Van Diemen
Van Diemen International, Ltd. is a
British race car manufacturer based in
Snetterton,
Norfolk,
England.
The company has a reputation for high-volume production runs of its cars, the most well-known of which is its series of
Formula Ford chassis, which have been at the forefront of that class of motorsport for over 20 years.
Van Diemen was founded in
1973 by Ross Ambrose and Ralph Firman Sr., whose sons
Marcos and
Ralph Jr. have since gone on to have successful racing careers. The company's name comes from the island of
Tasmania,
Australia, which was formerly known as
Van Diemen's Land and is where Ambrose was born and lived before moving to the UK to co-found the company.
As well as Formula Ford, Van Diemen builds cars for
Formula Ford 2000 and
Formula Mazda series. The company's purpose-built manufacturing facility is located on the grounds of
Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit, allowing racing teams to test the cars literally right off the production line.
In 2002, Van Diemen International was bought by
Don Panoz and is now part of his Elan Motorsports Technologies group.
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Van Diemen International official website
