At the Great British Car Journey, we’re always on the lookout for rare and fascinating pieces of British motoring history. Last week, that search led us to an incredible discovery: an extremely rare Horstman car, one of the few surviving examples of this unique British marque.
We are now proud custodians of not one, but two Horstman cars. With only around 10 known to still exist worldwide, we are fast becoming the home of the Horstman!
The Horstman Super Sports Racer
Our first Horstman is something very special. The Horstman Super Sports Racer is one of the rarest racing cars in existence and a remarkable piece of British motor sport history.
Built in Bath by Horstman Cars, a small but ambitious British manufacturer founded in 1912 by Sidney Horstman and supported by engineering talent such as Captain John Wentworth Rooke, these Horstman racing cars were designed to compete not only at Brooklands but at venues all over the UK .
Only around 20 Horstman racing cars were built and ours is the only known survivor. Despite its modest 1.5-litre engine producing around 40 bhp, the car weighs just 600kg and could exceed 100 mph on the Brooklands banking.
In 1921, a similar Horstman finished fifth in the very first 200-mile race at Brooklands. Crucially, it was the first British car home, just behind a works Bugatti and averaged over 80 mph for more than two hours on Brooklands’ famously bumpy concrete.
The driver, Douglas Hawkes, and his riding mechanic must have been made of absolute steel but Hawkes was an accomplished racer who competed twice in the Indianapolis 500 mile race.
The fact that we were able to take this incredible Horstman back onto the banking at Toyota’s test track in 2025 is a testament to its quality and the work of our talented in house technicians.
A Second Horstman Joins the Family
As if one wasn’t enough, last week at H&H Classics, we managed to secure a second Horstman. And what a story it brings with it.
Originally exported to Christchurch, New Zealand by Horstman agent Ian Buchannon, this particular car has lived a truly global life. It spent nearly a century on the other side of the world before being repatriated to the UK in 2011.
In an extraordinary twist of fate, the car was loaded onto a ship bound for Britain just three days before the devastating Christchurch earthquake, which destroyed the very garage it had been stored in for decades. Quite simply, its survival is nothing short of miraculous.
A Proper Survivor
This second Horstman is a beautifully preserved piece of history. It retains:
- Its original tourer body, now with a wonderfully honest patina
- Its matching numbers 1496cc Anzani engine, a widely used and respected design of the era
- A rich history file including period photographs, engineering drawings and even a Horstman handbook
Adding to its provenance, it comes from the family of Captain Rooke himself, having been owned by his granddaughter as a tribute to her family’s legacy.
You can see both these incredible cars together, only at Great British Car Journey… and we believe it’s the only place you will ever see two of the 1500 or so cars made by Horstman between 1912 and 1928.
