By way of introduction I am the current owner of FMO 106, purchased from eBay in March 2018.
My understanding is that the car had previously been restored by a member on here, but with the wider anticipated road usage a full nut and bolt rebuild has been undertaken completing in July this year. It is testament to the previous work how easy it was to disassemble, even so the full rebuild took approximately 300 hours with highlights being; replacing the original tyres which had taken on the consistency of Bakelite, gearbox rebuild including black treacle like grease, brake rebuild with new cables/linings, and replacement of the 5 chains use for drive/steering. The colour was also changed from green to blue.
As with many restorations it is as much about the journey as the destination, and once complete how it would not just relegated to the garage for occasional sunny evenings. At this point the original Autocar review (attached) came to the rescue, with the article stating "The independent rear suspension, for instance, has much in common with the system used on a very different type of car, the racing Maseratis" the answer was obvious.... Motorsport.
An initial perusal of racing options showed opportunities to be limited. Whilst qualifying for the Bikesports championship with its BSA engine there were concerns that, regardless of the Maserati derived suspension, with only 250cc and 7.5hp we would struggle to regularly run in the top three against other bike engined cars, particularly with their more modern 1100cc motorcycle engines. A single make series was considered which would guarantee a top three place but with one of the other cars believed to be in the USA this proved prohibitively expensive.
Moving away from circuit racing became the only option, with rallying and drifting also discounted, Hill Climb became the target. With the ability of the "surprisingly comfortable and lively" Larmar never in doubt but still wanting to ease ourselves into the Hill Climb arena an entry was hastily penned to the Shere Hill Climb (
https://www.sherehillclimb.co.uk/). Whilst not timed but potentially more challenging due to its greater length than Prescott or Shelsley Walsh this would provide an excellent shake down for a car that had only previously shaken down on the way to the pub. With the entry ballot survived, for which we are eternally grateful, race day was soon upon us.
Though an untimed event, to the trained eye the Larmar did suffer in both initial acceleration and top speed when compared to the Mercedes AMG GTR, Ford GT40, and Jaguar E Type also taking part. However, faultlessly completing four full runs has shown that there is a future for the Larmar in Hill Climb, with each run including the 5 mile loop back to the start giving a total of almost 25 trouble free miles on the day. Whilst motorsport pedigree can only add to the value and rarity of FMO 106 it has been decided to continue to campaign it where possible as opposed to mothballing or presenting for static display.
Race day footage can be found at
https://youtu.be/hvHRrGozLmA (Hill Climb)
https://youtu.be/qwwlFmUD5p4 (return to the start)
Happy to post up some restoration pictures if they would be of interest.
Thanks
Paul
