The Veyrat 630

Posted by John Mellberg October 19, 2020

The Veyrat 630

The "production" version of the Veyrat 630. This example was the namesake's personal car.

Our story begins with a French entrepreneur and "semi-professional" racecar driver named Patrick Veyrat, who had a vision of a more attainable exotic car in the mold of the Ferrari 348. What he lacked in mechanical design knowledge, he made up for in creativity and funds.

So, he approached the racecar builder ARC for assistance in making this dream a reality. ARC had all of the necessary talent and facilities to make this happen, so their principal Michael Faure entered into a partnership with Veyrat to prototype and ultimately planned produce the car. Work began on two prototypes, which were presented under the "Opio" brand in 1992.

These were the two initial prototypes built by ARC, which were full convertibles.
It is believed that the yellow one was the only running example, when shown here.
The red one was sold as a "roller" and finished by its buyer to their specification.

The pair of cars were shown in yellow and red and featured a bespoke tubular spaceframe chassis. There is some dispute between our sources as to the drivetrain of the initial prototypes, but they had a V6 engine mounted in a mid-rear configuration. It is suggested that they used a turbo variant of the Renault/Peugeot/Volvo (PRV) motor that was used successfully in cars like the Alpine Renault and DeLorean. However, another account has them using a 200bhp Alfa Romeo engine.

Unfortunately, the partnership between Veyrat and ARC dissolved not long after the car's press tour. So, Mr. Veyrat soldiered on and enlisted new partners, Karfex, which had experience with single seaters, sports racing cars (JDR) and Alfa cup racers. The new models were heavier than the really light Faure version, but by production car standards were still very light for their size. This version also utilized a spaceframe chassis, but with a novel "oval section" design.

The "production" version of the Veyrat 630.
Seen here with an alternate headlight setup.

The styling of Veyrat's new prototype, finished in "French Blue", featured a more planar and angular take on the original as well as a built in roll-bar, making it more of a Targa than a full convertible like the earlier cars. This became Patrick Veyrat's personal car.

One additional example was created and sold to a private owner at an undisclosed price, to that individual's specifications. That car was finished in red and used on roads as well as raced.

This is one of the pair of version 2 prototypes built by Veyrat's
second partners, Karfex. It was sold to a private individual.

Veyrat and his new partners presented the car in 1995 with the intent of taking orders at the Paris Salon. It made the rounds with the automotive press and was well received. The plan was to offer them with the Alfa Romeo V6 at a cost of 427,000 Francs ($85,000 USD at the time) but this was not to pass.

ARC continued to develop their own version of the car, called the "Ellipse". This was a lighter version and also featured Alfa Romeo power and revised styling.