Ginetta Is The Most Amazing Car Company Racing At Le Mans

Ginetta boss Lawrence Tomlinson has an estimated wealth of $800 million and knows a few things about racing, having won the GT2 class at Le Mans in 2006 driving a Panoz Esperante. Now, his company offers way more than just fun cars.

British sports car maker Ginetta has been around since 1958, but while the then just six year old Lotus grew into a global brand in the following decades, Ginetta remained in the shed despite building some potent race cars.

Tomlinson bought the company in 2005, and turned it into a motorsport powerhouse that offers no bullshit track cars as well as road legal alternatives for those enthusiasts who like to drive their race cars to the circuit and back.

The compact and very lightweight G40 comes with a 1.8 Ford engine tuned to about 150 horsepower in race trim, while the road going version uses Mazda's 180hp 2.0 linked to the MX5's gearbox just like in the Morgan Three-Wheeler.

If you want a larger race car, there's the G50, but they also produce the G60 that was originally engineered by Arash Farboud's company, and have an LMP3 racer headed to Le Mans using Nissan power.

Reaching this level in ten years time is quite something, so mark my words: If Ginetta keeps being this awesome, they might just become the next Lotus after all. Except for building more cars.

Yes, you've guessed right, I do want a road-legal G40.

It weighs only 1,807 pounds and comes with seven cubic feet of trunk space. LSD, adjustable suspension, practicality and a chance to race professionally are also standard. It's just brilliant for £30,000 plus taxes.

Photo credit: Ginetta

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