Cooper
Although only the T90 was built specifically for F5000, a number of unidentified
Coopers ran in Formula A in the US in the late 1960's and three ex-F1 cars were converted
to F5000 in the UK: a Cooper T66, a Cooper T86B and a Cooper T86C. Like its contemporaries, the McLaren M10A and the Surtees TS5, the T90 was derived from a 1968 F1 design but the lack of works development and the closure of Cooper meant it had little chance of success.
The earliest Formula A Cooper of note was the Cooper-Alfa with which Ed Mackey took second place in the 1966 Run-Offs. This is likely to have been an ex-Junior car but the later, bigger cars are more of a mystery.
The US Formula A Cooper entries in 1967 and 1968 include Tom Jones' Cooper T83-Climax V8, Walt Mathewson's 
amazing 1960 Cooper T51 witha Ferrari 625LM engine,more Climax-powered cars with Jerry Wilson, Paul Wigton (later with a Chev) and Guy Wooley, the Cooper Ansen-Chevy of Clint Cavin, the Cooper-Chev of Spurgeon May and the mystery car of Tom Wingett. Later, Gary Gove and Tom Masterson appeared in a Cooper T53-Chev that had originally built for hill climbs in Northern Ireland. Brian Haupt also ran a Cooper-Climax in SCCA racing for many seasons in the Kansas/Oklahoma area.
There was also a "F5000" Cooper in Scottish hill climbs, shown on the right, where Andrew Goodfellow (Falkirk) put a 4.7-litre Chevrolet V8 in an ex-F3 Cooper T76 for the 1969 season. The car ran for several seasons without major success but with great enthusiasm.
All and any help would be gratefully received. Please e-mail Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com
if you can add anything.
| Type | Years | Number built | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| T90 | 1969 | 3 | Based on the F1 T86B. Full details available |
Total number built: 3.