Fast Marina Magazine

Had some emails from Patrick (ex works and NBL782M driver) recently, and he's showing an interest to get back behind the wheel of a works spec car..

Alot to ask i know, but think of the publicity...

How close to an original works spec car would his need to be? I'm sure it can be done, A series tuning bits could be sourced from Mini specalists etc and I'm sure any fancy parts like sump gaurds could be frabricated by the club. I guess the biggest hurdle would be funding it, but I'm sure that there would be a surprising amount of companies willing to help out, Castrol is the main one off the top of my head. Coupes can be brought for next to nothing and we all know a man who could carry out any restoration work needed.... That could make a good advert for his skills alone....
Seriously, this is a good idea, hopefully Pat might not suffer as many gearbox faliures with a modern works replica Marina....

This is an interesting email i had from him about the 74 RAC in his own "Blazespeed" Coupe:

Yes indeed - this was my last rally as a privateer and the result that
confirmed the offer from BL as a works driver the following new year.
Firstly the axle broke on the way to the start. An emergency call to
Abingdon and an axle was sent from Abingdon to York. Roger Smith
replaced the axle overnight while I was asleep before the start and
going into park ferme, but the only one they had at Abingdon was an ex
Safari Rally spare with a very high final drive. This gave the car a
theoretical top speed of 140mph. However the final drive ratio proved
very useful on the Epynt ranges where I clocked 3rd fastest in the fog,1
second quicker than Timo Makinen in a works Ford Escort. I know Epynt
like the back of my hand having practised it on dipped headlights many
many times, but some people thought I had been "given" a minute through
a bad time clock error. This is probably the best stage result on an RAC
Rally that a 1.3 Marina ever had, and I can assure you that the time was
genuine - just ask Roger Smith about some of the huge high speed moments
we had as I tested out my memory and mental pace notes on the very quick
straights - the braking distances I had mentally marked with small
features at the sides of the road just for such an eventuality as fog
which is common on the top of Epynt proved very useful!!
Late on the 4th day the 8 port head (as you say on 2x 40 DCOE Weber -
thought not to be possible by Abingdon!!) broke an inlet valve.
Fortunately the back pressure and the piston threw the broken piece of
valve back out through the carburetter. (We found it on the side of the
engine bay!!) Roger Smith my co-driver/mechanic and partner in
Blazespeed quickly removed the spark plug and blocked the carb main jet
for that cylinder with a matchstick. We ran the whole of the final day
in the very fast Yorkshire forests on 3 cylinders finally finishing 33rd
I think and 3rd in class 1.3 Gp2. I think BL were impressed with our
tenacity.
Ah what memories!!
Regards
Pat

faster than Timo ay!!

An excellent read! I'm sure I've seen pictures of that car, did it have a sunstrip with 'Blazespeed' across the front screen?
Ironically by 1975 when Pat joined as a works driver the Marina was deemed obsolesant with the Dolomite Sprint and TR7 in development, did he ever drive a Marina as a BL works driver? I know he drove the 1300cc works Allegro on a few events....
On a side note, are any of his former co-drivers still around?

Pat did quite a few events in NBL came first in class in most too.. till he was regretfully moved to the ill fated allegro..

Ooh nice pics keep me up to date with stuff and I will happily write letters/ make some calls for sponsorship in exchange for publicity and all that malarkey.