Bradshaw to race Chevron B19
Former single-seater and Porsche Carrera
Cup GB racer Tom Bradshaw hopes to be a frontrunner in the FIA Masters Historic Sports Car Championship in a Chevron B19 recently restored by former Chevron engineers.
Bradshaw’s father John bought the two-litre sports-racing car last November and it was rebuilt by Steve Sheldon and Neil Bailey at
Red Rose Racing. A recent shakedown race at Brands Hatch was hampered by brake issues but the Fvc-engined car showed great promise and Bradshaw hopes to be a contender at the Silverstone Classic in late July.
“It went to Jo Siffert when it was new in
1970. It came to us from Sweden and hadn’t been run since the early 1990s,” said Bradshaw Sr, who has always wanted to own a B19.
“For a man from Bolton, this is an iconic car,” added Bradshaw, who comes from the same Lancashire town as Chevron. “I went to see [Chevron founder] Derek Bennett at his works when I was 20 to get some bits for an Elan I was building. I learned to hang glide with him.”
Later, Chevron founder Bennett died in a hang gliding accident and the company folded.
“It’s a gorgeous car but we’ve still got a bit of work to do and we wanted to spend some time getting it right,” Bradshaw added.
After the Classic, the plan is to race it at the Nurburgring, Zandvoort and Spa in the summer and Bradshaw Sr will race it with his son too.
Bradshaw Jr, who was the 2008 Formula Palmer Audi runner-up, is a previous winner of the Carrera Cup GB scholarship and last competed in the Porsche category in 2015.
More recently he has been racing in historics and shared a 1965 Porsche 911 with Le Mans 24 Hours winner Richard Attwood at the Classic last year and in the Guards Trophy at the Oulton Park Gold Cup.
l The Historic Sports Car Club’s Thundersports Series has received a strong initial response to the newly announced races at the Silverstone Classic. In two weeks, the first 30 entries have already been confirmed. With a grid capacity of 50 cars, the HSCC is hoping to have more than 40 competitors.