Written by William Stephens & Gen Flauta, Edited by Gen Flauta & Apostolos Papageorgou
Glickenhaus. While this may not pop up into your mind when it comes to the names of niche, ultra-exclusive supercar manufacturers such as Ferrari, Pagani, Koenigsegg and even Rimac, it still has managed to do what it takes to be able to achieve the level of engineering and status that established makers have had for decades.
P4/5 (001) & P4/5C (002) - Early Beginnings
One man named Jim Glickenhaus from New York City has been dreaming of building a race car that can also be driven on the road. After reaching great success in his career he decided to take on the big names in the supercar industry, starting with the P4/5 Competizione that competes at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring in the VLN class. However, unlike the current SCGs that they have been building, the car and its engine were based on a Ferrari 430 Scuderia GT2 race car. But despite the strong Ferrari connections, the P4/5 Competizione is where it all started for Glickenhaus as a small privateer racing team that would later build their own cars for endurance races, such as the 24 Hours of Nurburgring in the VLN class.
003S/003C - First of its Own Kind
After developing and modifying Ferraris, like the P4/5 Competizione, Jim Glickenhaus decided to develop supercars on his own. Hence, he established Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, or SCG, where they developed the SCG 003. Codenamed P33, it was developed by Paolo Gerella, who previously worked at Pininfarina. The SCG 003 made its debut at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, in the form of the 003S road car and the 003C race car.
The 003C aimed to finish every race it started no matter the challenge, competing at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring in 2015 under the SP-X class and powered by a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 derived from Honda’s Daytona prototype race car. The 003C dominated in the class, winning the race between 2015 and 2019.
"You go to Koenigsegg for wild engineering, Pagani for works of art. You come to us to race cars you can drive on the road." - Jim Glickenhaus
SCG 007 - A Le Mans Dream That Became True
The team currently competes in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) in the new “Hypercar” (LMH) class with the SCG 007, which they have been sharing the design and building process through their Instagram page. 2021 wasn’t a very smooth season for the team, with a few technical issues and the running of two cars split resources a little too far. The 007 is powered by a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V8 built by Pipo Motors of France, producing a very tasteful sound through the exhaust.
Then, they switched to run just one car, with car #709 having been sold, allowing car #708 to continue racing for the 2022 season. As a result, it had instant success by clinching a podium on its home soil in the opening round at Sebring. Its biggest achievement by far is grabbing its first-ever podium at the 90th Edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans by finishing third just behind the two Toyotas. Glickenhaus are also planning on developing a road legal version of the SCG 007, as well as supplying other teams with same-spec cars to compete in WEC or IMSA in the future.
Boot - The Living Legend
Alongside supercars, Glickenhaus has also made an off-roader called the “Boot,” which paid homage to the original Boot that was driven by Steve McQueen. As the name suggests, it was designed to compete at one of the toughest rally raids in the world: the Baja 1000. It made its debut at the 2019 Baja 1000, which coincided with the arrival of Ford’s factory team with the Bronco R and both cars competed under the Class 2 category.
However, the Boot did the impossible, by not only beating against the Ford Bronco R by over 280 miles or 5 hours, but also securing a class victory in its own right in 2019. They repeated the trick again in 2020, and later promoted up to Class 1 category.
After celebrating their early Baja success, Glickenhaus began developing a hydrogen version of the Boot that will also compete at the prestigious race. The image rendered above illustrates how the hydrogen could be stored and run while still being the car that would pioneer the development of hydrogen-powered off-roaders.
004 - The Next Chapter
After manufacturing the now-successful 003S and its racing counterpart, the 003C, Glickenhaus began creating their successors with the 004 a road car that can race and was “born on the Nurburgring.” The 004 will come in 3 main styles: the 004S, 004CS and the 004C. Much like the 003C, the 004 will compete at the N24 race within the specifications sanctioned by both the FIA and the GT3 classes.
Another road car Glickenhaus has been developing is the 008, which initially started as an April Fools joke. However it ended up becoming a reality, which offered the best of both worlds, by featuring the off-road capabilities of the Boot in a sporty body of the 004. The 008 will only be sold as a kit car once they have been designed and won't come with an engine fitted into the car. This allows buyers to customise the way they want to be with numberous engine possibilities that they could fit in.
009 & 010 - The Future of Glickenhaus is Hydrogen
As Glickenhaus is a firm believer of hydrogen, which was evident from the development of the hydrogen-powered Boot, they have also presented two concepts: the 009 supercar and the 010 off-roader. Both cars outlined Glikenhau’s commitment towards driving and racing with hydrogen propulsion in the near future. The 009 is inspired by the wedgy designs of the 70s, such as the iconic Ferrari Modulo, which is currently owned by Mr. Glickenhaus himself, and the Lancia Stratos Zero. They’ve claimed that its hydrogen powertrain could last for up to 3,000 miles on a single sip, more than enough to travel from New York to Los Angeles. The 010 off-roader is based on the Boot, and it is claimed to be able to refuel in 5 minutes with a range of over 1,600km in one go.
References
History
P4/5 Competizione
SCG Boot
SCG003
SCG007
Factory