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'Cheetah Racing Cars' were a prolific Australian manufacturer of race cars. The cars were almost solely designed, engineered and constructed by Brian Shead in a small factory at the rear of his home in Mordialloc, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.
The first Cheetah was built for Brian's personal use in 1960. It was a 'Cooper Copy' built to race in Formula Junior. A second Cheetah was built in 1962 and third in 1963. A completely new design was commenced in 1970, after which a friend persuaded Brian to construct an additional car. By 1973 Brian gave up his usual job to design and build race cars full time. The final car was produced in 1989, being a Mk9 for use in Formula Holden. Cars were constructed for Formula Junior, Formula Libre, Hillclimbing, Australian Formula 3 (AF3), Australian Formula Two (AF2), Australian Formula 1 (AF1 or Formula Atlantic or Formula Pacific) and Formula Brabham (later renamed Formula Holden). Cheetah race cars were most successful in Australian Formula Two, where they were the dominant manufacturer during the late 70's and most of the 1980's.
Cheetah race cars are common sights at Australian historic race meetings, hill climbs, sprints and in Australian Formula Two and Formula-R. In both Australian Formula Two and Formula-R Cheetah Mk7 and Mk8s which were built in the late 70’s and early 80's are still winning races and championships against far newer carbon fibre tubbed Dallara and Reynard Racing cars.
Although Cheetahs are no longer manufactured, Brian Shead is still actively involved with Cheetah race cars, supplying parts and advice to Cheetah owners.

Contents

Models

Championships

References

External links

Models

Name	Class	Comments
Mk 1	Formula Junior	Cooper Copy
Mk 2	Formula Junior	Major revison of Mk 1
Mk 4H	Formula Libre, Hillclimb
Mk 4A	Australian Formula Three
Mk 4B	Australian Formula Three
Mk 4	Australian Formula Three	First production chassis
Mk 4E	Australian Formula Two
Mk 5	Australian Formula Three
Clubman		Clubman
Mk 6	Australian Formula Two & Three	First monocoque chassis.
Mk 6E & Mk6GE	Australian Formula Two
Mk 7	Australian Formula Two	First ground effects car
Mk 8	Australian Formula Two & Formula Atlantic	Full ground effects, all new suspension
Mk 9	Formula Brabham & Formula Holden	Last Cheetah made

Championships

Season	Driver	Car	Championship
1977	I Judd	Cheetah-Oldsmobile	Australian Hillclimb
1979	Brian Shead	Cheetah Mk6-Toyota Celica	Australian Formula Two
1984	Peter Glover	Cheetah Mk7-Volkswagen Golf	Australian Formula Two
1985	Peter Glover	Cheetah Mk8-Volkswagen Golf	Australian Formula Two
1986	Jon Crooke	Cheetah Mk8-Volkswagen Golf	Australian Formula Two
1987	Arthur Abrahams	Cheetah Mk8-Volkswagen Golf	Australian Formula Two
1988	Rohan Onslow	Cheetah Mk8-Volkswagen Golf	Australian Formula Two
1988	Rohan Onslow	Cheetah Mk8-Volkswagen Golf	Australian Gold Star
1994	Craig Lowndes	Cheetah Mk9-Holden	Australian Silver Star
2002	Brendon Cook	Cheetah Mk7-Volkswagen Golf	Australian Formula Two Rookie of the Year
2004	Kevin Lewis	Ransberg Cheetah Volkswagen Golf	Australian Formula Two
2006	Kevin Lewis	Ransberg Cheetah Volkswagen Golf	Australian Formula Two
2007	Edward Gavin	Cheetah Mk8 Volkswagen Golf	Australian Formula Two

References

★ Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1985/86 Number 15 (1986)

★ Australian Motor Racing 1982 Number 1

★ www.oldracingcars.com

★ Australian Formula 2 Club Inc.

External links

★ www.ten-tenths.com

★ www.cams.com.au

★ www.formula-robertson.com