Mystery Nota racer now named

Nothing beats a bit of old fashioned sleuthing work, and Jon Scott has put his teeth into the mysterious single-seater shown here last week (click). He found out quite a lot more and wrote to me: "The green single seater is called 'The Brickette' and was made by the Hume brothers here in Melbourne. Six or so made. I think the chassis was Nota and the body was by the Hume bros. There where three in the Victoria Mini Club way back, one yellow, one red and one green. I got some old photographs from Bob O'Grady in Melbourne, an old bloke who's deaf, which makes him hard to understand. He is also going blind and has badly fitting falses, nice bloke otherwise. Leave it with me for a bit and I'll get an old man translator to chat with Bob. I'll keep you in the info loop as more comes to light." Thanks Jon!

'The Brickette'is believed to be one of six racers, build by the Hume brothers in Melbourne

Picture Bob O'Grady, via Jon Scott 

Members of the Victoria Mini Club had three of them at one time. There is at least one survivor

Picture Bob O'Grady, via Jon Scott 

This is Bob O'Grady's car at an unknown venue, probably in the late 1960s

Picture Bob O'Grady, via Jon Scott 

Survivor (top) compared to Nota Engineering's Formula Vee chassis. Some similarities

Picture Jon Scott / Nota Engineering

UPDATE 12 December: More Brickette racers unearthed. Click here

Nota Formula Libre racer is shrouded in mystery

Nota enthusiast Jon Scott of Australia contacted me about a Mini based racer. Jon owns two Nota Fangs himself and believes this car to link to Nota's history, too. He wrote: "It's an open wheel hill climb race car built as a prototype in the late 60s by Nota Engineering for what is believed to now be Formula Libra. It's got a Morris Mini 850 in it… thats all I know. I'd love to know more about it."

It's an interesting find. As you may know both Biota as Stimson played with the idea of a Mini based Formula Class at around the same time - see more about that here. But this effort from the other side of the world is new to me. Apart from the Fang, Nota Engineering also made the Nota Mini, but I doubt it links to this racer. Do you know more? Both Jon as myself would love to hear from you.

The supposed 'Formula Mini' by Nota Engineering of Parramatta, Australia

Picture Dave Greaves, via Jon Scott

It's an open wheel single seater with attractively lined fiberglass body. Were there more?

Picture Dave Greaves, via Jon Scott

Full Mini subframe and Morris 850 power in the back. Who knows more about this car?

Picture Dave Greaves, via Jon Scott

UPDATE 15 February: Jon has managed to trace two more pictures of the car, showing a bit more of its chassis and front wheel suspension, see below. He adds: "I have found out from the thread these pics are in it's located in Mornington, Victoria (same state as me). I'll try and see if I can get to see it."

Picture Dave Greaves, via Jon Scott

Picture Dave Greaves, via Jon Scott

UPDATE 20 February: It's got a name! Plus some historic photos unearthed. Click here
UPDATE 12 December: More Brickette racers unearthed. Click here

Guy Buckingham dies at 94

Guy Buckingham made a name in motor sports in Australia, but had begun racing earlier when he lived in the UK. In fact he was a clockmaker in Buckinghamshire who became an engineer for the RAF in WW2. He moved to Australia in 1952 where he decided to do things slightly different and set up his own workshop, soon known as Nota Cars. ‘Nota’ stood for ‘motorcar' pronounced as ‘notacar’ by Buckinghams then-baby son Chris. In Parramatta, just outside Sydney, Guy built various racing and hill climbing specials, mostly one-offs. One of them was rear-powered by a Mini-engine as early as 1962 - more here. By 1968 he'd build another Special, based on a crashed Morris Cooper S. Chris had designed it and it was named Nota Type 4, but was soon called ‘Nota Fang’ to its sharp appearance! Replicas were sold for $1999 and were soon a hit under Australian racing enthusiasts. The Buckinghams sold 64 Fangs before Guy returned to England in the early 1970s. There he introduced the Fang in the UK in 1972, but after the demonstrator was flattened by a Frysian bull, Buckingham Sr. decided to stop his exploits as a motor manufacturer. Chris continues to run Nota Engineering to this very day. Guy was reunited some two years ago with one of the first cars he designed, built and raced back in 1954, which was known as 'Arnold'. It was the first time he had seen the car since the late 50's.

The man who made the Mini based sports car big in Australia: Guy Buckingham

Picture courtesy Charles Best

Buckingham's first Mini based car came about as early as 1962

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

The Nota Fang - or Type 4 - was the car that put Nota on the map

Picture Jeroen Booij archive

More on Nota Mini

Last weekend I received more information about the Nota Mini in the form of a newspaper clipping of January 1964. So now I can tell the car that's raced at Warwick Farm on the pictures of last week's 'Urban Legend' are of a man named Ward Wilson who bought mister Buckingham's prototype. The clipping unveils many of the car's specification: "Australian motor sport enthusiasts have been crying for a cheap and economical sports car to run in this rapidly expanding category and it was left to Nota to turn out the prototype and get things going. (...) The Nota-Mini is a revolutionary car as far as Australia is concerned as it features a rear mounted Morris 850 layout and also it is the only car featuring this type of installation in Australia. (...) The 'Down-Under Deep Sanderson' is revolutionary in many respects and features a rear mounted Morris 850 motor/transmission layout which has been tilted forward on a slight angle, fitted with a Weber twin choke carb. and bored out to 948cc. These modifications gave a 8bhp boost in performance."

"The side-mounted Morris 850 radiator has been discarded and replaced by a cross-flow unit mounted in the nose  and water travels via flexible piping from nose to tail. (...) At present gear changes are performed by a long lever protruding from the engine compartment, but future models will have a linkage allowing the gear change to be made from the right-hand side of the cockpit with a short lever. A bid is at present underway to obtain a Cooper-Mini S type transmission unit which should give the car 'wings'.
The front suspension mainly uses Triumph Herald components, whilst the rear suspension is identical to the original vehicle, with Sprite steering. A far better appearance has been obtained by fitting Sprite 13 x 5.00 wheels, future models will also have Sprite disc brakes to improve the braking performance.
Guy Buckingham is aware that the rapidly assembled prototype is by no means the best-looking car on the market and he hopes to taper the nose and cowl in the headlights to give an appearance similar to the Lotus 19 sports car."

"A fully assembled Nota-Mini with a Morris 850 layout costs approximately £1,100 (Australian). A Cooper-Mini layout would add another £A100 but has the advantage of offering disc brakes on the rear wheels. By supplying your own mechanical components the cost is substantially reduced. The other option is to purchase the chassis/body components and complete the care yourself.
The Nota-Mini is an excellent and most economical way of entering into sports car racing, specially oif one can lay hands on a wrecked Mini-car. Good tuners should be capable of making the car really fly and if it is steadily decveloped it could be a class winner."

Now that's some information. I wonder if any more were sold? And how about this car, the 'Down-Under Deep Sanderson' prototype, then-owned by mister Ward Wilson - does it still exist?

Future Nota-Minis were supposed to look like Lotus' type 19 (top)

But did these ever see the light of day?

Urban Legend 3: the Nota Mini

After two British Mini derivatives that remain unfound, adding only to their legendary status (the Butterfield Musketeer - see here, and the Lawther GT - see here), let's go Down Under for my Urban Legend number three. It's the Nota Mini that deserves a bit of attention here. You don't know it? Not so strange as only one is likely to have been emerged, although one source mentions that two of these open two-seaters were built. This took place  late 1962/early 1963, making it defintely one of the very first Mini derivatives with the power plant places behind the seats. Only the Deep Sanderson prototype, dating back to late 1962 too, used a similar lay-out.

Anyway: the aluminium bodied Nota Mini was designed and built by Guy Buckingham who'd moved from the UK to Australia in 1952, to settle in Parramatta just outside Sydney and even closer to Warwick Farm racecourse. Buckingham started focussing on building race cars and came up with various racing and hill climbing specials, mostly one-offs. One of these came to life with a Mini-engine, reputedly from a crashed Cooper, and was used extensively for racing. The car eventually lead to the Nota Fang (or Nota Type 4) in the late 1960s, which became Nota's biggest succes with over a hundred units built between 1968 and 1975. What happened to its forebear remains unknown, though, like its technical specification that is mostly shrouded in mystery other then that it was Mini powered. From the three pictures that I have it seems the ultra low car uses non-Mini wheels (12"?). I wonder if it may still be tucked away in a shed somewhere out in that huge country..?

UPDATE 19 March 2012: click here.

Rare picture of the Nota Mini, seen here at Warwick Farm's Causeway corner

Picture courtesy Sports Car World

Same race, same corner, but now from a slightly different angle. Who's at the wheel?

Picture courtesy Australian Motor Sports & Automobiles

Guy Buckingham's Nota Mini was one of the earliest rwd Mini derivatives

Picture courtesy Australian Motor Sports & Automobiles