This is the most bizarre car that today you will see
Posted on 13-02-2016 at 16:03 by MauritsH – 29 Comments”
Evidence to the contrary.
Valued colleague and Lada-adept Dizono and I have done our best, but this structure is really nothing normal thing to discover. Yes, the wheels (four pieces, quite common) are around and they are in predictable places, but otherwise this should almost be the result of a strong LSD trip after a day of work in a lijmfabriek.
Marcos. The brand is not often passed, but the British have special things built. This Mantis XP 1968 is perhaps the daddy of them all, with his bizarre carriage, and the windows, that bar little to the imagination to leave.
In the context of amended regulations for the 24 Hours of Le Mans came the British with this Marcos XP on the stick, a racer with the necessary Formula 1 technology. The monocoque is made of wood(!), linked to it were steel subframes. For the block was shopping at Jack Brabham who happens to have a V8 and 300 bhp.
To make the body as aerodynamic as possible, got the Mantis XP, a nose where Pinocchio a pretty jar for would have to lie. As long as the nose is, so short is the butt of this remarkable car. It is the director, as said, between a plethora of perspex diamonds, probably to save weight. Da’s in any case well done, the scale is stuck at just 650 kg.
The 1,000 km of Spa in ’68 marked the debut for the Mantis XP and thanks to the abundant Ardennes rain was that the adventure does not exactly go smoothly. The race in Le Mans, traditionally in the month of June, however, was moved to september, while Marcos’t want the world to get acquainted with the experimental racer.
An engine swap, a few plates and a quarrel with the tax inspector and later became the new engine (a Buick V8) hastily out of the car demolished. The car was shipped to the united states and that also meant the end of the racing career of the Mantis XP, the only car with mid-engine that Marcos would ever build.
Sin, but fortunately we have the photos yet.
Gallery: Marcos Mantis XP
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