Mini Marcos at Le Mans

Six years on from Marcos Cars’ formation by Jem Marsh and Frank Costin, they launched in 1965 a new kit allowing a BMC Mini to be transformed into a characterful little sports coupe – the Mini Marcos 850 GT.  The kit was offered in three levels of specification/preassembly.  Although the first advertisements spoke of a ‘from’ price of £199 - £4,500 in 2022 terms – further details supplied shortly after, indicated £230 for level 1, £260 for level 2 and £380 for level 3.  These levels can be summarised: 

1          Body/chassis supplied in clear gel coat together with the following unfitted items: front and rear screens, quarterlights, door glasses; bonnet; doors; dashboard; rubber/chrome filler strip; alloy rain channels. 

2          As level 1, but with all of the kit components fitted and including new hinges, locks, door plates and door seals. 

3          As level 2, but with body prepared and painted in a choice from six available colours.  The interior trimmed with carpet, headlining and door cards, and fitted dashboard and bucket seats.  A sound-proofing kit was also included. 

Further enhancements could be specified, including: headlamp shrouds; remote gear selector mechanism; roll-over bar; seat belts. 

With ongoing development, two levels of quality became available – and an increase to seven in the number of colours offered – the ‘De-Luxe’ version featuring better trim and twin carburettors.  On this latter point, it is notable that the Mini Marcos in standard form was a reasonable performer thanks to the completed car’s lighter – by 25% - weight in comparison with that of a regular Mini.  Nevertheless, Marcos offered engine tuning kits for the 850 cc A Series engine priced at £22 for Stage 1 and £55 for Stage 2;  for the 997 cc Cooper engine, the prices were £30 for Stage 1 and £65 for Stage 2. 

The car’s wheelbase was 164 cm, with an overall length of 347 cm.  Comparative dimensions for the Abarth 750 GT Zagato were: wheelbase, 200 cm; length, 348 cm.  The Abarth’s weight is usually quoted as an average 550 kg against the MM’s 480 kg.  While the Abarth in basic form had more horsepower – 44, performance on the road was similar to the MM’s with the 34 bhp (850 standard engine) ‘helped’ by the lighter weight.  It would be interesting today to test both cars back to back, with much focus likely to be on how the cars ‘feel’ to drive, rather than the bald metrics, given that the Abarth has rear engine/drive, whilst the MM is front engine/drive.  By the end of the Sixties, some MMs were running with 1275 cc A Series engines, and with the 70 plus bhp generated, these were capable of a 0-60 mph time of 8.2 secs. 

The model, and an individual car (wearing race number 50), achieved near instant fame for being the only English car to run the distance in the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours.  It had been built on a Mini Cooper S, utilising a Group 2 race homologated 90 bhp engine to similar specification as of the Minis run by the works team in the Monte Carlo Rally.  It was entered by Jean-Louis Marnat & Cie in the Prototype1.3 class, and was driven by Marnet and Claude Ballot-Lena.  They completed 258 laps and though the final finisher, the durability of such a small-engined and only recently launched car attracted a good measure of acclaim.

1966 was a notable year for the event since it marked the beginning of Ford’s run of 4 successive victories with the GT40.  It was commonly said that the model name derived from the car’s height – 40 inches (1029 mm) – which was very low for the times.  Yet look in the photograph below how the sleek Ford dwarfs the little MM (991 mm):

Courtesy Motorsport Images

After the Le Mans outing, the car was used intermittently in competition, taking in track events, hill-climbing and rallying.  However, in 1975 it was stolen and remained ‘lost’ until 2016.  As rediscovered, it was not so much a ‘car’ as just a shell, all running gear having been stripped out.

This post is from the blog, 'Maximum Mini'  This will be of great interest to anyone with a liking for Minis, but the level of detail regarding the Le Mans Mini Marcos  is unsurpassed. I am very appreciative of all the work undertaken by Jeroen Booij  in his research, photography and writing about the Mini Marcos.

Trading as Marcos Racing Ltd, the factory entered the French classic race again the following year.  Jem Marsh, was partnered by Chris Lawrence, a widely experienced driver/engineer, who had proven his ability on the Le Sarthe event with a class win for Morgan in 1962.  The car qualified at the April trials 31^st of 33, but, surprisingly, only 2 seconds slower than the works Bizzarrini GT Strada 5300, helped to some extent by good straight line speed, (over 140 mph having been seen on the Mulsanne Straight).

In pre-race scrutineering, the car’s windscreen was deemed to be overly raked and thus too low relative to the ground.  The team mechanics managed to resolve this overnight by the simple expedient of remounting the screen with the top propped forward and re-secured with pop-rivetted strips which form a revised aperture.  They surely deserved a good result as reward for their cheek and pragmatic ingenuity, but were instead paid back with a bearing break up-induced oil pump failure and retirement after the completion of only 13 laps.

Reconfigured windscreen aperture 

Both photographs courtesy MiniMarcos.co.uk

Marsh ran the car again later in the season co-driving with Brian Raubenheimer in the 9 Hours of Kyalami.  It lasted the distance and finished 3^rd in class (Sport2000, Group 6).

MMs were regularly seen in British club, and a few International, events in the intervening years prior to the collapse of Jem Marsh’s company in 1971.  By then development had reached a Mk.3 version, which was successful, but in attempting to upscale the business and meet the demand, the company became financially unviable.  Subsequently, it was revived by Rob Walker, one of the last of the gentleman Formula 1 entrants.  Further information about the Mini Marcos after Marsh’s time can be found here.