Competition vehicle Unregistered

Chassis no. M2-300-01

- Designed at John Wyer’s famous JWA team

- Won at Imola in 1969, driven by Jacky Ickx

- Prepared for the 2026 Peter Auto event in Qatar, ready to be driven

Jacky Ickx was first over the line! John Wyer’s bet had paid off, with the first win posted by his Mirage M3 (the car offered here), at the Imola 500 Km in September 1969. Admittedly, the race did not count for the Constructors’ World Championship, but the previous month Ickx had taken pole position at Zeltweg, the final round in the championship.

Alas, two weeks after this triumph at Imola, Wyer announced the end of the Mirage programme in favour of a new agreement with Porsche to race its formidable 917s. It was the death knell for the Mirage M3, just when it had demonstrated its full potential, but for the English team manager, it was the start of a new adventure which would be marked by many victories in Gulf’s famous blue and orange colours.

 

The same colours sported by the Mirage cars since 1967, after Wyer set up John Wyer Automotive with John Willment and signed a sponsorship agreement with Gulf. The change in the regulations in 1968, which limited the engine capacity in the Sport-prototype category to 3 litres and in the Sports category to 5 litres, led to the departure of top teams such as Ferrari and Ford, but gave the English team the opportunity to race its GT40s in the Sports category while it developed a new prototype. Wyer hoped to equip this with the new 3-litre Ford V8 which Cosworth had just developed for Formula 1, but Ford refused to sell it to him. For his first prototype, known as the Mirage M2 (the Mirage M1 was a modified GT40, competing in the Sports category), Wyer therefore turned to the V12 BRM engine and gave Len Terry responsibility for the design. While the team’s GT40s racked up a string of successes (including winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the World Championship), development of the prototype was delayed due to an accident and it made its first appearance on 13 April 1969 at Brands Hatch, driven by Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver. Its results were undistinguished, but Wyer was finally able to get the Cosworth V8 and installed it in chassis M2-001, which was reserved for testing. On 1 June at the Nürburgring 1000 Km, the Mirage-Ford driven by Ickx/Oliver proved significantly quicker than the Mirage-BRM (chassis 003) of Hobbs/Hailwood, although neither car finished.

 

Another new development in the regulations gave the English team a further boost: prototypes were no longer required to have a large windscreen, so JWA decided to convert the coupé M2-001 into a spyder by removing the roof and fitting a small aero screen. This modification, combined with a tubular structure specially designed to accommodate the Cosworth V8 and changes to the suspension, made it possible to reduce the weight of the car (now known as the M3) and improve its handling. The Mirage had finally reached the culmination of its development, and it was with this car that Ickx dominated the race at Zeltweg, holding the lead for 99 laps before he had to retire, and then winning at Imola the following month.

 

The engine was subsequently replaced by a V8 from a GT40 and the car was prepared by Wyer (with a front-mounted radiator) in case the Porsche 917 programme fell through. It was then sold to Ian Richardson, who kept it for about ten years before restoring it and selling it on. In 1996-1997, it was successfully returned to its Cosworth DFV V8 specification by Vintage Racing Motors and in 2008, it was sold by Hall & Hall to Jacques Nicolet, a well-known figure in historic racing, who used it on several occasions. In his words, “It is an extraordinary car. It’s quick in a way that doesn’t really correspond to its period, and its chassis is formidably effective. It has safe handling and is very easy to drive.”

 

Currently in its 1969 configuration with the Cosworth engine and Hewland gearbox, the car was recently prepared for the Peter Auto race which was due to be held in Qatar in March 2026 but was cancelled. Two bills from Slick Management & Racing and WDB Engineering for a total of nearly 40,000 € testify to the work carried out on the chassis and engine. Eligible for historic racing events and ready to be driven, the car will be sold with two crates of parts (we invite interested buyers to check the details in its history file) as well as several sets of wheels and tyres.

It also comes with a valuation report from 2019 which provides additional historical information, a document presenting the car, further historical background, extracts from books on the history of Gulf, Wyer and Mirage, a certificate of conformity for the fuel tank, a request for an HTP dating from 2008 and the bills mentioned above.

 

A car designed by one of the most famous private racing teams in the 1960s and ‘70s, which proved itself by winning at Le Mans in the hands of Jacky Ickx, the future ‘Monsieur Le Mans’, this Mirage M3 took pole position in a round of the World Championship and won a non-championship race. An icon of the 3-litre prototype years, it is ready to continue its career at the top historic race meetings, where it is sure to be at the front of the grid.

Photos © Jean-Marie Biadatti