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Mark A
MCR Member
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Posted: Thursday September 22nd, 2005 08:18 pm |
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As the owner of one of Geoff Mabbs old rally Coopers (see avatar) I have become interested in Geoffs rally career. I know he did some events for Ford in the Lotus Cortinas, and also raced a Mini Marcos, but it's the Coopers I'm interested in.
The cars Geoff rallied, in chronological order were.
11 NYB - famously rolled by Rauno and burnt out on the 62 Monte.
867 OYA (my car) - Bought in March 62 and rallied by Geoff in late 1962 and into 1963 incl RAC, Monte and various local events. Sold to one of Geoffs employees (whom I've spoken to) when he took delivery of one of the 1st 1071's.
170 TYD - A very early 1071'S Used by Geoff on the 1963 RAC and still in use on the 1964 Tour de France. Does anyone know any additional events this car did?
CRX89B - Bought from Abingdon by Geoff in late 1965, again I have no details of events he did in this car.
I have been told that all Geoffs cars were prepared at Abingdon (and the spec of my car seems to back that up) and I have been told he bought a lot of 2nd hand stuff from there as well, so he was obviously very well thought of by the comps department (and was a test driver at times) as his own 'private' cars were sometimes scoring points for the BMC works team on events.
Any info gratefully recieved.
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Mk 3 S Meister
MCR Member
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Posted: Wednesday September 28th, 2005 06:38 pm |
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170 TYD was still being raced by Geoff Mabbs in August 1965 - he competed in the Snetterton 500 kms along with Andrew Hedges and the car was reportedly prepared by Janspeed.
For some reason the car was badged as a Morris for this event although it is an Austin in every other picture I have seen.
In the mid to late 1960's CRX 89B was rallied by John Steadman who also came from the Bristol area so I guess he probably acquired the car from Mabbs.
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lengib
Member
| Joined: | Saturday October 1st, 2005 |
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| Posts: | 7 |
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Posted: Saturday October 1st, 2005 06:31 pm |
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[This may be a repeat of info "sent" earlier which I then lost in this new maze of technology!]
I have one reference - Geoff was in car 9 in 1962 RAC Rally and finished quite low down (63rd) after mechanical or accident problems causing long delays. This was in the days of Eric Carlson winning everything in a SAAB 2-stroke and when the big Healeys were coming into their own. Geoff's high seeding reflects his national and international rally successes at that time. Motor Sport Dec '62 reported that he was in an 850 (but the class Geoff was in was 851-1000cc, and he was definitely in a M-Cooper). Motor Sport also said he was going "slowly" in Dodd Wood. I was in this event and recall seeing his car off the track at one point. I later came across Geoff "shopping" at Abingdon for bits - I was paying for my parts at the ST "hatch" and in a brief chat outside after, he said that if you knew the right people the bits came quite a lot cheaper!
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Mark A
MCR Member
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Posted: Sunday October 2nd, 2005 05:38 pm |
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Len,
You sent me that info a while back and am grateful for it. It is the car I own (several bodyshells and engines later  ) which did the 1962 RAC seen below looking a bit sorry for it'self.
The comments about abingdon are similar to what I heard from the 2nd owner of my car who used to work for Geoff. He used to take the woks van to Abingdon leave an envelope with someone, pick the 'full' van up later.
 Last edited on Sunday October 2nd, 2005 05:39 pm by Mark A |
1071DK
MCR Member
| Joined: | Wednesday October 11th, 2006 |
| Location: | Denmark |
| Posts: | 3 |
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Posted: Saturday November 4th, 2006 09:50 pm |
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Mark A
Who ever your are.In the beginning of august 06,I meet a man named Richard Ashley at Silverstone.He told me, that he was the owner of a former Geoff Mabbs car. Maybe it was the 170 tyd car. If he was the standard nice person from MCR i would not be afraid of meeting anyone from the register.Why Should i.
Peter. Danish 1071 owner
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Mk 3 S Meister
MCR Member
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Posted: Sunday November 5th, 2006 09:13 am |
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| Richard Ashley owns a Green/White July 1964 Morris Cooper 998 registered 275 YYB.
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Mark A
MCR Member
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Posted: Thursday October 11th, 2007 09:32 pm |
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Don't know how I missed the video link in THIS THREAD from July.
58secs in is footage of Mabbs in 170TYD on the 1965 Monte.
 Last edited on Thursday October 11th, 2007 09:33 pm by Mark A |
618AOG
Member
| Joined: | Tuesday March 14th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 205 |
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Posted: Friday October 12th, 2007 10:49 am |
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These are all Somerset registrations. I had 199VYB, an Almond green thing with Cooper S 1275 running gear. It had been a rally car of some description although I very much doubt it had any Geoff Mabbs connection. I found it rotting behind what used to be a Volvo dealer on the Newbury to Andover road in the mid '80's.
I did the decent thing and stripped it, scrapped the shell and sold the V5 to someone who wanted the registration number.
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mini mabbs
Member
| Joined: | Sunday November 11th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 3 |
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Posted: Sunday November 11th, 2007 02:39 pm |
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heya,
i came across this by chance, but i am his grandson ollie mabbs - godfrey, my mum is his youngest daughter tanya. 
he will have been dead 24 years ago, and as i am 15, i never met or knew him, but i have learned alot about him.
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taffy1967
Member
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Posted: Monday November 12th, 2007 12:41 pm |
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| It must be great having a famous grandad. Is there currently any Minis in your family today?
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mini mabbs
Member
| Joined: | Sunday November 11th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 3 |
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Posted: Monday November 12th, 2007 05:35 pm |
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well i only really started knowing about his driving since i was about 12, i never knew so many people were interested in him!
well at the moment, there is only 1 mini in our family, which is a newer mini cooper, which my aunt owns.
my mum is looking into getting 1, and as my first car i would love one!
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ben.summerfield
Member
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Posted: Monday November 12th, 2007 08:13 pm |
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| u gotta get a mini as your first car!
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ben.summerfield
Member
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Posted: Monday November 12th, 2007 08:14 pm |
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| u gotta get a mini as your first car!
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taffy1967
Member
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Posted: Monday November 12th, 2007 08:16 pm |
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Go for it Ollie and tell your mum that you want to follow in your grandads footsteps. I bet that will make her raise her eyebrows.
If your interested in real/proper Minis then check out my own Mini history/celebration website because it'll give you a quick run through on all the UK based models and variants that were made. You'll have to excuse the pop-ups and adverts (unless you're using Firefox), but I hope to host it elsewhere soon: -
http://minis.freeservers.com/
Last edited on Monday November 12th, 2007 08:17 pm by taffy1967 |
mini mabbs
Member
| Joined: | Sunday November 11th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 3 |
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Posted: Monday November 12th, 2007 08:27 pm |
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i would love a mini, they are the coolest cars ever to have been made
it would be pretty awesome to be a mini rally driver, 1 problem, i need to learn to drive! 
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taffy1967
Member
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Posted: Monday November 12th, 2007 11:33 pm |
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Well your amazing grandad is all the inspiration you need and so is the Mini. But their very addictive though and you may become hooked for life.
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PeteC
Member
| Joined: | Saturday September 29th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 5 |
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Posted: Thursday November 29th, 2007 10:21 pm |
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Doesn't Geoff still hold the fastest time for the Ffarmers Road Selective?
I seem to remember he set an average speed in the high 60s mph over this classic South Wales rally road. Does anyone know the rally/event/date? I have an inkling I may have been either a Cilwedeg Rally or a Sarn Helen Rally. Both used roads in the area and were important (Motoring News rounds) road rallies until the authorities stepped in in the 1980s and the use of ex-works cars was effectively banned on road rallies. The results sheets of course would have shown only a 30mph average (the legal maximum) because Taga Timing hid the high averages set by the organisers and achieved by the competitors who cleaned the selections.
Anyone with insider info out there?
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