The Marcos Mantara LM600, Marcos’s swansong! - Peter Auto

The Marcos Mantara LM600, Marcos’s swansong!

Marcos was founded in Wales in 1959 and it has a very special place among the small independent British manufacturers because of the originality of its cars.

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Marcos is the acronym of the first three letters of the family names of its two founders, Jem Marsh and Frank Costin. Their first cars stood out because of their plywood chassis.

The other outstanding feature of the Marcos was its shape whether it was the Xylon with gullwing doors, the 1800GT, the Mantis, the Mantula and the Mini Marcos (over 1000 were built) that raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966 and 1967.

The Mantara, an evolution of the Mantula, appeared in 1992, had oversized wheel arches and a different bonnet which hid a V8 Rover engine.

The LM (for Le Mans) series was the competition version. After the LM400s and LM500s (Rover engines), the Mantara LM600 (presented here) was the third generation powered by a 6-litre V8 Chevrolet engine.

The Marcos Mantara LM600 won three category titles in the British GT Championship (1995, 1996 and 2000). At the beginning of the noughties it raced in the FIA GT Championship, scored several podium finishes in the Euro GT Series and competed in the both the Spa and Daytona 24 Hours. Thirty years after the Mini Marcos, the Mantara LM600 raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times (1995, 1996 and 1997).

The Mantara LM600 and the Mini Marcos were reunited on the 24 Hours of Le Mans circuit at the 2018 Le Mans Classic: two generations of innovative cars from a stand-out make.

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