Daren Cars

[Toysinwood]

As a teenager I used to call in on John Greens garage on my way home from school and watch the building of Daren sports cars. I remember the MKI "GT" as a very pretty car and quite quick I think it had a Marcos 1800 screen. The MkII was particularly rapid in the hands of Martin Raymond and held 1000cc lap records at many UK circuits. I think Bluebell Gibbs had one too if my memory serves me right. I built a 1/32nd scale model of Martin Raymonds MKIII which I saw built up from day one and still have my sketch drawings.
Arthur Colliers MKIII I last saw at an Autosport show in the late 90's but have seen little mantion in recent years. I Janos's book Winged Sports Cars and Enduring Innovation it says that today the company builds tow trucks for aircraft at airports. Any additions would be much appreciated. I note there is nothing in the archive

[Alan Morgan]

There's a bit about Darens here...

http://www.currypotproductions.com/DarenMk2onwards.htm

...and here

http://colinchapmanmuseum.org.uk/?page_id=2254

[Toysinwood]

The MKI was a very pretty car, I saw it race at Silverstone where it was as quick as I think it was John Miles in a works Lotus 47. I did hear a few years ago that it was being restored somewhere in the Far East? Does anyone know of its current state. My model was on the Daren stand at one of the Olypia Racing car shows. I think it was the shared stand with Palliser but my memories are a little confused at my current early dotage!

I was at Snetterton with Martin Raymond and the team when they were testing the day before the event for 2 litre sports cars. Martin had a huge accident but our first indication was when he did not come round as expected. I walked down the pit lane to ask if any of the other drivers had seen him. I found a very shaken Formula Atlantic driver (American or Canadian I think who had seen him go off and he was convinced Martin had been seriously hurt. The car was very badly bent but Martin had little worse than a few bruises and was more upset that he would not be able to do the race that weekend. Someone said thank goodness it was not a Lola. Martin had a new car built up which I think was a bit lighter and incorporated some improvements to the original.

[EliSolomon]

Originally Posted by Toysinwood

The MKI was a very pretty car, I saw it race at Silverstone where it was as quick as I think it was John Miles in a works Lotus 47. I did hear a few years ago that it was being restored somewhere in the Far East? Does anyone know of its current state. My model was on the Daren stand at one of the Olypia Racing car shows. I think it was the shared stand with Palliser but my memories are a little confused at my current early dotage!

I was at Snetterton with Martin Raymond and the team when they were testing the day before the event for 2 litre sports cars. Martin had a huge accident but our first indication was when he did not come round as expected. I walked down the pit lane to ask if any of the other drivers had seen him. I found a very shaken Formula Atlantic driver (American or Canadian I think who had seen him go off and he was convinced Martin had been seriously hurt. The car was very badly bent but Martin had little worse than a few bruises and was more upset that he would not be able to do the race that weekend. Someone said thank goodness it was not a Lola. Martin had a new car built up which I think was a bit lighter and incorporated some improvements to the original.

There's a post in this forum with a photo of the Daren GT prototype on the Palliser stand. It's also got a bit of the history of that 1st project, recounted to me by David Sewell. The car was sent to Singapore in 1970/71 and remained there till 2005. It's now in Australia.

Sent from my BLA-L29 using Tapatalk