Chevron Returns With New GR8
1960s sports car maker returns with one-make series and a track-day special
This is as real as it gets at the moment...
Chevron was originally a race car constructor in the 1960s and 1970s, building more than 500 two-seat open sports racers, single-seat formula cars and competition coupes in the dozen or so years following its foundation in 1965. The mid-engined GR8 is the spiritual successor to the B8, a coupe designed for 2.0-litre sports car racing, of which 70 were built from 1968.
The new car is still in the concept stages, but Chevron Racing Cars says that the GR8 (pictured right) is fairly close to the final design sign-off. When it is finished, the car will weigh around 600kg, with a 255bhp 2.0-litre Cosworth engine giving a 400bhp per ton power-to-weight ratio.
Aspiring racers will have to shell out £49,500 plus VAT for the GRP and steel spaceframe racing-spec Chevron GR8, and 20 examples are being built for the 16-race, BARC-run GR8 Challenge series.
The B8 racer from the 1960s is the inspiration
Chevron Racing Cars director, Helen Bashford-Malkie, echoes Burrows' sentiments: "The values embodied in the B8 gave us a wonderful starting point. Race preparation expenditure for the eight-round GR8 Challenge Series should be very substantially less than the budget required for campaigning a road-going exotic over an equivalent racing mileage."
The track day car will only come once the GR8 Challenge is up to speed, however. "We intend to introduce a trackday spec once the racing programme is fully under way," says Helen Bashford-Malkie, but it won't be a road-legal car.
"Trackday enthusiasts will be able to enjoy an out-and-out sports coupe in the purest sense," says Helen. "It will have a genuine race-bred pedigree, without the concessions necessary for road use. As a result, it will weigh around one and a half times less than a typical supercar."
Chevron plans to offer a full support package for track day GR8s, too, including technical sport and an on-hand driving instructor.
"Low Volume Type Approval makes this [road-going cars] feasible for one-offs," says Bashford-Malkie, "but there would inevitably be a cost premium. Road cars even in modest volumes are not in our plans - they would entail extensive re-engineering."
Chevron is hoping to unveil the racing car to the public sometime in January.
In fact, even better than weightless...
I think the car looks great though, better than the Ginetta, and it sounds quite promising, but producing a customer car for entry into Britcar, British GT and GT4 Cup might be more appropriate?
Just a thought.
Considering a real B8 is going to cost you around £250K, the price is very competitive to give you a similar experience. Knowing the guys at Chevron and the standard of their work, this is going to be a cracking piece of kit and something that will stand up to being raced properly.
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