The UK has had plenty of car manufacturers over the years. No wonder many refer to it as the most car obsessed country in the world. Just a shame that the government clearly want’s to change that with all their stupid environmental and health and safety laws. This doesn’t stop new companies from appearing though. Just recently, Lee Noble announced Fenix Automotive. And, of course, he was responsible for Noble not too long ago. Now, another company has appeared. This one though is a revival of an old brand, Chevron.
It was founded back in 1965. Over 60 great racing cars were made over the course of their history. In 1986 though, Chevron died off. The brand now belongs to Westfield Sportscars, and they plan to bring it back.
The first car will be the GR8. It will be a spiritual successor to the B8, a lightweight, mid-engined racing car built in the late 60s. The new car will follow a similar formula. It will have fiberglass body over a steel spaceframe with a 255bhp 2.0L Cosworth engine mounted in the middle. 255bhp doesn’t sound like a lot, but they’re planning an extremely low weight of 600kg (About 1322 pounds), which will result in a power to weight ratio of over 400bhp per tonne.
Only 20 will be made at first, each at a price of roughly 83,000 USD (About £49,500). They will all be used in the GR8 Challenge Series, a one-make racing series for the car, so a bit like the Ferrari FXX or the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 GT. The series opener is planned for April 2010. It will consist of 16 rounds, and you may choose to have a second driver to help split the costs and work. After that, the GR8 will be turned into a track-day special available to the public. Sadly, a road-going version isn’t planned.
Nonetheless, if you need a good track-day car, looks like this might be worth waiting for.