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Walker Racing LLC, the company that Champ Car team owner Derrick Walker established last year to continue the supply and support for the Reynard design, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Van Diemen.
Like now-defunct Reynard Cars, Van Diemen is a British-based race car constructor. It forms part of Don Panoz's Elan Motorsport Technologies Group, which also builds IRL IndyCars under the Panoz GForce banner. The agreement covers development of the current Reynard chassis through the end of the chassis "freeze" at the conclusion of the 2004 season.
"We are pleased to have additional support from Van Diemen to focus exclusively on areas of development under the current rules and of course on the much-needed future development of the 2004 update packages," said Derrick Walker.
"We are delighted that our group will be able to offer development and manufacturing support to the teams competing with the Reynard chassis in the Champ Car World Series and we are particularly pleased to be entering into partnership with Derrick Walker on this project," said Ralph Firman, chairman of Van Diemen.
Walker Racing also announced the renewal of its agreement with Oxford Racing Developments (ORD) to continue to supply technical support and manufacture current car parts.
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"Since the unfortunate closing of Reynard and Reynard North America last year, we have been able to subcontract the production of Reynard parts needs through Simon Dowson and the employees at Oxford Racing Developments in the UK," Walker said. "We are pleased to say this relationship will continue and the teams running Reynards will benefit from the combined efforts of Van Diemen and ORD."
Van Diemen, which is best known in the U.S. as the constructor of Formula Ford and other club racing chassis, is the world's largest by volume manufacturer of single-seat racing cars.
"We enthusiastically welcome Van Diemen to Champ Car," said Champ Car Vice President of Racing Operations John Lopes. "Van Diemen delivers a deep pool of talented engineers and experience as a chassis constructor to the Champ Car paddock, and we are pleased that the Reynard chassis and our teams will benefit from these resources, particularly for aerodynamic development."
Six drivers currently compete with Reynard chassis in the Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford, including Walker Racing's rookies Rodolfo Lavin and Darren Manning, Conquest Racing's Mario Haberfeld, Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing's Tiago Monteiro, and America Spirit Team Johansson's Jimmy Vasser and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
