Our Story
Established in 1987 by sports car enthusiast Andrew Marsh, Maidstone Sports Cars has over the years built a name for itself, through excellence of quality and service in the classic and modern sports car world.
Maidstone Sports Cars quickly began to establish our reputation for renowned quality and friendly service, and has continued to expand. We occupy a large Kentish oast house, deep in the heart of the beautiful Weald of Kent, where we now employ seven technicians, each highly skilled in their area of expertise.
Maidstone Sports Cars became increasingly well known, partly due to our engineering feats and unique vehicles. In 1992, we commissioned a special four-wheel drive MGB as a promotional vehicle. The car was subsequently featured in many motoring magazines, the Daily Telegraph and BBC Top Gear, where it was vigorously tested by Chris Goffey (see Projects).
Maidstone Sports Cars then went on to create their world-famous MG RV8 GT, also shown and driven on Top Gear and featured on the front covers of many classic and Retro magazines.
Awards for quality and workmanship followed from the MG Owners' Club and the MG Car Club - including the prestigious MG Five Spanner Workshop Award. Maidstone Sports Cars went on to become a Triumph TR Club, Club Lotus and Jaguar Enthusiast Club recommended supplier, and achieved British Motor Heritage approval.
In 2000, Maidstone Sports Cars entered the world of motorsport for the first time with our own built MGB race car, which went on to win the prestigious MG Car Club BCV8 Championship in its first year. We then moved on to the MGF Challenge Cup in 2001 and achieved 2nd overall in the championship.
So as to further develop the business, we then put the motorsport program on hold. This allowed us to develop the Lotus HondaElise project in 2003, an engineering exercise that introduced the Lotus world to what Maidstone Sports Cars could really do. The Honda conversion was heavily publicised in many magazines and by its success on the track. In 2007, we were asked to take part in the newly formed LoTRDC Elise Trophy. Within a year of racing, the popularity of the conversion had grown so much that by the end of the 2009 season, we had built and run many of the Honda powered Elise and Exige cars taking part.
After a successful number of years in the Elise Trophy, in 2010 Maidstone Sports Cars moved away from the Lotus paddock to successfully run the Orbital Sounds highly modified Honda Powered Elise in the prestigious Britcar championship.
In 2012 Maidstone Sports Cars made a return to the Lotus paddock in the newly created Lotus Cup UK championship, where we finished our first season with four outright wins in our newly built Lotus Exige S1 Honda. We continued to race in Lotus Cup UK for the next 3 years, winning our class in 2014 and the overall Super Sport Lotus Cup UK championship in 2015. The Exige was then retired, as we had been approached for another exciting racing prospect: A 1973 McLaren F5000 that had been sitting in a garage for over 30 years. We were commissioned to restore and then run the car in the prestigious HSCC Derek Bell Trophy. After a 12-month restoration, we were out on track in 2016 claiming several class wins.
While this was going on, the business was expanding yet again. With more and more servicing demand, in 2014 we opened our brand-new service & MOT Centre. This new building was equipped with all the latest diagnostic and workshop equipment, plus it featured our new in house MOT Test bay.
In 2015 Maidstone Sports Cars were made Kent’s Official Lotus Service Centre, as well as becoming a TVR Heritage & Performance Network member in 2017.
