1956 Mara Tovarish BRC Replica
Mara Motors has never been too focused on their history, esp. since most of it had taken part behind the ‘Closed Curtain’ - the Archanan isolation period before the global market liberalisation in the late 1980s/early 1990s. While Mara had a few appearances in international motorsport events over the decades, most of their early history was spent just ‘getting by’ under the constraints that had existed back then. It is therefore left to individual enthusiasts to preserve glimpses of that history.
Hillclimb time!
Cue this 1956 Mara Tovarish BRC in the unique racing livery that it sported during its brief stint in the 1950s BRC World Sportscar Championship in the under 1100cc class. None of the original cars survived, of course, but this faithful replica is as close as it gets. It is owned by a vintage racing enthusiast who plans to enter it into next year’s GT65 Historic Championships. Under the hood is a 1099cc Pchla I4 that had made over 50kW in BRC tune back in the day, and allowed the Tovarish to punch above its diminutive weight of 570kg. The replica building effort was aided by the fact that much of the Tovarish’ simple construction had remained largely unchanged between 1955 and the end of production in 1999.
Goodwood Hillclimb time: 1:15’39