The saga of fitting the doors on the Le Mans Mini Marcos.
Reader's words: "From worrying about fitment, to quite possibly the best closing Marcos doors I've come across"
Easter races at Zandvoort - the Mini derivatives
Showing posts with label Nieuwenhuis Special. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nieuwenhuis Special. Show all posts
Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Thursday, 19 January 2023
New pictures of Nieuwenhuis Special
Four new pictures of the Nieuwenhuis Special turn up thanks to reader Michael van der Meij. Once again they were taken at the Trophy of the Dunes race at Zandvoort in 1968. When I first heard of the car a long time ago I was eager to find out more, which took several years. Eventually I found out it was built by Henk Nieuwenhuis of Geldrop in The Netherlands, who'd emigrated to the isle of Crete. I interviewed him back in 2013, when he told me he built the car in 1967 in the attic of his parental house.
He said: “You could either watch other people race, or build something yourself on a shoestring. I decided to do the latter and started making some drawings. It was all pretty simple, I just wanted to race. Since I had some Mini engines lying around, one of them a Cooper, I simply had to use that. I was a graphical designer by trade and so wanted it to look nice, too. At first it was a roadster, later I closed the body with gullwing doors."
Unfortunately the gull winged racer does not survive since Nieuwenhuis re-used most parts to built up other cars and ultimately binned the car's chassis frame, or so he told me. I have still never seen any picture of it in its initial roadster form, as Nieuwenhuis didn't have these either.
More pictures of the car - also in colour here.
Zandvoort 1968 - That's Henk Nieuwenhuis with his home-built Special
Picture through Michael van der Meij
Lightweight and rear engined it must have been easy to oversteer, as demonstrated here!
Picture through Michael van der Meij
Mini subframe plus Cooper engine with double SUs and massive end pipe well visible here
Picture through Michael van der Meij
Sneaking passed a Lotus 47 in a sharp corner..? (the Lotus came 2nd overall)
Picture through Michael van der Meij
Thursday, 7 May 2020
Zandvoort 52 years ago - Nieuwenhuis Special
Last weekend, the Dutch Grand Prix was supposed to take place at the Zandvoort circuit but we all know that it is now postponed. To ease the pain (to some - I am not a Formula 1 fan myself), here some pictures of the same track back in 1968 when the Nieuwenhuis Special raced there in the Formula Libre class. More about this fascinating little racer here. The pictures were sent to me by Roald Rakers. Thanks again!
Raced at Zandvoort in the Formula Libre class in 1968 - Henk's Nieuwenhuis Mini based Special
Picture K Vingerhoets / Paul Rutten
And in colour, too. Note filler cap on roof and long filler neck. Large exhaust at the back
Picture source unknown
Seen here behind another Dutch racing Special - the Havas, which was Ford / Lotus powered
Picture Henk A. Hazelaar
Thursday, 24 January 2019
Nieuwenhuis - the Dutch racing Special
Regular supplier of images Roald Rakers came up with a grand full colour shot of the Nieuwenhuis Special, taken prior to the Trophy of the Dunes races at Zandvoort in 1968. As a Dutchman this particular car haunted me for ages (click here) and eventually I found out it was built by Henk Nieuwenhuis of Geldrop in The Netherlands, who moved to the isle of Crete later on. I interviewed him back in 2013, when he told me he built the car in 1967 in the attic of his parental house. He said: “You could either watch other people race, or build something yourself on a shoestring. I decided to do the latter and started making some drawings. It was all pretty simple, I just wanted to race. Since I had some Mini engines lying around, one of them a Cooper, I simply had to use that. I was a graphical designer by trade and so wanted it to look nice, too. At first it was a roadster, later I closed the body with gullwing doors."
Unfortunately the car does not survive since Nieuwenhuis re-used most parts to built up other cars and ultimately binned the car's chassis frame, or so he told me. But perhaps somebody has more photographs of it? I have never seen any of it in roadster form, as Nieuwenhuis didn't have these either. He did send me a few, though, of it with its gullwing doors, some of which I have added below. Roald ads: "On one of the pictures you can also see the Fiat 600D of N.P. van Leersum and the Renault Dauphine Gordini of Paul Huis-in-'t-Veld. But to who belongs the yellow Mini? Rob Petersen?" I have no idea about that, but feel free to add more information, dear reader.
Unfortunately the car does not survive since Nieuwenhuis re-used most parts to built up other cars and ultimately binned the car's chassis frame, or so he told me. But perhaps somebody has more photographs of it? I have never seen any of it in roadster form, as Nieuwenhuis didn't have these either. He did send me a few, though, of it with its gullwing doors, some of which I have added below. Roald ads: "On one of the pictures you can also see the Fiat 600D of N.P. van Leersum and the Renault Dauphine Gordini of Paul Huis-in-'t-Veld. But to who belongs the yellow Mini? Rob Petersen?" I have no idea about that, but feel free to add more information, dear reader.
Nieuwenhuis Special was gullwinged Dutch racer, which came out in the Formula Libre class
Picture Jeroen Booij archive
Henk Nieuwenhuis seen here next to it at Zandvoort in 1968. Unfortunately the car does not survive
Picture Jeroen Booij archive
This photograph was new to me, thanks to Roald Rakers! GTA and DAF behind
Picture Henk van Zalinge archive via Carel Baller
Different colour here, or so it seems, probably after this crash (click here)
Roald also wonders whom the yellow Mini could have belonged to
Picture Henk van Zalinge archive via Carel Baller
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Mystery Mini derivative (21)
Now here's one Mini derivative that has been haunting me for a long time. Not in the last place because it is Dutch, like myself. I first learned about it when reading Jan Lammerse's excellent book 'Autodesign in Nederland' about Dutch cars and full of obscure stuff. According to Lammerse this one was built by one 'H.E. Nieuwenhuis' and raced at Zandvoort in 1968. I found out the 'H' stood for Henk Nieuwenhuis who raced the boxy Mini based special at only two ocasions: in April and in August of 1968. I also found that, after his special, Henk Nieuwenhuis raced a Lotus 23 for a team named 'Van der Herberg Racing'. The Mini engine of his special is said to have been a 1293cc and placed at the rear. In Lammerse's book there only one sketchy picture of the car in a dark colour.
Imagine my surprise when flicking through old magazines last weekend only to find a picture with the Nieuwenhuis Special in the background. The car now came in a much lighter shade and despite the picture being not very clear, its gullwing door can clearly be seen. It was involved in an accident at the start of a race - and yes, this was the April race I found out about earlier. Race number 13 fitted the bill, too, so it can only be one and the same car, I would say. On the same picture a Mini Marcos that was involved in the accident, too, can also be seen. In fact this is the ART (Algemeen Racing Team) car (this one) that I photographed recently (now in blue, see here). With the Mini Marcos tracked down, the Nieuwenhuis Special is the next one to go now. Who knows if it survived? Dutchmen, come in!
Henk Nieuwenhuis' Mini based special at the Zandvoort track in 1968
Picture courtesy Jan Lammerse - Autodesign in Nederland
Imagine my surprise when flicking through old magazines last weekend only to find a picture with the Nieuwenhuis Special in the background. The car now came in a much lighter shade and despite the picture being not very clear, its gullwing door can clearly be seen. It was involved in an accident at the start of a race - and yes, this was the April race I found out about earlier. Race number 13 fitted the bill, too, so it can only be one and the same car, I would say. On the same picture a Mini Marcos that was involved in the accident, too, can also be seen. In fact this is the ART (Algemeen Racing Team) car (this one) that I photographed recently (now in blue, see here). With the Mini Marcos tracked down, the Nieuwenhuis Special is the next one to go now. Who knows if it survived? Dutchmen, come in!
It was involvoled in a crash in April 1968. Note gullwing door and ART Mini Marcos!
Picture courtesy Autovisie magazine
UPDATE 24 January 2019: Henk Nieuwenhuis tracked down on the isle of Crete and interviewed for Maximum Mini 3. More images of the car can now be seen here.
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