Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2022 i Mini Magazine

Acouple of months since his passing, it’s still hard to believe that Paddy Hopkirk is gone. That vivacious, talented and ever-generous character was a legend among mortals – a vital element of the Mini story, and one of life’s all-round good guys. The news of his death broke shortly after our last issue went to print, which is why you didn’t find any mention of it in issue 331; however, our wider Classics World family posted a stirring tribute online, which you can read by putting bit.ly/3S4tlbS into your browser. Go well, old friend. Onto this month’s issue, and we’ve got an absolute corker of a cover car for you. We’ve been trying to pin Mollie down for a shoot since we saw her fresh build break onto the scene…

Five crews started the 70 miles of demanding roads at the Pembrokeshire Motor Club’s Brawdy stages. Leading the Minis away were Clive King and Anton Bird, followed by his son Craig King with last-minute co-driver Owen Thomas. Harvey Stevens with Andrew Selly were the third Mini away, then Ryan Taylor with Lucy Wilding, and Shane Gamble with Bob Ward. The first stage consisted of long straights followed by tight narrow roads. First to hit problems was Clive who cooked the brakes five miles in; Craig had the same problem but managed to keep the pedal from going to the floor until about two miles to go. Ryan managed to keep the brakes working until the finish and set the quickest pace to take the lead. Harvey, running on 12” wheels…

When you’re planning out a project build, there are a number of triedand-tested approaches you might take. Some opt for track thrills, with performance tuning and chassis mods to suit. Others might go for a full-on show car, featuring gleaming coachwork and one-of-a-kind upgrades. A usable daily driver in a relatively standard spec might be just the ticket. The Mini we have here, however, followed an amusingly specific design brief, the likes of which we hadn’t heard before: the aim was to create a Mini that could be rapidly and comfortably driven from the north of England to Vienna in one hit. This was to be a luxurious grand tourer, shrunken down to Issigonis proportions; a high-end restomod in the style of a Singer 911 or similar, sumptuously and gorgeously…

Phillip Wall began grasstrack racing way back in 1976 with an almost standard £25 Mini. Fastforward 46 years and he’s still as enthusiastic about the sport as ever, only his latest 120bhp build is a totally different animal! It’s no secret that the humble Mini has had its fair share of success in motorsport throughout the decades. That agile go-kart handling and the tuning potential of the trusty A-Series has been adapted to suit a diverse selection of racing, whether that be on tarmac or dirt. Yet when we are asked to conjure up an image of a Mini in motorsport, so often its Paddy Hopkirk’s Monte Carlo winning Cooper or the David vs Goliath saloon car battles of the ’60s that seem to spring to mind first. It’s too…

One of the very rarest official special editions, only thirty(ish) examples of the Cooper S Sport 5 were built. The number in the name refers to the gearbox, as this model came from the factory with a Jack Knight fivespeed gearbox; John Cooper Garages had been offering such a conversion since 1997, but in 1999 Rover decided to adopt the concept as an official model, albeit in absurdly low volumes. Interestingly, the gearbox wasn’t the same spec as a straight-cut ’box available from Jack Knight on the aftermarket; no, this one had helical gears and full synchromesh – the first four gears were standard Mini spec, with the fifth gear being an overdrive ratio. Fitted with the Rover Sports Pack along with Cooper S Sport 5 decals, it was an…

uniqueness is a quality we all strive for with our project cars. Whether it be trying new ideas, remixing formulas or doggedly pursuing the off beat, it’s testament to the creativity of the scene that we constantly find such diversity. And if you really want to do something different, it only takes a minor deviation from store-bought off-the-shelf parts before you find yourself tumbling down a rabbit-hole of home-made custom work. Depending on the skill level of the individual, this can go very right or very, very wrong, but it’s safe to say that with James Brooks calling the shots, this R56 JCW is in safe hands. “I spent the last twenty years inventing and selling tactical thermal imaging cameras to special forces, and fully integrated helmets…

Carl Sagan, the eminent astronomer and cosmologist, once came out with this beguilingly mind-bending quote: “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” It’s a troubling notion for anyone of a creative persuasion, as it effectively strikes the concept of true originality firmly off the board. What he was getting at is that everything that exists is sitting at the end of a very long chain of actions and consequences; if you truly wish to take something back to first principles, it’s not just a case of unscrewing all the bits and seeing how it works. True originality can only come from jump-starting the second big bang and creating a whole new universe for yourself, crossing your fingers and hoping against hope…

GET LISTED Email minimag.ed@kelsey.co.uk to let us know about any upcoming events. Due to the uncertainty surrounding Covid, please be aware that events are subject to change. Keep an eye on the organisers’ websites to stay up to date with any developments. 10th-11th September International Beaulieu Autojumble Multi-marque event at Beaulieu Motor Museum in Hampshire. www.beaulieu.co.uk 11th September Mini Fest at Stanford Hall Superb Mini show hosted by the British Mini Club. There’ll be a show-and-shine, concours judging, traders, club stands and displays. www.britishminiclub.co.uk 16th-18th September Goodwood Revival ‘A magical step back in time’. Don your period garb and prepare for some of the finest Mini racing you’ll see all year. https://www.goodwood.com/motorsport/goodwood-revival/ 17th-18th September Isle of Wight Adventure A friendly event by West Country Minis, with option to stay from…

PROJECT PROFILE THE OWNER NAME: Charlie Bennett AGE: 25 OCCUPATION: Parts Advisor LOCATION: Canterbury THE CAR: CAR: 1985 Austin Mini 1000 START CONDITION: Rusty but running, with a fibreglass front end CONDITION NOW: Very solid, with a proper flip-front TIME TAKEN SO FAR: 7 years ESTIMATED TIME OF COMPLETION: Not too long, hopefully! Working as a Parts Advisor at a Volkswagen dealership, Charlie Bennett spends all day around cars… but the electronic trickery of a modern VW is a world apart from working on a classic Mini. One can be tuned with a laptop, the other with a hammer and some creative swearing. And given that he’s always had a hankering for an old Mini of his very own, it’s hardly surprising that Charlie was keen to pick up a…

Brands Hatch celebrated Britain’s favourite small car with its dedicated Mini Festival on Sunday 7th August. The event showcased all aspects of the Mini from the earliest models right up to the very latest MINIs. The cars on display were eclectic to say the least – Minis with bodyshells on struts, pickups with outrageously powerful Honda engines, and some low-down examples of the newest John Cooper Works variants. The trade stands showcased pretty much any part you could want for your classic, while the merch stands were busier than ever with all sorts of Mini regalia. The main part of the show was on track; the Kent circuit is perfectly set up for the Mini Miglias, Se7ens, pre-1966 racing, and of course the Fastest Mini in the World race, featuring…

Ignoring his dad’s advice, Dylan Hudson went ahead and bought himself a 1992 Rover Mini Sprite just after he passed his driving test. That cool paint job, plush interior and detailed engine bay with the addition of a turbo tells us this would turn out to be no ordinary first car. When your dad restores classics for a living, it’s highly likely you’ll end up with a classic as a first car. For 18-year-old Dylan, the iconic Mini came top of his list despite repeated advice from dad, Scott, that a newer Fiesta diesel would prove to be more practical. “My dad works on old cars all the time and knows most of them inside-out,” he tells us. “He’s not a massive fan of Minis and would have preferred it…

1998 was a pretty eventful year. The summer was a bit of a scorcher, work began on the Millennium Dome, the DVD format officially went on sale, and we saw the fresh new two-tone £2 coins for the first time. Geri Halliwell’s Union Jack dress sold at auction for a particularly thirsty £41k, and the hatchback market was treated to the new Peugeot 206, Mk1 Ford Focus and Mk4 Vauxhall Astra. In August, the cinemas were showing Blade, Saving Private Ryan and There’s Something About Mary, while HMV started stocking the boxfresh Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, with Mansun’s iconic album Six following shortly afterwards. And Mini Magazine? Capturing the zeitgeist as ever, we had a full-on kustom Mini on the cover - chopped, dropped, ready to rock… 1 2 3…

the bridge between classic Minis and modern MINIs is a robust and welltrodden one. There’s a natural thought progression from one to another, an evolution in desires and aspirations, whether it’s the newer car replacing the older or simply a case of the two sitting side-by-side on the driveway. For Paul Mcloughlin, the Issigonis inf luence stretches way back to his first car; “I passed my test in a Fiesta, but I like to think I really learned to drive in a Mini,” he muses. The car in question was a 1975 Mini 1000, which Paul transformed over time into a Cooper lookalike. “I’ve loved Minis since I was a teenager,” he says, “and once you’ve owned one the bug really bites. The Mini scene and Mini owners are like…

Atribute to the success of BMC and British Leyland rally and sports cars, Abingdon Works Motorsport Celebration is run by the Mini Cooper Register (MCR) and the Historic Marathon Rally Group (HMRG) and was again a feature of this year's BMC & Leyland Show at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon. A display of over 50 cars included a collection of 15 ex-Works, period and competition Minis organised by MCR's Warwickshire region, the oldest being Patrick Walker's 1962 Morris Mini Cooper, 977 ARX, which finished third in the 1963 Monte Carlo Rally. Another car that created a lot of interest was the 1963 Austin Mini Cooper S, 24 PK, which competed as one of the very few privateers in several of the major international rallies in the early 1960s; its…

Round 9 of the Se7en / S Class saw the front row pairing of Mike Jordan and Connor O’Brien lead away, followed by Ross Billison, with Matthew Ayres, Chris Prior and Ryan Taylor keenly disputing the S-Class lead. The scrap saw Taylor rise to head the order; Ollie Handley came to a halt on the inside kerbing at the Old Hairpin, prompting a two-lap Safety Car period; once the race resumed, Billison retained the lead slot, despite constant pressure by Jordan, making his move at the Old Hairpin on the penultimate lap to clinch victory by a slim 0.215s. O’Brien found a way past Jo Polley to claim 3rd by 0.556s. Ayres recorded his second S-Class victory, after an action-packed race to get the weekend off to a flying start.…

Name: Jon Spriggs Car: Cooper Sports LE Location: UK ■ Jon’s Cooper Sports LE is something a little bit special. Nicknamed Ellie (LE/Ellie, see?) this is a particularly rare model as just 100 of these were built for the UK market in 1998 – fifty in Black, fifty in Brooklands Green. At least, those are the official numbers, although allegedly the ratio was actually skewed more towards the green cars. Anyway, Jon’s green example may be a supremely rare special edition, but that certainly doesn’t mean it’s a pampered garage queen. No, he takes it on lengthy road trips all over Europe… and he even ambled in front of our Jason Dodd’s camera recently, so you can expect a full feature on this nineties treat very soon.…

The creative tension between form and function has sat at the core of project car builds from the very beginning of modifying itself. Ever since Karl Benz looked at his Patent-Motorwagen back in 1885 and thought ‘You know what, I might stick another wheel on that’ [facts may vary, consult a historian], there’s been a quagmire of internal wrangling: do I make it go faster, or look better? Of course, if you’re doing it properly, it’s entirely possible to achieve both at once. Behold the 1275 GT you see before you. Staggeringly attractive, isn’t it? It looks like the sort of thing Darth Vader would tear about in when he grows weary of annihilating planets and pops off for half an hour to annihilate some hydrocarbons instead. And yet, despite…

With a back catalogue that includes over 60 years of tinkering, there are all manner of ways in which you can improve a Mini and just as many different opinions as to which are the best. But while we don’t claim to know what is best for everyone, here at Mini Mag we can rely on more than 25 years of experience on what it takes to make sure your Mini goes properly in all weathers, stops, and is as comfortable and as uncompromised as possible. Here, then, are ten of the best mods when it comes to improving the safety or usability of your pride and joy. “Don’t get lulled into thinking that good tread depth means it’s a good tyre” FIT DECENT TYRES When it comes to tyres,…

A power-to-weight ratio of 550bhp-per-tonne. Just think about that for a moment. That’s exactly the figure that was quoted for the McLaren F1 – ahypercar so improbably rapid that no-one even bothered to try to make anything faster for a generation. And yet here’s that tantalising figure wrapped up in the diminutive form of a classic Mini; no central driving position here, no space for your golf clubs, no premium Kenwood audio… just visceral performance, ludicrous agility, sweaty palms and white knuckles. Yes, it takes a special kind of lunacy to put this sort of power into a Mini and then gum a pair of number plates to it – but without people like this in the world, how would anything ever move forward? Chris Vincent is the man responsible…