Recently in for bodywork restoration with us at Vintage Works was this 1969 Nerus Silhouette Formula 100 Sports Prototype.

Chassis no. 003

This car has recently had a all of it’s aluminium bodywork restored by us and replacement of the coolant pipes which are an integral part of the vehicle’s space-framed chassis. The picture here shows the car without it’s fibreglass top fitted.

The Nerus is an interesting piece of motorsport history, developed for the Formula 100 category announced in the UK in 1969. Formula 100 was a short-lived attempt to do for sports car racing what Formula Ford had done for single seaters. Concieved along similar lines to Formula Ford, lightly modified engines and road tyres being mandantory and a maximum capacity of 1300cc was stipulated.

Within a short time of the regulations being finalised, established manufacturers such as Lotus, Beattie and Royale had announced suitable cars, together with a newcomer, Nerus, who’s Silhouette F100 would turn out to be one of theseries’ most successful designs. Essex based Nerus Enngineering specialised in the manufacture of racing car components, and when F100 was announced the company decided to develop their own car. Design was entrusted to South African Cedric Selzer, Jim Clarke’s race engineer in 1963/64, who came up with the conventional spaceframe chassis with aluminium panels.

Only two silhouettes were made, with an additional car being built up from spare parts.