A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by many manufacturers around the world.
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 present 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
TVR is a British manufacturer of sports cars. The company manufactures lightweight sports cars with powerful engines and was, at one time, the third-largest specialised sports car manufacturer in the world, offering a diverse range of coupés and convertibles.
The Lamborghini Diablo is a high-performance mid-engine sports car built by Italian automobile manufacturer Lamborghini between 1990 and 2001. It is the first production Lamborghini capable of attaining a top speed in excess of 320 kilometres per hour (200 mph). After the end of its production run in 2001, the Diablo was replaced by the Lamborghini Murciélago. The name Diablo means "devil" in Spanish.
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.
Caterham Cars is a British manufacturer of specialist lightweight sports cars established in Caterham, Surrey, with their headquarters in Crawley, Sussex. Their current model, the Caterham 7, originally launched in 1973, is a direct evolution of the Series 3 Lotus Seven designed by Colin Chapman. In the 1990s the company made the Caterham 21, a two-seater soft top alternative to the MGF and Lotus Elise,. A track-only car, the SP/300.R, a joint project with Lola was released for customer testing in 2010 and was scheduled for release in 2013. On 27 April 2011, Team Lotus owner Tony Fernandes announced that he had purchased Caterham. On 2 April 2021, news was leaked that Caterham Cars was acquired outright on 31 March 2021 by VT Holdings, Japanese importer for the Caterham Seven since 2009. As well as being a Caterham importer, VT also imports Lotus cars and Royal Enfield motorcycles into Japan.
Marcos Engineering was a British sports car manufacturer. The name derives from the surnames of founders Jem Marsh and Frank Costin.
The Holden Torana is a mid-sized car that was manufactured by Holden from 1967 to 1980. The name apparently comes from an word meaning "to fly" in an unconfirmed Aboriginal Australian language; some have mistaken the name as coming from Tirana, the capital of Albania. The original HB series Torana was released in 1967 and was a four-cylinder compact vehicle closely based on the British Vauxhall Viva HB series of 1966 - 1970.
The Porsche 911 GT1 is a car designed and developed by German automobile manufacturer Porsche AG to compete in the GT1 class of sportscar racing, which also required a street-legal version for homologation purposes. The limited-production street-legal version developed as a result was named the 911 GT1 Straßenversion.
Elva was a sports and racing car manufacturing company based in Bexhill, then Hastings and Rye, East Sussex, United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1955 by Frank G. Nichols. The name comes from the French phrase elle va.
Ginetta Cars Limited is a British specialist builder of racing and sports cars based in Garforth, Leeds, West Yorkshire.
Turner Sports Car Company Limited was a 1950s British sports car manufacturer, that closed in 1966.
La Dawri Coachcraft was founded by Leslie Albert Dawes in British Columbia, Canada in 1956 and is credited with making Canada's first fibreglass car, the La Dawri Cavalier. The company moved to the United States in 1957 where it became one of the largest fiberglass sports car body companies during the rebody/specials craze of the 1950s and 1960s. The company ceased operations in 1965. Its name came from a combination of L A Dawes and his friend Don Wright. Dawes was born on 7 July 1933 and died in 2002.
The Spectre R42 is a 2-seater mid-engined rear-wheel drive sports car manufactured by British boutique automobile manufacturer Spectre Supersports Ltd.
Sylva Autokits is a kit car manufacturer based in Lincolnshire, England. Sylva was founded in 1981 by Jeremy Phillips and has developed and produced a number of small and lightweight sports cars. Sylva cars have won a number of 750 Motor Club Kit Car championships.
The Lotus Elise GT1 is a race car developed for grand tourer-style sports car racing starting in 1997.
The Panoz Esperante GTR-1 was a race car developed by Panoz Auto Development and Reynard Motorsport for grand tourer endurance racing in 1997. Although named after the Panoz Esperante roadster, the GTR-1 actually bore no mechanical relation to the production Esperante, instead sharing only minor styling points. Only two road-legal GTR-1s were built to meet homologation requirements set forth by the ruling bodies which the racing cars ran under.
The Bill Thomas Cheetah was an American sports car designed and engineered entirely with American components, and built from 1963 to 1966 by Chevrolet performance tuner Bill Thomas. It was developed as a competitor to Carroll Shelby's Cobra.
Élan Motorsport Technologies is an American enterprise that serves as an umbrella company containing the race car engineering, development and manufacturing companies owned by American racing and automotive company conglomerate Panoz Motor Sports Group. Élan engineers, designs and builds Panoz-branded race cars and components, since its founding it has also acquired several manufacturers, including famous Formula Ford builders Van Diemen and IndyCar Series constructor G-Force. Élan-built cars have successfully competed in the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, IMSA Prototype Lites and various other championships, racing series and types of professional racing throughout the world. It designs, develops and manufactures full line race cars, i.e. chassis, bodies, components and engines for professional racing competition for a variety of segments and classes.
The Lotus Esprit GT1 was a sports racing car produced by Lotus Engineering, a subsidiary of Lotus Cars formed to develop racing cars to compete in the GT1 class racing. It competed in the BPR Global GT Series in the mid 1990s.
