8 replies to this topic

[Gerard Gamand]

This week end, I was in Ledenon for the historic meeting and I find this very curious "like a Chevron" car :

the "Zebra" with a Cosworth BDG.

Who know this swiss marque ??

[Gerard Gamand]

And the rear end

[Bloggsworth]

Very like a Gropa..........

[The Mountaineer]

Originally posted by Bloggsworth
Very like a Gropa..........

[The Mountaineer]

Originally posted by The Mountaineer

Oops... my Zebra text is missing. I must have made a mistake yesterday evening. I am using this as a test, if it's ok, I'll deliver again.

[The Mountaineer]

Originally posted by The Mountaineer


Oops... my Zebra text is missing. I must have made a mistake yesterday evening. I am using this as a test, if it's ok, I'll deliver again.

Fine, it worked. So let's get back to the Zebra. It was a one-off, built in Switzerland for gentleman driver Jacques Boillat by two former McNamara and Sbarro employees called Fleury and Bernasconi. It was an aluminium monocoque construction, powered by a 1600 cc Cosworth FVA engine.

Its first outing was the Geneva Salon in March 1973, and after that, Boillat raced and mostly hillclimbed it until 1977. In 78, the car was for sale with an FG 400 gearbox, but less engine. Its next owner was today's French F3000 hillclimb ace Fabien Frantz, who fitted a ROC/Chrysler 2000 engine and March-lookalike bodywork. I found results of Frantz as late as 1986/87, then the Zebra moved on to a Paris based film company. What happened there and after is unclear, but by 1993, it was in Britain and Ryan Hodges was busy restoring it.

I also remember having heard rumours about legal action around that car, for during its French years, someone must at least have tried to sell it as a March.

The restoration was a rather freestyle affair, for the Zebra appeared for a RJB round at Donington in 1996 with new bodywork, quite far away from the original, a wrong engine (Cosworth BDG) and a new, for FIA Historic Periods classification very convenient date of birth (1971). I must clearly say here, that I don't want to blame anyone for this, for I have no idea where the misinformation started.

Things got even worse, for in 2002, the Zebra was for sale with a 400 BHP Cosworth YB Turbo engine, and for me, its last trace in Britain was a small ad in Autosport where the owner threated to split and break down the car. I'm glad to hear that it didn't happen and that the Zebra is back on the track, its natural habitat.

There is just one question, Gérard: Who is the new owner?

[Hieronymus]

Zebra...a very strange name for a racing car. Hopefully it was not a donkey in disguise like its namesake from the animal kingdom.

[Gerard Gamand]

Thanks for this interresting explanation !

The problem with the little marque is that everybodies can explain that they want !!

I know this question because I'm working on the GRAC story : It's incredible the lack of understood that most people have. I see incredible things and I've see GRAC FIA paper for cars that never be GRAC...I've also see false chassis plate etc..

The book would clarified all this, I expect.

[The Mountaineer]

There's a small correction to my former statement. Before its official Geneva presentation, the Zebra had a first outing at the Slalom Bure (Switzerland) in summer 1972. Sorry.

Has anyone out there got pictures of the Zebra with March bodywork??