Gardner Douglas was established in 1990 by design engineer Andrew Burrows, with the aim of producing premium sports cars for individuals who wanted the very best combination of 60's era design and contemporary handling and performance. Their GD Mk3 model was the first car of its kind to be submitted and awarded Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA). In the last ten years much has been written about the company, its people and its cars. At a time when brand is everything, it is reassuring to know that a major part of the GD brand is its reputation for always putting quality first. The current range of six models are built at their factory in Grantham, Lincolnshire.
GBS (Great British Sports Cars) Ltd has been in business for over twenty five years and has built up a wealth of knowledge and expertise in developing and building Lotus Seven Style cars. This has resulted in their current model, the successful Zero, which they build at their premises near Newark in Nottinghamshire.
Gemini Karts are the UK's leading manufacturer of off-road buggies, go karts and rally karts. They specialise in providing go-kart parts, spares and accessories to off-road buggy enthusiasts across the UK and the world. Gemini Karts have been engineering karts for over 24 years, making them the longest established manufacturer of professional off-road buggies and go karts in the country. Using their expertise and experience, they design, engineer and assemble all their karts at their factory in Rushden, Northamptonshire.
Ginetta Cars Ltd was founded in 1958. The business was an extension of a passion for motor racing and as a result cars produced by the company were predominantly race or road/race. The first model, the G4, was unveiled at the Racing Car Show in 1961 and was aimed squarely at the club racer who wanted a cost effective weekday road car and a weekend racer.
Over the following years, success with the G4 prompted ever more ambitious designs and in 2005 Lawrence Tomlinson, an experienced racing driver and successful businessman bought the company. Yet the aims remain much as they ever were: to continue producing innovative, capable and, above all, affordable sports cars.
The Yorkshire-based company is a major player on the motorsport scene in the UK and abroad. Its own three single-make championships are renowned for their entertaining close racing and cater for novices and the career-minded alike. The company continues to design and manufacture its range of race and road cars in the company's 80,000 square foot factory in Garforth on the outskirts of Leeds. With his ambition to return to racing in the Le Mans Series, Laurence Tomlinson purchased Juno Racing Cars in mid 2014, and the exciting result is a new LMP3 race car, the G57. In Spring 2019, they revealed their new road and track supercar, the Akula.
Gladstone Motorcycles is the first bespoke British motorcycle brand to come to the market since 1984. Gladstone Motorcycle’s mantra is simple: To design and build limited production runs of the finest handmade British motorcycles available and to compliment that aspiration with a range of Gladstone designed bicycles, luxury clothing and accessories.
Henry Cole is the CEO of Gladstone Motorcycles. Cole is a lifelong passionate motorcycle enthusiast, writer, adventurer and TV presenter of two long running TV series: World’s Greatest Motorcycle Rides (Travel Channel Worldwide) and The Motorbike Show (ITV4).
Cole’s Great Great Uncle was Gladstone the Prime Minister but it was another Gladstone who left an indelible and everlasting impression on him at the tender age of twelve.
His name was Uncle Dick “Red Beard” Gladstone. Born in 1898 he was a true British eccentric who lived in Cole’s home city of Liverpool in a rambling abode where he fettled and rode the best of British motorcycles.
An eclectic mix of Brough Superiors, Triumphs and BSA’s jostled for position with dusty, abandoned 18th century furniture in Red Beard’s musty and mystical garage. When Cole wandered round said garage as a boy he knew the feelings that it inspired would constitute a key part of his life at some point and so now it shall!
So the company is called Gladstone Motorcycles, the logo is an interpretation of Cole’s side of the Gladstone families’ Crest. Gladstone Motorcycles will build the most exquisite, bespoke, limited runs of the quintessential British handmade motorcycles combining Gladstone’s relationships with the most famous British engine and frame manufacture with Gladstone’s vision for what dictates the perfect incarnation of two wheeled individualism.
The company's strapline is: "Handmade British motorcycles for discerning hooligans"!
