a privateer had a serious shot at winning the whole damn thing.

Jim Glickenhaus rather likes that idea too, and the SCG (it means Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus) adventure is heading in that direction.