Yes, Le Mans Classic will take place this weekend but, no, 'La Puce Bleue' won't be there. A shame, I know, also because this year marks the centenary of world's most famous race. Although a major step in the Marcos' restoration was made last weekend (click) it is far from presentable at present. And so I'll just have to give up on another deadline I wouldn't have wanted to have missed...
Apart from the re-ignition of its restoration there is, however, some other really cool news. About a year ago I was contacted by Denis Bernard and Christian Papazoglakis who are respectively the script writer and artist of a great series of comic books about all the adventures that stick to the 24 hours of Le Mans. They had plans to make a special album for the Le Mans centenary with 24 of the best stories about the 24-hours races of the last 100 years. And they thought the Mini Marcos, coming 15th overall right in between the famous Ford-Ferrari War of 1966, was among those 24 best ones and deserved a place in it, too. There's no doubt I was honoured!
And so I have made it to a comic book myself now. It's called '24 Heures du Mans - 100 ans d'innovations' and the Mini Marcos segment starts on a dark day in December 2016 when my friend Jurgen and myself saw the car - or what was left of it - for the first time on a shady address in Portugal where I was supposed to hand over a duffel bag full of money. Then it harks back to perhaps its finest hour in June of 1966, when the car held the entire audience's breath at Le Mans by having a flat tyre - with no spare at hand - right in front of the grandstand. It's something which really happened. Then over to the car's theft in Paris 1975 and to the the present day with the Marcos under restoration.
So if you are at the Le Mans Classic this weekend, do look up the publisher's stand (Editions Glénat) to purchase a copy of this great 56-page book or order it from their website here.
