Minty - 1964 Aurora Gears Racing /Newtune 1071 Cooper S

[Pete]

Well it’s no secret, well not a very well kept one anyway , that I bought ‘110 NNM’ off James late last year. I thought starting a thread might be interesting and it worked really well last time with the Unipower GT, and serves as a good record of progress on the car and researching the car’s history.

I was originally offered this car back in the early noughties by John Kelly who sent me some pics (which I’ve subsequently lost ) and mentioned that Gerry Marshall had raced it. The photos showed an abandoned restoration project, in (some) paint and in need of finishing off. Either way it wasn’t good timing for me so I turned it down and off it went to James as many know who has owned it ever since.

The car is a 1071 Austin Cooper S in Tartan Red/Black built February 6th 1964 with an extra fuel tank, close ratio box and despatched the day after to H.A Saunders in Finchley. It was then bought by Douglas Wilson Spratt who at his Delta Garage (Austin / BMC dealer) in Leighton Buzzard made his name with his famous WSM racing Sprites of the early 60s and registered 110 NNM on March 23rd 1964. Interestingly Wilson-Spratt also competed in a few rallies and races around this time in red and black Austin Cooper Ss but I can’t see him having much time to do that in 110 NNM as by the 30th of March the car had been repainted in turquoise with a red stripe and entered into its first race by the Aurora Gears Racing team of Sheffield with Anita Taylor at the wheel. So I need to do some digging on why DWS bought the car and what they did with it, if anything!? Why Aurora bought a car from Leighton Buzzard of all places and I’ll explain what Aurora Gears and the Taylors were all about.

The car was raced extensively by Anita Taylor during 1964 at Goodwood, Oulton Park twice, Aintree twice, Brands Hatch twice, Mallory Park, including the British GP (pictured below) then raced in 1965 by 2nd owner Robbie Gordon, David Wansborough and Gerry Marshall and beyond. Lots more to say on how it was found pre restoration , where it’s at now and tons more history to come very soon.

[hanlminiman]

1071 built in Feb 64. Didn't Paddy win the Monte in a 1071 the month before. Was it the "must have Mini spec" and the only one available was at a dealer in Leyton Buzzard.

[Pete]

Yes I’m pretty sure early Cooper Ss were hard to come by Cliff, so many of them went to competitors. There is however a later connection to Delta Garage as the car went back in that direction in 1965. I have spoken to Douglas’s son Tony who says the car isn’t recorded as one of his dads comp cars. Having said that either he or his daughter is certainly 110 NNM’s first owner.

Douglas Wilson-Spratt’s team at Delta Garage with another red/black Austin Cooper S, spot the buzzard on the wing. Same car(?) with a blue roof on the RAC in November ‘63 with the registration number he carried on all his comp cars. Delta Garage Austin brochure..

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[Pete]

WSM Sprite outside their accessory shop at Delta Garage...

[spoon.450]

Looks a very interesting project Pete.....looking forward to more pics, past and present.

[Pete]

Here’s the car as found, I’ve located the guy who had it in this state back in the 80s/90s and due to speak to him this week. Pretty sure Mark and Rich saw it like this also. It’s still Tartan Red inside here and always was despite several colour changes externally. It’s still got it’s original doors on it which very luckily were not used in the restoration, which proved to be crucial and more about that later!

You can see a few holes in the back panel here , some of which when I spotted them made me think : long range tank! They’re positioned roughly where I’ve seen the straps located for that type of tank before, like on Karsten’s Downton car. That would make sense because the car did the Snetterton 500 endurance race with David Wansborough and Gerry Marshall in 1965. I suspect it may have been fitted when the Taylors had it though because the sister Aurora Gears car (or brother car!) that Trevor Taylor raced looked like it had one fitted for the Brands Hatch 6 Hrs in 1964, and both cars I think were the same spec. More digging to do on that. The two holes on either side below the rear screen were for the vent pipes that originally ran up either the side of the screen on P clips.

[Pete]

You can see the fuel vent pipes in these pics of both Aurora Minis, I’m still waiting for better images and hopefully they’ll arrive soon. This is Oulton Park Gold Cup 1964..

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[Pete]

Vent holes covered over with a small welded plate and filled. I’ve now reinstated all the holes to put the vent pipes back..

[Pete]

This photo shows the shell when John Kelly had blasted it for the first owner in the early noughties after it had been laid up...you can see where all the holes had been filled. Though blasting it was totally necessary it did of course remove all the layers of history which very fortunately were saved on the doors as they remained completely untouched and gave up some really useful information only recently after 57 years!

[mk1coopers]

What a great car to have, always liked it

[timell]

Cracking car...with so much documented records and history! Nice to see!

[Pete]

Thanks chaps. Quite abit of history missing though which I’m hoping to find, especially the late 60s and 70s.

So here’s a another long range tank (thanks Karsten) to compare the holes for the brackets and a slimmed down version in GRX 309D. I’m looking for one of these or will get a remanfactured one which I’ve been kindly offered.

[Pete]

The slim version in 309D. The reason they were made like this with the tank extension so high up was of course to be able to access the spare wheel which was a mandatory regulation. Happy to be corrected as ever with any of this as we go along!

[mk1]

Rich did know about this car & I believe he did go & see it. He told me about it, but I never bothered as it sounded too much like hard work.

I reckon it has found it's perfect owner with Pete who will take the time & effort to get it just right. I recently saw it in the flesh & it is coming on splendidly.

Won't say anymore as I'll leave it to Pete.

Looking forward to the next installment.

[Pete]

I’ll get onto the car as it is soon but just to go back to the start and explain the Aurora Gears story. Delta Garage sold the car to the Aurora Gears Racing team in March 1964. I’m not sure whether it was standard spec at this point but assume so, though they could have sent it to Downton or a Downton racing engine was sourced and the car prepared up in Yorkshire but back in 2016 when I wrote the article with Anita Taylor I did speak to her brother David who was a lovely chap and who’s recall about those times was excellent. He did say that both Aurora Minis were Downton tuned. He is sadly no longer with us but here is that article and this explains the involvement that the Aurora Gears factory had with the Taylor family in the early 60s and their racing cars. Not sure where Trevor Taylor’s Brabham is but his beautiful Aurora BMC sports racer is owned by a mate of mine, more on that soon.

[Pete]

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[Pete]

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[Pete]

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[Pete]

Page 5 , so that’s a potted history of Anita and Aurora Gears though pretty condensed of course.

[Pete]

Here’s the two team cars pictured at Oulton Park in 1964, their 2nd visit there that year. Trevor’s car in front, 110 NNM behind. (Sorry about the small image , in a rush, More later!)