Welcome to a new series about cars that are decorated with success and are probably not at the forefront of people’s thoughts.

Obscure racing cars. Formula One is on its way to being as popular as its ever been, Endurance racing is going through a renaissance and well, you get the picture. Everyone loves racing now.

Speaking of endurance racing and obscurity, this article is all about a very special and obscure British car. A car based on the most quintessentially British platform. A car which was the only British car to finish the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966. The Marcos Mini GT.

Entering production in 1965, The Marcos Mini GT has a very illustrious background. On one end, Britain was in the centre of being a trendy nation as it was a fashion hotspot thanks to popular culture and popular music. The effect this had for the Mini was a positive one, many artists such as the Beatles owned a few and that helped the Mini fly off of the shelves as it was an attractive asset for the ordinary person to purchase.

On the other hand Marcos also has a very interesting origin tale. The company was founded in 1959 by Jeremy Marsch and Frank Costin. The name of the company is a combination of the first three letters of the founders’ surnames. Pretty creative and especially catchy. Both of them we’re pretty much geniuses, Jem was more of a racing driver and engineer. Frank was a master in chassis design and an aerodynamicist. Both their skills and the brilliance of the Mini eventually spurred the creation of the Mini Marcos.

What makes this car such a special little spicy gem? For starters the chassis is a fibreglass monocoque shell. The initial idea was to sell the chassis to customers so they could bolt on donor bits like the engine, suspension and gearbox to the shell. Interestingly the GT’s design was made to accommodate the Mini van as it incorporates the same wheelbase and the same fuel tank. They made 150 Mk1 GTs.

So the Mini Marcos GT was special for the reasons I mentioned earlier like completing Le Mans and being based on a British icon, however it actually won the very first race it participated in at Castle Combe in 1965. Unfortunately for them, it was quite the palaver to make a British entry Le Mans as they were not welcomed with open arms. No matter, with perseverance they were able to make a French entry with the assistance of William Dulles Motor Accessories. This meant that Jem could distribute the GT to other European nations and it did work as they made a few sales. In order for eligibility to compete in Le Mans, the Mini Marcos GT had to be road legal in France. Here’s one of my favourite parts about this story: the easiest way to achieve this objective would be to find a French registered Mini van and use its registration details as a basis for the racing car. Job done, they were able to obtain the Marcos shell, marry the necessary parts together and away they went to Le Mans.

The car was driven by Jean-Louis Marnat and Claude Ballot-Léna. The car pounded round the circuit and was driven in anger for 24 hours. It ended up finishing 5th in its 1.3 litre prototype class and an impressive 15th place overall. And bear in mind, the supplier of the engines were reluctant to be publicly associated with the team in case the gearbox failed during the race. Though I can’t fault the suppliers for being reluctant to be associated to a British manufacturer because in those days, British cars had a reputation for being about as reliable as an alcoholic parent.

It’s very easy to overlook the contribution Marcos made to motorsport, sure the company is long gone these days, and unfortunately so are the founders. However they were brilliant men, with brilliant minds making brilliant cars. Even though the company hasn’t turned out how it was supposed to, the plucky underdogs managed to make a very important and successful mark on history and it’s up to folks like me to let everyone know about it. What a magnificent machine the Mini Marcos was, is and forever will be.

With thanks to Jon Branch who wrote a great article about this fantastic little car : https://silodrome.com/mini-marcos-history/