Description and History
This iconic pink Excita Chevron B45 F Atlantic is chassis #4 of only four built that year and has a well-documented history. The car was originally assigned to Eje Elghe in Fred Opert’s FA team and competed in the 1978 Labatts F Atlantic series. However, at the Lime Rock event, Opert’s lead driver Keke Rosberg comprehensively crashed his car (chassis #2) and took over Elghe’s car. Rosberg subsequently qualified on pole and finished 4th. Thereafter it was driven by Rosberg until his original car was repaired. During the season other drivers in chassis #4 were Davina Galica, Richard Spenard, and Arturo Mezarrio at Trois Riviere. Its final race for Opert was at Macau where once again it was driven by Rosberg, but failed to finish after sustaining a punctured radiator. The car was returned to the Chevron factory where it was driven by Jim Crawford in the 1979 Hitachi British Formula Atlantic series and finished 2nd in the Championship (5 wins). Crawford, now running in Plygrange colors, also ran in the Aurora F1 Championship series, where in 1980 he won outright in the rain at Oulton Park, beating many notables in F1 cars. Together with his engineer, Crawford made some significant improvements to the car, by moving the engine forward 2” and adding bigger rear brakes (same as the fronts). Subsequently, Crawford moved to the USA to run Indy cars and the Chevron was raced by several pro/club teams in the UK. It was eventually acquired by Simon Hadfield where it was thoroughly refurbished including rebuilt calipers, and gearbox etc., before it was purchased by Jeff Wright and returned to the States. To our knowledge this is the only F Atlantic of the time to have raced as a works car on both sides of the Atlantic.
Engine
• Engine Builder: Savannah Race Engineering
• Cosworth 1600 cc motor (1 test and one race weekend)
• Big valve 3 bolt head built by Savannah Race Engineering and makes 225 hp and 149 ftlbs torque.
• Twin 48 Webers
• New Jennings distributor and ignition system
• Performance: 225 hp and 149 ftlbs torque
• New clutch
Transmission
• Hewland 5 speed with cam and pawl differential
• Custom gearbox spacer to move engine forward 2” to improve weight distribution
Chassis
• Chevron B45 chassis #4. Aluminum monocoque, steel rear sub frame. Excellent condition.
• Stiffened floor
• New front bulkhead mounting bracket
• New rear bulkheads added
• Wehrmann bushes to mount engine to chassis
• New Dynamic shocks, original Bilsteins also available
• Matching AP four pot calipers all round
• 3 sets of Speedlines refurbished, shod with Avons
• Two new ATL fuel cells, new fuel pump installed
• New electrics throughout. New Varley battery
• Most rod ends replaced
Bodywork
• Fiberglass, pink
• Good condition
• Spare nose and splitter
Cockpit
• Gauges refurbished or replaced with period correct ones
• Original, but with new carbon fiber seat
• Original Chevron Steering wheel
• Charged fire system
• Willans belts
Spares
• New rear cross beam (Prince)
• Front and rear suspension pieces (many new)
• Spare nose and spare nose frame
• Spare tail frame (like new)
• Spare multi element rear wing and side plates
• Mold for new splitters
• Steel jig for nose frame
• Hewland Gearsets
Price $129,000
Kris Kaiser
717-324-2758
Email: khillracing@comcast.net
K-Hill Motorsports
899 Forest Drive
Abbottstown, PA 17301
717-479-5638