Mark Richardson in his 1972 Lola T290 (29) alongside Jamie Thwaites in his 1971, Chevron B19 (12), during the HSCC Thundersports Qualifying Session.
Thundersports was a variety of sports car racing introduced by John Webb of Brands Hatch fame. Webb saw it as a replacement for the Aurora AFX Formula One championship as a spectacular class that could headline national-level meetings, and a partner for the Thundersaloons series for silhouette-bodied touring cars. Thundersports was essentially a sports-car version of Formula Libre with cars from Sports 2000, Group 5, Group 6, Can-Am, Group C and various other prototype categories all eligible; a number of hybrid cars appeared in the series. Even the odd Clubmans car appeared. The series ran from 1983 to 1989, with grids slumping from 1983's average of around 20 to about 10 cars by the end. When the series was terminated it was effectively replaced by a short-lived BRDC C2 Championship for prototypes. The T290 was the little brother of the T280, and where the 280 was designed for the then-new Group 6 3-litre class, the T290 competed in the Group 6 2-litre category. The T290 was basically the same car as the T280, with a few detail changes, like outboard brakes, smaller spoiler and a rear subframe (because the inline-4 engines were not designed to be a loadbearing part of the car.) It was a very succesfull car, claiming several race and championship wins in the early 1970's, over competing cars like the Chevron and Osella Abarth. Chevron Cars Ltd. is an English manufacturer of racing cars, founded by Derek Bennett in 1965. Following Bennett's death in 1978, the firm has remained active in various guises. The original company's designs and name continue to be used to build replacement parts and continuation models of earlier Chevrons. In 2000, Chevron Racing Cars Ltd., founded by Vin Malkie acquired the trade mark Chevron Racing Cars Ltd and in addition to the company's other activities has designed and built new grand tourer racing cars under the Chevron name, as well as other continuation models of earlier Chevrons.
Size: 4911px × 3311px
Location: Silverstone Circuit, Towcester, Northamptonshire, NN12 8TN
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1850cc, 1971, 1972, 2000cc, 2019, b19, blue, cars, chevron, circuit, classic, close-, hscc, jamie, lane, lola, mark, motoracing, motorsports, national, orange, pit, pits, qualifying, race, richardson, session., silverston, silverstone, t290, thundersports, thwaites, towcester
