Chevron Cars Ltd

Bennett also built a one-off Formula Junior car which was only a modest success - rear-engined competition from Lotus and Cooper was more than a match for it, and the era of the special-builder in FJ was over.

[citation needed] By 1965 there were sufficient requests for replicas of his Clubmans car, Bennett seemed able to establish himself as a constructor and started his business and the Chevron marque in School Street, Salford.

Aided by a small staff of like-minded enthusiasts (particularly friend and assistant Paul Owens), for a decade and a half Chevron produced successful racing cars.

Bennett never proceeded beyond Formula Three in his own driving but remained quick enough to test and develop many of his cars, especially at the nearby Oulton Park and Aintree.

The replacement for these cars was the B16, but driver Brian Redman pointed out that with heavy coupé bodywork it would be beaten on most circuits by lighter open-topped spyders from marques like Abarth.

Chevron was notable for its proud Lancastrian nature - unlike the rest of the British racing car industry which tended to be based in an arc running from South West London, the old Brooklands circuit and Heathrow Airport round to Silverstone, Chevron remained based in a mill in Bolton, and many of its most celebrated drivers, including Brian Redman and Jim Crawford were also Lancastrians.

The heyday of the marque ran through to the late 1970s and ended with Derek Bennett's death after a hang-gliding accident in 1978; Chevron continued in its original form owned by Derek's sisters for a couple of years with Tony Southgate as consultant designer then passed into other hands - some new cars were manufactured.

In 2006 Chris Smith purchased a majority share holding in the newly started company called Chevron Cars Ltd., from the owners Roger Andreason and Tim Colman.

Beecroft a life long fan of Bennett’s designs having grown up close to the Bolton Chevron factory.

As Oulton Park had been Bennett's home circuit, the Gold Cup meeting features races dedicated solely to Chevron's sports cars.