Chevron
John Hine's Group 5 Chevron B19 at Brands Hatch in August 1971. Copyright Peter Collins 2009. Used with permission.
Chevrons were built by Derek Bennett Engineering Limited, a company formed in 1966 on the back of Bennett's success building and racing Clubmans Formula cars. Chevrons were hugely successful in GT racing between 1966 and 1968, and Chevron moved into Group 5 Sports in 1969 and then to Sports Prototypes in 1970.
A Formula 3 car was built in 1967 but Chevron did not find sustained success in single-seaters until the B25 Formula 2 car in 1973. The company was at a peak in 1978 with the B42 F2 car and B43 F3 car when Bennett was killed in a hang-gliding accident. Chevron floundered without him and the Tony Southgate designs for 1979 flopped. After a bid to move into Can-Am in 1980 failed, the company went into liquidation in February 1980, and most of its remaining assets were sold to a consortium led by Robin Smith in Newmains, Scotland, who built cars as Chevron Racing Cars (Scotland) Limited. Smith built B52 and B54 Sports 2000s, and B53 and B56 Formula Atlantic cars but after three difficult years the company ceased trading at the end of September 1983. Its assets were sold to Roger Andreason and Tim Colman's Andreason Racing & Tuning Ltd, who then built cars as Chevron Cars Ltd. A majority shareholding of this company was owned for a time by Chris Smith and then, since 2012, by David Witt. Chevron Heritage Ltd was set up by Roger and Tim in 2012 to cater for older cars. Meanwhile, Chevron Racing Team Ltd was run by Vin and Helen Malkie from 1979, who also owned the registered Chevron name and Trademark. This business was acquired in 2016 by WDK Motorsport, but that business closed in 2018.
This page provides a summary of the company's production and link to the pages which either summarise the research to date or are the home of active research projects. More sports racing and single-seater Chevrons are being actively researched. Please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com if you can add anything.
| Type | Years | No. built |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chevron B1 | 1965 | 2 | Clubmans Formula. Built with 1500cc Ford engines. Derek Bennett's car won first time out at Kirkistown in July 1965. |
| Chevron B2 | 1966 | 4 | Clubmans Formula. Three built with 1500cc Ford engines and one built with a 1-litre BMC engine. |
| Chevron B3 | 1966 | 2 | GT. Built as the "Chevron GT" with a 1600cc Ford twin-cam engine and won first time out in the hands of Digby Martland in July 1966. This car was the basis of Chevron's success in GT racing with the models retrospectively named B4, B5, B6 and B8. |
| Chevron B4 | 1966 | 1 | GT. A one-off car built with a 2-litre BMW engine; also won first time out at Crystal Palace in August 1966. This was the car raced at Daytona in 1967. Sold to Roy Johnson for 1968. |
| Chevron B5 | 1967 | 1 | GT. Another one-off along similar lines to the B3 and B4 but built for David Bridges to take a 2-litre BRM V8. Also won first time out, at Oulton Park in April 1967, driven by Brian Redman. |
| Chevron B6 | 1967 | 7 | GT. A "production" batch of GT cars built for 1967, one with a 1.6-litre Ford twin-cam and the rest with 2-litre BMW engines. Also won on its debut, with Martland in April 1967. |
| Chevron B7 | 1967 | 1 | Formula 3. Chevron's first F3 car, fitted with a 1-litre engine and raced by Peter Gethin late 1967. Full history available |
| Chevron B8 | 1968 | 44 | GT/Group 4. The hugely-successful B8 was built in great quantities, usually with BMW 2-litre engines but also with FVAs, FVCs and even Climax engines. It was homologated into Group 4 from 1 March 1968 on the basis that 50 were built. To help the numbers, every rebuild counted as a new car, a habit that would continue into the B16, B19 and even the B21. |
| Chevron B9 | 1968 | 8 | Formula 3. The production version of the B7. Full histories available |
| Chevron B9B | 1968 | 1 | Formula 3. A late-season stressed-panel version of the B9. Returned to the Chevron tradition by winning on its debut in September 1968 driven by Gethin. Full history available |
| Chevron B10 | 1968 | 2 | Formula 2. The F2 version was not a success and the second car was sold into hillclimbing. Full histories available |
| Chevron B12 | 1968 | 1 | GT. A one-off car based on the B8 but lengthened to take a 3-litre Repco engine. Won on its debut in May 1968 in the hands of John Woolf. |
| Chevron B14 | 1968 | 3 | Formula B. Three cars built based on the F3 B9 but with Ford twin cam engines for SCCA's Formula B. Full histories available |
| Chevron B15 | 1969 | 14 | Formula 3. A production version of the late-1968 B9B, this was Chevron's first truely successful F3 car. Full histories available |
| Chevron B15B | 1969 | 7 | Formula B. A new Formula B car closely following on from the B14 but using the B15 as its base. Full histories available |
| Chevron B15C | 1969 | 1 | Formula 3. An one-off development of the B15 design, using the suspension and brakes from the F2 car. Full history available |
| Chevron B16 | 1969 | 23 | G5/G6 Sports. |
| Chevron B16S | 1969 | 1 | G6 Sports. See the B19 histories. |
| Chevron B17 | 1970 | 9 | Formula 3. Now with a quasi-monocoque but otherwise a development of the B15 series. Full histories available |
| Chevron B17B | 1970 | 5 | Formula B. The Formula B version of the B17 with Ford twin-cam engines. Full histories available |
| Chevron B17C | 1970 | 2 | F2. A converted B17 with B16 sports car suspension for Reine Wisell to use in F2. Full histories available |
| Chevron B18 | 1970 | 7 | F2/F3/Atlantic. A very square and remarkably ugly semi-monocoque for F2, F3 and Formula Atlantic. Full histories available |
| Chevron B18b | 1970 | 4 or 6 | Formula B. The Formula B version of the B18. Full histories available |
| Chevron B19 | 1971 | 35 | G6 Sports. The production version of the B16 Spyder built for Group 6 sports prototype racing. Full histories available |
| Chevron B20 | 1971 | 9 | F2/Atlantic. A development of the B18 but with the full-width "sports car" nose that would define the later Chevron single-seaters. Full histories available |
| Chevron B21 | 1972 | 28 | G6 Sports. The 1972 version of the B19 was saw minor changes to the bodywork and presumably carried on the wider tub seen on one or two of the last B19s. |
| Chevron B23 | 1973 | 26 | G6 Sports. The 1973 version of the B19/21 series, again with very minor changes. |
| Chevron B24 | 1972/73 | 10 | F5000. A prototype B24 raced in 1972, winning its first race, and was followed by a production run in 1973. Full histories available |
| Chevron B25 | 1973 | 16 | F2/Atlantic. A full monocoque car at last but with B20 suspension. Successful in both F2 and Atlantic. Full histories available |
| Chevron B26 | 1973 | 9 | G6 Sports. A monocoque sports car appeared late in 1973 to replace the aged B19/21/23 line. |
| Chevron B27 | 1974 | 16 | F2/Atlantic. Sold in large numbers as Chevron's reputation in the minor formulae grew. Full histories available |
| Chevron B28 | 1974 | 2 | F5000. An updated B24 sold to the VDS team for 1974, again winning its first race. Full histories available |
| Chevron B29 | 1975 | 27 | F2/Atlantic. Commercially a very successful car with 24 built for Formula Atlantic and five for Formula 2. Full histories available |
| Chevron B30 | 1975 | 1 | F5000. Built for David Purley using the 3412cc Cosworth Ford GAA V6 to run in Shellsport series. Full history available |
| Chevron B31 | 1975 | 6 | G6 Sports. The 1975 version of the B26. |
| Chevron B32 | 1975 | 1 | Hillclimb. Built for John Cussins using a 5.7-litre Chevrolet V8 to run in British hill climbs. Full history available |
| Chevron B34 | 1976 | 34 | F3/Atlantic. A combined F3/Atlantic model as the Formula 2 B35 was now a distinct design. Well developed before the start of the season in both F3 and Atlantic spec. Full histories available |
| Chevron B35 | 1976 | 13 | F2. The F2 version of the B34. Full histories available |
| Chevron B36 | 1976 | 21 | G6 Sports. Another update to the B26/B31 design. Sold in impressive numbers. |
| Chevron B37 | 1976 | 1 | F5000. Built for VDS for Peter Gethin to race in the 1976 US series Full history available |
| Chevron B38 | 1977 | 28 | F3. A minor update to the B34 but another very big seller. |
| Chevron B39 | 1977 | 11 | Atlantic. The Atlantic version of the B38 was just an update to the B34 design. Full history available |
| Chevron B40 | 1977 | 11 | F2. Almost indistinguishable from the Atlantic B39. |
| Chevron B41 | 1978 | 1 | F1. An attempt at a F1 car which might have been competitive if it had raced in 1977 but was outclassed by 1979. Full history available |
| Chevron B42 | 1978 | 21 | F2. A further incremental improvement to the B40, selling in vast numbers for a F2 car. |
| Chevron B43 | 1978 | 16 | F3. Continued Chevron's success in F3 but not as user-friendly as earlier designs. |
| Chevron B45 | 1978 | 4 | Atlantic. Ralt were starting to dominate F/Atlantic and there was little interest in an updated B39. Full histories available |
| Chevron B46 | 1978 | 1 | FSV. A FSV version of the B43/45 design would not dent Ralt's dominance of the category. |
| Chevron B47 | 1979 | F3. Designed by Tony Southgate as a wing-car version of the B43. | |
| Chevron B48 | 1979 | 9 | F2. Designed by Tony Southgate as a wing-car version of the B42. Full histories available |
| Chevron B49 | 1979 | 3 | Atlantic. Designed by Tony Southgate as a wing-car version of the B45. Full histories available |
| Chevron B50 | 1979 | FSV. A sister car to the B47, B48 and B49 for Formula Super Vee. | |
| Chevron B51 | 1980 | 1 | Can-Am. The company's unsuccessful 1980 Can-Am design. Only the prototype was ever built. |
| Chevron B52 | 1980 | Sports 2000.This design was under way when Chevron folded, but the car only raced for the first time in August 1980. Continued in low-level production when Robin Smith owned Chevron. | |
| Chevron B53 | 1981 | 1 | Atlantic. Originally the B53 was planned as a F3 car but it was not built and the number was used by Robin Smith's Chevron Cars Ltd for a 1981 Formula Atlantic car built from a B48/B49 monocoque. |
| Chevron B54 | 1981 or 1982 | 7 | S2000. The B54 number was originally due to be the 1980 Formula Atlantic car, but this was not built, and the number was reused in 1981 or 1982 for a new Sports 2000 design. It's reported that seven were built but this number hasn't been validated. |
| Chevron B56 | 1982 | 1 | Atlantic. The B56 number was originally due to be the 1980 Formula Super Vee car, but this was not built, and the number was reused in 1982 for a new Formula Atlantic car. Driven in British Formula Atlantic by Masanori Sekiya and Gary Gibson. Full history available |
| Chevron B57 | Unknown | ||
| Chevron B58 | Unknown | ||
| Chevron B59 | Unknown | ||
| Chevron B60 | 1982 | 5? | Thundersports. Built for the British Thundersports category and ran with a 2-litre engine and B36 bodywork. In 1984, a couple of Sports 2000 versions were built as the B60A. It reported that five were built in total. |
| Chevron B61 | 1984 | 2 | Sports 2000. Two built from scratch plus two more S2000s converted to B61 specification. Built during the Roger Andreason era. This model was initially described as being for Class B Thundersports with a 1600cc BDA engine. |
| Chevron B62 | 1985 | 1 | Group C2. Another one-off. It was announced by Roger Andreason in February 1985, to be powered by a 3.3-litre Cosworth DFV. (This number had earlier been allocated to a planned 2-litre sports car being designed in February 1984 by Roy Topp.) |
| Chevron B63 | 1985 | 5 | S2000. Sports 2000. The Chevron Heritage site says that five were built. |
| Chevron B64 | 1985 | 1 | Atlantic. Built by Chevron after it was taken over by Roger Andreason and Tim Colman, using a leftover Chevron B56 tub. Full history available |
| Chevron B65 | 1986 | 1 | Group C2. Built by Race Cars UK for Chevron Race Cars USA. |
| Chevron B67 | 1988 | 4? | Formula Ford 2000. Designed by former Quest designer Mike Thompson for the Andreason/Colman company and produced at the end of 1987. Raced in the UK in 1988 by Mark Poole. At least four sold to the US. |
| Chevron B68 | 1988 | 5? | Formula Ford 1600. Designed by Mike Thompson for the Andreason/Colman company. Debuted by Mark Poole in a Champion of Brands event in March 1988. At least two sold to the US, two to Switzerland and one to the UK (Martin Sismey). |
| Chevron B69 | 1989 | Formula Ford 1600. An improved version of the B67 announced for 1989 featuring pull-rod suspension. | |
| Chevron B70 | Unknown. A 1992 Formula Ford 1600 according to Race-cars.com and the Chevron Heritage site. | ||
| Chevron B71 | 1995 | 1 | Run briefly in IMSA in 1995. Entered at Sebring 12 Hours by Chevron Motorsport. It was later rebodied and named the Keiler KII, in which form it raced on for several more years. |
| Chevron B72 | Unknown | ||
| Chevron B73 | 1995? | 1? | Run in WSC events in 1996 and then in Italian and International Sports Racing Series races late 1997 and in 1998. |
| Chevron B74 | Unknown. A 1997 Supersports car according to the Chevron Heritage site. |
According to Race-cars.com and the Chevron Heritage website, the numbers B75 and B76 were used for Kart projects.
All and any help would be gratefully received. Please e-mail Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com if you can add anything.
Chevron Heritage
Chevron Heritage supplies genuine Chevron parts for pre-2008 cars, using the original Chevron drawings, jigs, body moulds and patterns which have been owned by the company since 1983.
Chevron Heritage is licenced to manufacture Chevron B8, Chevron B16 and Chevron B19 continuation cars by Chevron Cars Limited which owns these trademarks.
Contact Chevron Heritage Limited on +44 (0)1256 345 582 or email tim@chevronracingcars.com.