Footnotes

• Powered by JAP and Manx Norton motorcycle engines, Cooper's innovative rear-engined racing cars dominated the 500cc Formula 3 scene in the 1950s, providing many future stars, most notably Stirling Moss, with their first taste of 'real' motor racing. Charles and John Cooper's first post-war racing car (there had been a one-off trials special built in the late 1930s) utilised the chassis of a crashed FIAT Topolino. FIAT transverse-leaf independent front suspension was used at both ends and the single-cylinder 500cc JAP motorcycle engine was positioned behind the driver, this being the easiest way to accommodate the motorcycle transmission's chain final drive. The Coopers' friend Eric Brandon drove a MkI to victory in the first-ever 500cc race in 1947 and before long the Cooper had established itself as the car to beat. The resulting flood of orders meant that relying on a supply of crashed Topolinos was out of the question, and the Coopers set about designing a car that could be built from scratch, powered in its initial form by the ubiquitous 'Speedway' JAP engine. Over the course of next decade the F3 Cooper gained rack-and-pinion steering, pannier fuel tanks and a proper tubular-steel spaceframe chassis among numerous other improvements as development proceeded through Marks I to XIII, while the JAP engine gave way to the overhead-camshaft Norton Manx unit.
  This JAP-engined Cooper MkV Formula 3 monoposto has been the present ownership for some 30 years and has regularly been sprinted and hill climbed over that period. Not used for circa ten years, it is described as in good condition mechanically, although we are advised that the brakes require attention. The car has a Norton gearbox and comes complete with two original-type rear body cowls and a spare JAP engine. A suitable trailer is included in the sale.
  

Auction Notices

• Following further research it is believed that the immediate previous owner of this car was well known VSCC racer Freddie Giles and prior to him it was owned by long time 500 man John Turner.

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Category: Motoring / Motor Cars

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