Maximum Mini: What it's like to drive Le Mans Classic in a Mini Marcos

Friday 7 July 2023

What it's like to drive Le Mans Classic in a Mini Marcos

I asked Nicolas Joffre, the owner of the Mini Marcos that made it to the Le mans Classic of last weekend, what it was like to drive the car in world's most famous race. And Nicolas was kind enough to do a lovely write-up about his experiences. This is the event in his words:

"Les Hunaudières in a Mini Marcos!"

"The project to take part in the Le Mans Classic was born just over three years ago. In fact, it began with the first edition of Le Mans Classic in 2002, but the real opportunity came three years ago... the day we were offered a Mini Marcos! We quickly decided to prepare this car for Le Mans Classic, to FIA standards. It wasn't easy, because no Mini Marcos had ever obtained an FIA PTH (historic technical passport) because of its fibre chassis. The other Mini Marcoses which drove at the Le Mans Classic previously all had 'PTH passports in progress', which are just for four months but no longer."

"Thanks to the team at Matter (a French rollover bar specialist), we were able to get the first FIA rollover bar approved for a Mini Marcos also. The cage is fitted to the front and rear subframes and we were able to do a lot of work on the body to save as much weight as possible. Despite the cage and modern safety features, the car weighs just 560kg! As far as the engine was concerned, we opted for a fairly straightforward preparation, in the spirit of what had been done at the time, and a gearbox with an end drive that was as long as possible."

"And so we arrived at Le Mans with a brand new car and a freshly built and just run-in engine. The Mini Marcos are competing in grid 4, alongside the legendary Ford GT40s, AC Cobras and Jaguar E-Types. Quite a scary prospect! But from the very first laps we realized that our Marcos was setting a much faster pace than we'd expected, on a par with the Porsche 911 2-litres and the well-prepared MGBs. We were hoping to break the 200 km/h barrier and we did just that on the first lap, with a speed of over 210 km/h. We were also concerned about the stability of the Marcos at high speed... but against all expectations, it handled fantastic! The Marcos does like to slide, however, and a few passes over the red curbs were... acrobatic! The tricky part, however, was the stability under braking, where the rear end tended to want to go in front, but our lack of driving before the event meant that we weren't able to make precise adjustments, which was definitely to our disadvantage!"

"However the joy was short-lived, because on our third lap, while I was at the wheel, in fourth gear at 6,000 rpm in Les Hunaudières, a noise was heard, followed by a rather brutal lack of power! The diagnosis was quickly discovered by the L3M Racing Team. The piston on the 4th cylinder was partly broken and no longer gave much compression. We couldn't give up, even with a significant loss of power, we wanted to go all the way! And I can promise you there's nothing to regret. The Marcos held out for 2 out of 3 runs, before coming to a final halt at the Arnage bend. But what a joy, my friends!"

"We'll be going home with our heads full of memories and images that will stay with us for the rest of our lives. I remember the moment in particular when the two leading Ford GT40s came up to me on the Hunaudières straight after the second chicane. Night was falling on the Le Mans circuit, and with my eyes glued to the rear-view mirror, I saw these two machines coming down on me in a deafening but spellbinding noise. The two cars brushed against me and the Marcos swerved slightly before the duo disappeared as quickly as they had come. For all endurance enthusiasts, and the 24-hours of Le Mans race in particular, to be in the middle of this legendary battle is just a dream, so thank you, yes, a big thank you to the Mini Marcos!"