The history of the British automobile is littered with dozens upon dozens of small, independent cottage-industry automakers. Names like Lotus, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Land Rover have stood the test of time.
And in recent years companies like Ascari, McLaren Automotive and Ariel have sprung up to join the fold. (Heck, Lee Noble's been responsible for half of them.) But for every new automaker that sets up shop in the UK, there are dozens more that have faded into the night: carmakers like Triumph, Sunbeam, AC, Austin-Healey and TVR. But one is making a comeback.
Founded by Derek Bennett in 1965, Chevron Cars produced more than 60 distinct racing cars over the course of its history. But the Lancaster-based automaker has long since faded into obscurity. The marque now belongs to Westfield Sportscars, purveyors of Lotus 7 continuation cars, which is now preparing to bring back the Chevron with the design you see here.
The new Chevron GR8 is being developed as the spiritual successor to the original G8, a lightweight mid-engine race car built in the late '60s. The new car follows the same formula: a fiberglass body over a steel spaceframe with a 255hp 2.0-liter Cosworth engine mounted right in the middle. That might not sound like a lot of power, but the target curb weight of 1,322 pounds promises to keep the power to weight ratio on the fun side.
Chevron is planning an initial run of 20 examples, each to be sold for £49,500 (about $82k). They'll all be earmarked towards the GR8 Challenge, a new one-make racing series. After that, Chevron plans to turn the GR8 into a track-day special available for public consumption, but does not plan to make a road-going version. Which is a shame, because as many that spring up every so many years, we never get tired of British sportscars.
source: autoblog
