970 Cooper S racer 1960s

[MGRracer]

Hi everyone
My father raced a Mini Cooper 970 S in the 1960s. He also raced in the Mini 7 Challenge in the 1970s. His name was Gaylord Parker, but he preferred to be just called Gay. Attached are some photos from the 60s anyone remember him or his car?
Regards

[mk1]

What fantastic pictures!

I am sure there will be members on here who know something about your Dad & his racing exploits. I certainly look forward to learning more.

M

[Pete]

Was your dad ex RAF?

The first photo looks like Mary Taylor’s car (wife of Sid Taylor)

[MGRracer]

Thanks for your reply. Not the RAF, my dad was in the Royal Navy in Korea. As far as I know, he only raced his own 970S in the 60s. The number plate was DUE 977C. Do you think this may be different car?

[Pete]

Actually now I’ve compared the two cars side by side the stripes are actually slightly different! Plus I’m sure Mary told me she wrote it off. My mistake.

[MGRracer]

I am unsure which year this is but is likely to be 1967 or 68? With the faster laps being around 44 seconds, I guess this must be at the shortened Mallory Park oval. Anyone have a scan from a programme?

[Pete]

I’ve often found programme sellers on EBay quite helpful and it’s worth asking them to check any programmes you find that come up for sale on there. Some even scan the programmes for their ads. Alternatively you could spend an afternoon at Pooks in Leicester thumbing through their vast stocks of old race programmes and motoring journals, a visit I thoroughly enjoyed and found very productive when researching my Unipower GT a few years ago. https://www.pooksmotorbookshop.co.uk/
Also worth looking on here :
https://www.progcovers.com/motor/comple ... ammes.html

[MGRracer]

Many thanks Pete
I will check this out.