Works car found

[spoon.450]

That is the image. Thank you Robert.

[Pete]

Dave please call me, I have some great news for you and some fab photos from the Flowers!!

[Pete]

Paul's car at scrutineering for the Flowers Rally, Paddy Hopkirk and Stuart Turner pay close attention...





Trouble afoot at the service halt? The car did suffer water loss/overheating by all accounts..



Slow train home..no damage visible from this angle...



I've sent some more of these to you Paul.

[rich@minispares.com]

Trouble afoot at the service halt? The car did suffer water loss/overheating by all accounts..

looks like it suffered with headlampring-falleyofyitis as well..............

[mk1]

Another great find Pete!

[mab01uk]

Nice photos!

[spoon.450]

Great images Pete, thanks for your research.
The under bonnet shot clearly shows the vertical bolt in support that is still intact on Pauls car (see pic below) along with other details such as the spacing of the twin washers and the way the front panel is bent down to accept the oil cooler on the left hand side. It will be easier to compare more details when we get the higher resolution images (total of 8 new images).
More to come later. Dave.

[Pete]

Paul's car at scrutineering for the Flowers Rally, Paddy Hopkirk and Stuart Turner pay close attention...

Thinking on...I'm not surprised that Hopkirk and Turner are paying close attention at scrutineering as this was just after they'd been disqualified from the Monte!

[spoon.450]

015-K500.jpg

With the car in the background owner Paul Bates ( far left ) discusses GRX 309D's history with ex Comps. Dept. mechanic and builder of the car Brian Moylan while GRX 309D Historian ( and possible future driver ) Martin Price discusses the cars future with ex Comps. Dept. manager Bill Price at Castle Combe Rallyday on Saturday.

[spoon.450]

More from Rallyday. With the incorrect arches removed, more suitable wheels fitted, the suspension raised and the original registration number in place the car looks a bit more like it did in 66. Top photo Bill Price examines the photos from the Flowers rally recently discovered by Pete Flannagan. Thanks to Brian Davage for his organisation and making us welcome.

[mk1]

That looks like a brilliant collection & it's great to see GRX their as an equal.

I have loved watching the in's & out's of this tale & look forward to following it in the future.

[Pete]

Looks like you got some good info from Bill Price and Brian Moylan Dave. Bill told me that the reason that Paul's car was on the train was that they often came home from the south of France on the overnight Car Sleeper train from Nice, Avignon or Frejus.

Had a long chat with Mike Wood at weekend about all the cars that came from Abingdon via Tillotsons, quite a few rally cars including 8 EMO, ORX 707F etc. All those cars were complete rally cars like Ronnie's so this theory that your car was a discarded shell looks less and less likely, more likely as you say was a complete car with a replacement engine which is exactly how Mike got ORX 707F and all the others. When he recieved it ORX (for £160) Timo had dinged the back end practicing for a rally (can't remember which now, Flowers I think) and it came complete with all trim, full dash, all the lamps etc. Mike just asked them if they could just put a standard 1275 S lump in it before they delivered it. He tootled about in it and stuck a tow bar on the back to tow his motorbike trailer (he did a bit of racing).
I'm glad you broke the silence with this car, no matter how unpopular that's made you with some (I'm still baffled as to why?). At the end of the day we all know there were at least four cars that wore this reg number, nobody's pretending any different and yours was the original. To be asked to pretend it effectively didn't exist was bizarre. "Shake the tree at your peril" my arse, it's not everyday that an ex Abingdon competition Mini turns up with a transparent history, usually the complete opposite!

Some more pics....

Paddy, Stuart and a brand new car...I bet it looked great!



...the bonnet looks 'up' on this shot, is it taped in the O/S front corner?



Still looks high here...overheating already?



The lamps were bright enough, but didn't help when it came to getting air through the grill...

[spoon.450]

Thanks for posting the pics. Pete, and your continued support. I am currently dealing with Laura at LAT Archives, as you sugested, hopefully more images will turn up soon.

Dave.

[mk1]

The motto of many "Works Mini Enthusiasts & Owners" should be;

"You have nothing to fear but the truth"

I have loved watching the in's & out's of this superb story & never cease to be amazed how certain elements would far rather this car & it's brilliant story had staid hidden away. Thank you so much for sharing your continuing research with us. INCREDIBLE!

[Pete]

Shame we haven't yet found a front end shot of the car after the rally, it's obscured here...



... fair to say it had a tough time in that road conditions were rough, pretty wet and that a stone had hit and damaged the fan and radiator which caused water loss and overheating , oil got into the manifold leading to a misfire and they got a puncture , all explained by Paddy here :




..that didn't stop BMC using the car for publicity after the rally :

[rich@minispares.com]

Shame we haven't yet found a front end shot of the car after the rally, it's obscured here...

mk6 Bentley in front of the mini on the train as well!

[rich@minispares.com]

it's not everyday that an ex Abingdon competition Mini turns up with a transparent history,

aye

its normally more a case of ex-Abingdon competition history turns up with a transparent mini

[Pete]

I know I've suggested this before but what are the chances that this Gp1 car for Timo on the '66 Tulip (only a month or so later) could be GRX 309D ?



The front badge looks wonky like it's been changed from Austin and the washer jets? There are some similarities looking at it. It's a long shot, it's probably the Flowers GRX 5D but we could ask LAT Dave?

Pete

[spoon.450]

I see what you mean Pete, Austin grille also, unclear, blurred image of the washer jets. I will talk to LAT. Small detail but 5D here has black wiper arms as on the flowers, where 309D has chrome ? And what about the internal hydro pipes that we think were not permitted on a Gp 1 car (as 5D is on the Tulip) ? The bonnet S looks too low on both though ! All very interesting !
We have some good images now of Pauls car on the flowers, but we have never seen any of the dashboard. This would obviously cause a problem when Paul eventually starts work on the car. Can anyone help with information on how it would have been back in 66 ?

Thanks
Dave

[LMM76C]

One change from the Monte GRX5D in the Tulip photo is the use of the 4 lamp bar (with only two lamps as per Gp1 regs). They used separate lamp brackets on the Monte Gp1 cars that seem to have bolted to the bumper (same brackets as the lower 2 lamps of 1965 5lamp Gp2/3?). A (left?) front corner got clobbered on the Monte so there would have been some repairs.
I'll dig into Appendix J again to check on lines inside but I know private owners years later were still accepting Gp1 did not allow it. There is an outside possibility that the works had clarified that it WAS allowed for the hydro pipes by the time of the Tulip (the Monte ran on an English draft translation of the new for 66 regs, hence the lights saga) but unlikely. (I'm sure fuel and brake lines were never allowed inside in Gp1 - protection channels had to be used on rough events).
The Monte and Tulip were smooth, so no real need for anything underbody other than a light sumpguard. If 309D kept a battery skid from Flowers to now it's pretty certain it didn't run in Gp1 spec. - weight was everything in Gp1. (So the 4 lamp bar is an unusual choice if the separate two lamp brackets were lighter). It was not normal - unprecedented even - to convert a Gp2 car to Gp1 - but was done the other way round.