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For a space of more than a decade and a half (1965-1980), the Chevron brand became one of the most popular construction companies of racing cars. The company had been founded in Bolton (GB) by Derek Bennett in 1965, but Derek Bennett already had extensive experience building and preparing racing cars.
Although Bennett did not have any special technical qualifications, his creative capacity was undeniable and in the mid-XNUMXs he had manufactured a small "midget" with which he would start his racing career, while also carrying out a large number of repairs on his workshop. The little "midget" was replaced by a "Clubman" of his own manufacture and later by a Formula Junior, who were baptized simply with his surname, Bennett.
The prestige achieved by Bennett, especially for his preparations in classic British club races, was high, with a legion of fans enthusiastic about the performance of his vehicles. Thus, in 1965 he suggested to one of them, Brian Classick, the possibility of building a special car, which in Bennett's words would outperform the Lotus Seven that dominated the “Clubman” category in Great Britain with an iron fist. .
Bennett builds two tubular chassis, of course without plans, equipped with a 1.500 cc Ford Kent engine, which Derek Bennett himself would debut on July 3, 1965 in Kirkistown.
The car is finished on the same circuit and without having been subjected to any type of test, it starts, finally achieving a surprising and unexpected absolute victory.
This success only increases the fame of Bennett, who immediately receives the order of four new "clubmen". Almost unintentionally, the Chevron brand was born, a name devised by Bennett inspired by a traffic sign. These "clubmen" were called B1 and B2, although it must be explained that this name was made with retroactive effects since 1968, until then they were known simply as Chevron Clubmans Formula.
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The Chevron GT
Derek Bennett had managed to defeat Lotus, despite the great experience accumulated by Colin Chapman's brand. The successes of the B1 and B2 had sparked Bennett's interest in the GT class, which in British racing was dominated by the fast Lotus Elan.
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At the beginning of 1966 he built the model of a simple two-seater, which already allows a glimpse of the technical provisions of the B8 that we bring to these virtual pages. As it happened, one of his clients, Alan Minshaw, became interested in this new project and reported it to the pilot Digby Martland. The latter was presented at Bennett's workshop, commissioning him to build a chassis, which will be equipped with a 1.600 cc Ford “twin cam” engine from a Lotus Elan.
As had happened with the B1 and B2, this new B3 GT would debut with a victory in the hands of Martland at the Oulton Park circuit, on July 23, 1966. Parallel to the construction of the B3 GT, Bennett had built the B4 GT, equipped with a BMW engine from the 2002 model and which, like the previous model, debuted with a class victory up to 2 liters, at the Crystal Palace circuit , on August 6, 1966.
Already in 1967, the B5 GT model is built and will be equipped with a BRM V8 engine. This car will be regularly driven by Brian Redman, debuting with victory on April 1, 1967 at Oulton Park. The new car will achieve numerous triumphs in Great Britain, notably the victory on May 29, 1967 at the Crystal Palace circuit. This victory was of great importance for Chevron, as it was the brand's first victory in an international race.
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Redman's victories sparked a number of important orders for the brand, the British drivers had discovered a car that was relatively inexpensive, as well as very competitive in its class. Bennett will build seven chassis of the new B6 GT. Unlike the previous GT built, the body of the new B6 was made of fiberglass, being motorized in two different versions, the first with the Ford “twin cam” and the next with the 2-liter BMW.
As had happened before, the B6 GT also debuted with a victory, on April 16, 1967 at the Brands Hatch circuit, being driven by Digby Martland. The 1967 season was very successful, with a total of 15 overall victories and countless class wins in Great Britain, demonstrating the effectiveness of any of the GTs built by the Bolton brand.
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The Chevron B8 GT
The Chevron GTs had begun to participate in international tests, and Derek Bennett had realized that his cars were classified by the International Automobile Federation as prototypes, which made them compete in inferior conditions with the very specialized Sports of Porsche and Ferrari. Determined to remedy this situation, it was proposed to homologate the GT as Group 4, in order to be competitive in this category.
The FIA regulations required the manufacture of at least 50 chassis to achieve Group 4 homologation, and Bennett began construction of the B8 GT at the end of 1967 (the name B7 corresponds to a Formula 3 built that same year for the pilot. Officer Peter Gethin). Bennett considered that he only needed to build 39 new chassis, since the new B8 GT used the same chassis as the B3, B4, B5 and B6 GT built up to then; and it is also true that the FIA did not pose any special problems, homologating the car on May 1, 1968, long before all the units necessary for this purpose had been completed.
The Chevron B8 GT uses the same design as previous Bennett-built GTs. The chassis is of the tubular type, built in steel, to which riveted aluminum panels are incorporated to increase rigidity. The engine is located in the rear central position and the bodywork is basically made up of five elements made of fiberglass, highlighting the low overall height.
Between 1967 and 1970, a total of 44 B8 GTs were built, equipped with seven different engines, highlighting the BMW 2-liter engine, which equipped 34 of the B8 GTs built. The model debuted on March 3, 1968 at Cadwell Park, in the hands of John Bridges, achieving his first victory on March 30 at Silverstone, piloted by Phil Silverston.
The car was a bestseller as it was competitive, easily repairable and relatively inexpensive. Interestingly, Group 4 victories did not begin to arrive until 1969, when Americans Gunn, Kleimpeter and Beatty achieved class victory in the prestigious 24 Hours of Daytona after finishing in 6th overall position, driving a chassis imported by Fred Opert, which was to become the brand's American distributor.
By then, Chevron had become one of the leading European racing car manufacturers and its production spanned various types of Formula 3 and Formula 2, in addition to its GTs. In 1968, he built the B12 GT, the last of the models that shared the same chassis and bodywork that had been born in 1966 with the B3, but this time powered by an imposing 8cc Repco V3.000 engine, which John Woolfe will lead to victory in his Silverstone debut.
The replacement for the Chevron B8 GT was the B 16, which began construction in 1969. From this model, the rise of the brand will be unstoppable, conquering a long number of victories around the world and in all the categories in which its manufactured products ran. Derek Bennett had even designed an F1 car, the Chevron B41. Unfortunately this car could not be developed by himself, a skydiving accident ended his life in 1978. The Chevron brand closed its doors in January 1980, unable to overcome the death of its creator.
Few are the Spanish pilots who came to race with the Chevron B8 GT. On October 5, 1969, on the occasion of the “12 Hours of Barcelona”, the Escudería Montjuich entered “Pele” (Félix Muñoz) along with the British Roy Johnson, leaving by accident at the 6th hour. We will have to wait until November 14, 1970, on the occasion of the "6 Hours of Jarama", to see again a Spanish pilot aboard the little GT. Pepe Ruiz Thiery and “Fono” (Alfonso Olcina) will qualify in ninth final position. Precisely at the end of this race, the Valencian “Fono” will acquire a B8 GT chassis with which he will occasionally race in some Valencian hill races in 1971.
The Chevron B-8 GT that we bring to «La Escudería», with chassis number CH-DBE-61, arrived in Spain from Great Britain in 1998, led by the Catalan driver Luis Villalba. The Chevron arrived disassembled (in boxes) and was assembled at the facilities that Competition Engine available in Montcada i Reixac, by the excellent mechanic Ferrán Junzá. Luis Villalba occasionally made him participate in the Spanish Classics Championship, without much luck since he had some serious accidents in Vila do Conde and Alcañiz in 1999.
In 2000 it was piloted on some occasion by Francesc Gutiérrez and was later sold to its current owner, Ramón López from Madrid. Upon arrival at the «Hispakart» facilities in Torrejón, the B8 was completely disassembled, proceeding to a complete restoration, as its general condition was quite regrettable. A copy of the body was made which was painted in an elegant electric blue and the famous arrow of the «Escudería Surtees» was drawn, in homage to the British champion John Surtees, a personal friend of Ramón López's personal secretary, known as “Joe Surtees ”in the environment racing from Madrid.
One of the characteristics of this “Spanish” chassis is its driving position, located in this case on the left, as Ramón López is more comfortable in this position. Its owner has been using it since then (2001), being one of the classic cars that arouses more curiosity among the public of the paddocks Spanish people.
The authors wish to express their gratitude to Ramón López and “Joe Surtees” (José Mª Arranz) for their exemplary human warmth and for the continuous facilities shown in the realization of this article.
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| MOTOR | |
| Origin: | BMW |
| Displacement: | 1.990 cc |
| Power: | 240 CV |
| Position: | Longitudinal posterior central |
| Feeding: | Two Weber 48 DCOE Carburettors |
| TRANSMISSION | |
| Change location: | Posterior |
| Case: | Hewland FT200 5-speed |
| Address: | By zipper |
| CHASSIS | |
| Structure: | Tubular in steel, reinforced with aluminum plates |
| Suspension: | Independiente |
| Lead: | Double wishbone with stabilizer bar |
| Rear: | Idem. |
| MORE DATA: | |
| Bodywork: | Two-seater in GRP (fiberglass reinforced polyester) |
| Size: | ? |
| Weight: | ? |
| Brakes: | Double circuit, 4 discs |
| Tires: | Avon |
| Time: | 1967-70 |
| Units manufactured: | 44 |
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| DATE | CARRERA | DORSAL | PILOT / S | POSITION | NOTES |
| 15/6/69 | Jarama | 63 | Barry Smith | 6 º | - |
| 5/10/69 | 12 Hours from Barcelona | 32 | Guy Edwards and Mike Franey | 4 º | 1st of class |
| « | « | 34 | Ian Skailes and John Hine | AB. | Trans- mission |
| « | « | 36 | Roger K. Heavens and Martin Ridehalgh | AB. | - |
| « | « | 31 | Peter Brown and Roger Enever | AB. | Motor |
| « | « | 33 | James Tangie and Paul Vestey | AB. | Motor |
| « | « | 42 | Roy Johnson and "Pele" | AB. | Crash |
| « | « | 7 | Peter Taggart and Tont Goodwin | AB. | Motor |
| « | « | 4 | Tony Lanfranchi and Tony Beeson | DNA | Flat rate |
| « | « | 17 | James Blades and XX | DNA | Flat rate |
| « | « | 38 | Angus Clydesdale and Terry Hunter | DNA | Flat rate |
| 26/10/69 | 6 Hours from Jarama | - | Ian Skailes and Richard Bond | 9 º | - |
| 26/10/69 | 6 Hours from Jarama | - | John Hine and XX | DNA | - |
| 26/10/69 | 6 Hours from Jarama | - | Paul Vestey and James Tangie | AB. | - |
| 22/3/70 | Jarama | - | G.Graemiger | 6 º | - |
| 22/3/70 | Jarama | - | Roger K Heavens | 7 º | - |
| 31/5/70 | Tribute to Provinces | 84 | Andrew Fletcher | 5 º | - |
| 14/11/70 | 6 Hours from Jarama | - | Roger K. Heavens and Mike Garton | 6 º | (B6) |
| « | « | - | Martin Blackie and Bernard Unett | 8 º | - |
| « | « | - | Pepe Ruiz-Thiery and «Fono» | 9 º | - |
| « | « | - | Edward Negus and Peter Hanson | 12 º | - |
| « | « | - | Mike Franey and Andrew Fletcher | AB. | - |
| 1971 | Valencia | - | «Phone» (Alfonso Olcina) | - | - |
| 12/10/71 | 1000 km from Barcelona | 29 | T. Birchen- hough and Brian Joscelyne |
AB. | Change |
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