The Mardave Mk3 Stock Car - The Lost Prototype
(Article From CarpetOval website)
Go back to the Seventies, and there was the Mardave Mk1 Stockcar and the
Mardave Mini - two cars that formed the genesis, under Wes Raynor's careful
super-vision, of the sport of 1/12th Oval that we all know and love today. By
the Eighties, we were up to the Mk2 Mini and the Mk2 Stockcar (the latter having
the benefit of trailing arm rear suspension, like a 1/8th), by the Nineties all
that remained on the oval side was the Ministock and a young upstart of a kit
initially called the V-Dub, after it's Beetle bodyshell.
A few more shells came out, an Escort, a 205, NASTruck, a Megane, a Willys
hotrod, and the BRCA started talking seriously about running these 'M-Series'
cars (as they were known for a while) in a one make class, with nothing but kit
parts to be used. It'll never catch on...
The 'M-Series' featured a metal chassis, like the Mk2 Stockcar, but with a
floating rear pod and coil front suspension - Mardave's first venture into
anything but a beam for it's oval cars.
As good as the new car was though, the stockcar racers had long moved into
heavily-modified versions of the Mk2, replacing it's metal chassis with a GRP
one, raising the top chassis up so you could fit six cells under it, and
replacing the trailing arm rear suspension with a flexy cut and a shock.
Enter a young engineer, who'd cut his teeth in the unglamorous role of
cutting wire for mechanical speed controllers for then-owner Wes Raynor.
Spotting a gap in the market, and how the stockcar scene was thriving despite
the lack of a mass-manufactured kit, a young(er) Lee Bishop set about combining
the best bits from the 90s Mardave parts bin to create a prototype of a new,
competitive (and production-viable) stockcar.
Sadly, the Mk3 never made it to production, and this lone example has
remained at 7 Heanor Street, Leicester ever since, unraced and unseen by the
public. With liberal use of 'M-Series' parts, original Mini motor blocks, a GRP
bottom chassis and the top chassis from the Mk1/Mk2, this car is the missing
link between those original stockcars of old and the 2011 Mardave F2, more than
30 years on
(Article From CarpetOval website)
Go back to the Seventies, and there was the Mardave Mk1 Stockcar and the
Mardave Mini - two cars that formed the genesis, under Wes Raynor's careful
super-vision, of the sport of 1/12th Oval that we all know and love today. By
the Eighties, we were up to the Mk2 Mini and the Mk2 Stockcar (the latter having
the benefit of trailing arm rear suspension, like a 1/8th), by the Nineties all
that remained on the oval side was the Ministock and a young upstart of a kit
initially called the V-Dub, after it's Beetle bodyshell.
A few more shells came out, an Escort, a 205, NASTruck, a Megane, a Willys
hotrod, and the BRCA started talking seriously about running these 'M-Series'
cars (as they were known for a while) in a one make class, with nothing but kit
parts to be used. It'll never catch on...
The 'M-Series' featured a metal chassis, like the Mk2 Stockcar, but with a
floating rear pod and coil front suspension - Mardave's first venture into
anything but a beam for it's oval cars.
As good as the new car was though, the stockcar racers had long moved into
heavily-modified versions of the Mk2, replacing it's metal chassis with a GRP
one, raising the top chassis up so you could fit six cells under it, and
replacing the trailing arm rear suspension with a flexy cut and a shock.
Enter a young engineer, who'd cut his teeth in the unglamorous role of
cutting wire for mechanical speed controllers for then-owner Wes Raynor.
Spotting a gap in the market, and how the stockcar scene was thriving despite
the lack of a mass-manufactured kit, a young(er) Lee Bishop set about combining
the best bits from the 90s Mardave parts bin to create a prototype of a new,
competitive (and production-viable) stockcar.
Sadly, the Mk3 never made it to production, and this lone example has
remained at 7 Heanor Street, Leicester ever since, unraced and unseen by the
public. With liberal use of 'M-Series' parts, original Mini motor blocks, a GRP
bottom chassis and the top chassis from the Mk1/Mk2, this car is the missing
link between those original stockcars of old and the 2011 Mardave F2, more than
30 years on