Mildren (racing cars)
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The Mildren name was used on a series of racing vehicles constructed for, or acquired by, Australian racing team owner Alec Mildren during the 1960s and early 1970s.
The Mildren Maserati was a one-off sports car which was built in 1964, utilizing a clone of a Lotus 19 chassis with components from a Cooper T51 and a 2.9 litre Maserati Type 61 engine.[1] The chassis was constructed by Bob Britton, who also produced racing cars under the Rennmax name.[2] The car was driven to victory in the 1965 Victorian Sports Car Championship by Kevin Bartlett.[3] It was also favoured to win the 1965 Australian Tourist Trophy[4] in the hands of Frank Gardner, but it failed to start the race after an engine failure in a preliminary heat.[5]
The Mildren Maserati was sold to Tasmanian Ross Ambrose in 1966 and was subsequently fitted with a 2.2-litre Coventry Climax engine and raced as the Rennmax-Climax.[1] In 1969 Ambrose had the car re-engined with a 4.4 litre Traco-Oldsmobile powerplant and then race it as the Traco-Rennmax.[1]
The Mildren Waggott was a space frame[6] open wheeler racing car built by Bob Britton for Alec Mildren Racing, as one of a number of cars built to the Rennmax BN3 design, which itself was derived from the Brabham BT23.[7] Originally powered by a 1.6 litre Alfa Romeo engine, the car was driven by Max Stewart in the 1969 Tasman Series and was subsequently fitted with a 1.6 litre Waggott.[7] Stewart drove the car to victory in the 1969 Australian Formula 2 Championship, the 1970 Australian Formula 2 Championship and the 1971 Australian Drivers' Championship,[8] with a 2.0 litre Waggott engine being used to win the third title.[9] Stewart also won the 1972 Singapore Grand Prix with the car which was Ford powered for this race.[10]
The Mildren Mono was a monocoque open wheeler racing car which was designed by Len Bailey and built by Alan Mann Racing.[11] The car debuted in 1968 at Warwick Farm Raceway in the hands of Frank Gardner, powered by a 2.5 litre Alfa Romeo V8 engine (the same used in Alfa's 1967 model T33/2 endurance racing sports car).[11] Kevin Bartlett drove the car to victory in the 1969 Australian Drivers' Championship utilizing the Alfa Romeo engine and 4 cylinder, four valve per cylinder Waggott engines of 1850cc and 2 litre capacity.[11]
The Mono was later raced as a Ford powered Australian Formula 2 car by Ray Winter,[12] finishing third in the rain-affected 1975 Australian Grand Prix at Surfers Paradise against a field composed primarily of "Formula 5000" cars.[13]
The car was commonly referred to as the "Yellow Submarine",[11] due to the Mildren team cars generally being painted yellow.
The Mildren Chevrolet was a Chevrolet powered monocoque Formula 5000 racing car, designed by Len Bailey with assistance from Frank Gardner.[14] The car was driven by Kevin Bartlett in the 1970 Australian Grand Prix, but failed to finish.[15] It was also driven by Bartlett in the 1971 Tasman Series, with Bartlett placing seventh in that series.[14]
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