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Chevron GR8 Challenge Series

Chevron GR8 Coupe is powered by a Cosworth 2.0 L YD race engine with 255 bhp at 8200rpm. With a weight of around 600 kg, the GR8 will have a power to weight ratio in excess of 400 bhp per tonne.

New Chevron GR8 Challenge Series coupe will have Cosworth power

Chevron Racing Cars has released a concept study of the new mid-engined GR8 coupe for the BARC’s one-make Chevron GR8 Challenge. The Series opener is planned for April 2010.

The GR8 concept rendering, which Chevron confirms is fairly close to the final design, reveals a discernable relationship to its illustrious predecessor, the Chevron B8, an enduring favourite with historic sporstcar competitors. Fabrication of the GR8 prototype is in progress and development testing is scheduled to commence in January.

The new competition coupe will be powered by a Cosworth 2.0L YD race engine developing 255 bhp at 8200 rpm. The four cylinder unit has been chosen for its combination of lightness, durability and all-round economics. With a weight of around 600 kg, the GR8 will have a power to weight ratio in excess of 400 bhp per tonne.

The Cosworth package includes a Pectel PiRQ4 engine control unit that incorporates technologies derived from ECUs used by winners of the FIA GT and World Rally Championship titles. The Cosworth electronics package is completed by a Pi Omega LCD panel display, providing crystal-clear readouts for the driver and seamless integration with the engine control unit data.

Two rounds of the GR8 Series will be run at each of a planned eight BARC meetings. Races will feature rolling starts. Entries are open to either one or two drivers. With a team of two, the idea is for each to contest one round. Accepting entries for two drivers creates obvious opportunities for sharing costs. As part of a comprehensive entrant support package, Chevron plans to have a pool car on hand as a spare should a competitor’s own GR8 be unable to start a race for whatever reason.

The factory gate price of the GR8 is £49,500 excluding VAT.

Chevron Racing Cars director – and former historic F1 racer – Helen Bashford-Malkie states:
“Judging by the interest we are receiving, the prospect of grids of 20 cars does not appear ambitious. As well as UK competitors in categories for current types of car and from others who race historics, we have had serious enquiries from mainland Europe. A GR8 Series in 2010 in at least one country besides the UK is not out of the question.”

“The GR8 is engineered to give owners a season’s racing without incurring the expense of the car having to go into intensive care between outings. Barring accident damage, prepping expenditure for one or two drivers racing 16 rounds between them should be very substantially less than the budget required to campaign a road-going exotic over an equivalent racing mileage.

“Our objective is to replicate the widely acknowledged virtues of the B8 competition coupe.

“Over 70 Chevron B8s were built following its introduction in 1968. It enjoys a reputation for delivering highly accessible performance thanks its balance, surefooted agility and predictable handling. It is inherently forgiving and has a peerless record for robust reliability.

“The B8 was in fact the first Chevron type to use Cosworth power, a number of which were supplied with 1,598 cc Cosworth FVA units.

“It is not difficult to see why so many B8s are actively raced – and why cars costing £3,380 new in 1968 now change hands for £300,000.”
Chevron Racing Cars is the Chevron component spares, repairs, rebuilds and FIA continuation car manufacturing side of the Vin Malkie Racing organisation. Vin Malkie was an engineer with the original Chevron company that, famously based in Bolton, between the mid-1960s and the late 1970s produced over 500 sports-racers, competition coupes and formula cars.

Guaranteeing the new GR8’s genuine Chevron DNA and pedigree, not only is Vin Malkie’s outfit staffed by a nucleus of ex-Bolton factory people, leading the design of the GR8 is Paul Brown, who penned a series of successful Bolton-era Chevron sports-racers and single-seaters.

Note to Editors:

Chevron GR8 Challenge Series

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