Daren Mk.3

The Daren Mk.3 and Mk.4 are the third and fourth sports prototype racing cars built by Daren Cars (now Hydrautug).

Daren Cars was founded in 1967, and first produced a car in the Mk.1 in 1968. John Green built the car for racing based on a Merlyn MK11 Formula Ford. The car would be so successful, winning 4 races, that John Green started getting requests to build more Mk.1s, and as such the Mk.2 was born, with only one Mk.1 ever being made. The cars were made with "Martin" branded Cosworth FVD engines, with 8 being made in 1968-1970. In 1970, Daren started development for the Mk.3 as based on the Mk.2, but now fitted with a BRM V8. Six Mk.3s would be built, with an original selling price of £2,500 as a rolling chassis (no engine or gearbox). The BRM V8 used in the car is bored out from stock 2.58 mm (0.102 in), upping the total displacement to 2,136 cc (130.3 cu in) for a total bore and stroke of 71.08 mm × 50.8 mm (2.798 in × 2.000 in).^[1][2][3]

Drivers included Hugh Dibley, Alan Rollinson, Martin Davidson, Martin Raymond, Jack Wheeler, Arthur Collier, Charles Graemiger, Jeremy Lord, Keith Norman, John Green, Clive Baker, Peter Hanson, Roger Enever, Ian Bracey, Jean-Pierre Adatte.

In 1973, with a lack of orders, and Daren would shut down. The Daren Mk.4 was an unofficial designation of an evolution model of the Daren Mk.3, built by Martin Raymond. The car would debut at the 1974 Vila Real endurance race but would suffer a crash and would not be rebuilt. The car would be fit with a Cosworth FVC. The car would be fitted with a similar body to that of the Mk.3, but it would be smaller by 1.12 m (44.1 in). However this smaller body was made of Aluminium instead of Fiberglass, which meant it would only be 25 kg (55 lb) lighter instead of the projected 60 kg (132 lb) that Martin Raymond was promising.^[5][6][4][1]