Tiga GC288 (Group C2)

By the RCN editorial team · Updated July 2026

The GC288 was Tiga's last and best Group C2 prototype: the 1988 customer coupé that fought Spice for the junior class's honours at Le Mans and in the World Championship — and now races on in historic Group C's most affordable tier.

Group C1980sGroup C2 (historic Group C grids)

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History

Tiga — founded by ex-F1 racers Tim Schenken and Howden Ganley, the name their initials — built customer racing cars across a dozen categories, but Group C2 was its kingdom: affordable aluminium-honeycomb coupés for the fuel-formula's privateer class. The GC288 of 1988 crowned the line — cleaner aero over the proven tub, typically Cosworth DFL 3.3 power, built for teams racing Le Mans on budgets the C1 factories spent on hospitality.

GC-series Tigas collected the C2 class's staple results through the mid-80s — class podiums at Le Mans, World Sportscar Championship C2 wins and title challenges against Spice's benchmark cars, national sports-prototype honours in Britain — with the GC288 arriving just as Spice's dominance and C2's approaching abolition capped its window.

Historic Group C revived the type's purpose: Peter Auto's Group C grids and Le Mans Classic welcome C2 machinery, where Tigas deliver the full ground-effect-era experience — the look, the venues, the soundtrack — at a fraction of 956/962 money. The marque's compact fleet is documented, and DFL/Hewland running gear keeps operation within ambitious-privateer reach, exactly as Schenken and Ganley intended.

Palmarès

World Sportscar Championship C2 class wins and Le Mans 24 Hours C2 class podiums across the GC-series' 1984–88 run; British national sports-prototype titles; Thundersports-era wins — and current historic Group C class results at Peter Auto rounds and Le Mans Classic, where GC288s run the C2 division's front.

What to check before you buy

Tiga's production was small and the registrars know the tubs — verify GC288 identity versus earlier GC284/286 (updates blurred lines in period) and period entry history through the Group C community. Inspect honeycomb tub condition (delamination and crash repairs need specialist eyes), DFL engine provenance and rebuild status (the 3.3's harmonics have known appetites — ask which specialist), and Hewland VG/DG internals. Historic Group C eligibility with current papers is the value driver; a Peter Auto-ready car with spares outprices a stored project by multiples, and deservedly.

Did you know

Tiga built over 400 cars across categories in barely a decade — Schenken and Ganley ran one of the most prolific customer constructors nobody outside paddocks knew.
C2's fuel formula rewarded cunning: Tiga crews raced to consumption spreadsheets, and class wins were sometimes decided by litres remaining, not laps.
The GC288 arrived the season before C2's abolition was confirmed — Tiga's best prototype had the shortest front-line life, a collector's classic setup.