Nykjaer: a Danish Group C

[GTO Racing]

That first Danish Group C car was built by Jens Nykjaer, based on Gepard built chassis. This German firm, based at Koln, disappeared just after having begun the production of a car which was due to run the DRM series.

The Nykjaer was fitted with a BMW M1 engine and a Hewland gearbox.
Jens Nykjaer entered several rounds of the World Endurance Championship notably, without success.

Does anybody know something about:
- Jens Nykjaer;
- the car; and/or
- the Gepard project?

[ghinzani]

Do you mean Gebhardt chassis? As in Gunther and his brother?

[GTO Racing]

No. French magazine AutoHebdo reported it was Gepard.

Could it be the team which began to build the Mennella MH C2 car?

[ghinzani]

couple of grainy pics here of it in 1985 http://www.duxen.dk/modelbilerv2.php...h=nsam&lang=uk

[Jesper OH]

Jens Nykjær is one of the colorfull caracters of the Danish racing scene from the mid-1970s. Initially racing Volkswagen beetles in Special Saloon Car, latterly with a Porsche engine, succes eluded him because of reliability issues. A normally aspirated group 5 Porsche 935-look-alike was build for 1980, but for 1981 it was back to Special Saloon Cars and this time with a tube frame Beetle. A combined SSC/Group 5 title was his after a hard season racing against Jørgen Poulsen and his Porsche 935-look-alike. A new Nordic Super Saloon Car title was up for grabs in 1982 and a new tube frame 1303 was build, this time featuring a 700 bhp Porsche Turbo engine. Capable of 280 kmh/175 mph at the Anderstorp straight, the bodywork was dangerously close to break apart, so a new car was needed for 1983. This time he allied himself with the Kremer brothers of Köln giving him free access to drawings, enabeling Nykjær to build a Porsche 935K3 copy. The car was ready midway through 1983 and would be his race car to the end of 1984. For 1985 the group C project happened, wrongly reported here in Denmark as based on a Gebhardt chassis, but thanks to Janos Wimpffen and others that mistake has been rectified in my head.
What happened at the end of '85 I don't know, because over the next few years he raced only sporadickly in borrowed or rented cars. In late 1989 and into 1990 he made some low key appearences in a group A Volvo 240 Turbo and then almost another decade went by with little to report. Around 1997 a very low line Porsche 935 appeared resembling something like a Kremer 935K4 started to be raced, resulting in his second Danish Special Saloon Car title in 1998. Around 2000 the car was badly damaged by fire during a sales demonstration of the car. Since then he has devoted his time to the career of Michel Nykjær – one of his two sons. Having won two European and a Danish touring car titles hes already way more succesfull than his father, but that's another story.

From those who have seen him drive, Jens Nykjær is described as a hard charger, not minding a few bumps and bruises along the way. Quite capable of building his cars from the ground up, that sounds plausible. He's also a man with little patience for time waisters, painting a faint portrait of a very focused and single minded approach to motor racing.

The Nykjaer-BMW group C2 car was sold to Finnish Super Saloon racer Onni Kreivi for 1986. It was reported that Kreivi simply replaced the prototype bodywork with that of a Sauber BMW M1 group 5 look-alike, but Nykjær had a look at the car at the time only recognising some of the rear braking system as his C2 car, so that story was probably wrong. I spoke with Mr. Nykjær probably around 2005 and at the time the Nykjaer-BMW was being restored by its Swedish owner, but where it is now, I don't know.

Pictures from racingsportscars archive:
http://www.racingsportscars.com/make/photo/Nykjaer.html

Here is a picture of his 1982 VW 1303-Porsche turbo monster at Kinnekulle Ring, Sweden:
http://www.teambild.se/arkiv/details...1600ff9b8fc5b6

Jesper

[GTO Racing]

Thanks a lot for this career review. It's very helpful.

Nevertheless, I maintain that the chassis come from the German maker Gepard, as french magazine from that period and even Ian Briggs in his book "Endurance Racing 1982-1991" report it.

By th way, can you tell much more about the Danish Special Saloon Car series you mentionned? Photos? Cars and drivers information? Races data?

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by GTO Racing

Thanks a lot for this career review. It's very helpful.

Nevertheless, I maintain that the chassis come from the German maker Gepard, as french magazine from that period and even Ian Briggs in his book "Endurance Racing 1982-1991" report it.

By th way, can you tell much more about the Danish Special Saloon Car series you mentionned? Photos? Cars and drivers information? Races data?

I absolutely agree with you about it being a Gepard-chassis.

For starters, here's a link to the official website of the Danish SSC class:
http://www.specialsalooncar.dk/

The class saw it's Danish debut i 1974 being promoted by auto magazine Motor-Journalen. 8 cars turned up for the first meeting but as the year progressed 20+ cars would be the norm, and this at a time when most other classes saw fever and fever cars. Initial rules said that any saloon car homologated for group 1 or 2 from 1966 was allowed and as an ingenious way of cutting costs only 5½" rims wide rims were allowed. No idea of turning up with a big expensive machine if you can't make any use of it thanks to skinny tyres.
With the cars not being terrible advanced, they raced on both tarmac and dirt tracks in those early years. 1977 saw the first official title being awarded, while 1981 saw the SSC and Group 5 catagories combined to a single championship. A Nordic ruleset came about in 1982, primarely being contested by Swedes and Danes, with Finnland joining in 1985. Norway just didn't had any great circuit racing traditions and never really featured in what was know as Super Saloon Car from 1982-1993. In 1994 it was back to Special Saloon Car but that was really just a name change.

By the early 2000's the class almost collapsed. Cars had gotten way to expensive at the front leaving little to the back markers, and all of a sudden nobody cared to race Special Saloon Cars. The current multi class structure was introduced in 2003 and within a few season the class was back to its former strenght.

I will return with some driver and car profiles, but this is it for now.

Jesper

[GTO Racing]

thanks for all these information. I'm almost interesting with the 70s-80s period and the silhouette machines.

[Jesper OH]

http://racing-photo.dk/fotoalbum/ssc'09-3/photo645.htm

Above a link to a picture of one of the all time most beautifull and recogniseble Special Saloons in Denmark - Johannes Graversen and his Fiat X1/9 Turbo, here seen at his recent triumpf at Ring Djursland in June 2009. Build from the remains of two damaged X1/9s, the car had it's debut during 1980 as a group 5 car featuring a 1.4 litre turbocharged engine, making it eligeble for the 2.0 litre class. It took the combo a few years to get up to speed but by the middle of the decade they were flying. Finally in 1987 Graversen took his only Super Saloon title, but also racing in Finland, Sweden and Germany - lately in the German Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy. This year he is fully committed to the Danish title race though and most recently proved to be a winner. With about 360 bhp and only 800 kgs of weight its quite explosive under acceleration.
Johannes is a mechanick by trade and do the odd engine work on some of his competiters cars too. The X1/9 is a car very much from his own hand pretty much through out including sheet metal fenders, wings and spoiler. Since the basic car was very light he found it easier to fabricate the body work in metal rather than glassfiber.

Here's another link, showing the car in 1986 less rear wing for some reason:
http://www.racingsportscars.com/phot...-08-24-051.jpg


Jesper

[mickj]

From the Michael Cotton's Directory of World Sportscars, Group C and IMSA Published 1988.
Re the Gepard chassis. Jens Nykaer Quoted 'They made one chassis and went broke'. This was made in Germany.

There were Gepard Spyders and Coupes made in Germany in the 60's using NSU suspension, etc. Could they be connected.

Jesper thanks for the story on Jens Nykaer, very interesting.

Mickj

[fausto]

NykjaerC2/1985Monza1000pic @ http://twitpic.com/dhl2g

[antc]

Perhaps I can shed some light on this subject, as this has interested me for some years. I own a Group C2 car which was imported into South Africa during 1989 to race in a regional series in this country. The car was built by Gepard in Germany. This is either the same car that Nykjaer raced in 1985 or a second chassis that was built. I have never been able to establish for sure,although I have tried for a number of years to contact someone who may have been connected to Gepard to verify the facts.

I have attached some pics of both my car as it raced (at Kyalami in 1990) and then in my garage some years later after I acquired it, as well as one of the Nykjaer car at Spa in 1985 showing the striking similarities between the cars.

Any further info from anyone on this forum would be much appreciated.

Regards

Anthony Corin

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by antc

Perhaps I can shed some light on this subject, as this has interested me for some years. I own a Group C2 car which was imported into South Africa during 1989 to race in a regional series in this country. The car was built by Gepard in Germany. This is either the same car that Nykjaer raced in 1985 or a second chassis that was built. I have never been able to establish for sure,although I have tried for a number of years to contact someone who may have been connected to Gepard to verify the facts.

I have attached some pics of both my car as it raced (at Kyalami in 1990) and then in my garage some years later after I acquired it, as well as one of the Nykjaer car at Spa in 1985 showing the striking similarities between the cars.

Any further info from anyone on this forum would be much appreciated.

Regards

Anthony Corin

That's quite a twist on the subject! Congratulations with the car by the way, Anthony, and I can clearly see why you speculate that your's and the Nykjaer-BMW might be the same. What engine does your car have?

Mayby this link to racingsportscar can be of some help too:

http://www.racingsportscars.com/make/photo/Dahmen.html

This is German Heinz-Jörgen Dahmen who dubbed his car the Dahmen DC884, which by 1986 had the appearence of a Porsche 956. In its earlier days it does look a lot like the Nykjaer and your car too. I think there were a third C2 car around this time that looked like the Dahmen and Nykjaer, but can't remember what name to look for.
Given that a lot of German teams annually raced a non-championship race at Kyalami around the mid-late 1980's, I'd suspect that your car might be the Dahmen rather than the Nykjaer incarnation of the Gepard base chassis.

Jesper

[fausto]

Group C/C2 cars from Lotec, Dahmen, Strandell and Nykjaer all shared the same basic bodywork, originally produced at Lotec. Some were also entered as Toj, and even Trojan McLaren (http://www.gaffersports.com/motorspo...autos/2947.php this one being Peter Hoffmann, Chevy powered, M8F, this day back to its original configuration). I think this could be sometimes confusing...

[antc]

Thanks for the replies.

I have also noticed that several C2 cars carried very similar bodywork during that period, as has been rightly pointed out, prodeced by Lotec. What led me to investigate the possible Nykjaer link however was moe related to the chassis construction, as the Nykjaer car is the only one(besides my car), where I have found the clear reference to Gepard as the chassis constructor.

My car has in fact a Gepard chassis plate, with the logo of a Cheetah, for which Gepard is the German name. Can anyone shed light whether any other cars perhaps also had this same chassis constructor?

When I bought the car, it was fitted with a Mazda Rotary engine, although this was certainly fitted here in SA. The car competed in a spec series in 1991/92 were the drivetrain was specified as Mazda 13B/Hewland Ft200. The reason for this was quite simple. Our local F.Atlantic series had just finished, and there were plenty of these drivetrains available as thye were used in that series from mid to late eighties.

[GTO Racing]

Originally Posted by antc

Thanks for the replies.

I have also noticed that several C2 cars carried very similar bodywork during that period, as has been rightly pointed out, prodeced by Lotec. What led me to investigate the possible Nykjaer link however was moe related to the chassis construction, as the Nykjaer car is the only one(besides my car), where I have found the clear reference to Gepard as the chassis constructor.

My car has in fact a Gepard chassis plate, with the logo of a Cheetah, for which Gepard is the German name. Can anyone shed light whether any other cars perhaps also had this same chassis constructor?

When I bought the car, it was fitted with a Mazda Rotary engine, although this was certainly fitted here in SA. The car competed in a spec series in 1991/92 were the drivetrain was specified as Mazda 13B/Hewland Ft200. The reason for this was quite simple. Our local F.Atlantic series had just finished, and there were plenty of these drivetrains available as thye were used in that series from mid to late eighties.

According to then some sources, Gepard built only one uncompleted machine which I believe was a driving chassis.

I don't know who worked then in Gepard. But maybe Jens Nykjaer could help us to clarify the story of this car. Does anybody know how to contact him?

By the way Anthony, have you got other pics of your machine? What about your race results?

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by antc

Thanks for the replies.

I have also noticed that several C2 cars carried very similar bodywork during that period, as has been rightly pointed out, prodeced by Lotec. What led me to investigate the possible Nykjaer link however was moe related to the chassis construction, as the Nykjaer car is the only one(besides my car), where I have found the clear reference to Gepard as the chassis constructor.

My car has in fact a Gepard chassis plate, with the logo of a Cheetah, for which Gepard is the German name. Can anyone shed light whether any other cars perhaps also had this same chassis constructor?

Your point does weigh heavily for your car being the Nykjaer chassis. What led me to the Dahmen was the tail section in your garage picture, which looks like Dahmens 1986 Porsche 956 look-a-like.

About 3 or 4 years ago I had a very brief conversation with Jens Nykjær about his C2 car. Here he stated that he took over the Gepard project as they went bust them selves. Thus it was Nykjær who had the chassis inspected and approved by the FIA. The car was then sold to Finn Onni Kreivi for the 1986 season, supposedly as a doner car for a BMW M1 Super Saloon Car project, but only part of the braking system seems to have been used.
Jump forward to about 3 or 4 years ago the Nykjaer-BMW C2 car was undergoing a restoration in Sweden, all of the above according to Nykjær himself (and how I remember the conversation).

I think there are pros and cons either way, so for now I'm open about the idendity of your car Anthony.

Jesper

[KA]

Originally Posted by fausto

Group C/C2 cars from Lotec, Dahmen, Strandell and Nykjaer all shared the same basic bodywork, originally produced at Lotec. Some were also entered as Toj, and even Trojan McLaren (http://www.gaffersports.com/motorspo...autos/2947.php this one being Peter Hoffmann, Chevy powered, M8F, this day back to its original configuration). I think this could be sometimes confusing...

Glad you mentioned that- the bodywork looked familiar, and Lotec rang a vague bell as the origins...As I remember, there was another instance of the same basic bodywork appearing on more than one car, between the French Sthemo and Isolia projects, and Jose Thibault's infamous Chevron-ROC seen at Le Mans 1987/8.

As you said, it doesn't make identification any easier...

[ensign14]

I always liked the old C2 machinery, and had no idea the Nykjaer and Lotec cars were so closely related...they seemed nice looking bits of kit, like the Ceekar and Lyncar. The Nykjaer must be the only Danish marque that ever took part in a world championship.

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by ensign14

I always liked the old C2 machinery, and had no idea the Nykjaer and Lotec cars were so closely related...they seemed nice looking bits of kit, like the Ceekar and Lyncar. The Nykjaer must be the only Danish marque that ever took part in a world championship.

I wouldn't bet against a solar powered car in one of the FIA alternative powered championships, but that's as far as I will go

Jesper

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by ensign14

I always liked the old C2 machinery, and had no idea the Nykjaer and Lotec cars were so closely related...they seemed nice looking bits of kit, like the Ceekar and Lyncar. The Nykjaer must be the only Danish marque that ever took part in a world championship.

Yeah I liked the Ceekar, struggling along with its BDG against cars with nearly double the power. Then they got a DFV and wrote the thing off first time out! I think that was down in Jerez in 88. I wonder if the ARK Pressings team still have the car?

[antc]

Interesting comments from all contributors. In response, I have added a few more oictures of my car taken when I purchased it.

Regarding race results, the car was not very succesful, seemingly underpowered with the spec 13b against much lighter sports 2000 type cars, ie. Tiga and Chevron. The car was about 300kg heavier than those it competed against at the time.

SInce owning it, I have only demonstrated the occassions, as we don't have a suitable category for it here. I am now considering a full restoration of the car to orginal spec!!, if only I was sure what that original spec was?

Hope this thread can further assist in pinning the possibilities down.

[KA]

Originally Posted by ghinzani

Yeah I liked the Ceekar, struggling along with its BDG against cars with nearly double the power. Then they got a DFV and wrote the thing off first time out! I think that was down in Jerez in 88. I wonder if the ARK Pressings team still have the car?

think I remember reading somewhere that they'd kept some of the parts from the car, but that the chassis was a write-off.

If I remember correctly, the Ceekar was caught out by a change in the fuel allowance regs for C2- under the rules as intended when the car was first designed, the better fuel economy of the BDG would have made it potentially much more competitive than it ended up being?

[KA]

Originally Posted by antc

Interesting comments from all contributors. In response, I have added a few more oictures of my car taken when I purchased it.

Regarding race results, the car was not very succesful, seemingly underpowered with the spec 13b against much lighter sports 2000 type cars, ie. Tiga and Chevron. The car was about 300kg heavier than those it competed against at the time.

SInce owning it, I have only demonstrated the occassions, as we don't have a suitable category for it here. I am now considering a full restoration of the car to orginal spec!!, if only I was sure what that original spec was?

Hope this thread can further assist in pinning the possibilities down.

Have you any knowledge of how it came to be imported to SA? Going on what you've said about the difficulty of competing against much lighter S2000s with a Mazda 13B, then importing what looks to be every inch a proper C2 car (what was the minimum C2 weight limit, 750kg or so?) seems a fairly brave move. I've got a vague memory that there were at one time a couple of other 'proper' C2s in SA- a pair of (possibly S2000-based?) Tiga-Mazdas imported for the Kyalami Group C race in '83. Are they still on the radar in South Africa, or disappeared without trace?

[fausto]

Originally Posted by KA

Have you any knowledge of how it came to be imported to SA? Going on what you've said about the difficulty of competing against much lighter S2000s with a Mazda 13B, then importing what looks to be every inch a proper C2 car (what was the minimum C2 weight limit, 750kg or so?) seems a fairly brave move. I've got a vague memory that there were at one time a couple of other 'proper' C2s in SA- a pair of (possibly S2000-based?) Tiga-Mazdas imported for the Kyalami Group C race in '83. Are they still on the radar in South Africa, or disappeared without trace?

The Southafrican Tiga-Mazda are possibly around, I remember seeing them, sort-of-restored, on the www a couple of years ago. They built another C2 in South Africa, it was from Lant, a local, mainly single seater, manufacturer. Recently I came through it while reading an old Autosport (late80s-very early90s) copy.