Tests and Reports

Statement by Mr. P. M. Wilks regarding THE NEW „MARAUDER“ CAR.

Wilks, Mackie, & Company Limited., on the 15th August, 1950

First of all I would like to give you a brief idea of how this project came into being.
The of the directors of this Company, George Mackie, Spencer King and myself have all worked for Rover for some years and amused ourselves in our spare time by building and racing a 2 litre single seater Rover.

This car was started in 1947 and considering that the engine is a standard Rover „75“, except for smaller cylinder bore, modified valve springs, higher compression ratio and one more carburettor, it has performed very creditably.

The engine gives a little over 100 b.h.p. which is not at all bad for a more or less standard power unit, but is a bit inadequate for Formula II racing.
The new engine which Rover are building for us is estimated to give at least 140 b.h.p. but will not be ready for racing season.

The rear suspension on this car is De Dion, designed by Spencer King and having several somewhat unorthodox features which I am shure Mr. King will be delighted to explain. We have this type of suspension very much in mind for the MARAUDER and hope to incorporate it at a later date.

It followed naturally from this that when the new „75“ came out, with it’s very substantial chassis frame, our thoughts turned to a sports car.

Having failed to persuade The Rover Company to make such a car we asked whether they would be prepared to sell us certain units. The answer was in the affirmative and we were fortunate here in that Mr. S. B. Wilks, who is my uncle, had taken a personal interest in the racing car and had confidence that we could produce a car which would not harm Rover’s reputation for workmanship.

We therefore started work at the beginning of this year and in March had completed the prototype chassis, which was handed over to Richard Mead for coachwork.
The body has been basically designed by us around certain standard Rover pressings and Mr. Mead has been largely responsible for the detaill design and the actual coachbuilding.
The prototype was completed three weeks ago since when we have done 2,000 miles on the continet, of which more anon.

As you can see the car is a 3 abreast tourer. We were faced with the alternative of making either a fast tourer with reasonable passenger and luggage accommodation or an out and out competition car.

The snags for the latter from our point of view were as follows:
(a) We had only a relatively small engine at our disposal, a two or possibly two-and-a-half litre. This meant that in order to get competitive performance we should have to use a comparatively high compression ratio necessitationg the use of 50/50 petrol benzole.
(b) The very considerable departure from standard necessary to make a car that could win sports car races would involve a great deal of development and make the car, like the others in it’s class, veryy expensive.
(c) Coupled with (b) above, the demand for such vehicles is very limited.

We therefore resolved to make a fast tourer, having a considerably above average performance, with a little fuss as possible.

Having this latter point in mind an overdrive has been fitted which allows a cruising speed of 80 m.p.h. at 3100 engine revolutions per minute. This is fitted in place of the freewheel although anyone who wants to can retain the freewheel as an alternative.

In detail the engine is a standard Rover „75“ except for the compression ratio which has been raised to 7.6-1. modified valve springs and Servais silencer. It develops 80 b.h.p. at 4200 r.p.m.

The gearbox is standard Rover having the above mentioned overdrive as an alternative to the freewheel.

Gearchange. We are not happy that the steering column gearchange is the answer although it has decided advantage in the 3 abreast type of car where the normal central gear-change is quite out of the question.
We have, therefore, devised a straight remote control type of lever offset towards the driver. This allows three people on the seat and permits the driver to slide across from the nearside since it only projects about 1½“ above the seat.

The rear axle is standard Rover, having a 4.3-1 ratio which gives very good top gear acceleration, whilst the overdrive takes care of high speed cruising.

The suspension is basically standard Rover whilst the spring rates and shock absorber settings give a slightly firmer ride than the saloon at the same time retaining very large wheel movement and consequent ability to deal with rough surfaces.

Although lower in price than many cars of this type, it cannot be claimed that this is a cheap car and the finish will be kept to the highest possible standard.

With regard to the number of cars we are going to make. There is still a lot of ground to be covered in respect of jigs, tools, premises etc. before we can even reach our immediate target of one car per week.
We shall make ten cars this year, all of which will be sold in this country so that we can keep our eye on them and iron out any little snags which may crop up.

The overdrive has been removed from the prototype car for modification and we have yet to complete the final contrl arrangement for it. The existing lever on the column was a temporary fitting for our test trip to Switzerland.
On this trip to Zurich via Brussels where we treated the car as badly as possible over the celebrated Belgian pavé. From Zurich we went to Genova, climbing four Alpine passes on the way in very hot weather with no overheating trouble, in fact, we have not yet added any water since the car was completed three weeks ago.
The car was very well received, particularly in Genova, which pleased us very much because they have there the pick of the world’s cars to choose from.

A rather amusing incident occured on the trip from Berne to Brussels when we passed a Belgian in an Buick. He repassed us entering Namur and then leapt out of his Buick followerd by all his family who proceeded to block the road while they raved about our 'belle voiture'!