The Ford GT40 is a 1960s high-performance endurance racing car designed and built for and by the Ford Motor Company "Ford GT" project, an effort to compete in European long-distance sports car races, against Scuderia Ferrari, which had won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race from 1960 to 1965. Around 100 cars have been made, mostly as 4.7 litre "289" V8 mid-engined sportscars, some sold to private teams or as road legal Mk.III cars. Racing started in 1964, with Ford winning World Championships categories from 1966 to 1968. The first Le Mans 24h race win came in 1966 with two 7.0 litre "427" powered Mk.II prototypes crossing the finish line together, the second in 1967 by a 7.0 litre highly modified US-built Mk.IV "J-car" prototype. Considered too fast, a rule change from 1968 onwards limited prototypes to 3.0 litre Formula 1 engines, yet the private JW "Gulf" team collected additional Le Mans wins in 1968 and 1969 with the very same "old" Mk.I GT40 sportscar, still allowed with up to 5.0 litre engines when at least 25 had been made.
AC Cars, originally incorporated as Auto Carriers Ltd., is a British specialist automobile manufacturer and one of the oldest independent car makers founded in Britain. As a result of bad financial conditions over the years, the company was renamed or liquidated many times until its latest form. In 2022, the new corporate structure began the production of new AC Cobra models, with a slightly modified structure to adapt it to modern safety and technology requirements and obtain the European road homologation certificate.
The AC Cobra, sold in the United States as the Shelby Cobra and AC Shelby Cobra, is a sports car manufactured by British company AC Cars, with a Ford V8 engine. It was produced intermittently in both the United Kingdom and later the United States since 1962.
AC Ace is a car which was produced by AC Cars of Thames Ditton, England, from 1953 until 1963. About 220 AC Aces and 466 Ace-Bristol cars were produced during its 10 year run.
Carroll Hall Shelby was an American automotive designer, racing driver, and entrepreneur. Shelby is best known for his involvement with the AC Cobra and Mustang for Ford Motor Company, which he modified during the late 1960s and early 2000s. He established Shelby American in 1962 to manufacture and market performance vehicles. His autobiography, The Carroll Shelby Story, was published in 1967.
Noble Automotive Ltd, more commonly known simply as Noble, is an English sports car manufacturer based in Leicester. Noble Automotive Ltd. was established in 1999 by Lee Noble in Leeds, West Yorkshire, for producing high-speed sports cars with a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout. Lee Noble was the chief designer and part owner of Noble. The company was sold in August 2006. He left the company in February 2008 and shortly after announced his new venture, Fenix Automotive in 2009.
The Noble M12 is a two-door, two-seat sports car designed and engineered by English automobile manufacturer Noble Automotive with production outsourced to Hi-Tech Automotive of South Africa.
The Shelby Daytona Coupe is an American sports-coupé. It is related to the Shelby Cobra roadster, loosely based on its chassis and drive-train developed and built as an advanced evolution. It was engineered and purpose built for auto racing, specifically to take on Ferrari and its 250 GTO in the GT class. The original project had six Shelby Daytona Coupes built for racing purposes between 1964 and 1965, as Carroll Shelby was reassigned to the Ford GT40 project to compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, again to beat Ferrari in the highest level prototype class. With the Shelby Daytona, Shelby became the first American constructor to win a title on the international scene in the FIA International Championship for GT Manufacturers in 1965. In 2014, the first Cobra Daytona Coupe became the first vehicle recorded under a U.S. federal program for documenting historically important national treasures.
The Noble M400 is a sports car from the English car maker Noble. Manufacturing was outsourced to Hi-Tech Automotive, based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The M400 was noted by the automotive press for its excellent handling and power.
The Ford Duratec V6, is an aluminum DOHC V6 engine with a 60° bank angle introduced in 1993 with the Ford Mondeo. The primary engineering came from Porsche, who was developing this engine before selling the engineering to Ford, and Cosworth, who helped with cylinder head manufacturing. The Jaguar AJ-V6 engine is similar but adds variable valve timing.
The Ford Shelby Cobra is a concept car that Ford unveiled at the 2004 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan. The Shelby Cobra concept is a roadster inspired by the original AC Cobra that AC Cars developed in 1961.
Shelby American, Inc. is an American high performance automobile company founded by driver Carroll Shelby. The Shelby American name has been used by several legally distinct corporations founded by Shelby since his original shop in Venice, California began operation in 1962. The current iteration is a wholly owned subsidiary of Carroll Shelby International, Inc., a holding company formed in 2003. Carroll Shelby International's other wholly owned subsidiary is Carroll Shelby Licensing, which licenses the name and trademarks associated with Shelby to other companies. Shelby American was the first automobile manufacturer in the state of Nevada. Shelby American manufactures component automobiles, including replicas of the small-block and large-block AC Cobras, the Shelby GT350 and the GT500 Super Snake. Since 2005, Shelby American has released new models each year.
Superformance LLC is an American automobile company that builds, designs, develops, engineers and markets sports cars, related performance components and full replicars. The company was founded as "Superformance International Inc." by Hi-Tech Automotive Ltd. in 1996. Today, Superformance has 15 authorized dealers in the United States and 6 international dealers. SPF cars are sold as "turnkey-minus replacers". In December, 2005 Hi-Tech Automotive transferred the ownership of its subsidiary, Superformance, to American Hillbank Automotive Group, which is a privately owned business of American entrepreneur Lance Stander. Hi-Tech Automotive continue to build Superformance cars at its plant in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Peter Elbert Brock is an American automotive and trailer designer, author and photojournalist, who is best known for his work on the Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe and Corvette Sting Ray.
The Rossion Q1 is an American mid-engined sports car from American car maker Rossion Automotive. Development on the Rossion Q1 began after the rights to the Noble M400 chassis were acquired in February 2007. The goal was to design a completely new car fusing the sporty strengths of the M400 with luxurious appointments. In June 2013, RP High Performance acquired Mosler Automotive and moved the entire manufacturing facility from South Africa to the current location in the United States. Production of the Rossion Q1R, the track version of the existing Q1 model, began in July 2013. A redesign of the Mosler is underway, with the car to be released in the future with no definitive date yet planned. Current Q1 and Q1R models feature a fully carbon-kevlar body.
Lee Antony Noble is a British entrepreneur, car designer and engineer. He is the founder of the sports car companies Noble Automotive Ltd in 1999 and Fenix Automotive in 2009. He is also the designer of some low-volume sports cars, including the Ultima Mk1, Ultima Mk2, Ultima Mk3, Midtec Spyder and Ascari FGT.
The Perana Performance Group is a South African car developer located in Port Elizabeth. It is the second manufacturer that uses the Perana brand name after the famous Basil Green Motors. The company was founded in late 2007. The cars are manufactured in the Hi-Tech plant of Hi-Tech Automotive & Superformance.
The AC 378 GT Zagato is a sports car designed by the Italian design company Zagato and built in South Africa by Hi-Tech Automotive. It was unveiled at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. The design of the 378 GT was previewed in 2009 as the Perana Z-One, and is now badged as an AC Cars product. Sales are expected to commence by the end of 2012.
The Ligier JS P217 is a Le Mans Prototype built by Onroak Automotive and named in a partnership with French racing driver Guy Ligier. The Ligier JS P217 was built to meet the 2017 FIA and ACO regulations for 2017 for the LMP2 category in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The car also meets the regulations for the International Motor Sports Association’s (IMSA) WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the Prototype class. It was active in both of these championship series as well as the European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. The prototype made its racing debut at the 2017 24 Hours of Daytona and its FIA World Endurance Championship debut at the 2017 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
