At Garagista we are car-lovers. Of all sorts, sizes and even origin. Although, due to our huge admiration for the Italians and their Prancing Horse, their Raging Bull and Four-Leaf Clover, one could argue that we are a little bit biased. And it is true; we just adore how the Italians embrace ‘their’ cars, or Macchina. They do it with unparalleled flair and drama. However, when it comes to motorsport we have found a deep-rooted love for the British, whatever the discipline may be…

Garagisti! Assembliatore!

It was in the late 50’s when Enzo Ferrari coined the term Garagista (plural: Garagisti). A term which he used to scornfully describe small, most often British, racing teams that dared to challenge the Italian constructor. These grease monkeys, which by the way went by names like Tyrrell, Lotus, Cooper, Brabham and (our personal favorite) Hesketh, had a way-of-working which Ferrari would later regret to under estimate. Worse, or better yet, depending on your perspective, by the early 60’s even Enzo had to acknowledge that he had to take his learnings from these Brits.

Testing on Monday, racing on Sunday

The garagisti were innovative; they had wild ideas, radical designs and the freedom to try it. They had nothing to lose and could test their improvements in a matter of days. We are all familiar with the marketing mantra: race on Sunday, sell on Monday, the Garagisti however had a different one: test it on Monday to race it on Sunday. They were developing their car quicker than Scuderia Ferrari could plan a meeting and by the early 60’s the Brits started winning. A lot!

Not just good gardeners

“The British don’t know how to build cars. They’re good gardeners, though”, Enzo said about the garagisti. Fast forward more then half a century of, very deadly but also very epic motorsports seasons and the old guard would find that  nowadays, in Great Britain around 4 000 companies and 25 000  qualified engineers are involved in the motorsport industry representing a 9-GBP billion business in de UK alone. Some of the greatest and innovative motorsport brands find their base here. This equals to a staggering 75% of all global motorsport research and development.

and love the   adore British cars and their respective heritage, we love the British motorsport culture and we specialize in im- and exporting motorsport parts from and to the United Kingdom.

With over 22 years of hands-on experience in motorsport ánd the automotive (aftermarket-)sector, Garagista is a trustworthy partner for both sellers as-well-as (professional) buyers of motorsport derived car-parts from Britain and/or for British cars.

We would not dare to compare ourselves to the Garagistis of the 50’s and 60’s. However, when we opted for a business-name it seemed fitting. Why you ask? Work with us and find out!