Tag Archives: JCB

Five Cylinder Tim – MANBAT Pegasus Sprint Castle Combe

Last month saw the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club organise it’s final sprint of the year the MANBAT Pegasus Sprint at Castle Combe, as ever with an event involving over 100 competitors many members of the BPMC the Bristol Motor Club and a few others besides along with the team at Castle Combe all mucked in to make it happen.

GTM K3, Graham Matthews, MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

Here are a few random snaps of the day taken from my vantage point on the start line that I hope give a flavour of the day that was probably better suited to ducks than Motor Sport, above Graham Matthews only made one successful practice run in his GTM K3 before withdrawing from the event.

Marcos Mantis, Philip Jones, MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

Before the weather was forecast Philip Jones must have fancied his chances of Marcos Mantis competing for the fastest time of the day in his 4.6 litre V8 powered machine but he had to settle for 1st in the Road going Specialist Production Cars class and consul himself that the conditions kept him 14 secs off the fastest time of the day.

MG PA, Howard Harman, MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

If there had been a prize for being quickest of the two pre war MG’s present it would have gone to Howard Harman seen above in his 1 litre MG PA who was one and a half seconds quicker than Martin Price in his 1 1/4 litre MG TA.

TVR Vixen, Ian Stallard, MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

Given the power of some of the more recent TVR’s present it is perhaps surprising that the fast TVR time was set by Iain Stallard, above, in his four cylinder Ford powered TVR Vixen which had less than half the cubic inch capacity of all the other TVR’s present.

Triumph TR3A, Tom Purves, MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

Tom Purves Triumph TR3A was the oldest and slowest representative of the marque present of those who set a time.

JCB LOADALL, Les Rawlins, MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

Les Rawlins, Castle Combes Mr Fixit, might have struggled to set a competitive time in his JCB LOADALL, fortunately his skills fixing the barriers were only called on the once.

Mitsubishi EVO6 GSR, Mike McBraida,MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

Mike McBraida set fastest time at the wheel of his turbocharged Mitsubishi EVO6 GSR in the Road going Series Production Cars over 2600cc class.

Reliant Scimitar GT, Nick Hall, MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

The Reliant Scimitar GT driven by Nick Hall was third in the Road going Specialist Production Cars, Car engines over 1800cc and Motor Cycle engines class.

Audi Quattro, Tim Clarke, MANBAT Pegasus Sprint, Castle Combe

Winner of the MANBAT Pegasus Sprint was Tim Clarke who set the fastest time of the day in his five cylinder turbocharged Audi Quattro, a car last seen on these pages indulging in a spot of lawn mowing at Hullavigton.

My thanks to all those who contributed to such a splendid day in the rain, and thanks for joining me on this “Five Cylinder Tim” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a cool one off contender for the Carrera Panamericana. Don’t forget to come back now !

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When Forty Four Equaled Fifty – Chevron B8 #CH-DBE-78

1967 had been a busy year for Chevron with the production of the one off BMW powered B4 GT , one off BRM V8 powered B5 GT, a run of 7 B6 GT’s six with BMW motors and one with a Ford Twin cam and the companies first open wheeler B7 Formula 3 car.

For 1968 Chevron really stepped it up producing six different models and 59 cars in total, by for the most numerous with 44 examples built was the B8 GT which differed only in detail from the B3. B4, B5 and B6 models and were mostly powered by the 2 litre / 122 cui BMW 4 cylinder engine with a few being powered by the Cosworth FVA and FVC motors and a couple with Climax engines of varying sizes.

Chevron B8, Andrew Newall, Silverstone Classic

In order to comply with the Group 4 category in international events series production of the B8 should have run to a minimum of fifty units however in order to make up the short fall Derek Bennett managed to get away with renumbering and counting rebuilt cars as new vehicles, succeeding where Enzo Ferrari failed with the 250LM some years earlier, hence the chassis numbers for the B8 GT’s run way beyond the 44 chassis actually built brand new and tracing their exact histories is far from straight forward.

In October 1945 Joseph Cyril Bamford founded the company with which his initials have become synonymous in a small lock up with a prototype electric welder, some scrap steel and some surplus jeep axles which he fashioned in to a trailer that sold for a handsome profit, 3 years later he introduced the first hydraulic tipping trailer to the European market and in 1951 he painted his products a shade of yellow which has also long since become synonymous with JCB.

Chevron B8, Andrew Newall, Silverstone Classic

With the introduction of JCB’s backhoe trailer and “hydra digga” JCB established themselves with must have equipment for every self respecting farming and building contractor with earth moving requirements, by 1968 JCB were sponsoring an MGB driven by Peter Brown and Tony Fall in continental events as part of their marketing strategy.

For 1969 Peter graduated into the 2 litre GT class using at least one Chevron B8 including today’s featured chassis #CH-DBE-78 which he is believed to have shared with Roger Enever in the Targa Florio where the pair were classified 14th despite not finishing after and accident, at Spa classified 20th, Le Mans where they retired, Zeltweg recording a 13th place finish, before rounding out the season with two retirements in Barcelona and Paris.

Chevron B8, Andrew Newall, Silverstone Classic

Peter drove a B8 in numerous other events during 1969 but at the time of writing it is by no means certain #CH-DBE-78 was the car he drove in all of them. He appears to have taken a bit of a sabatical from racing between April 1970and March 1972 when he reappeared in the JCB sponsored Ferrari 512M chassis #1030.

Andrew Newall is seen at the wheel of #CH-DBE-78 in these photographs earlier this year at Silverstone Classic during qualifying in the rain and racing in the dry.

Thanks for joining me on this “When Forty Four Equaled Fifty” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at possibly my favourate Formula 5000 car. Don’t forget to come back now !

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