Chevron Cars Ltd - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This article is about the manufacturer of racing cars, for the Chevron promotional cartoon see Chevron Cars
Chevron Cars
The Chevron Cars are part of an advertising campaign of the Chevron Corporation consisting of television spots, print ads, billboards, and toy cars available at Chevron retail locations.-History:...

.

Chevron Cars Ltd. is a manufacturer of racing cars, founded by Derek Bennett in 1965. Following Bennett's death in 1978, the firm has remained active in various guises. The original company's designs and name continue to be utilized by Roger Andreason to build replacement parts and continuation models of earlier Chevrons. In 2005 a second company, Chevron Racing Cars Ltd., was founded by Vin Malkie and has designed and built new grand tourer

Grand tourer

A grand tourer is a high-performance luxury automobile designed for long-distance driving. The most common format is a two-door coupé with either a two-seat or a 2+2 arrangement....

racing cars under the Chevron name, as well as other continuation models of earlier Chevrons.

Derek Bennett

Derek Bennett was born in 1933 in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

; he was brought up in Prestwich

Prestwich

Prestwich is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies close to the River Irwell, north of Manchester city centre, north of Salford and south of Bury....

. He was a largely self-taught, intuitive engineer and a talented amateur racing driver.

In his early years Bennett took a keen interest in model aircraft

Model aircraft

Model aircraft are flying or non-flying models of existing or imaginary aircraft using a variety of materials including plastic, diecast metal, polystyrene, balsa wood, foam and fibreglass...

. He took an apprenticeship in mechanical and electrical engineering before becoming a mechanic, but he soon fell in with motor racing scene in the North of England, initially in local stock-car racing events.

Bennett soon graduated to building, maintaining and also driving racing cars for himself and other local enthusiasts, and established himself as a competitive driver at club level, particularly in the Bennett Special, running in a series for 1172cc Ford powered cars; he later moved into the Clubmans

Clubmans

Clubmans are prototype front-engined sports racing cars that originated in Britain in 1965 and remain a very popular class of racing. Initiated by Nick Syrett of the British Racing and Sports Car Club and organised by the Clubmans Register which represent car owners, drivers and constructors...

category. Bennett also built a one-off Formula Junior

Formula Junior

Formula Junior is an open wheel formula racing class first adopted in October 1958 by the CSI . The class was intended to provide an entry level class where you could use inexpensive mechanical components from ordinary automobiles...

car which was only a modest success - rear-engined competition from Lotus and Cooper was more than a match for it, and the era of the special-builder in FJ was over.

By 1965 there were sufficient requests for replicas of his Clubmans

Clubmans

car, Bennett seemed able to establish himself as a constructor. Aided by a small staff of like-minded enthusiasts (particularly friend and assistant Paul Owens), for a decade and a half Chevron produced successful, beautiful racing cars.

Bennett never proceeded beyond Formula Three

Formula Three

Formula Three, also called Formula 3 or F3, is a class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers...

in his own driving but remained quick enough to test and develop many of his cars, especially at the nearby Oulton Park

Oulton Park

Oulton Park Circuit is a motor racing track in the small village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England. It is about from Winsford, from Chester city centre, from Northwich and from Warrington with a nearby rail connection along the Mid-Cheshire Line. It occupies much of the area which was...

and Aintree

Aintree Motor Racing Circuit

Aintree Motor Racing Circuit is a 3-mile motor racing circuit in the village of Aintree, Merseyside, England. The circuit is located within the famous Aintree Racecourse and used the same grandstands as horse racing...

.

He was working on a Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

Chevron when he was killed in a hang-gliding accident in 1978.

Chevron Cars

Chevron was particularly noted for its small-capacity sports cars

Sports car racing

Sports car racing is a form of circuit auto racing with automobiles that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built or related to road-going sports cars....

and its Formula Two

Formula Two

Formula Two, abbreviated to F2, is a type of open wheel formula racing. It was replaced by Formula 3000 in 1985, but the FIA announced in 2008 that Formula Two would return for 2009 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship...

, Formula Three

Formula Three

and Formula 5000

Formula 5000

Formula 5000 was an open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel racing cars that no longer fit into any particular formula...

single seaters. Although a Chevron F5000 did beat a representative Formula One

Formula One

field once in a race open to both categories (Peter Gethin

Peter Gethin

Peter Kenneth Gethin is a former racing driver.He participated in 31 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 21 June 1970. He won the 1971 Italian Grand Prix in the fastest average speed in Formula One history , but this was his only podium finish...

at the Race of Champions

Race of Champions

The Race of Champions is an international motorsport event held at the end of each year, featuring some of the world's best racing and rally drivers...

in 1973), the marque never seriously addressed F1; one F1 car was built but not finished in Bennett's lifetime and when complete was run only in the national-level Aurora F1 championship in Britain.

Although the first Chevrons were developments of Derek Bennett's Clubmans

Clubmans

special (Clubmans was a British national formula for front-engined open-top sports cars with Ford engines) the firm's customers soon started looking to more ambitious racing, and a line of Gran Turismo

Grand tourer

A grand tourer is a high-performance luxury automobile designed for long-distance driving. The most common format is a two-door coupé with either a two-seat or a 2+2 arrangement....

cars was soon established with the B3 (early type numbers were applied retrospectively when the cars were homologated for Group 4/5 racing) which developed into a line of successful BMW

BMW

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...

and Ford

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

-powered cars capable of competing internationally in the two-litre sports car class. The replacement for these cars was the beautiful B16, but driver Brian Redman

Brian Redman

Brian Herman Thomas Redman is a British racing driver from England....

pointed out that with heavy coupé bodywork it would be beaten on most circuits by lighter open-topped 'spyders' from marques like Abarth

Abarth

Abarth is an Italian racing car maker founded by Austrian-Italian Carlo Abarth and Italian Armando Scagliarini in Turin in 1949. Its logo depicts a stylized scorpion on a red and yellow background.- History :...

. The B16 Spyder was introduced, with a body inspired by Porsche 908

Porsche 908

The Porsche 908 was a racing car from Porsche, introduced in 1968 to continue the Porsche 906/Porsche 910/Porsche 907 series of models designed under Ferdinand Piech....

Spyder (which Redman also drove!) and this started a long line of successful two-litre sports racers (B19, B21, B23, B26, B31...).

Chevron was active in single seater formulae during this period, concentrating mostly upon Formula Two

Formula Two

and Formula Atlantic

Formula Atlantic

Formula Atlantic is a specification of open wheel racing car developed in the 1970s. It was used in professional racing through the IMSA Atlantic Championship until 2009 and is currently primarily used in amateur racing through Sports Car Club of America Formula Atlantic.-History:The history of...

(aka SCCA Formula B) with minor variants of the same basic design, and with occasional forays into Formula Three

Formula Three

.

Chevron was notable for its proud Lancastrian

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

nature - unlike the rest of the British racing car industry which tended to be based in an arc running from South West London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, the old Brooklands

Brooklands

Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. It opened in 1907, and was the world's first purpose-built motorsport venue, as well as one of Britain's first airfields...

circuit and Heathrow Airport round to Silverstone

Silverstone

Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and Banbury...

, Chevron remained based in a mill in Bolton

Bolton

Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...

, and many of its most celebrated drivers including Brian Redman

Brian Redman

Brian Herman Thomas Redman is a British racing driver from England....

and Jim Crawford

Jim Crawford (driver)

Jim Crawford was a Scottish racing driver. He first came to the racing community's notice when he borrowed Stephen Choularton's Lotus 69 and won on his first outing at Croft Racing Track in the North East of England...

were also Lancastrians. Many of Chevron's notable customers were also from the North of England including John Bridges (the "B" in the Chevron type numbers marks not Bennett's name but Bridges' financial contribution to the company), Digby Martland, and John Lepp.

The heyday of the marque ran through to the late 1970s and ended with Derek Bennett's death after a hang-gliding accident in 1978; Chevron continued in its original form owned by Derek's sisters for a couple of years with Tony Southgate

Tony Southgate

Tony Southgate is a British engineer and former racing car designer. He designed many successful cars, including Jaguar's Le Mans-winning XJR-9, and cars for almost every type of circuit racing. He was responsible for the chassis design of Ford's RS200 Group B rally car...

as 'consultant designer' then passed into other hands - some new cars were manufactured. Several key Chevron employees, including designer Paul Brown and chief mechanic Paul Owens, also worked on the short-lived Maurer

Maurer Motorsport (Germany)

Maurer Motorsport was a German Formula Two racing car constructor and entrant, founded by Willy Maurer.Works and privateer Maurers competed in the European Formula Two Championship from 1980 to 1984....

Formula Two cars, and later at Reynard Racing Cars

Reynard Motorsport

Reynard Motorsport was at one time the world's largest racing car manufacturer. Initially based at Bicester and latterly at Reynard Park, Brackley, England the company built successful cars in Formula Ford 1600, Formula Ford 2000, Formula Vauxhall Lotus, Formula Three, Formula 3000 and Indy...

.

All the assets, including all copyright in drawings, components and car body moulds, were bought by a consortium of Scottish racing drivers/enthusiasts who formed Chevron Racing Cars Scotland Ltd. This company produced spare parts for the range of Chevron cars as well as designing and building a few new Sports 2000 and Formula Atlantic models up until 1983 when the company liquidated. Roger Andreason, whose Andreason Racing and Tuning business was, at that time running several Chevron cars for customers, purchased all the assets, including copyright in drawings and materials required to manufacture Chevron racing cars for Chevron Cars Ltd. Under control of Roger Andreason Chevron Cars Ltd. produced over 50 cars for Formula Ford

Formula Ford

Formula Ford is a single seater, open wheel class in motorsport which exists in some form in many countries around the world. It is an entry-level series to motor racing....

, Formula Ford 2000, Sports 2000 and Group C categories - as well as maintaining the spare part service for existing Chevron owners.

In 2006 Chris Smith purchased a majority share holding in Chevron Cars Ltd., from the owners Roger Andreason and Tim Colman. Both Roger and Tim remained minority shareholders, with Tim remaining as a Director - a position he has held since 1983. The following five years saw Chris Smith invest substantially in Chevron. During this time he oversaw the construction of around 10 "Continuation" B8 and B16 models, which were assembled by Kelvin Jones of Kelvin Jones Motorsport based in Liverpool. In July 2011, Roger Andreason and Tim Colman bought back Chris Smith's shareholding and Roger was re-appointed as the Managing Director of Chevron Cars Limited.

Modern Chevrons

Chevrons are popular cars in historic racing and various businesses still refettle and supply spares for the cars. Continuation models of the 1970s Chevron B16 are built by both Chevron Cars and Chevron Racing, and are eligible for historic racing with FIA approval. As Oulton Park Circuit had been Bennett's home circuit, the Oulton Park Gold Cup meeting features races dedicated solely to Chevron's sportcars.

Chevron Racing has developed a GR8 model which competes in the British GT Championship

British GT Championship

The Avon Tyres British GT Championship is a sports car racing series currently based in the United Kingdom, although they have had select races outside of Britain in the past few years. The series was created by the British Racing Drivers' Club in 1993 and for its first two seasons was called the...

as well as in a one-make series

One-design

One-Design is a racing method where all vehicles or boats have identical or very similar designs or models. It is also known as Spec series. It is heavily used in sailboat racing. All competitors in a race are then judged based on a single start time...

Cars

The following models were built by Chevron.

Model	Category	Year	Notes
B1	Clubmans Formula	1965
B2	Clubmans Formula	1966
B3-Ford	GT	1966	B3-B6, B8 and B12 all basically similar
B4-BMW	GT	1966	For a detailed history of this model including photographs and race results, see the current owner's website http://www.chevronb4.co.uk
B5-BRM	GT	1967
B6-Ford/BMW	GT	1967
B7	Formula 3	1967
B8	GT/Group 4	1968
B9/B9B	Formula 3	1968
B10	Formula 2	1968
B12-Repco	GT	1968	Lengthened B8 for John Woolf's Le Mans entry
B14	Formula B	1968
B15/B15B/B15C	Formula 3/FB	1969
B16 Coupe	G5/G6	1969
B16 Spyder	G6	1969	Effectively the prototype for B19 - Porsche 908-like spyder body on B16 chassis
B17/B/C	F2/F3/FB	1970
B18	F2/Atlantic/B	1970
B19	G6	1971	Progenitor of the B19/B21/B23/B26/B31 line of open sports cars.
B20	F2/Atlantic	1971
B21	G6	1972
B23	G6	1973
B24	F5000	1972	Beat mixed F1/F5000 field in Peter Gethin Peter Gethin Peter Kenneth Gethin is a former racing driver.He participated in 31 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 21 June 1970. He won the 1971 Italian Grand Prix in the fastest average speed in Formula One history , but this was his only podium finish... 's hands.
B25	F2/Atlantic	1973
B26	G6	1973
B27	F2/Atlantic	1974
B28	F5000	1974
B29	F2/Atlantic	1975
B30	F5000	1975	3.5l Cosworth V6, not 5.0l Ford V8. F5000 champion with David Purley David Purley David Charles Purley, GM, was a British racing driver born in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. He participated in 11 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting at Monaco on 3 June 1973... .
B31	G6	1975	In 1975 Chevron B31s driven by several drivers won the under 2-litre class of several rounds of the World Championship for Sportscars. (The over 2 litre class was won by Alfa Romeo's flat-12s.) A total of 6 B31s were constructed and at least two continue to contest vintage race events in the U.S.
B32	Special	1975	One-off hillclimb special (owing much to F5000 practice) for John Cussins with 5.7 Chevy. Ran in match race against a motorbike on part of the Isle of Man TT Isle of Man TT The International Isle of Man TT Race is a motorcycle racing event held on the Isle of Man and was for many years the most prestigious motorcycle race in the world... course.
B34	F3/Atlantic	1976
B35	F2/Atlantic	1976
B36	G6	1976
B37	F5000	1976	Only one ever B37 built - chassis number B37-001. Built for Peter Gethin and run by the VDS team, equipped with a Chevrolet V8 5-litre engine. Car was sold to Australian Bruce Allison and competed in the 1978 Rothmans International Series. Was sold again in 1980 to the engineer Australian Ivan Tighe. Tighe competed in numerous circuit races including the 1980 Australian Grand Prix in "the 5000". The "5000" slowly retired from circuit racing to become a hillclimb car, culminating in an outright win in the 1985 Australian Hillclimb Championship Australian Hillclimb Championship The Australian Hillclimb Championship is a CAMS sanctioned motor sport competition which determines Australia's annual hillclimbing champion. The championship has traditionally been awarded to the driver setting fastest time at a single meeting however the 1958 title was awarded based on the... for Ivan Tighe (at the age of 55, another win came shortly after his 60th birthday in 1990); the car was retired until 1995 when Ivan's son Dean restored the car and continued to hillclimb the vehicle as well as do demonstrations at historic events. Dean's best result was equal second outright at the 1997 Australian Hillclimb Championship Australian Hillclimb Championship The Australian Hillclimb Championship is a CAMS sanctioned motor sport competition which determines Australia's annual hillclimbing champion. The championship has traditionally been awarded to the driver setting fastest time at a single meeting however the 1958 title was awarded based on the... in the rain on slick tires. The vehicle was sold back to the UK in 2000.
B38	F3	1977
B39	Atlantic	1977	Very similar to B35
B40	F2	1977
B41	F1	1978	Essentially hand-built by Bennett himself and unfinished at the time of his death. Effectively obsolete before it turned a wheel as it was not a ground effect Ground effect in cars Ground effect is term applied to a series of aerodynamic effects used in car design, which has been exploited to create downforce, particularly in racing cars. This has been the successor to the earlier dominant aerodynamic theory of streamlining... car. Raced as a 'scholarship car' by Graham Eden racing with Durex sponsorship in the Aurora AFX F1 series in Britain, with different young drivers trying the car.
B42	F2	1978
B43	F3	1978
B45	Atlantic	1978
B46	FSV	1978
B47	F3	1979
B48	F2	1979	Tony Southgate Tony Southgate Tony Southgate is a British engineer and former racing car designer. He designed many successful cars, including Jaguar's Le Mans-winning XJR-9, and cars for almost every type of circuit racing. He was responsible for the chassis design of Ford's RS200 Group B rally car... became 'consultant designer' and updated the existing cars with ground-effects for 1979.
B49	Atlantic	1979
B50	FSV	1979
B51	Can-Am	1980
B52	Sports 2000	1980	First raced August 1980. Continued in low-level production when Robin Smith owned Chevron.
B53	F3	1980	Planned, never built.
B53	Atlantic	1981	Built when Robin Smith owned Chevron.
B54	S2000	1981 or 1982
B56	Atlantic	1982	Raced in 1982 UK Atlantic series. Built when Robin Smith owned Chevron.
B60	Thundersports Thundersports Thundersports was a variety of sports car racing introduced by John Webb of Brands Hatch fame.Webb saw it as a replacement for the Aurora AFX Formula One championship as a spectacular class that could headline national-level meetings, and a partner for the Thundersaloons series for...	1982	Built for the British Thundersports category and ran with a 2-litre engine and B36 bodywork. Built when Robin Smith owned Chevron.
B61	Thundersports	1983	May have been used as a Sports 2000 as well. May have been the only car current when Smith sold Chevron to Roger Andreason.
B62	Group C2	1985	Built when Roger Andreason owned Chevron. 1 built.
B63	S2000	1985	Sports 2000 Sports 2000 Sports 2000 is a restricted-rules class of two-seat, rear-engined, open-cockpit, full-bodied sports-prototype racecar used largely in amateur road racing. Sometimes known as S2000 or S2, the class was developed by John Webb, then of the Brands Hatch racing circuit in England, as an affordable form...
B65	Group C2	1986	Built by Race Cars UK for Chevron Race Cars USA. One built.
GR8	GT	2010	Built by Vin Malkie's Chevron Racing Cars Ltd

Superstition

The reader will note that there are no B11, B22, B33, B44. Derek Bennett was involved in an accident at Oulton Park to which the number 11 was variously connected, and as a result of this acquired a superstition about using the number, and its multiples. This superstition extended to the numbering of individual chassis, with no original Chevron chassis numbered in a multiple of 11.

External links

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