Craig's MDA Mk.II GT40 build site		Last update 2nd Sept'08

Thank you for visiting the build site of my MDA GT40 MK.II.   I hope you find it informative, and if you find any shortcuts or information that helps you in your own build then I am pleased to know it has done its job. In the summer of 2006 I decided to pursue a long term plan of mine and build myself a replica of a 60's supercar. My choices were either 250GTO, Miura or GT40. The end result had to be fairly close in looks and specification  to the original (an original of any of the three was WAY out of my budget). After much digging about through magazines and the internet the choice came down to just the GT40 as I couldn't find a good looking replica of the two Italian Marques that had a V12 option (a few nice looking ones out there - but no V12 heart!!!). So why a Mk.II? As many of you will no doubt know the majority of GT40 replicas on the market are based on the Mk.I model (both standard and "Gulf arched"). As a huge McLaren fan (the Formula One™ team) I had decided to build a replica of one of Bruce McLaren's cars. Bruce had driven several of the early "GT" series of cars, (but none of these have yet to have the bodywork available to replica builders), and the 1966/67 Mk.IIs (a few of these were starting to be available so this was my starting point). The choice came down to replica manufacturer and then specification and colour. The spec was down to the following choices. Chassis P1011 at Daytona '66, chassis P1012 at the '66 Le Mans trials, chassis P1046 at Le Mans '66 and finally P1012 again at Daytona '67. Both Daytona cars were ruled out as I didn't like the flat nose on the 1966 version and the 1967 carried modified bodywork which again ruled it out (nice livery though). Given these constraints my choice was obvious and I started researching the 1966 Le Mans winner. The replica manufacturer was slightly more difficult. At the time ERA, MDA, RCR and Superformance (in alphabetical order) were offering Mk.II products, although Tornado contacted me to say they were thinking about one. Due to my budget (a full steel mono was out) and ease of availability in the UK at the time, MDA came to the front. I visited Mark Sibley a couple of times in Exeter and had a good look around his new Series II space frame chassis that had rolled out earlier in 2006 and finally put a deposit down. The rest is detailed through out the site. I hope you enjoy the visit. Cheers Craig