Printable View
Hi, another question of ''The Return of Power" period: In 1966 Kish Probert tried, and 1967 participated, at the Grand Prix of Rhodesia in a Cooper-Borgward T51. The car seemed to be an upgraded 1957 T43 and the engine a highly tuned Isabella TS touring car unit of unknown horse power. Other sources suggest a full racing RS motor, like Helmut Menzler used some years before. It definitely wasn't the same machinery.
Although Moss raced a Cooper-Borgward in the 1960 South African GP, I believe the engine was on loan from Borgward. It is extremely unlikely that they would have left any of the pukka RS engines behind in South Africa. The odds are it was a tuned touring car engine.
All Cooper chassis were very similar and readily modified. It would take an expert examining it to make an informed guess as to its ancestry. Given the availability of racing machinery and the level of local skills, I would expect it was an upgraded T43.