Historic cars to take over Taupo
‘‘Being a driving school car it was built with the minimum of necessary equipment and to the lowest, and cheapest, specification possible.’’
The Historic Grand Prix is only days away and it will be bringing out all the old cars.
One of the historic cars taking to the Bruce McLaren Motorsport track will be a 1961 Cooper Formula Junior Mk 2 (Cooper Type 56).
This car was constructed during 1960-61 to the order of Phoenix Park (Dublin) racing drivers’ school. Being a driving school car it was built with the minimum of necessary equipment and to the lowest, and cheapest, specification possible.
Generally T56 Formula Juniors were fitted with Citroen-ERSA gearboxes though the option of using a Renault Dauphine Gordini fourspeed box was offered, this car is one of only two known to have the cheaper Renault gearbox used.
The Cooper Formula MK 2 had an interesting life. After three years at the driving school the car was sold and started a varied life of club racing in Eire and Northern Ireland using an assortment of engines ranging from Coventry Climax through to supercharged Ford Cortinas.
It finished its Irish competitive life as a rallycross car in Belfast.
After a number of years lying low, the ‘‘remains’’ were found in 1986 by noted Irish motorsport historian Simon Thomas and passed to the current owners in New Zealand who then commenced a six-year restoration project. The 1961 Irish import papers, which are in both Gallic and English, are still with the car.
The car has been rebuilt exactly to its 1961 Formula Junior specification utilising a 1000cc BMC a-series (Morris Minor/A35) competition-spec engine and a Renault Dauphine Gordini gearbox. Aluminium wheels were remanufactured in New Zealand, original drum brakes were sourced from the US.
The body is a Cooper T56 original which incidentally was the first fibreglass body used by Coopers. The Cooper Formula will be one of 60 cars visiting New Zealand in January as part of the Formula Junior Diamond Jubilee World Series.
They join the Historic Formula Ford cars and the Historic Touring Cars as supporting classes throughout the long weekend at Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park.
Gates to the event opens at 9:30am every day with tickets from $20.