The Ford GT40 is a high-performance mid-engined racing car originally designed and built for and by the Ford Motor Company to compete in 1960s European endurance racing. Its specific impetus was to best Scuderia Ferrari, which had won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race for six years running from 1960 to 1965. Around 100 cars have been made, mostly as 289 cu in (4.7 L) V8-powered Mk Is, 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 win came in 1966 with three 427 cu in (7.0 L) powered Mk.II prototypes crossing the finish line together, the second in 1967 by a similarly powered highly modified US-built Mk.IV "J-car" prototype. In order to lower ever-higher race top speeds, a rule change from 1968 onwards limited prototypes to 3.0 litre Formula 1 engines; a loophole, however, allowed the private JW "Gulf Oil" team win at Le Mans in 1968 and 1969 running a Mk.I with a 5.0 litre engines.
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.
The McLaren F1 is a sports car designed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer McLaren Cars and powered by the BMW S70/2 V12 engine, of which a limited number was produced. The original concept was conceived by Gordon Murray, who successfully convinced Ron Dennis to back the project and hired car designer Peter Stevens to design the exterior and interior of the car. On 31 March 1998, the XP5 prototype with a modified rev limiter set the Guinness World Record for the world's fastest production car, reaching 240.1 mph (386.4 km/h), surpassing the Jaguar XJ220's 217.1 mph (349.4 km/h) record from 1992 achieved with an increased rev limit and catalytic converters removed.
Marcos Engineering was a British sports car manufacturer. The name derives from the surnames of founders Jem Marsh and Frank Costin.
The Lotus Esprit is a sports car built by Lotus Cars from 1976 to 2004 at their Hethel, England factory. It has a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. Together with the Lotus Elise / Exige, it is one of Lotus' most long-lived models.
In automotive engineering, a mid-engine layout describes the placement of an automobile engine in front of the rear-wheel axles, but behind the front axle.
The Ultima GTR is a supercar manufactured by Ultima Sports Ltd of Hinckley, Leicestershire, England. The car was available both in kit form and as a "turnkey" vehicle until early 2015, when it was replaced by the Ultima Evolution. The design is mid engined, rear wheel drive layout, with a tubular steel space frame chassis and GRP bodywork. A convertible version called the Ultima Can-Am was also produced. Kit builders were free to source and fit a variety of engines and transmissions but the Chevrolet small block V8 supplied by American Speed mated to either a Porsche or Getrag transaxle was the factory recommended standard, and this configuration was fitted to all turnkey cars.
The Bizzarrini Strada, is a sports car produced by Bizzarrini from 1964 to 1968. Sold as a low slung, two-seat coupé, roadster, and track-tuned "Corsa" racer, it proved to be Bizzarrini's most successful model.
Ultima Sports Ltd. is an English sports car manufacturer based in Hinckley, Leicestershire.
The Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR is a GT1 sports car built and produced by Mercedes-Benz in conjunction with their then motorsport partner AMG. Intended for racing in the new FIA GT Championship series in 1997, the CLK GTR was designed primarily as a race car. As such, the production of road cars necessary in order to meet homologation standards of GT1 was a secondary consideration in the car's design, i.e. the CLK GTR was a homologation special.
The Mercedes-Benz CLK LM was a Group GT1 sports car designed and built by Mercedes-Benz in partnership with AMG to compete in the FIA GT Championship. To satisfy the requirements of competing in the FIA GT Championship, a road-legal version had to be built to homologate the car. That car was known as the Mercedes-Benz CLK LM Straßenversion, and Mercedes-Benz assembled two chassis, one of which was destroyed for crash-testing. The CLK LM went on to win every single championship event in the 1998 FIA GT season, retiring only at the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans, which was a non-championship event. The removal of the GT1 class from the FIA GT Championship due to the lack of entrants and rising costs meant that Mercedes' GT1 program was brought to a close at the end of 1998. Mercedes instead focussed their efforts on the newly introduced LMGTP class for the 1999 season, which produced the Mercedes-Benz CLR.
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 Panoz LMP07 was a Le Mans prototype built in late 2000 for Panoz for competition in the American Le Mans Series. The car was designed as a successor to the Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S which had competed since 1999. Although retaining the unusual format of having the engine in front of the cockpit, the LMP07 was quickly found to be lacking the capabilities of its predecessor, forcing Panoz to abandon it and return to the LMP-1 Roadster-S. The LMP07 would survive in the hands of privateers until 2003.
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.
Mills Extreme Vehicles (MEV) is a kit car design and manufacturing company based in Gloucestershire, England, founded in 2003 by Stuart Mills and Julie Wilson.
The McLaren M8A was a race car developed by driver Bruce McLaren and his Bruce McLaren Motor Racing team for their entry in 1968 Can-Am season. The M8A and its successors dominated Can-Am racing for four consecutive Can-Am seasons, until the arrival of the Porsche 917.
The Ultima Evolution is a limited production sports car built by British automobile manufacturer Ultima Sports. It was unveiled as the replacement for the Ultima GTR on 9 April 2015. It is sold both as a kit car, which the buyers build themselves, or as a complete vehicle, built at the factory, and is available in either a coupé or a convertible bodystyle. The range-topping supercharged LS-powered model is reported to cost £95,995 ($122,332).
The Ultima Mk1 is a mid-engined concept kit car produced by Noble Motorsport Ltd in 1983. The Mk1 was intended to go into production, but before any sold the Ultima Mk2 was introduced, and thus only one Mk1 was made.
The McLaren Elva is a limited-production mid-engine sports car manufactured by McLaren Automotive. The car is the fifth in the McLaren Ultimate Series, after the F1, the P1, Senna, and the Speedtail. The open-top sports car is inspired by the open top race cars developed by Bruce McLaren in the 1960s.
The Ultima Mk2 is a sports kit car that was produced by English automobile manufacturer Ultima Sports Ltd from 1988 to 1991. The second mobel produced by the company, a total of 13 cars would be produced. Two of the produced cars were MK2 5000 race cars and another two being the prototypes for the Mk3, one coupe and one roadster, with both being converted and renamed into the Ultima Sport and Spyder.
