Merlyn MK.21

[allenbrown]

Can anyone educate me on Merlyn Mk21s? I think it was a 1971 F3 design but at least one went to the US as a FB car. Gordon Smiley's 1972 Merlyn FB race winner seems to have been a Mk21.

Anyone know how many were built?

Thanks

Allen

[Jeremy Jackson]

Allen,

Mk21 (chassis 394/FB/4)was running in HSCC events in the early 90s. Iwas told it was originally supplied to Race America, and run by someone called Brownley or Brownlee, and later David Pence in SCCA events, but not sure how many years that spanned.

I think Peter Denty may have use this car more recently.

[David McKinney]

Yes, 394 is the car raced by James Denty about ten years ago. Alasdair Southall was running another (ex-Alan Baillie) about the same time and Denis Welch a third (ex-Skeels). Sorry, the Denty car is the only one of the three I have a number for.
And I don't know how many there were in all.
I think the Welch car at least started life in F3 spec, but was running in F2 (or possibly FAt) trim in the 1990s, as were both the others

[allenbrown]

"Brownlee" would be Porter Brownlee (Little Rock, Ark) who won the 1973 MidWest Div FB title in a Merlyn MK21. The year before Brownlee, that same title was claimed by Smiley (Overland Park, Kansas), also in a MK21. Coincidence? Enough to send me back to my SCCA Nationals photocopies.

It turns out that Smiley and his Merlyn had been a close second to Lazier's 71BM in the 1971 series and had won the 1972 series at a canter. Brownlee appears with just 2 pts in 1972 - either he wasn't competitive or he only raced once or twice. The uncompetetive option doesn't sound right as he dominated the 1973 series so maybe he only appeared late in that 1972 season after buying Smiley's car?

Seems to me that there'a strong possibility that Browlee's 394/FB/4 could be the Smiley car.

Anyone in touch with Denty? Anyone know who Race America were or where they were located?

Allen

[Jeremy Jackson]

Originally posted by allenbrown
"... Anyone know who Race America were or where they were located?

Allen

No to the first part Allen, but the notes I made say Dallas for Race America's location. Sorry, should have bolted that in to the previous post.

[Chris Townsend]

Don't think this was the only Merlyn in FB in N. America. David Loring appears in one at Westwood in either 73 or 74.

Chris

[allenbrown]

Originally posted by Chris Townsend
Don't think this was the only Merlyn in FB in N. America. David Loring appears in one at Westwood in either 73 or 74.

Chris

Long way from Westwood to Kansas. Unless you click your heels three times.

I agree there would have been a handful or more of FB Merlyns in North America but the Arkansas/Kansas/Oklahoma area is not exactly a hotbed of single-seater activity and two Mk21s appearing there back-to-back seemed quite a coincidence.

All we need now is for Adam to find the Merlyn sales records down the back of his sofa!

Allen

[James Murray]

Allen

James Denty will be at Brands Hatch this weekend. He sold the Merlyn a few years ago to the AA who raced it in Euro f2. They sold it at the H&H Auction at the Stoneleigh show in February, it was painted yellow, for obvious reasons!

[James Murray]

Has anyone tried Clive Hayward. He still has the records for the Formula Fords.

[Adam Ferrington]

Allen,

Sorry, no Merlyn records down the back of the sofa.......but I have found the GRD records I mentioned to you at Goodwood. I'll PM you separately.

ADAM

[allenbrown]

Originally posted by James Murray
Has anyone tried Clive Hayward. He still has the records for the Formula Fords.

Good idea. I've just emailed him.

Thanks

Allen

[Neptune]

Adam,

I would be interested in seing the GRD records you have also. Any chance you have any Modus records too, since this is where Jo Marquart went after leaving GRD.

I have seen the Modus records put together by Marcus Pye, but they have a good bit of Marcus' insight added into them, right or wrong and it would be nice to see what exists unaltered.

Roger

[Chris Townsend]

Allen

Loring places 4th at Westwood with a Merlyn in 74. This seems to be his only appearance in the car that year [though apart from Sanair, Westwood is the only race where I have full runners and riders.] In any case he took over the Villeneuve 74B for a while when Gilles was injured.
It is a long way from Arkansas to Vancouver, but that was a national pro series. Maybe he found the money to run what might have looked like a good car in Smiley's hands, and by being competitive at Westwood - which he clearly was - hoped to fund the rest of the season.

Smiley runs a Merlyn at Brands in early April 74 then switches to Elden in June.

Also lurking at the back of my mind is an SCCA regional in Virginia with a couple of FB Merlyns in it. I think that this team in Little Rock maybe had a couple of cars. As all my personal computers are now non-functional and I'm down to a cybercafe I have no way of checking until next week!

Chris

[Ol'_Motorhead]

Originally Posted by Chris Townsend

Allen

Loring places 4th at Westwood with a Merlyn in 74. This seems to be his only appearance in the car that year [though apart from Sanair, Westwood is the only race where I have full runners and riders.] In any case he took over the Villeneuve 74B for a while when Gilles was injured.
Chris

According to Cdn. M/S Bulletin he dnf'd in the Merlyn at the 2nd race in Edmonton due to a flat tire (Oops, tyre ) and finished 13th (1 point) at the next race in Gimli. The report states the rear wing came adrift during pract./Qual. and they fitted a "borrowed" one from another marque. He drove a March 73 at Mosport in the 4th race owned by Dale Lang and out of Joe Grimaldi stable. He got 7 points in Quebec and 0 points in NFLD. He did not dns in Nova Scotia. HTH.

[Ol'_Motorhead]

Re-read my post - it appears the old double negative snuck in. I meant to say he had a dns in Nova Scotia. Also, he was listed as a finisher at Mosport in the March but scored no points. He would have been 14th or lower. There is a photo of David at speed in the Merlyn at Gimli in CMB. I could post it if one, I knew how to and two, it's b&w on newsprint and not that sharp. I could scan it and sent it to Chris or Allen to post if anyone's interested to see it. Cheers.

[Dan Rear]

Chris, dis Smiley start in the Elden in 74. I saw him entered a couple of times, but he non-started. What happened to the car afterwards do you know?

[allenbrown]

Chris

Clive Hayward has emailed me back and distinctly rememebrs Smiley's car as the second Mk21. He's going to look out the records but thinks a few Mk21s were built.

Allen

[spb3]

Someone forwarded me this thread which stimulated me to reply.

I'm Porter Brownlee and I owned one of the Mk-21s under discussion. Bought it from Race America (Bill Ippolito - does anyone know where he is?) in late 1972, ran 1 or 2 races, then all of the 73 and part of the 74 seasons in the Midwest Division.

I found the car to be an extremely stable platform though without the chassis rigidity (and responsiveness) of the March I raced later. None the less, I had a lot of success with the car and recall it fondly.

Porter

[Chris Townsend]

Dan

Don't have full results for 1974 UK yet, but Smiley certainly did start some races in the Elden Mk16.

The car went to the USA in 1975 and ran SCCA and a couple of pro races.

Chris

[Davhut]

Second photo of Merlyn Mk 21

[Davhut]

Posting the last of my collection of Merlyn Mk 21 photos from 1971/72 US racing seasons and 1974 UK F-Atlantic.

The Merlyn Mk 21 Formula B (Lotus twincam) first two races in US. First in sunshine in Kansas (ended in crash with backmarker), second in pouring rain at MAR (victory).





The FB car ready for FB runoffs with wings in 1972. I still think this is among the most beautiful FB cars ever built and kept to a very high standard by Joe Kidd and driver Gordon Smiley.



The "raw" Vermillio Mk 21 F-3 chassis as recovered from the loft of some old garage!



The finished BDA powered FAtlantic conversion ready for first race.

[jjordan]

I will check my records and post back. Race America was the offical US imported of Merlyn cars, after a couple of successful seasons in the Mk 17/Mk 19 Formula Fords the Importer (James Harris, I believe) imported the Mk 21 for Smiley. I worked on this car extensively as I was employeed by Smiley at the time. After a good year in FB the car was returned to the importer where he raced it a couple of times but ran out of interest (he also owned an airport and was into flying) and sold the car to Brownlee I believe(will check my records and get back.) David Loring came back and lived with us in Kansas for several months in 73/74 at which time I believe he arraigned the drive in Atlantic (I am sure it was the same car as I never remember seeing 2 of them together...ever.) Shortly after Loring got the call to drive Gurney's FF.
Believe me when I say that if you were into Road Racing of ANY kind....Kansas was a long ways from ANYWHERE. Go Flatland Flyers.

[Davhut]

Originally Posted by jjordan

...Race America was the offical US imported of Merlyn cars...

Race America was in Dallas. It was owned by an airline pilot named Bill Ippolito. He was one of the first purchasers of Merlyn Mk 11 FF. (I remember he paid cash for a red one and raced it first in Ft. Sumner, New Mexico...home of Billy the Kid). Ippolito purchased the Merlyn US rights from Robert Smith, who owned LOTUS SOUTHWEST at the North end of Love Field in mid-town (where I worked as a parts runner while in high school). It was one of about 2 or 3 active US Lotus distributors of both street cars (the wonderfully go-kart like Elan and the truly awful Europa Type 46 Renault engined thing). Smith relinquished Lotus to take on Merlyn in the year Tim Schenken won all his British FF races, I believe that was 1968.
Smiley's Merlyns came directly from the factory in Colchester to Kansas City in some manner since he'd been named the works supported US driver, and his FFs and FBs weren't a part of Race America's transactions. That company made most of their sales to various drivers schools in California (Russell & etc.).
Fun old times, those!

[allenbrown]

Hello jjordan

What a coincidence you should drop by! Was it just a conincidence?

Clive has been back in touch. Smiley had two different Mk 21s - one sold to M.A.A.C. in August 1971 and raced by Gordon in USA; a second he bought much, much later in 1975 when he was in the UK. This second car was bought as a F3 from Bernard Vermilio and converted to a F Allantic. Clive reckons he crashed this second car.

It would make some sense if the Smiley car went to Brownlee but it would be great if you could confirm this.

Thanks

Allen

[allenbrown]

See what you mean about Kansas. The only other driver in my database with a Kansas home town was one Gordon Gresham. He raced a Formula Junior Lotus 20 between 1964 and 1967.

Allen