To begin with there was a slight problem. As enthusiasts will no doubt be aware, the 1966 car driven to a famous 15th place by Bellot - Lena and Jean Lois Marnat is believed to have been stolen from the then owner Michel Tasset, in the Autumn of 1975, and sadly it has not been seen since! Various ‘replicas’ have appeared over the years, some saying they were the car even having filled hiioles in the right places in the bodywork, but withoug specific documantation and provenance, the actual car remains, somewhere!

As road going homages, most only replicating the 1966 paint scheme but none have gone to the extent of actually trying to replicate, as close as possible, the race car itself. That is the difference between this project and the previous ones, to build and race a replica of the heroic 1966 car. Will it actually race? Only time and budget will tell...

Tony Brown is the current owner of Marcos Cars and has a long and successful career in motor sport of various sorts and not only runs Marcos Cars, but also prepares race cars and runs a racing school in South Wales. Tony said, ”What a fantastic opportunity. A Mini

Marcos rebuilt by the Marcos Factory possibly entered in the Le Mans Classic in the 50th anniversary year. If we get a bit of PR that will be great as well”.

The 1966 Car - History

In 1966 a British car finished 15th, but more than that, it was the only British car to finish the event that year and it was powered by a Mini engine. It was for all intense and purposes a 're-shelled' Mini Cooper S with a stage 2 Monte Carlo Spec BMC Competition engine to be a little more precise.

In the mid 1960's, one Jem Marsh of Marcos cars, wanted to get an entry to Le Mans for the newly released Mini Marcos, but feared the chances of a UK team were all but non existent even though early track achievements of the Mini Marcos in the UK were excellent.

A French team, car assembled in France and with French drivers might be a different matter. Jem agreed to allocate the distribution rights of the Mini Marcos for Europe if a Le Mans entry was forthcoming, and Bill Dulles, who was already manufacturing Mini accessories in London, set up a Limited Company, Dulles Components Ltd, to market the Mini Marcos on the Continent. Jean Louis Marnat had semi-works status with the Parisian Austin importer JP Richard and they were able to procure from BMC Abingdon’s Special Tuning Department, a Monte Carlo Specification, rally tuned engine in Group II configuration, with straight cut close ratio box, LSD with a 2.49-1 drive pinion set from Jack Knight

The drivers were Jean Louis Marnat and JC Ballot-Léna as co-driver, with reserves Jean Pierre Jabouille and Trautman. The Mk1 Mini Marcos was painted in French racing blue and the rest is history.

First of all find a Mk1 ‘6000 series’ Mini Marcos

The MK1 was manufactured from 1965 to 1967 and the production run is unknown although the Mini Marcos Owners Club website lists chassis numbers from 6001 to 6151, but chassis numbering was allegedly not something Marcos were particularly good at, so it’s difficult to ascertain the exact number of MK1’s built. That aside, MK1’s don’t often come up for sale and certainly not at a price that would make the project viable, a non runner was sought.

The Owner - Roger Young (That’s me)

Backtrack more than thirty years, and the aftermath of a motorcycle accident saw my relationship start with Marcos cars that still goes on. I am the Chairman of the Marcos Owners Club, a position I have held for probably at least twenty five years and have owned a Marcos of one sort or another, usually more than one, since I was twenty one (32 years).

The 24hrs of Le Mans has been a passion of mine since I first started driving and have been across to both this and the Classic Le Mans many many times.

I bought the Mini Marcos as my first car, as a run around and at the time I had not idea it was a Mk1 and still didn’t realise that when I sold it a couple of years later. Amazingly and without realising it was the same car, I got it back a few years later after someone had stripped all the

Cooper S running gear from it, stripped the interior and removed all the paint, it was in a very sorry state.

We have also since found out that it had also suffered with crash damage to the nearside rear quarter, all of which is undergoing repair and strengthening. The MK1 then moved house with me and resided, I am sorry to say, under a tarpaulin for seventeen years on the front drive, waiting.

The MK1

It was only around six or severn years ago, when I was doing a bit of research, I bothered to check KUX 615F’s chassis number, 6040, and realised I had a Mk1 Mini Marcos alongside the MKIV also being rebuilt.

When a telephone call came and the question asked about being involved in the 1966 replica project, I was eager to get involved and to see the car reborn. That was back in September 2014. Since then time has been spent trying to source period parts and deciding on the state of race preparation it should be built to. The car

had been stripped of everything that could have been used from the old Cooper S running gear, but fortunately the Mini Marcos parts were all there, including the sliding side windows for patterns, and the original dashboard configuration had not been chopped about. So we had a bare canvas to work from.

More research has also been undertaken trying to establish exactly what the specification was of the 1996 Le Mans car. It seemed fairly straight forward as there were a couple of well know articles that provided some guidance, but then information appeared questioning some of this and still more that was not easy to establish. I put a brief message on the Mini Marcos Owners forum and received even more useful guidance.

At this point I would like to thank Eric Cettour for getting in touch, and for his invaluable help. Eric lives in France, and in contact with J,C, Hrubon whose workshop was used to build the original car. Although memories are somewhat vague it is still fantastic to receive information from him.

The 1966 Le Mans Car & What we think we know (If you know different, let me know)

Body:

The shell was a Mk1 Mini Marcos. Wide arches were fitted to cover the wider track due to the spacers. The front panel was heavily drilled for increased airflow.

Engine:

Although originally built using a Mini Cooper S engine, they then obtained 2 x Mini Cooper S, Group 2 specification, BMC Competition Department engines (Monte Carlo Rally Spec). The engines were tuned to produce around 91 BHP and size was increased to 1287cc and would have been balanced, lightened and ported.

Carburetor

It was thought a 45 Weber was fitted for the Le Mans race although prior to that there is reference to twin SU’s being used in tests. Ms Hrubron confirmed that twin 1 1/2 SU’s were eventually used as during testing they could never get the Weber to run satisfactorily or efficiently. A ‘Paddy Hopkirk’ quick release rocker cover was fitted to the engine.

Exhaust

If you’ve searched the internet for pictures of the 1966 race car you’ll find that they are not necessarily the best of quality. Trying to get a set of high definition shots from all angles is nigh on impossible. In nearly all pictures, the lack of clearly visible exhaust at the rear, I simply put down to lack of definition in the photographs.

Not so, the exhaust system exited under the right hand side door and can be just about seen in a couple of pictures, now I know this to be the case. The unit would almost certainly have been a larger bore competition LCB system and some sort of silencer box before the exit point, or not? It would have had to be quite thin for ground clearance and was certainly wrapped in heat resistant material.

Gearbox:

Straight cut close ratio gearbox, LSD & Jack Knight 2.49-1 Diff ratio giving a final gearing of more than 120MPH.

Radiators: Two were fitted, one at the side in the standard location and one across the front, to cope with the warm summer in La Sarthe.

Fuel:

‘Big’ fuel tank (no details of size), articles just say big! The fuel filler cap was huge and from a French truck a Berliet.

Brakes:

Cooper S disk brakes, high capacity master cylinder. A servo was fitted and a bias control fitted to ensure that the back brakes did not continually lock up when braking.

Minifins were probably fitted to the rear as they were used in competition as a replacement for the standard rear drums during the period. A competition fly off handbrake was also probably used.

Aluminum spacers were fitted to the car and arches modified to accommodate wheels. The spacers were thought to have been fitted as the dealer was trying to sell them as an ‘add on’ to the Minis they were involved with. At the time their strength was debated and modern equivalents such as Super Minifins will be used to add safety having the spacer as part of the Brake hub, along with stronger wheel studs.

The Brake system will be uprated with modern replacement components but will comply with the regulations for historic racing.

Wheels:

10” Minilite Wheels

Tyres:

These were believed to be Dunlop, going by the sponsorship stickers on the front wing. This is yet to be confirmed as the use of some Michelins has also been mentioned.

Lights:

Rear Lights are Simca 1000 (used on other Simca models of the period). Headlights, Mini, front repeaters probably Lucas, spot lights are Marchal ‘Fantastic’.

Running lights are also Marchal. Five were fitted, two to each door, and one on the racing number on the right rear quarter. These were fitted due to the ACO’s worry regarding the closing speeds of the GT40’s. Unfortunately these are extremely difficult to find and very expensive as they were originally fitted to Bentley and Rolls Royce. Number plate light, Lucas.

Other Information:

A single wiper was used on the left hand side of the screen. The right hand wheel box opening had a right angled tube protruding from it and as yet it is unknown what this was for.

The bonnet is secured by retaining straps and bonnet locks.

The bonnet has two raised projections for the dash pots on the 1 1/2” SU’s something which later became standard on the Mini Marcos.

Headlamp covers were fitted for daylight running but removed for the night time.

The car will be fitted with modern safety features in line with historic racing guidelines. More on this as it becomes available.

Marcos Factory

Appendix

Bibliography

‘An Insiders Perspective‘ - the Mini Marcos Owners Club - Bill Dulles

The mini was transported to Marcos cars in Pembroke, South Wales in December 2014 to begin the build process.

TO BE CONTINUED... More info to come...