At least 28 cars and their occupants gathered at the Dutch village of Velden near
Venlo for the sixth annual Marcos Euregio Meeting. Many of the visitors arrived on Saturday
afternoon to take part in a tour of the Hertog Jan brewery in nearby Arcen, followed by an
excellent meal in the hotel.
Later in the evening our special guest John Sutton gave a fascinating illustrated talk
about the early days of Marcos cars and his racing experiences. John was one of the first
racing drivers to buy an "Ugly Duckling" Marcos Gullwing in 1960. In 1961 he won the Autosport
Championship with the Gullwing and in 1963 he came fifth overall and second in class in the 500km
race at the Nürburgring. Today he races his collection of Austin Seven Specials
with great success.
Sunday's activities got under way with a "members' choice" Concours d'Élégance
in the morning. Roger and Melanie Garland set up the MMOC sales stand while everyone inspected
the cars on show and voted for their favourites. The restaurant was packed out with Marcos owners
and enhusiasts for a light lunch, after which we set out with much gusto for the Eurotech factory.
This was a return visit after our extremely popular tour of the factory in 2000, and we
were delighted again to be welcomed by Wim Noorman and his staff. After some refreshments
we were split into groups for the different languages and taken round the factory which makes
specialised low-volume castings and components for many customers around Europe, particularly
in the medical field and in the production of the large video displays that you see at sporting
venues.
The racing side, which is financially separated, takes up a small part of the works and is
able to call upon Eurotechs casting and milling facilities when needed. Since Eurotech took over
Marcos, six high-spec LM race cars have been produced, along with around 20 of the lower cost Mantis
racers. Several cars were present in the workshop along with a road going MantaRay and another
MantaRay kit which Wim Noorman hopes to complete for himself when he has time (so not much progress
so far then). Although no new race cars are being made at the moment because of economic conditions,
the cars are competing successfully in several series.
After the tour and a session nosing round the racing shop, we reconvened in the canteen for
the prizegiving of the concours. The results were:
Mini Marcos Class (including Mini kits)
- Roger Crommentuyn (NL) - Mini Marcos Mk. III
- Erik Wijn (NL) - Mini Marcos Mk. IV
- Roger Garland (GB) - Mini Marcos Mk. IV
Big Marcos Class
- Peter St. David-Jones (GB) - Mantula
- Gerrit Vanoppen (B) - Mantula 2 litre
- Berend Jan Kompanje (NL) - 1600 GT
Marcos Heritage Shield
Klaus Tweddell - Marcos Fastback "3 PLY"
Following the presentations and valedictory speeches which including special thanks to
Wim Noorman, John Sutton and not least Maarten Krikken and Marjan Vanhammel, Wim Noorman presented
everyone with an A2 size Eurotech desk jotter. Soon the air alive with the sound of V8s and A-series
as we headed for home. The weather had been perfect and anoter superb Euregio meeting was at an end.
Keep your diaries clear in early September next year for another storming event!
Photos can be found in the Show Scene section.
Read John Sutton's article on the meeting in
Motorsnippets.
