18 replies to this topic

[Team Gunston]

The "new" Ecurie Ecosse started racing operations in 1983 at a regional level with a second-hand Chevron Sports 2000, a very smart sportscar finished in the traditional flag metallic blue livery. But was it a B52 or a B54 ?

In his EE book, Graham Gauld doesn't mention the exact type of the car, nor its detailed racing records at Ingliston (and maybe other places ?) during its two-year campaign with the Scottish team. Can anyone help me on these matters ?

And since a Google search didn't help me very much about the Chevron Sports 2000 question, does someone know how many S2000 chassis of each type had been manufactured by Chevron Cars in the 80s ?

Needless to say that photos of the EE example would be fully apreciated. The only one I have found on the web being here and of poor quality : [URL=http://photos.freeserve.com/public/detail.html?c_album=14010[/URL]

Thank you all in advance,

Philippe

[Mistron]

http://www.photobox....67&page=&group=


This is an excellent site full of images from Ingliston in the late 70s- early 80s

the car is refered to here as a B54

elsewhere on this site I seem to recall seeing a photo of a special saloon calld 'the chimp' a Chevron chassis with an Imp body...............

[Team Gunston]

Mistron,

This is the photo I was speaking about. Thank you anayway.

Graham Gauld has just sent me several personal e-mails, and at the end he confirms the EE Chevron was the first production B54.

Still according to Graham, the personal or "works" entered car of Laurence Jacobsen, also visible somowhere among the Ingliston pics, was in fact a B52, which became later the prototype or the development chassis for the B54. So Jacobsen's car in its final form should be called in my opinion a B52/54.

Is there a S2000 Chevrons production list somewhere ?

[Mistron]

From memory, it was also Laurence Jacobsen who built 'the chimp' I mentioned.

Spurred on by that website, and in a fit of nostalgia I just went looking for a davrian imp - there's one on EBAY at the moment- ex Ingliston- as well!

When will there be a revival in racing for these cars? the next big thing perhaps?

[Jeremy Jackson]

Mistron,

It was Jonathan Buncombe who built the "chimp" in 1975 for the SuperSaloon series, using a B19 as the base.

But it was back in B19 spec with Vin Malkie in the late 1970s I thought, so I think Jacobsen's was another Imp-bodied device?

[Team Gunston]

Here is a pic of Jacobsen's Chevron-Imp device. The year is 1980 :

photos.wanadoo.co.uk/shared/photo.html?c_album=13787&photo=164544&page=&group=

[Team Gunston]

Well, it seems I have some problems with these http things. Is it better now ?

http://http://photos...44&page=&group=

[Jeremy Jackson]

The double http: re-directs you to microsoft but with a bit of copying and pasting, I got to the photo, thanks!

That's not THE "chimp" i.e. the Buncombe car, which had an Imp saloon body.

Sorry to muddy the waters, didn't know that some folks referred to Chevron-based Imp GT cars generally as "chimps". I thought the term was reserved for the original !

[Mallory Dan]

Jeremy, me too. The only real Chimp was the Buncombe car, others were never referred to by this name. By this naming, does that make other GTs of the era 'Chodas' or perhaps 'Skevrons'.

On Chevron S2000s, from memory the most produced were the first ones, B52s. At a guess 6 or 7, the original in late 1980, and then some more in 1981. A couple raced down here, most up in Scotland where they had a category within another series IIRC. The '82 car was the B54, I suspect no more than 2 or 3 made, the final 'pure' S2000 was the B60 in 1983. Plygrange had 2 of these in the UK, I don't recall others down here.

I suppose some may have gone to the US though, trading on memories of past 2-litre Chevrons. By the early 80s the category was starting to struggle in Britain, tho' it was boosted to a degree by Thundersports in 83-86. From memory a couple of 2000 Chevrons were uprated with bigger motors to race in this series, Mazdas and BDGs I think.

[2F-001]

re: The "Chimp"...

I'm not sure that Jonathan Buncombe actually built the thing, did he?... but he certainly drove it. I witnessed him him inflicting a rare defeat on Gerry Marshall and Baby Bertha at Silverstone on the practice day for the 1976 6-hour race; a fabulously tense and entertaining race. On my desk in front of me is a snapshop of it at that meeting alongside a "Tony Wadsworth Racing" truck, from which it was run at that event.
When I get a moment I'll scan it (if anyone's interested). From memory, it had an FVC motor, but I don't recall the exact chassis type at the moment: was it a B21?

(I'd never heard Chimp used in connection with any other car.)

Ah, apologies Jeremy - you already referred to it as a B19; I had a reference to it as a B19 too - but that reference was my own and wasn't trusting it for some reason!

[Graham Gauld]

According to my Scottish Motor Racing and Drivers book where I have a full history of Chevron when in Scotland there were a total of seven B54 Chevron Sports 2000's but not including Laurence Jacobsen's own B52 which became the prototype B54. Unfortunately the US agent joined the Moonies and lost interest in racing. By this time Jacobsen was working on the B60 which was a new sports 2000 and, as usual, he actually bought the car. A mock up was also cobbled together and sent to Mike Gue in the USA to gauge potential sales but it was not a good example and there was no great interest. Jacobsen then developed his B60 prototype and enjoyed driving it. He then put a Cosworth BDG in it and raced that. Shortly afterwards the company was sold to Roger Andreason. The answer to the next question is, no, I don't know where the B60 BDG is now.

[Team Gunston]

Thank you both Graham and Mallory Dan.

It seems that several Chevron B60s and B61s were entered in the Thundersports series. And wasn't one of the B60s, called B60TS and property of Laurence Jacobsen, which was running with a B36-style bodywork ?

[Team Gunston]

I have checked my sources : sorry men, the B60 TS with B36 bodywork (and Hart engine) was not raced by Laurence Jacobsen and apparently not seen in this form in the British TS series. In fact, this car raced (succesfully) in a so-called Swedish Thundersports championship. Jacobsen's cars were more standard B60 or B61.

[2F-001]

The aforementioned "Chimp".



Somehow, I can't imagine anyone doing this to a such a car these days.

[Team Gunston]

Graham and Mallory Dan,

I have made further researches about the Chevron S2000s and I wonder if the B52-type wasn't in fact a one-off.

I misunderstood when I assumed that Laurence Jacobsen's car deserved to be called B52/54 as it was the prototype for the production B54. It was the first S2000 built by Chevron Cars in their Scottish days, with a bodywork clearly inspired from the B19/B21 design and was called the B52. B52 and no more. End of the first chapter.

One year or so later, in 1982, the cars they built for customer purposes, with a completely different bodywork, gained the B54 designation. End of the second chapter.

In 1983, the B54 design received further improvements and became the B60 for S2000 purposes or B61 for pukka ThunderSports purposes. And I do believe, Graham, that Jacobsen's car, seen dicing at Ingliston with the EE B54, on a picture from your Ecurie Ecosse book (page 126), is a B61, running under the orange colours of Iain Mcleod Engineering.

As far as the original B52 is concerned, I think that it found its way to Sweden in the 90s for racing in the REAB Sportscar Cup, in the hands of a certain Bo Sherman.

Best regards,

Philippe

[Mallory Dan]

No Philippe, I reckon you're wrong on B52s. The car was originally, I think, a Bolton design from late 79, along with the CanAm B51. When the Chevron went bust in early 80, the whole lot passed to Robin Smith who resurrected the S2000 design.

It appeared in August 1980 as the B52, and was subsequently produced into 1981. A 'works' car was run in the 81 S2000 series over here, driven variously by Bryce Wilson, Robin S, Lawrence Jacobson. A few others were sold, a couple to Scotland, Brian Stevenson had 1. The B54, a slightly modded car appeared in 82, and the B60 the next year. I can't recall who had B54s, but at least 2 B60s were used down here by the Plygrange Team, Richard Morgan and Ken Gough.

So I reckon the S2000s followed a distinct line, and the T'Sports cars were various one-offs based around the former.

[Team Gunston]

Well, the debate is still open. Any photographic evidence ?

[Team Gunston]

Hoping these links work :

- Laurence Jacobsen B52 (1981, Ingliston) :

http://photos.wanado...9&page=1&group=

- Bo Sherman's B52 (1997, Anderstorp ?) :

http://www2.reab.se/...bscup/car31.jpg

- Laurence Jacobsen / John Fyda B61 (1984, Oulton Park) :

http://www.racingspo...4-04-20-090.jpg

Dan, when you say the B54 is a slightly modded B52, I think I'm not terribly wrong if I reply that the B52 and B54 (see EE car) bodyworks have not much in common.

[Team Gunston]

Dan, when you say the B54 is a slightly modded B52, I think I'm not terribly wrong if I reply that the B52 and B54 (see EE car) bodyworks have not much in common.

Well, may be I'm going too fast... Only the front (more streamlined on the B54) and rear (with covered wheels) bonnets look different. But, yes, the frame looks similar on both B52 and B54 types.

Regarding the B61 design, I'm deducting from the photo it is this time a different frame coupled with a B54-style bodywork.