IF YOU CAN DREAM IT...

...then Lanzante can do it. And there's a whole lot more besides to this distinguished yet mysterious British company, discovers Damien Smith

- Damien Smith

It was The Beatles' George Harrison who suggested that Ganesha would make suitable logo for Lanzante. The Hindu deity with an elephant's head is said to bring luck- not that Lanzante appears to need it, judging by its salubrious Hampshire headquarters. Ganesha is also believed to be the remover of obstacles, which might have more direct relevance to the elite car restoration and preparation business. Nothing seems to be too difficult or beyond the small band of technical wizards and artisan engineers who populate this place.

Lanzante is a familiar name, sewn into the rarefied, telephone-numbers-for-budgets end of the British car industry. But beyond its association with McLaren, we don't know a great deal about it so we've invited ourselves down to Petersfield to set that right.

We meet Dean Lanzante, son of founder Paul, who has run the business for the past 15 years.

Select is the word to describe Lanzante's work. "On full-scale projects, we do one a month," says the boss. Servicing McLarens remains core: "Last year, we had 25 F1s through here." th

There's ambition here, as well as a deep knowledge and passion for fast cars and motorsport - and, as we discover, a refreshing lack of a grand plan. What exactly does Lanzante do? The short answer is a bit of everything.

"My father started the business in the late  1970s, restoring and preparing historic cars," says Lanzante. "I joined in 1993, and two years later we had expanded into modern GT racing, running a Porsche 911 GT2. Prior to that, we had done some stuff for McLaren, before McLaren Heritage was formed. We restored two Indycars and a Can-Am car. When we failed to get an entry for the 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours, McLaren approached us. They had a car and an entry, we had the truck, pit equipment and team kit, so we merged to run the car at Le Mans. And obviously the result was what it was."