The Vauxhall sporting & performance heritage stretches back to the early part of the last century, during the Company’s earliest years a number of cars were entered into various trials and hill climbing events without any great success but in 1908 an experimental 2156cc X Type Vauxhall 12/16 was specifically built for the RAC 2,000mile & Scottish Trials. Later the same year, an uprated Y Type racing prototype based on the same car won the International Touring Car Trial – beating a Rolls Royce 40-50 in the process. Renowned cars such as the Prince Henry and 30/98 galvanised this sporting reputation until the near end of the 1920s. However, with the takeover by General Motors in November 1925, there followed decades filled with attractively styled, competently engineered and very popular cars aimed unashamedly at the family orientated motorist with little or no sporting pretentions implied or advertised. This trend unexpectedly changed in October 1961 with the launch of the Vauxhall VX4/90 variant of the Victor FB, with twin carburettors and an aluminium head its sporting pretentions were widely advertised, it was even successfully raced by the late, legendary, Bill Blydenstein for a few years. Behind the scenes, Vauxhalls Design Department were even working on a 2-seat roadster based on the Viva HA which unfortunately never saw the light of day. At the 1966 Geneva Motor Show Vauxhall stunned the motoring press & public with a display of a 2 seat, gull-winged, sports car concept – the XVR. Although one road-going prototype car was built the project went no further. In 1968 the VX4/90 had been dropped, temporarily as it happed, from the new Victor FD range but an even more overtly sporting model, the Vauxhall HB Viva GT, was launched with a 2litre OHC twin carburettor engine. The combination of this car with the immense talents of Bill Blydenstein & driver Gerry Marshall meant Vauxhall became a serious competitor in British saloon car racing. An FD VX4/90 returned to the range in October 1969 with the Viva GT engine under the bonnet. Vauxhall once again stunned observers in October 1970 by displaying the Wayne Cherry designed SRV concept at the London Motor Show, it looked about 30 years ahead of its time and made the new HC Viva on show look very tame indeed. In fact, for the next 2 years virtually everything Vauxhall did was “very tame indeed”, the VX4/90 continued into the FE range but it wasn’t until March 1972 that the unnecessarily dull HC Firenza finally showed signs of some sporting intentions with the launch of the 2300 Sport SL, by October 1973 all the OHC HC models were amalgamated into a new, sporty, Magnum range but that was not the end. Vauxhall also showed for the first time the stunning HP Firenza, a ground-breaking design by Wayne Cherry with a 5speed gearbox, 131bhp and an exceptionally low drag coefficient for the time, production cars didn’t get much more performance orientated than this. Alas, the fuel crisis, Britain’s dire economic situation & production issues meant only 204 were ever made but the impact the car made lasted for many years after. There was however one more Firenza / HC based concept built – the Silver Bullet prototype – used by Wayne Cherry himself, it used an experimental fuel injected 2.3 single cam engine, no less than 6 front headlights, a 5-speed gearbox and novel features such as a split folding rear seats as well as the HC Estate rear body, the car was not shown publicly but the front end certainly influenced Pontiac designers for their version of the upcoming FWD J Car in the US.

Vauxhalls track successes under the DTV banner with main driver Gerry Marshall were becoming prolific but, for reasons still unclear, Vauxhall changed tact to concentrate on the world of rallying and in the process another sporting legend was created – the Chevette HS 16v Twin Cam. In the hands of ace Finnish driver Pentti Arikkala and Brit Tony Pond the car achieved considerable rallying success. The road going car was equally impressive boasting a 2.3litre 16v twin cam engine giving 135bhp, a 5speed Getrag gearbox and body kit which left no doubt about what it was capable of. Along with the Lotus Sunbeam, these two cars were the FIRST “hot hatches” long before the VW Golf GTi tried to claim the same title years later. The Cavalier range, launched in 1975, included the sporty looking top of the range 1900 GL Coupe while the VX4/90 was dropped at the end of 1975 only to be resurrected for a short time in 1977 until July 1978, originally intended to include fuel injection and 150bhp on tap, it was only offered with a 116bhp TC engine with a 5-speed Getrag gearbox and a low ratio back axle giving sparkling acceleration for such a large middleweight car.    

In October 1978, not content with the launch of his dynamic new Vauxhall Cavalier Sportshatch, Carlton & Royale designs, Wayne Cherry decided it was time for another WOW! moment. On display on the Vauxhall stand was a truly awesome looking, roadgoing 2 seat concept prototype – the Vauxhall Equus. This showed Cherry at his very best and again evidenced considerable forward thinking. It was designed in secret with a small team of designers, including John Taylor, and built by Panther who based the car on their Lima chassis which used the Vauxhall 2.3litre engine and running gear. When shown to Vauxhall management for approval to display the car at the upcoming motor show they simply said “show it, just show it”. But, it is to the detriment of Vauxhalls management at the time, of whom I have the greatest respect, that they didn’t opt to put the car into limited production with Panther, who would have been happy to build it in small numbers, a golden opportunity for a future classic lost. Wayne still owns the Equus at his home in the US.

By the late 1970s car designers were taking aerodynamic efficiency much more seriously and so to emphasis what was possible Wayne Cherry displayed his Chevette Black Magic concept at the October 1979 Motor Show to coincide with the latest developments for the 1980 model year production Chevette. The concept was based on an HS not HSR body-shell which was fitted with flush headlights, new bumpers & spoilers incorporating indicators and recessed fog lamps behind a grill below the front bumper, the side skirts were considerably lower than before and were finished with rubber which almost came into contact with the road surface, this gave a 20.42% reduction in drag compared to the standard car, front end lift reduced by 50.5% and rear by 37.3%. Another WOW! on an otherwise fairly moribund Vauxhall display for the 1980 model year, the Viceroy was the only new model on show.

This aerodynamic theme was taken to a whole new level in a new sports concept based on the Vauxhall Cavalier Sportshatch, called the Silver Aero, and first shown publicly at the October 1980 London Motor Show. Although the car was extensively modified it was proposed at the time to offer all the unique parts as a 3-phase kit that could be retro fitted by owners to any Cavalier Sportshatch unfortunately there is little evidence this actually happened, presumably because of the considerable costs involved. Phase I consisted of a completely revised interior with futuristic seating, door panels, lower dashboard and centre console. Phase II included aerodynamic glass fibre body panels front & rear as well the side and underside skirting of the body which reduced the drag co-efficient to 0.32cd. Phase 111 was an electronically controlled, stroked 2.4litre Turbocharged engine developed by Blydenstein Racing. The Vauxhall Design Department concept also included special full cover wheel trims which were used during aerodynamic testing.

In the last year of Vauxhall Astra MK1 production a new high performance version, the Astra GTE, waded into the hot hatch field with all the right credentials, the car was also the first car, in white, to use body colour wheels as standard. With a 115bhp 1.8litre fuel injection engine, 5-speed overdrive gearbox and Recaro seats it matched or beat anything in its class. The new J82 Vauxhall Cavalier of October 1981 was initially only offered with one remotely sporting model, the SR, but it used the same 1600 engine as the other models, soon a 5speed gearbox and a new “Sri” with fuel injected 1.8 or 2.0litre engine livened things up. Vauxhall broke new ground again with the launch of the Astra Mk2 GTE in 1984 which, with the best aerodynamics available, was capable of an amazing 127mph which left all competitors fumbling in its wake, a situation made worse with the later fitment of a 2litre 16v engine. Vauxhalls small car entry wasn’t left out either, the Nova GTE and later GSi models ensured Vauxhall were also very competitive in the “pocket rocket” segment of the market too.

Wayne Cherry was firmly established as head of design for the whole of GM Europe and the new Carlton Mk3 of 1987 was another example of inspired aerodynamic design with the GSi3000 offering imposing looks matched by equally impressive performance, especially the later 24v engine cars. As if 150mph wasn’t enough Cherry and his engineering associates proceeded, in conjunction with Lotus, to develop the biggest Wow! car of all, the most outrageous car ever to be offered by a volume car company up to that time, and for a long time since – the 177mph Lotus Carlton. With performance, so prodigious some countries, including the UK, tried to have it withdrawn from sale. It became a legend in automotive history and its impact when launched has never been equalled to this day.1988 and the Cavalier MK3 showed no let-up in performance developments with 16v, Turbo, 4-wheel drive and a 24v V6 being offered during the Cavalier production run, the car also marked the return of saloon car track racing success in the hands of the skilful Scott John Cleland.  

The next shock that Wayne Cherry unleashed on the motoring world was the breathtakingly beautiful Vauxhall Calibra, just as most competitors were preparing to leave the coupe sector of the market Vauxhall revitalised it and dominated it for years to come, the basic version was also the most aerodynamic production car at the time. For a while the Calibra was also the cheapest 150mph new car available to buy in Britain.

The Vauxhall Astra Mk3 was not as radically styled as the Mk2 but was available at launch as a GSi with a 2.016v producing 150bhp. Replacing the Vauxhall Nova in 1993, the Corsa B was also available initially as a GSi with a 110bhp fuel injected 1.6 engine. In 1996 the Cavalier Mk3 gave way to the Vectra B which was offered as a GSi with a 2.5litre V6.

So by the late 1990s, Vauxhalls sporting credentials were beyond doubt however, the departure of Wayne Cherry from GM Europe Design to eventually become VP of GM Worldwide Design left a void that was inadequately filled by his temporary replacement Hans Seer. Fortunately, he was soon working under the guidance of the transient Martin Smith and crucially a new addition to the Design team, the supremely talented Australian born Niels Loeb, the GM International Technical Development Centre would now move in a new and much more dynamic direction.