Monty Python’s Flying Ginetta

I’m always a little bit shocked when I see the worlds of modern and historic racing intersect. Recently, I was trolling through a mountain of relatively uninteresting automotive press releases when my attention was piqued by a headline that read “Ginetta to debut new LMP competitor.” Ginetta? Debuting a new Le Mans prototype? Didn’t they go the way of the Dodo decades ago?

No, in fact quite to the contrary, this British “cottage industry” constructor has not only been continuously building cars since 1958, it even won the 2015 European LMP3 championship. While many knowledgeable enthusiasts may know or have heard about Ginetta, surprisingly few of us may have realized that they are not a long lost marque, but one of the UK’s oldest surviving racecar manufacturers. Reminds me of the old Monty Python punch line, “…but I’m not dead yet!”