Chevron B28
Teddy Pilette leads Peter Gethin in the twin Chevron B28s at Mallory Park in 1974. Copyright Alan Cox 2007. Used with permission.
Despite the success of the B24, Chevron only managed to sell two of the updated
1974 B28 design, both going to Count van der Straaten's VDS team. Both of
the 1973 VDS B24s went out to the Tasman series in January and February
of 1974 and were both converted to B28 specification during the series.
This later caused some confusion as Tony Dean referred to his ex-VDS B24
as a B28 at the same time that he owned a 'real' ex-VDS B28. It is possible
that this particular B24 has got muddled up with the two genuine ex-VDS
B28s or that the ex-works B24/B28 development car is now in the mix.
It is widely assumed that the two Chevron raced in historics in recent years by Keith Norris and Nick Shrigley-Feigl are the genuine two ex-VDS cars but it has not yet been possible to establish this with any certainty.
All would be gratefully received. Please e-mail Allen
if you can add anything.
Thanks to Wolfgang Klopfer, Roger Andreason, Marcus Pye, Ted Walker, Jeremy Jackson, Simon Hadfieldm Nick
Shrigley-Feigl, Keith Norris, Ian Stronach, Chris Townsend, Steve Wilkinson, John Monson, Bob Birrell, Daryl Taylor and Robert Romeril for their help constructing these
histories.
| Chassis |
History |
Current owner |
Chevron B28
B28-74-01 |
Teddy Pilette in his B28-74-01 at Mallory Park in 1974. Copyright Alan Cox 2007. Used with permission.
Ingo Hoffman in Tony Dean's Chevron B28 at Silverstone in September 1975. Copyright Ted Walker 2005. Used with permission.
|
Unknown |
Chevron B28
B28-74-02 |
Dave Walker in the B28 again at the International Trophy in 1975. Copyright Ted Walker 2005. Used with permission.
Dennis Leech is his newly-acquired ex-RAM Chevron at Thruxton in May 1976. Copyright Ted Walker 2005. Used with permission.
|
Unknown |
The mystery cars
Of course, any of these B28s could have been an updated B24. It is worth noting
that there would have been a spare B28 monocoque floating around after about
August 74 when Gethin's B28-74-02 was subject to a precautionary rebuild.
This tub would be tired but not too bent, and presumably useable.
| Chassis |
History |
Current owner |
Chevron 'B28'
'the London car'
(1978) |
Advertised from 01-883 5338 (Autosport 17
Aug 1978 p68)
then later from same number evenings/weekends (with Chevy Corvair Super
Saloon) "in excellent condition" (Autosport 9 Nov 1978 p67,
also 16 Nov 1978 p52). Another advert appeared from this number in 1979
offering
a reward for the return of an ex-Mick Hill, Tony Rosen Super Saloon Capri
and gave addresses in Welwyn, Herts and Stanhope Street, London NW1 (Autosport
8 Mar 1979 p53). Marcus Pye believes this would have been Tony Strawson.
No other information known. |
Unknown |
Chevron 'B28'
'the Johnty Williamson car'
(1979-2006) |
Said to be the 'ex-Gethin' car implying B28-74-02 but Roger
Andreason lists this car in his register as B28-74-01. It
may possibly have been the ex-Gethin B24/B28 73-08 that goes missing at the end of 1975. Bought
from F. Dariani (London) in May 1979 by Johnty
Williamson (UK): UK sprints 1979, 1980 (described as
ex-Leech), 1981 - Alan Smith (UK) Autumn 1981
- via Bobby Howlings (AMCO) to Robert Romerill (Channel Islands) as rolling chassis early 1983.
Romeril fitted the car with Jaguar
V12 engine and used it for hill climbs and sprints from October 1983 up to 1994 when he fitted a 5.7-litre Chevy engine. Finding this somewhat powerless, he acquired the 6-litre Chev engine from the ex-Mick Hill VW Beetle Supersaloon then being broken by Mathew Mortlock. After just one further hillclimb, Romeril agreed to exchange the car for the 6-litre Chev-powered March 86B of Paul Gardner (Preston,
UK). Romeril has always regreted the deal, not least because a flawed rear upright casting caused him to crashed heavily on his first outing.
Gardner sold the B28 to Nick Shrigley-Feigl (Andreas, Isle of Man) about 1997 and he raced it in the FORCE Historic F5000 series (UK) in 2000 and 2001. Raced at the Chevron 40th at Oulton Park August 2005. Sold to Bob Birrell (Driffield, Yorks) January 2006 and raced in DBT. Sold to New Zealander Ross Maxwell (London) August 2007. |
Ross Maxwell (UK) 2007 |
Chevron
'B28'
'the Norris car'
(1982-2006) |
Keith Norris's Chevron B28 at Mallory Park 2 May 1994. Copyright Jeremy Jackson 2003. Used with permission.
Bought
from Plymouth car dealer Fred Davis by Keith Norris
August 1981: used in libre racing from 1983 onwards
(seventh in a Mallory Park libre 10 Jul 1983; sixth in Brands Hatch libre
14 Aug 1983), raced in 1984 McLaren Open Championship
(BRSCC libre) and raced in FORCE Historic F5000 series (UK) 2001. Still being raced in historic racing 2005 in the Derek Bell Trophy series. Sold to John Monson (Beverley, Yorkshire) January 2006 and raced in DBT. Sold to Daryl Taylor (Bristol) August 2007. |
Daryl Taylor (UK) 2007 |
These histories last updated on
21 May, 2012
.
A note on chassis number identification
Dave Walker in B28-74-02 at Brands Hatch in March 1975. Copyright Ted Walker 2001. Used with permission.
The chassis numbers above are taken from the original Chevron 'chassis register'.
They largely agree with the numbers used in Paul Sheldon's Formula 1
Register Fact Book: Formula 5000 1972-1981. One exception is at the
first round of the 1976 season where the F1 Register book calls Howlings'
car "B28-74-03". Leech's 1976 car is also a problem: the F1 Register
record this as a B28 (B28-74-01) in 1976 and as a B24 (B24-72-01) in 1977
but neither
attribution
looks convincing. Leech's 1975
car had been a B24 but B24-73-06, last seen when he crashed it at R15
Mallory Park 12 Oct 1975.
In 1983, Mallory Park regular Dan Rear saw Keith Norris's B28 at a libre race on 10 July. He noted '02' next to it on his entry list implying that it was wearing the 'B28-74-02' plate.
