1979 Riley Protofab PR2 Supervee

The Riley Protofab PR2 Supervee racer was designed and engineered by Bob Riley and built by GT1 LeMans winner Gary Pratt, Charlie Selix, Bob Riley, and many other contributing members of Protofab Racing. Pratt is also the founder of Pratt Miller Engineering. The Protofab is hailed as one of the first open-wheeled racers to use ground effects in the United States.

The Protofab had many years of racing in SuperVee competition. It was piloted by many drivers before its retirement in 1984. It was later bought by Boles who had the car restored and outfitted it with a racing engine. The car was then put into service as a racer for the next ten years, competing in historic sports car racing.

The Formula Super Vee series evolved from Formula Vee. The engines were a 1.6-litre four-cylinder water-cooled Volkswagen engine. The cars and technology had evolved and as such, the FSV series featured faster and more agile cars than the Formula Vee series. The cars were similar to other series such as Formula Atlantic and Formula Three. The series began in 1971 and continued into the 1980s. In 1977 Volkswagen ended its support of the Formula Vee series to concentrate its efforts on the Super Vee which was gaining in popularity. Other manufacturers of vehicles were Lola, Argo, Royale, and others.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jul 2010