Glickenhaus first to commit to new LeMans formula

An American billionaire with a need for speed has launched the first assault on Le Mans in 2020 with a homegrown supercar.

New rules for the French endurance classic will open the door for road-focussed racers at the start of the new decade, replacing the hyper-costly hybrids which have dominated in recent years with Audi, Porsche and Toyota.

Jim Glickenhaus is the first to take up the new challenge with a car he is calling the SGC 007.

It will have a $US1.2m pricetag and his plan is to build a pair of Le Mans racers, one for his personal Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus and another for sale – oh, and 25 road cars.

Glickenhaus made his money in movies and had a huge collection of exotics before moving into the design, development and production of his own cars. He first came to car fame with a one-off Ferrari P4/P5 which was built by Pininfarina to mimic the style of the original P4 from the 1960s.

His SCG 003 has competed in the Nurburgring 24-hour race since 2011, and his company builds the 004 supercar as well as a Baja-style off-roader called the 005 Boot.

Next up is a retro-style front-engined 006 racer that mimics cars from the 1960s.

But Glickenhaus is heavily focussed on Le Mans, and repeating the success of Briggs Cunningham in the 1950s with legendary US drivers including Carroll Shelby and Jim Hall.

“It’s been 50 years since a car built in America finished first overall at Le Mans. We aim to change that,” Glickenhaus said as he announced the Le Mans program.

“This is for America. For Briggs, Carroll and Jim Hall. For all of us.”

He promised all profits from the road car program will go directly to the Le Mans effort.