1966 Janspeed Unipower GT

[Pete]

Well due to Rich's continuous grooming of all things GRP I seem to have been brainwashed into buying this...





OK, not quite as simple as that, I'll come back and give the lowdown later....

[rich@minispares.com]

BOOM!


and with that teaser pete elevates himself to a god like creature that me and jeron will worship!!

[AndyB72]

WOW SH1T THE BED!!!
Come on Pete, more info!

[Pete]

Well to cut a long story short (that's a big ask) I'd seen this car around years ago and just thought ..there's a much modified Unipower that looks like it's been on steroids. So I thought all those years ago.
Oh contraire... it's wider bodywork is typical of only a handful of Mk1 Unipower GT's produced to go racing (there's one or two others still in existence to my knowledge and they're left hookers). I don't think it's modified as such , I suspect it's actually got completely different race car mouldings from Specialised Mouldings (discussion here : http://forums.autosport.com/topic/11345 ... try3793680 ) who made all the standard Unipower GT bodies we're familiar with along with bodies for Lotus F1, Ferrari, Chevron, Brabham etc etc. The Brabham connection is also present in that their spaceframe makers Arch Motors did the frames for Unipower. There's another Brabham connection or two but more of that later...



I came across this Autosport ad a few years ago ( I need to check this but I think late '68) :




It was only then I made the connection to this car which had been referred to as ex Janspeed. In fact it had been for sale a while in Belgium but with a very misleading description which hinted very strongly at the car having been entered for Le Mans in 1969, which I soon found out was untrue (though the seller was reluctant to concede this point understandably as he had been told this by two previous owners). The two '69 Le Mans cars looked to be standard Mk2 bodies with different rear arch extensions so I ruled this out initially.

I then remembered seeing the Janspeed car in an old copy Cars and Car Conversions which a mate duly lent me which when compared to other photos I'd uncovered of it racing in the late 60's all came together to reveal it was indeed the Janspeed car that Jan Odor bought in the Spring of 1967.

Janspeed bought the car (built December 1966, chassis number 9) to prepare for their works driver Geoff Mabbs to race in 1967 which he did at several circuits including Brands, Combe etc and they also took it to the very first Spanish F1 Grand Prix held at the brand new Jarama circuit (Whizzo remembers going down with Mabbs and the car). He did very well in that race finishing 6th ( http://www.racingsportscars.com/results ... -6153.html). This being the first example of a racing Unipower GT.

Castle Combe 1967 :





As you can see Janspeed did experiment with an air dam on the front to try and curb front end wander at high speed (the Le Mans car was reputedly clocked at 140mph down the Mulsanne Straight ! ) (though I have my doubts as it didn't qualify) which is pretty early doors for aero tuning development, I have scarcely seen earlier examples on any sports cars of the use of a full width front air dam (taken up by many sports car manufacturers soon after and now commonly built into most modern car designs). I doubt any primitive static air flow testing would have been around in 1966, more of a case of taking it on track to prove the theory.
The tiny sign writing on the side are Owners : Janspeed (top), Driver (steering wheel emblem) G.Mabbs below it then at the bottom it had a spanner emblem with the name of the Janspeed mechanic that looked after the car (unreadable to me and I still need to research who's that name is if anyone can help ). The car was Tartan Red as far as I know at this time as per the JAN 4 Mini. I'm in touch with Jan Odor currently to pin these details down.

Right I'm having a break for a brew !

More soon...

[rich@minispares.com]

pete


you might be interested in a valuable (and free) service I offer.

im willing to drive round to your house and boot those hideous wing mirrors clean off the doors for you

they make it look like a deflated space hopper

[Pete]

How absolutely very dare you Rich, but yes you're welcome to come and banjo them off.

[Nevsmini]

Very nice, congrats! Are you going to race her or have a bad ass road car.

[rich@minispares.com]

How absolutely very dare you Rich, but yes you're welcome to come and banjo them off.

im on my way!

[Pete]

Right, so where were we...by the way I stand to be corrected on anything at this time as I'm absolutely bound to have some of this wrong, I have much more to research.

Early in the build I have seen mentioned in period press the possibility of the car being fitted with a Ford lump but actually it ran a 1275 S motor on a Weber, discs all round (as per the other Competition Unipowers) and something that differed from standard production Unipower Gts it had a conventional Mini gear change pattern, std cars being the reverse pattern. gear change mechanism was the same however with the stubby lever on the driver's side sill (you do run the constant risk of gear lever buggery every time you shoe heorn yourself into it ). The car doesn't have a handbrake and looking at other photos I have of it which I'll post up later I suspect it never did as it's parked up in the paddock with stones under the rear tyre to stop it rolling off. It was also reported in the press at the time that Mabbs took round a half brick in the car to wedge under the rear wheel!

I've spoken to the car's next owner Brian Harvey who said when he had it that it had no handbrake. Harvey was the ad manager for Cars and Car Conversions who whilst round at Janspeed writing an article for the magazine saw the car parked in the corner of the garage. After a chat with Jan a deal was done for C&CC to buy the car for Harvey to run in 1968 with their sponsorship and also Grand Prix Models , Harvey's model making company (still in existence).

Harvey with the car in 1968 :



Brands (sprint) 1968 :

[Pete]

Very nice, congrats! Are you going to race her or have a bad ass road car.

Thanks Nev, to be honest I wouldn't feel too safe in it on the road it's knee high to a gnats knacker. So speed events it is to start with.

[coop12g295]

Its cars like this that make this forum congrats Pete
1 very envious Ian

[mk1coopers]

That's fantastic Pete, I look forward to having a good look round it at Blyton

[BRI MK1]

You lucky bas!!!d

[Pandora]

ooft! I'm prepared to suffer the bad back Pete, that's ACE! Chiropractor on speed dial for the 5th of May.

Rich has lost a bit of weight though, hasn't he?



Al

[JC T ONE]

Well due to Rich's continuous grooming of all things GRP I seem to have been brainwashed into buying this...

Hi Pete, good to see Rich has some positive influence on/in your life

Thats one interesting car (but I guess you could see that one coming from me)

will you keep her like this ? or revert her to JanSpeed race spec & looks ?


Jens Christian

[JC T ONE]

below it then at the bottom it had a spanner emblem with the name of the Janspeed mechanic that looked after the car (unreadable to me and I still need to research who's that name is if anyone can help ).


More soon...

Soon is already here = Leo Mtra seems he was of Spanish orign.

Jens Christian

[Pete]

You lucky bas!!!d

Skint more like !

Right so here's a shot of the car at Snetterton in late 1968, the last shot I've got of it with it's original JA Pearce wheels :



It was either sold to Piers Weld - Forrester shortly before or shortly after this photo was taken, so I'm not sure on the driver (told you I had loads to find out !). Either way I'm not sure Forrester raced it though I've a shot of him at Snetterton in a very similar car in '68 (though definitely not the same car ). Brian Harvey remembers selling the car to Forrester who became the new owner of the new stand alone company producing the cars, UWF - Unger Weld Forrester (Lotus supremo Unger was half of the original duo responsible for the Unipower GT's birth, the other being Val Dare Bryan).

Little Unipower synopsis here : http://www.unipower-gt.com/ENG/history/history.html

The Competition cars : http://www.unipower-gt.com/ENG/sportive ... story.html

My car didn't stay with Forrester long (still an empty page in the story) because it was then sold to Graham Goodman of Auto Speed Developments who entered the car for drivers such as Gideon Lloyd. Whilst in his possession it was still Tartan Red with black headlamp cowlings but was then fitted with huge Brabham rear wheels as can be seen in the for sale ad posted on page 1.
Now when I first looked closely at the car I did spot that the rear wheel arches had been 'reprofiled' for some reason and also that the rear body didn't fit as snugly to the front as it should (and would have originally). I did wonder why this was the case , suspecting maybe that it had been shunted or scraped but looking at another shot I have of it in Goodman's hands at Snetterton again in late '68 you can clearly see that the rear arches had been reprofiled already, to accommodate the new huge rear wheels. This would also account for the moving back slightly (about 6mm) of the rear body to centre the wheels within the arch and that's exactly how the car still is 44 years later. It now ran in the 1150cc Sports Prototype class limit in this period.

After this point the story does get a little sketchy and I've much more to discover but I know the car went through Church Green's Paul Weldon, then a Scottish owner who I've had a very good chat with about the car and is very pleased it's back in Blighty. He confirmed that it had it's aluminium, box section front air dam and side scoops still on it when he bought it in the late 70's. He didn't use it but did fit the lightweight revolution wheels it still has on, then sold it to dealer / racer Chris Alford. The car then ended up being sold to French racer Roland Petit who I think restored the car and raced it at several Spa 6 Hours etc in the late 90's and early 2000's amongst other races. He repainted the car yellow.
Fast forward to late 2000's and it was sold to a Belgian collector who just parked it up until selling it to a dealer in Brussels where I came across it a year or so ago. Phew..time for another breather ! I'll post up some more pictures soon. The engine is already out for a strip down and the suspension getting sorted (usual wear and tear).

[Pete]

Well due to Rich's continuous grooming of all things GRP I seem to have been brainwashed into buying this...

Hi Pete, good to see Rich has some positive influence on/in your life

Thats one interesting car (but I guess you could see that one coming from me)

will you keep her like this ? or revert her to JanSpeed race spec & looks ?


Jens Christian

Trust me Jens that was a joke, and no I will not be buying a colour coded tarp. !

Yes it will be going back to red with aero bits back on, Viva lights will go back on, much more period spec engine etc. Not sure on wheels because I think 10" JAPs will look a little lost though I will get a set. May keep the Revos for now as they've been on such a long time anyway.

[AndyB72]

Amazing car and history Pete and I'm with you on the wheels.

[Pete]

Leo Mtra seems he was of Spanish orign.

I'll look into that, thanks Jens.