Description:

We have the pleasure to offer this late specification Argo JM19D Group C(2) car for sale.

Argo Racing Cars Ltd was a British racing car constructor founded in the 1980s by Swiss designer Jo Marquart and British mechanic Nick Jordan as part of their Anglia Cars racing team. The company initially constructed a variety of single-seater cars for Formula 3, Formula Atlantic and Formula Super Vee but later on built sports prototypes for the World Sportscar Championship C2 class and the North American IMSA GT Lights category winning several championships in the process.

The JM19 was the second sports prototype design from the company and followed the successful JM16 with this particular car, chassis 129, the eighteenth of nineteen JM19s and was built to “D” spec, the second of only three cars built as such. It was sold by Jo Marquart of Argo Cars Ltd Suisse to Helmut Bross of Herrenberg, Germany in the early summer of 1989. Helmuth Bross was a former car salesman and clerk who excelled in Formula Vee early in his career, but he also had a long career in many disciplines including Interserie and most of the time he acted as his own mechanic and team boss. JM19D/129 was one of four cars in the Bross Racing stable and as well as being raced by Bross himself over the following nine seasons, many rent-a-drivers took their turn.

A solid and reliable enough performer, the car often finished in the top 10. By far the most successful behind the wheel was British driver David Coyne who finished 2nd in the Brands Hatch Interserie race in 1990, and later on in 1993, David won a British National event at Castle Combe recording JM19D/129C’s only ever win. Main sponsors through the year were Valvoline Oil, the Druck Chemie pharmaceutical company, Angles Jeans and Hotsound Records, the Rotterdam based dance label founded in 1981 by Erik van Vliet who raced JM19D/129C for a few races in 1992 managing a respectful 7th place finish at the Zolder Interserie.

In late '97 the car was converted to WSC spider spec and fitted with a Ford Cosworth DFR engine wassold to Swiss driver Josef "Sepp" Sacher who campaigned the Argo under the Sacher Motorsport banner in the Swiss championship in 1997 and '98 with the car being looked after by Heinz Hunziker. In 1999, in what was his farewell year, former owner Helmuth Bross borrowed the car for one race, at Hockenheim where he finished 6th.

In 2009 the car was bought by the owner of ATEC Fluid Systems of Germany who created Argo Racing based in Stavelot, Belgium and prepared and entered two Lamborghinis in the German and FIA championships in 2009 and 2010. Fully rebuilt and re-painted yellow, JM19D/129C was scheduled and ready to take part in the Historic Group C championship until the ATEC/ARGO team owner unexpectedly passed away.

JM19D/129 was then garaged for the next three years in the Stavelot Museum at Spa-Francorchamps until bought by the current owner from the ATEC Estate in November 2012. A couple of days later the Argo was displayed at the Motor Sport World Expo held in Cologne, Germany. After a full ground up restoration and rebuild over the winter, JM19D/129C was taken along to the Spa Spring Test Day in April 2013 for a full shakedown and track test. The car has been very sparingly used since and is regularly maintained and started.

The engine is a 3.5 liter Cosworth DFR with electronic management which has been serviced by Geoff Richardson in August 2015 and has hardly been used since. The car is in excellent condition throughout and only needs crack testing, a new fuel cell and belts to go racing again; the estimated cost of which is less than Euro 10k.

JM19/129C, located in Belgium, is well documented and comes with an extensive spares package including multiple wheel sets, pre-heating system, body work, gear-ratio's, uprights, radiator, drive shafts, etc.

If you are looking for a reliable and cost effective entry into Group C racing, this Argo JM19D 129C would be an excellent buy !

History: 

The complete race history is available on request.