CMI Rally 2025 Jem Marsh Memorial Race

Posted on August 10, 2025 by Oliver Hawkins

What a great weekend at this year’s Club Maroc International annual rally! Held at the Snetterton Circuit in Norfolk across the weekend of the 9th and 10th of August in wonderful sunshine it was one of the best rallies I have attended. Much kudos to Debbie Morrison, Isobel Chivers & those others involved in over a year of planning to make the magic happen!

The rather smart decals to showcase the rally weekend & races.

Pending official confirmation there were 36 Marcos cars each day, including cars from France, Poland & of course the Luxembourg Ultras.

My kind of car park! Friday evening arrival at the main hotel prior to a well deserved cider…

Amongst many highlights over the weekend, perhaps the biggest were the two ‘Jem Marsh Memorial Race’ races (one on Saturday & one on Sunday) which were included in the weekend’s racing programme. Each race lasted 20 minutes & was exclusive to Marcos race cars with all drivers being ‘the real deal’ – current racing licenses required! There was an amazing variety of Marcos race cars on the track together, ranging from Cor Euser in the legendary 6.9 litre Chevvy powered ‘La Bomba’ & Warren Gilbert in the Topcats LS7 engined GT3 Mantis, through to a couple of Mini Marcos, with some 1800s thrown in for good measure.

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Cor was his usual very approachable self. One of racing’s nice guys (unless you are driving against him!).

La Bomba, followed by the Topcats Mantis.

Cor Euser in ‘La Bomba’ takes the chequered flag from the Topcats’ Mantis in Sunday’s Jem Marsh Memorial Race.

A big shout out to the Marcos Motor Company who very kindly arranged the marquee & the sumptuous lunch on both days. In fact the catering was exceptional, with Bay and Fig Events being highly recommended.

The Marcos Motor Company did everyone proud with a lovely marquee & opulent lunch in the shade.

To top it off, the French owners of the two LM600s that raced at the Le Mans 24 Hour in 1995 had trailered the cars over. I never thought to see them together again outside of the Le Mans Classic paddock, so a great opportunity to have a look round them again. Better still, due to the French racing Marcos having mechanical issues during qualifying, the owners put car Number 70 out on the track for the Saturday Jem Marsh Memorial Race. Whilst it wasn’t trying to compete during the race, it was splendid to see it out on the track (for the first time in a good few years I gather)

To close out, here’s a link to a very slick YouTube clip on the event which is well worth a watch. All credit to the content creator, AinsleyN. Nice job!

Oulton Park Gold Cup 2025

Posted on July 27, 2025 by Oliver Hawkins

Another opportunity to meet up with the good folk who make up the North West Marcos owners. This time it was our annual outing to the Gold Cup weekend at local favourite Oulton Park circuit. Unfortunately some illness meant not everyone made it as planned, but we managed four cars & a decent spot on the hill overlooking Denton.

A peachy pitch with a good view of the track.

Somewhat overcast for much of the day, but the threatening clouds never quite delivered & the hood stayed down.

The massed ranks of Marcos@Oulton, with Alan Checkley & Martin having camped to secure first place in the line up. Hardcore!

Next stop… The annual CMI rally down at Snetterton. Bring it on…

Further down the line

Posted on July 22, 2025 by Oliver Hawkins

A couple of spins out in the sunshine recently. Looking ahead, we have our annual North West meet at Oulton Park circuit next weekend, at their Gold Cup event. The annual CMI rally is less than three weeks away now. Personal circumstances mean my wife & I will now be staying at the same hotel in Bury St Edmunds as many of the other Marcos owners, about 45 minutes from the Snetterton Circuit where the weekend’s racing will be happening. I am looking forward to the whole thing & hope the weather plays ball across all three days. And finally the Postie brought all the paraphernalia for this year’s Concours of Elegance in early September!

One day… That Fortnum & Masons hamper… One day…

Derbyshire Road Race Circuit

Posted on June 9, 2025 by Oliver Hawkins

Marcos did not make the cut for this weekend’s Tatton Park show, so three cars went for a drive today round the Derbyshire Road Race Circuit. An event-free meet at Lymm Truck Stop followed by a three car convoy up onto then around the circuit. Sunday Lunch at The Royal Oak in Hurford was spot on, then a nice run home. Great day out.

The Royal Oak, home to Yorkshire Puddings about the size of my engine block! 

North West Classic Vehicles meet – Heskin Hall

Posted on April 27, 2025 by Oliver Hawkins

A very pleasant morning at Heskin Hall, hosted by North West Classic Vehicles. Not somewhere I have been before, or indeed knew about. The parking marshals did a great job fitting in a lot of cars, & a lot of cars there were! A real mixture of old & new, Brit cars & Yank Tanks, custom & road plus a few rat rods… Excellent! Pretty good for three quid too.

Nice to be parked near this US beauty. There were quite a few US cars from the 40s onwards.

Heskin Hall & the only bit of lawn without a car parked on it!

This parked up in front of us. Looks a scream. (Sorry!)

‘Proper organised’. While I forgot a chair, some people remembered… Well, everything! Coffee & Hot Dogs in the sunshine.

A great shout from Debbie Morrison. Some discussion on taking the cars to Tatton Park & Oulton Park later this year. In the meantime perhaps we will do a few more local car meets.

A peak drive

Posted on April 19, 2025 by Oliver Hawkins

A splendid (i.e. event free!) drive in the sunshine out to Winnat’s Pass & back via Snake Pass. Busy roads but beautiful scenery. We are very fortunate to have the Peak District so close. Today was all the better for having my son as a passenger & photographer (I really need to fit a dashcam).

Heading down a busy Wynatt’s Pass under a clear blue sky.

Social network

Posted on February 9, 2025 by Oliver Hawkins

A very enjoyable post-Christmas lunch today with the North West Marcos Owners massive. Back to The Partridge near Warrington which is a decent Grade II listed venue. A surprise appearance with the legendary Bob Knott (my predecessor as CMI regional organiser) meant much catching up. Unfortunately this was at the expense of various other attendees who I look forward to chewing the fat with at the next car show/event. Most people seemed to be planning to attend the CMI Annual Rally at Snetterton, so that should be fun. Maybe a convoy to be had?…

No-one showed up in their Marcos, possibly because like me they were nieve enough to believe the Met Office forecast for drizzle. Needless to say this never materialised & we would have been fine in the Mantis. Oh well! Also a number of cars off the road (in Bob’s case for a quite impressive number of years!). Looks like some things haven’t changed for 2025.

Mileage

Posted on January 29, 2025 by Oliver Hawkins

So the start of another year & I am hoping things run smoothly with the Mantis in 2025. The pennies are rapidly running out but it would be marvellous to go back to Le Mans with both of the children in the next year or two (not both at the same time, obviously…) I would like to use the car a bit more this year (working from home has killed my commute. Who knew I would miss a four mile drive crawling along the A556 at 5 mph & never getting above third gear!). This begs the question, how many miles am I doing. Cue some analysis of mileage based on MOT records (which unfortunately don’t go back past 2005 so I don’t have them for the first five years of ownership. However I bought the car in 2000 with 18K on the clock).

Here we go…

In other news… Tickets bought & accommodation booked for the Concours of Elegance 2025 in September. Always something I look forward to – an amazing venue, the revolving set of beautiful cars each year, & a very pleasant group of Marcos owners in attendance. What’s not to like!

Winter jacket

Posted on December 1, 2024 by Oliver Hawkins

A nice autumnal run up to Wigan with my daughter to collect my first ever car cover. Don’t tell, but this previously graced the Morrison⁩s LM before they went the Coupe route & fitted a monster of a rear wing, thus rendering this surplus to requirements!

A decent, heavyweight indoor cover which I think looks rather good.

Yes, the garage gets used for all the normal stuff, not just to house the Mantis!

So… 2024 proved to be as eventful as ever when it comes to owning my Marcos. Somewhat frustrating to be finishing the year with the throttle cable not quite right, but I guess that is something for next year’s ‘To do’ list. I wonder what new ways our lovely government will find to take money off us. The sacred cow of ‘Net zero’ of course continues to be an open goal for penalising car owners. That said, if the Treasury are going to screw motorists in new & exciting ways, perhaps they would consider road tax based on mileage (I doubt I do 1500 annually now) or car weight (1093kgs or thereabouts). Who knows?!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year, dear reader.

Concours of Elegance 2024… Slumming it at Hampton Court Palace

Posted on September 1, 2024 by Oliver Hawkins

Hampton Court Palace via the White Hart Hotel? It can only be time for… The Concours of Elegance!

An uneventful trip down south on Saturday accompanied by my son, followed by a rapid check-in at the hotel then off to the bar. An excellent afternoon of banter with both familiar & unfamiliar faces. What to do in between a few beers & the evening meal? Obvs! Glue something back on the car that had fallen off… Gorilla Glue is your friend. A minor hood sealing rubber tweak.

Sunday is the show. For the first time ever the Marcos contingent actually drive into the palace grounds in order of age of car. We are also back on our original pitch alongside the walled garden, which gives a great backdrop of Hampton Court Palace itself.