Marcos Mantis XP: The prototype from an English shed that lost its only race
In May 1968, a car the likes of which European motorsport had never seen before took to the starting line at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in pouring rain. A green arrow less than a meter tall, with wing doors and a Formula One engine under a transparent hood—the Marcos Mantis XP. It was built by two brothers in an English forge that usually forged garden fences. Its competitors were factory Porsche, Ford, and Alfa Romeo, with budgets in the millions.
The story of how a tiny company from a British village challenged the giants of the automotive industry, how a car drowned in its own cockpit, went to California to escape the tax authorities, and returned home 41 years later as a triumphant winner at the Goodwood Festival. A prototype that was decades ahead of its time, but lost its only race due to a hole in the plywood floor.