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1984 Owen Ashley approached by Toyota South Africa to be their motor sport manager and to design and build a four-wheel drive rally car. This Toyota Conquest 4x4 was the first of its kind in the world and was re-engineered to accommodate the left hand drive gearbox with a 4x4 setup. The body of the vehicle was cut down the middle and widened to meet the chassis specifications. This vehicle won numerous rallies, beating the four wheel drive Audi Quatro, developed at huge expense in Europe.
 Serge Damseaux in the winning Toyota Conquest, designed and built by Owen Ashley
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1986 On leaving Toyota, he was put in charge of technical aspects of all motor sport in South Africa for SA Motorsport Control, managing technical rules enforcement for the sport. His previous experience in pushing the envelope of race performance enabled him to effectively highlight any irregularities within the racing teams. |
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1988 Owen Ashley Auto Development is formed to design and construct specialised one-off and low volume vehicles, as well as to consult for outside companies. Owen Ashley Auto Development is approached by VW SA to design and build VW single seater cars (during the 80’s and 90’s) for the Formula GTI Open Wheeler Series. Deon Joubert’s Formula GTi winning car |
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1988 Present: Design and construction of specialized vehicles for Ford Motor Company, BMW (SA), General Motors (SA), Audi. Contracted to design and build the first cars for Wesbank V8 Race Series, including the custom BMW 535i built in 1991 at the request of BMW to race in and won the Wesbank V8 Series overall SA championship in 1992. These cars have won numerous South African and Provincial championships.
The modified BMW 535i, driven by Deon Joubert in the Wesbank V8 Race Series.
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1996 Owen Ashley starts the Super Car series, a series designed to enable racers from all walks of life to compete on an equal footing using standard regulatory engines. The cars all featured identical specifications and driver talent became the key asset for winning. The cars, inspired by the classic Opel Boss, could be purchased in 1988, race ready, at the modest price of $10,000 at today’s exchange rate. For more info please visit: www.formulasupercars.co.za
Neil Hawkins in the second edition super car.
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1998
Owen Ashley becomes managing director of Cape Advanced Vehicles (CAV), a company based in Cape Town that recreated the classic CAV GT40. These vehicles were heavily sought afrter in the U.S. and CAV went on to export 100 road-certified CAV GT40’s to the U.S. over a number of years under Owen’s management, and has built in excess of 150 vehicles to date.
The classic CAV GT40
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2007 Development of Masters V8 Series and the APV347is. The APV347is is the all South African designed and built racing saloon car for the Masters V8 Series.
The APV347is
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