Introduction

Chevron was a manufacturer of racing cars, founded by Derek Bennett, who remained in charge from 1965 to his death in 1978. The firm has remained active in various guises since his death.Chevron Cars Ltd has been owned since 1982 by Roger Andreason and Tim Colman. As of late 2006, controlling ownership of Chevron now belongs to Chris Smith, founder of Westfield Sportscars. Auto racing (also known as automobile racing or autosport) is a sport involving racing automobiles. ... Westfield Sportscars are manufacturers of both factory built and kit versions of several two-seater, open top sportscars. ...

Chevron: a Lancastrian company

Chevron was notable for its proud Lancastrian nature - unlike the rest of the British racing car industry which tended to be based in an arc running from South West London (the old Brooklands circuit and Heathrow Airport round to Silverstone, Chevron remained based in a mill in Bolton, and many of its most celebrated drivers including Brian Redman and Jim Crawford 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. Lancashire is a county in North West England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Brooklands was a motor racing circuit built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. ... London Heathrow Airport (IATA airport code: LHR, ICAO airport code: EGLL, and often simply Heathrow) is the United Kingdoms busiest and best-connected airport. ... Map sources for Silverstone at grid reference SP670440 Silverstone is a medium sized village in Northamptonshire, England. ... Bolton is a large town in the north-west of England. ... Brian Redman (born March 9, 1937 in Colne, Lancashire, United Kingdom) was a Formula One driver from England. ... Jim Crawford was a Formula One driver from Britain. ...

Derek Bennett

Derek Bennett was born in 1933 in Manchester; he was brought up in Prestwich. He was a largely self-taught, intuitive engineer and a talented amateur racing driver. This article is about the City of Manchester in England. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

In his early years Bennett took a keen interest in model aircraft, in which field he excelled. 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. A Die Cast Boeing 747-800 static model. ... This article is about the sport of stock car racing. ...

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 category. Bennett also built a one-off Formula Junior car which was only a modest success - rear-engined competition from Lotus and Cooper was more than a match for this and the era of the special-builder in FJ was over. Clubmans is a variety of sports car racing that originated in Britain in 1965. ... Formula Junior is a racing class first adopted in October 1958 by the CSI (Controller of International Motorsport, now FIA). ...

By 1965 there were sufficient requests for replicas of his Clubmans car that establishing himself as a constructor seemed feasible. Aided by a small staff of like-minded enthusiasts (particularly Derek's friend and assistant Paul Owens) for a decade and a half Chevron produced successful, beautiful racing cars. Clubmans is a variety of sports car racing that originated in Britain in 1965. ...

Chevron B2, Aintree Festival of Motorsport, 2004

Derek Bennett never proceeded beyond Formula 3 in his own driving but remained quick enough to test and develop many of his cars, especially at the nearby Oulton Park and Aintree. Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Formula Three is a class of auto racing. ... Oulton Park Circuit is a motor racing track in the small village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, northwest England,about 5 miles from Winsford, 13 miles to Chester City Center, 8 miles to Northwich and 17 miles to Warrington with nearby rail connection along the Mid-Cheshire Line set in rolling... Aintree is a suburb of Liverpool, in the north-west of England. ...

Bennett was working on a Formula 1 Chevron when killed in a hang-gliding accident in 1978. Formula One, abbreviated to F1 and also known as Grand Prix racing, is the highest class of single-seat open-wheel auto racing. ... Hang gliding is an air sport. ...

Chevron cars

Chevron was particularly noted for its small-capacity sports cars and its Formula Two, Formula Three and Formula 5000 single seaters. Although a Chevron F5000 did beat a representative Formula One field once in a race open to both categories (Peter Gethin at the Race of Champions 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. GTP sports cars racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1991 Sports car racing is a form of circuit racing, with cars that have two seats and enclosed wheel wells. ... Formula Two was a type of formula racing. ... Formula Three, also called Formula 3 or, in abbreviated form, F3, is a type of formula racing and a class of open-wheeler motor racing. ... Formula 5000 (or F5000) was an auto-racing series that ran in the United Kingdom from 1968 to 1976. ... Formula One - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Peter Gethin was a Formula One driver from Britain. ... The Race of Champions is an international motorsport event held at the end of each year, featuring national teams consisting of racing and rally drivers. ...

Although the first Chevrons were developments of Derek Bennett's 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 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 and Ford-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 pointed out that with heavy coupé bodywork it would be beaten on most circuits by lighter open-topped 'spyders' from marques like Abarth. The B16 Spyder was introduced, with a body inspired by Porsche 908 Spyder (which Redman also drove!) and this started a long line of successful two-litre sports racers (B19, B21, B23, B26, B31...). Clubmans is a variety of sports car racing that originated in Britain in 1965. ... Gran Turismo is Italian and Spanish for grand touring or grand tourisme. ... The world-wide recognized term, BMW, abbreviated for Bayerische Motoren Werke or in English Bavarian Motor Works, is an independent German company and manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles. ... Ford Motor Company is an American multinational corporation and the worlds third largest automaker after Toyota and General Motors, based on worldwide vehicle sales. ... Brian Redman (born March 9, 1937 in Colne, Lancashire, United Kingdom) was a Formula One driver from England. ... Abarth was an Italian racing car maker founded by Carlo Abarth, of Austrian origins. ... The Porsche 908 was a racing car from Porsche, introduced from 1967 in the Porsche 906/Porsche 907/Porsche 910 series of models designed under Ferdinand Piech. ...

Chevron was active in single seater formulae during this period, concentrating mostly upon Formula Two and Formula Atlantic (aka SCCA Formula B) with minor variants of the same basic design, and with occasional forays into Formula Three. Formula Two was a type of formula racing. ... The Toyota Atlantic Championship is an auto racing series with races throughout North America. ... The SCCA could be considered the grass-roots level of auto racing in the United States. ... Formula Three, also called Formula 3 or, in abbreviated form, F3, is a type of formula racing and a class of open-wheeler motor racing. ...

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 as 'consultant designer' then passed into other hands - some new cars were manufactured. Several key Chevron employees also worked on the short-lived Maurer Formula Two cars. Maurer is or was a surname of several people: Georg Maurer, German poet, esseyist and translator (1907-1971) Georg Ludwig von Maurer, German statesman and historian (1790-1872) Ion Gheorghe Maurer, Romanian politician (1902–2000) John Maurer, American punk musician (born 1964) Ludwig Maurer, German mathematician (1859-1927) Ne...

Chevrons in historic racing

Chevrons are popular cars in historic racing and various businesses still refettle and supply spares for the cars. A roadgoing replica of the B2 Clubmans car has just been launched.The original company archives which includes all the drawings, jigs, moulds,etc are owned by Chevron Cars Ltd.

The Cars

The following models of Chevron were built. Known not to be complete - someone else please add post-Bennett cars that are missing!.

Peter Gethin was a Formula One driver from Britain. ... David Purley (born January 26, 1945 - died July 2, 1985) was a Formula One driver born in Bognor Regis, England. ... The Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy), or Manx TT, is a motorcycle racing event held on the Isle of Man. ... Ground Effect is an aerodynamic effect used in car design, which has been exploited to create downforce, particularly in racing cars. ... Thundersports was a variety of sports car racing introduced by John Webb of Brands Hatch fame. ...

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

Official

• Chevron Racing Ltd.

www.chevronracingcars.com