Autosport's Car of the Year? The Ginetta G50

Lawrence Tomlinson bought historic British car maker Ginetta in 2005, and in just three years his team has hit it over the wall with the maker's first car under his tenure: the Ginetta G50, has taken Autosport's number one slot in its Top 10 Cars of the Year.

The G50's attractions are obvious: It is light (1,750 lbs), powerful (300 horsepower six-cylinder), and relatively inexpensive (£35,000-or around $51,000 USD). It comes in three flavors for now: Roadgoing coupe, G50 Cup Car, and a GT4 model for the FIA GT4 series. The Cup Car had its own one-make race series in Britain, and that was so successful it also won an award in Motorsport News. Coming in 2009 for Ginetta: a G50Z for GT3 competition, an electric Ginetta G50, and expansion onto the Continent with a one-make series in Spain fielding the Ginetta G20.

Top Ten Concept Cars of 2008

Last week was the top ten cars for 2008, but we still want to dream, so these are the top ten concept cars from 2008. The rules for this are much simpler: the car had to be in an auto show or officially recognized by a car manufacturer in 2008.

That leaves a pretty big field still out there so we narrowed it down further by eliminating cars that are have already been altered to their final production form (like the European Ford Focus RS), or cars that were a concept at the beginning of 2008 and are already for sale. As always, write-ins are encouraged (we may even change the list with enough protest.)

Top Ten Worst Concept Cars of 2008

These are the cars that the executives presenting them couldn’t hide the ‘WTF’ face, and no amount of booth babes could make them attractive. These are the top (bottom) ten worst concept cars of 2008.

Most of these cars made this list because they were ugly. So comment away, because beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

A few made this list because they are utterly useless. That’s a tough distinction to make. Many concept cars are not practical, but some stand out as a complete waste of space.

Just like yesterday’s top ten concept cars, these ten bottom-feeders must have been in an auto show or officially recognized by a car manufacturer in 2008