What's In a Name: Part FourThe final segment of the series includes car makers who started out as coach builders, weaving equipment manufacturers, and even a chicken farmer. Hard work, determination, vision, and a love of cars put these names on the circuit.
PaganiThe company was founded in 1992 by Argentine car designer Horacio Pagani, who worked as both an employee and later as a consultant for Lamborghini, contributing to the restyling of the Countach Anniversary edition.
Pagani was so strongly influenced by Formula One great (and fellow Argentine) Juan-Manuel Fangio that he originally planned to name his car the "Fangio." Instead, he chose "Zonda," the name for a wind that comes from the Andes Mountains. Palmer JaguarFormer Formula One and Le Mans driver Jonathan Palmer partnered with Jaguar to build the Palmer Jaguar JP1; a car designed in the spirit of Le Mans and created specifically to deliver the ultimate circuit driving experience.
The JP1 is one of the cars featured in Palmer's "Motorsport Sensation" program, which gives both novice and experienced drivers the chance to drive these high-powered cars on a track circuit at Bedford Autodrome.
ShelbyThe company was founded by American racing and automotive design legend Carroll Shelby, a former chicken farmer who was famous for racing in striped bib overalls.
In 1960, when a heart ailment forced him to stop driving race cars, Shelby turned to designing and building cars. His first effort, the Cobra, is an American performance legend, and he also contributed mightily to the design of the Dodge Viper. TVRThe TVR name is derived from the consonants in the first name of the company's founder, Trevor Wilkinson, who established the company in 1947.
TVR built its reputation by installing the drivelines of production cars in a lightweight TVR chassis with minimal bodywork with the goal of maximizing agility and the car's power-to-weight ratio. Today, TVR also develops the engines for its cars. WiesmannThe company was founded in 1985 by German brothers Martin and Friedhelm Wiesmann, whose childhood dream was to design a tailor-made car that they had developed themselves.
The company's logo, a gecko, reflects their cars' ability to "stick to the road like a gecko to the wall."
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