worksmini.com
by Guy Smith
33 EJB Link EBL 56C Link GRX 195D Link GRX 55D Link LBL 66D Link LRX 827E Link LRX 829E Link
|
33 EJB Link EBL 56C Link GRX 195D Link GRX 55D Link LBL 66D Link LRX 827E Link LRX 829E Link |
|
EBL 56C
Competition History, EBL 56C
1965 Alpine Rally Hopkirk/Henry Liddon, 4th category, 2nd Class 1965 1000 Lakes Hopkirk/Henry Liddon, 6th overall 1965 RAC Rally Hopkirk/Henry Liddon, 13th overall, 2nd class 1966 Geneva Rally Tony Fall/Henry Liddon, 2nd overall 1966 Czech Rally S.Zasada/Z.Leszczuk, 4th overall, 1st class 1966 Danube Rally 1966 RAC Rally Marjetta Aaltonen/Carolyn Tyler to 37th overall 1967 sold toBritish Vita Racing 1967 Televised Rallycross - Paddy Hopkirk Club Rallying - Grahem Brown 1982 RAC Golden 50 - Grahem Brown 1984 Coronation Rally - Guy Smith 1989 Pirelli Classic Marathon - Paddy Hopkirk/Alec Pool
Built by Mick Legge for the 1965 Alpine Rally, driven by Paddy Hopkirk.and Henry Liddon, won a Coupe D'Or (Silver cup) for three non consecutive clean (no penalty) events. Results 4th category, 2nd Class win
Paddy Hopkirk/K.Ruutsalo result 6th overall
Driven by Paddy Hopkirk/Henry Liddon to13th overall, 2nd class
Driven by Tony Fall/Henry Liddon to 2nd overall
Driven by S.Zasada/Z.Leszczuk to 4th overall, 1st class.
Driven by Marjetta Aaltonen/Carolyn Tyler to 37th overall Sponsored by the Sun Newspaper
Thanks must be given to Chris Spennewyn, Robert Young and Dave Halfpenny, without whos help, the car's restoration would probably never have been finished. RESTORATION All rallycars with history have had a hard life. EBL was no exception. Works minis were expendable, being almost totally rebuilt after each event. If it were not for the events, however, then this would be just another Mini Cooper. 5 years of my life went into making this car part number right. The dashes and wiring are all original, and were the major headache to sort out, the wiring loom is probably the most special item on a works mini. The car is restored to the specification of its last works event, the 1966 RAC rally, consequently 30 years of further mini developement has to be ignored. The engine is 1293s, with +20 thou forged pistons. EN40B nitride & crossdrilled crankshaft on std, std. Steel/lightened flywheel. Carburettors are twin H4 1.5 inch SU on standard manifold. The steering wheel is also original, for those of you who are wondering. The dash panel contains Paired Heuer Stop watch
and 8 day clock, plus a Halda Twinmaster tripmeter (Click below to view). The small panel,
lower left contains 8 fuses. (Later cars had 16, but this was an early group 1 car so had
fewer) Drivers panel contains 0-10,000 rev counter and ammeter (later addition). The
following photos give a good comparison between 1967, one year after leaving the works,
and the present day (and already starting to be modified, being a large bore test bed car
for rallycross with British Vita Racing). The car passed to Grahen Brown, who used it for
national rallies, and EBL was a well known car on northern events. One of its more
noteable being the
Click to view Heuer Rally Clocks belonging to Tony Fall Click to view Halda Twinmaster
I rallied EBL on the Coronation Rally in 1984 prior to restoration. As the restoration neared completion in 1988 the
Paddy duly drove EBL 56C for the 5 day event down to Cortina. He was consistently setting fastest times, and was leading until the thursday. He then broke a CV joint on the lower slopes of the Stelvio pass into Italy, and although the car was mended within the hour, it was enough penalty points to push him to 64th place. Paddy was still in the event, but with only two more special stages to go (uphill), he was second behind Makinen's Healey 3000 67 ARX on the two final mountain climbs, his final place being 13th overall, 1st class.
Please note: the car was prepared for this event as in any other, and many original parts were temporarily removed for safekeeping. Rest assured they are now all re-instated. Safety and rules are paramount on modern events.
Broken CV joint on The Stelvio 1st to 64th!
Recent outings include Longleat Stages Rally demonstration car, and :
Paddy at Millbrook, filming for the BBC series -The Power and The Glory by Ivan Rendall. Note: I have recently regretably sold the car and its new owner is Roger Wills... My long association with EBL 56C is at an end, I hope it is happy in its new home. And I hope Roger gets as much pleasure from owning it as I have. |
1965 Alpine
Rally
RAC Golden 50, driven by Grahem, and incidentally, was where I
saw the car for the first time. Paddy won that event too in 
The office 1967 
The office now
Under the bonnet 1967
Under the bonnet now
Pirelli Marathon was in the
planning. What better outlet for all the effort, than to put Paddy back in the driving
seat just one more time. 
