Thruxton Thriller
Andover goes American as Chevrolet brings the V8 thunder
The beyond-recognition monsters of Modsports and Special Saloons headlined Thruxton’s first post-lockdown classic event.
SHP Grand Am
This unusual Us-style racer took to the Thruxton tarmac for the first time at the Thriller. Wearing both Vauxhall and Volvo badges, it appeared to have an identity crisis, so what was it? Owner Mike Scott explained, ‘It’s an SHP chassis with a lookalike Pontiac Grand Am body, built for the Eurocar series in the Nineties,’ said Scott. ‘Eurocar was intended to be a European version of NASCAR, run on oval circuits, but with V6s, and these SHPS were originally intended to be a ten-car one-make support race. However, Eurocar didn’t last long, only ran at UK circuits, and after one year the Grand Ams were absorbed into the rest of the Eurocar grid. The series ended when the sponsorship ran out.
‘After Eurocar, this Grand Am ended up with Paul Sampson in the Northern Saloons series in the 2000s. We bought it after he died in 2016. As for the identity, Sampson put a Volvo engine in it, and the Grand Am was the American equivalent of the Cavalier and looks a lot like one, so that’s how we badged it. That’s Modsports and Special Saloons for you!’
Corvette Stingray
Thruxton saw the UK race debut of both this striking Chevrolet Corvette, and its driver. ‘Until a few months ago it’s spent its life in Australia, where it was built for racing by Bathurst veteran Tony Browne of Black Cat Engineering,’ said Neil Vaughan. ‘It was originally a road car and I’m going to guess it had a 350ci (5.7-litre) V8 when it left the factory, but Browne fitted a 454ci (7.4-litre) when he rebuilt it as a racer, although interestingly as part of a specification that allowed it to compete as an apparently more standard road car, it still has its electric windows fitted. However, on its very last race, at Bathurst, that big-block put a conrod through its side, appropriately enough on the Conrod Straight. It’s currently running a Chevrolet smallblock we sourced from a truck.
‘And I’ve got a lot to learn too. This is my very first circuit race. I’m not completely new to motor sport – I’m a rally driver, although the last time I rallied was in 1996!’ Vaughan finished at the back of the grid, but managed to keep the Corvette out of trouble in two attritional races which saw nearly half the field fail to finish.