Le Mans Mini Marcos found

General Chat with an emphasis on BMC Minis & Other iconic cars of the 1960's.
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Jeroen Booij
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by Jeroen Booij »

Pluto wrote:The picture the engine extract from L'Automobile was taken at The Le Mans Testing Day in April ... then Giraud got his engine back and Jean-Louis Marnat bought the Special Tuning engine (he went to Abingdon with a transletor because he could'nt spoke a single word of english) and it broke at the first da during testing at Montlhéry. Then, the french Importer for Morris Jean-Pierre Richard gave two Cooper S engine to the little team. They were tuned in the workshop (with Downton bits? As Marnat and his mechanic Jean Lemordant, owner of the famous french Rob Walker Mini Sprint used ST and Downton parts...)

Did you know that there was an idea of entering the car in the 24 hours of Daytona in 1968? (with JP. Jabouille (in formula one in 77/81) at the wheel?

I know I have written all that stuff before in two books... but all in french. Perhaps, I should do a booklet in English?
I have both of them and believed I'd read them pretty carefully, but this is new to me never the less. Proves my French could do with some practice.
Thank you again!
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by Pete »

So the ST engine broke, Stuart Turner wasn't far wrong then! :lol: I do recall reading it wasn't built as a full race engine in the first place!
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by UHR850 »

Some pictures I found on the internet :

https://revslib.stanford.edu/?f%5Bcolle ... %5D=Marcos
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by Pandora »

nice photos, and proving, yet again, my theory that door circles should wherever possible be at least as big as the panel they are fixed onto or better still, bigger, and go onto the sill.

That looks great.

Al
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by Red Mist »

Would I be right in thinking, Jeroen, that this car competed at the Phoenix Park Motor Races in Dublin in 1967?
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by LMM76C »

Pete wrote:So the ST engine broke, Stuart Turner wasn't far wrong then! :lol: I do recall reading it wasn't built as a full race engine in the first place!
It was reported at the time to be a works spec rally engine. That is not a definitive spec of course and the cam could therefore have been almost anything (but maybe not a 649 at that time? - 544 was the most extreme rallied by works up to then?).

Diff ratio? Was 3.44 available by then? Nothing numerically lower available then and if a 3.7 on the pre-chicane circuit, small wonder the engine broke...
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by JC T ONE »

Pete wrote:
and he drives on the wrong side of the road! :lol:


Hey hey now ;)
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by JC T ONE »

rich@minispares.com wrote:
red engines are always faster.

everyone knows that!

:lol:
rpb203 wrote:That's what I thought! Red engines always a lot quicker, and especially with a named sun strip on the windscreen.
:) :) :) Yepp ;)
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by JC T ONE »

This is an amazing find 8-)

Congratulations to you, good to see the car ended up in the hands of a true enthusiast.
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by carbon »

LMM76C wrote:
Pete wrote:So the ST engine broke, Stuart Turner wasn't far wrong then! :lol: I do recall reading it wasn't built as a full race engine in the first place!
It was reported at the time to be a works spec rally engine. That is not a definitive spec of course and the cam could therefore have been almost anything (but maybe not a 649 at that time? - 544 was the most extreme rallied by works up to then?).

Diff ratio? Was 3.44 available by then? Nothing numerically lower available then and if a 3.7 on the pre-chicane circuit, small wonder the engine broke...
The Le Mans Mini Marcos was clocked at over 140mph on the Mulsanne straight during this race. If it was running a 3.44 diff the engine would have been spinning at well over 8000rpm so little wonder it broke!
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

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carbon wrote:
LMM76C wrote:
Pete wrote:So the ST engine broke, Stuart Turner wasn't far wrong then! :lol: I do recall reading it wasn't built as a full race engine in the first place!
It was reported at the time to be a works spec rally engine. That is not a definitive spec of course and the cam could therefore have been almost anything (but maybe not a 649 at that time? - 544 was the most extreme rallied by works up to then?).

Diff ratio? Was 3.44 available by then? Nothing numerically lower available then and if a 3.7 on the pre-chicane circuit, small wonder the engine broke...
The Le Mans Mini Marcos was clocked at over 140mph on the Mulsanne straight during this race. If it was running a 3.44 diff the engine would have been spinning at well over 8000rpm so little wonder it broke!

I've heard all sorts of diff ratios. Also 2.49...
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

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Red Mist wrote:Would I be right in thinking, Jeroen, that this car competed at the Phoenix Park Motor Races in Dublin in 1967?
I do not know this, but it would seem highly unlikely to me.
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by Red Mist »

Jeroen Booij wrote:
Red Mist wrote:Would I be right in thinking, Jeroen, that this car competed at the Phoenix Park Motor Races in Dublin in 1967?
I do not know this, but it would seem highly unlikely to me.
An ex-racer over here told me that 2 Marcos came over to race in '67, one of which was the Le Mans car, and that David Dunne (who made the Irish built Marcos) drove one of his customer's cars and beat the other 2 convincingly! The information could be wrong though.

I'll try do some digging through the RIAC programme archives and see what I can find.
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by Pete »

Jeroen Booij wrote: I've heard all sorts of diff ratios. Also 2.49...
Do you mean 2.9 Jeroen?
surfblue63

Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by surfblue63 »

Jeroen

I do not know if you are aware of this website but there are some possible events that your car may have been driven in, including the Monza 1000km in 1966. J-P Jabouille shared the car with J-L Marnat. This race took place between the 1966 Le Mans test and the '66 Le Mans Race. J-P J and J-L M also shared the car at the 1966 Paris 1000km. There is also mention of the entry at the 1968 Daytona, but it states that the car did not arrive.

http://www.racingsportscars.com/suffix/ ... ni/GT.html

http://www.racingsportscars.com/type/ar ... /Mini.html

Stuart
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by KA2S4 »

Engine turned dashpots are going to be the next big thing!

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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by Jeroen Booij »

Red Mist wrote:
Jeroen Booij wrote:
Red Mist wrote:Would I be right in thinking, Jeroen, that this car competed at the Phoenix Park Motor Races in Dublin in 1967?
I do not know this, but it would seem highly unlikely to me.
An ex-racer over here told me that 2 Marcos came over to race in '67, one of which was the Le Mans car, and that David Dunne (who made the Irish built Marcos) drove one of his customer's cars and beat the other 2 convincingly! The information could be wrong though.

I'll try do some digging through the RIAC programme archives and see what I can find.

Neil, this may well have been the work racer that Marcos entered at Le Mans in the next year - 1967. That particular car was campaigned in more British events, so perhaps Ireland, too.
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Jeroen Booij
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by Jeroen Booij »

Pete wrote:
Jeroen Booij wrote: I've heard all sorts of diff ratios. Also 2.49...
Do you mean 2.9 Jeroen?
No, I have heard 2.49, I know it seems odd.
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by Jeroen Booij »

surfblue63 wrote:Jeroen

I do not know if you are aware of this website but there are some possible events that your car may have been driven in, including the Monza 1000km in 1966. J-P Jabouille shared the car with J-L Marnat. This race took place between the 1966 Le Mans test and the '66 Le Mans Race. J-P J and J-L M also shared the car at the 1966 Paris 1000km. There is also mention of the entry at the 1968 Daytona, but it states that the car did not arrive.

http://www.racingsportscars.com/suffix/ ... ni/GT.html

http://www.racingsportscars.com/type/ar ... /Mini.html

Stuart
Yes, that is all correct. It is indeed the same car.
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Re: Le Mans Mini Marcos found

Post by nimbusprint »

Pete wrote:
mk1coopers wrote:Great find Jeroen, some cars are destined to have the right owners, you are certainly the one for this :D
Not really, he'll need a 'Gurney Bubble' and he drives on the wrong side of the road! :lol:

:o :o Jem was about Jeroen's height, although mostly in the leg, I've got a "Gurney" mould I made for my "Sprinted" Nimbus, :o a curved bit on a Nimbus!!! needed it as son Will is 6'3". Roll on Blyton.

Ian
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