Chevron B18

[Dan Rear]

As I don't know how to start new threads, I'm posting a B18 point on here, sorry !!

Some 75 A/Sports I'm reading detail a David Aukland B18 at Longridge that year. I presume this is the ex-Cyd W Atlantic from 1971-2. Any comments ??

[Peter Mallett]

I took the liberty of starting it for you.

[allenbrown]

Kim Mather drove it once. He might know.

(If you ask him, ask him about his 1975-1977 libre 74B/752/75B/742 thing.)

[Chris Townsend]

Dan
The Eden B18 went to Canada in 1973 sold to Bob Armstrong.
I suspect that this is the ex Mather car.

We need to sort out B18s though, because I've now seen two completely different numbers and histories assigned to the ex Redman car, used in S.Africa in Jan/Feb 71.
According to MN/AS that car was 18.71.01 and went to John Powell at the end of 1971, but we've also got that number allocated to the Mather car in 1972.
Meantime we have 18.71.03 [the Siffert F2 car] also claimed as ex Redman in the blurb for a Coys catalogue...
One of us cannot be wrong, to quote the great Leonard Cohen.

Chris

[allenbrown]

I had completely forgotten that Mather ran a B18 so I hope nobody thought my last post facetious. I had noticed a 1975 libre race where Mather was sais to be driving Auckland's B18. I just thought he had saved up some more pennies for another hire drive but it would make more sense if he was a previous owner of the car.

[Chris Townsend]

The Mathers owned an awful lot of cars.
Mike started in Atlantic/libre with a B17 in 1971 then the B18 with a BRM t/c in early 72. Then they got the ex Santo Palliser WDB4 off of Howlings, primarily for the BDA I guess, and put the t/c in that for Kim to race in libre.
Swapped the B18 for the ex Coaker 712M, then got the Calvert 722-29
and I think that Dad raced a Lola T140 or 142

Chris

[Dan Rear]

Blimey Chris, a lot there! I may be seeing Kim soon (on an Annuity issue, but I won't bore you with that here) so I'll see if I can pin him down on these matters !!

[allenbrown]

I had forgotten the Mathers had a Lola T142. It was the ex-McKechnie/Walker, ex-Kaye Griffiths SL142/35. The only result I have for it is Mike at an Oulton libre in June 1971, his debut. I'd be very interested to know where that car went next as it joins the mass of T142s in hillclimbs, sprints and classified ads. F1R says Chris Shaw had it in 1973...

[Dan Rear]

Met Kim this morn, and had a good chat. The Aukland B18 was the car he and Mike had had before, he said it was an awful car. Apparently they did a lot of dealing with Bobby Howlings on various cars in those days. He recalled the Palliser as being a v nice car to drive, just not very fast, ditto the BT38 he also ran. (see post on the March thread).

[Chris Townsend]

Gradually sorting out the B18s
Chevron book says 13 built: 1 FVC, 4 FVA, 6 t/c, 1 BRM t/c and 1 Hart BDA
Four of them are chassis no 1...

18.F2.71.1 test car for Redman in South Africa with FVC, bought back to run F2 for Chris Craft. Sold to John Powell for Canadian FB 1972

18.71.1 Herve Bayard FVA

18.71.2 Siffert then Frey

18.71.3 Siffert renta car in F2

18.71.4 don't know

18.A.71.1 Eden with BDA

six to Opert and other American customers
one for Barrie Maskell with BRM t.c in F3. Any observations of a number on this one, it just vanishes after 71.

Chris

[Andrew Fellowes]

Originally Posted by Chris Townsend

18.71.1 Herve Bayard FVA
Chris

Sport-auto Fevrier 1972

Chevron F2 71, B18.
et. nf, av, ou ss mot et nf- H BAYARD RACING Leucourt par 80-ROYE

[allenbrown]

There's a picture of the mysterious Etienne Grobot Chevron in Echappement Dec 1973 and it's definitely a B18. I'd recognise that nose anywhere (as people often say to me).

http://www.oldracingcars.com/images/...3-12-p135a.jpg

I'll remove the above image link soon.

Allen

[Chris Townsend]

Few other cars were that ugly!
Are we presuming this to have been the Bayard car?
Schafer has his B18 into 1973, so it can't be that one [which is, I think the Frey car recovered]
I think that Green's car was the ex Siffert 03 chassis. It's described when for sale in early 73 as converted to Atlantic [meaning it started life as F2] and only eight races. Actually that's more than any other B18, and suggests it has to be the Siffert rental car from 71.

Chris

[AMICALEMANS]

It is a misterious car, but Bernard-Etienne Grobot was a well known driver in rallying, hillclimb and track (at Le Mans). He was kill in an Hillclimb crash.

[allenbrown]

Bernard-Etienne Grobot died at St Antonin in 1997. Was that the same man as Etienne Grobot who raced in the early 1970s?

[allenbrown]

Grobot, whichever one it is, appears again in July 1974 in a Chevron "B25".

I'd be surprised if it wasn't his B18 with updates of some kind.

Allen

[allenbrown]

Autosprint mentions that Willie Green has "la Chevron F2 ex di Siffert" for the Rothmans 50000. ASnt 24-31 July 1972 p40.

[Chris Townsend]

B18 Recapitulation

FVA engines [4 built]

18.F2.71.01 Works test car raced in South Africa by Redman.
Returned to works and used as F2 car by Craft later in season.
Sold to John Powell [Canada] used in 1972 Players series, then to Paul Wheatley for 1973 Players series

18.71.02 New to Xavier Perrot [but said to be earmarked for Bruno Frey] then to Bruno Frey [chassis no given AS 8.4.71]. Car stolen at Imola 24.7.71. At Hockenheim 3.10.71 is described by AS as in his usual car, suggesting he got it back or Chevron built a replacement. Especially as this chassis number then noted on the B18 of Georges Schafer in 1973 and probably therefore the B18 entered by Schafer in 1972 but not raced in Euro F2

18.71.03 new for Siffert at Bogota 1971, then a rental car. Rebuilt as F.Atlantic and used by Willie Green at Brands 50,000 Aug 1972

18.71.04 New to Hervé Bayard. Bayard is variously said to use a new car and the ex Perrot car [a week after it had been stolen!] Going by press reports he ordered a new car at the start of the season but did not get it until after both 02 and 03 had appeared. On first appearance the 'new car' seems to have Frey's 02 plate on it - which is, I suspect, a typo or a plate switch. Possibly the Grobot car in 73

BDA engine
18.A.71.01 new to Graham Eden, later run for Cyd Williams. Kept to end 1972 then to Bob Armstrong [Canada] for 1973 Players series

BRM t/c engine
Chassis number unknown: Barrie Maskell UK 1971 F3 then unknown, perhaps the Mather/Auckland car [Mike Mather 1972 Atlantic with t/c sold to David Auckland [Libre 1973] and then perhaps the hillclimb cars of Robert Speak [1976] and Andrew Florentine [early 80s] but this might have been an unsold FB model]

Six t/c FB models
Can't find anywhere near six!!
Opert two cars plus Warren Flickinger
Think that one or two may have stayed in UK to become the Mather car [above] and the John Richards car in UK Atlantic in 1972

FVC engined car?
A hill-climb car? Allen, what's in Echappement 1971?

Chris

[allenbrown]

Originally Posted by Chris Townsend

18.71.02 New to Xavier Perrot [but said to be earmarked for Bruno Frey] then to Bruno Frey [chassis no given AS 8.4.71]. Car stolen at Imola 24.7.71. At Hockenheim 3.10.71 is described by AS as in his usual car, suggesting he got it back or Chevron built a replacement. Especially as this chassis number then noted on the B18 of Georges Schafer in 1973 and probably therefore the B18 entered by Schafer in 1972 but not raced in Euro F2

I hadn't appreciate Schafer's car was missing in 1972. "Georges Xaver" drove a Chevron B18 in the Swiss championship round at Hockenheim on 27 Aug 1972.

I suppose Bayard's hillclimb car could be the FVC model. I have only speed-read 1971 - I'll go back and look again.

Allen

[allenbrown]

More Chevron B18 bits

According to the Coys auction catalogue Birmingham NEC, 13 Jan 2001, B18-03 stayed at the Chevron factory after Siffert's season with it and was used in the design of the B20. It was later advertised by Chevron and was sold, one would then assume, to Willie Green.

Meanwhile in France, I have noticed that Lucien Guitteny buys a Chevron B18 for 1975 and wins one or two minor events with it. I would imagine that would be the car that Grobot ran in 1974.

[allenbrown]

Just found a story that Willie Green has hired the ex-Siffert B18 from Hire International Racing and will fit a 1.9 Smith FVC for the Rothmans 50,000 (MN 13 Jul 1972 p19). HIRE, like GNU, is a recursive acronym isn't it?

[Andrew Fellowes]

recursive acronym (or occasionally recursive initialism, and sometimes recursive backronym) is an abbreviation that refers to itself in the expression for which it stands. The term was first used in print in April 1986.

I knew that,
Andrew

[allenbrown]

As long ago as that!

GNU is a computer operating that stands for "Gnu's not Unix". Does HIRE stand for Hire International Racing Enterprises or was there actually a man called Hire who hired out cars?

[Ted Walker]

I owned chassis 3 ,once along with another one in bits

[Dan Rear]

Originally Posted by allenbrown

As long ago as that!

GNU is a computer operating that stands for "Gnu's not Unix". Does HIRE stand for Hire International Racing Enterprises or was there actually a man called Hire who hired out cars?

Roger Hire? Or Roger Heavens, or both?