Indholdsfortegnelse for January 2019 i Mini Magazine

As the much-missed Record Breakers presenter Roy Castle used to say “dedication is what you need”, and that’s certainly what we’ve shown getting Andrew and Chris Slade’s mega Mini Quattro car on to the pages of Mini Magazine. I’ve been aware of this incredible racer since it was built and raced abroad. So, I’m pleased to say everything came together eventually and you can enjoy eight pages, drinking in the unique features of this 800+bhp all-wheel drive racing Mini, starting on P42. If that’s not enough to get you ready for Christmas, we’ve also got a full feature on Darren Lane’s beautiful MkIII project Mini. Bought as a fire-damaged shell, Darren’s gone on to make his vision of a perfect, period track day warrior – boasting 110bhp from the Dutch…

Following the news that the premier Mini event of the summer season, Mini In The Park, is moving from Santa Pod to Oulton Park, Mini Magazine is pleased to announce that tickets have now been released and are on sale! Taking place on 18 August 2019, a weekend camping ticket will cost £22. Or if you’re just keen to visit the show on the Sunday, a ticket will set you back £15. Book your tickets now via the website at: www.minishow.co.uk.…

• At the end of May, it was announced that members of the Mini Moke Club will join fellow Mokers from across Europe in a special International Mini Moke Meeting (IMMM) based at the Nürburgring in 2019. And yes, the planned schedule includes a trip around one of the most famous motor circuits in the world, as well as visits to other landmarks in this the Eifel region, which is a beautiful part of Germany. To be part of this unique event, we’re told that UK Mokers should ensure that their club membership is up to date, then make a booking, with a £20 deposit, on the Moke Club website: www.mokeclub.org/forum/ or by emailing: hilary.leafe@mokeclub.org.…

This year’s Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, with Discovery, took place at Birmingham’s NEC on 9-11 November, and not only saw a whopping 300 clubs, but also a new hall, over 650 specialist exhibitors, a host of motoring celebs, and a great selection of Minis among the 3,000 cars. This year’s theme was ‘Built to Last’, and with many long-established clubs present, the Mini’s longevity was showcased in fine style. Two Minis rebuilt with British Motor Heritage’s new MkI bodyshells made their debuts. Taking centre stage on the BMH stand in Hall 2 was Heritage’s own Mini Cooper S, OYO 747F, which was used to provide master references for the prototype MkI shell that has been employed in the recent resurrection of the original car by specialist Somerford Mini. A…

BIRTHDAY TREAT Name: Edward Remmer Car: 1984 Mini City E Location: Newton Aycliffe • This is Miles, Edward Remmer’s 1984 Austin Mini City E. Miles was bought in 2008, amazingly as an 11th birthday present from Edward’s dad! After a few years of fun, it was time to give Miles the attention he deserved. So, Edward started out on a full restoration. Many horrors from previous owners were uncovered during the project, and many new panels were fitted as well, including new doors, front wings, front panel, inner and outer sills, half floorpans, a passenger door step, bonnet and boot floor corners — then, finally, Miles was solid! Following a full respray, Miles debuted his new look in the Show ‘n’ Shine at the 2018 London to Brighton Run, and…

Vauxhall 16-valve, check. Honda VTEC, check. Nissan K11, check. These are just three popular car engine conversions for Classic Minis. And we haven’t even got on to the bike engine conversions, that are currently very popular. But mention Audi power and Quattro-like four-wheel drive in Issigonis’s finest, and even the most hardened Mini enthusiast will probably go quiet. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible, as Andrew and Chris Slade’s racer proves. This isn’t the first Mini Andrew’s owned or raced, as his history goes back to local hillclimbs and sprints. He explains: “I did them in a 970 S back in the early 1970s, and the odd circuit meet in the Wendy Wools Series, when finances permitted, right up until the late ’70s, when marriage and children put a stop…

Back in the April 2018 issue we published a beginner’s guide to classic Mini motorsport, looking at costs and how to get involved. We touched upon the contrasts between a race Mini to a road-legal Mini, suggesting that they’re outwardly similar yet mechanically quite different. So how different really is a road car to a circuit racer and what’s to stop you from using race-spec parts on the road, and vice versa? There’s much to cover, so let’s start with the biggest component – the bodyshell… BODYSHELL Aside from the fancy graphics and paint, there’s very little to distinguish most circuit racing Mini bodyshells from their original road-going state, at least upon first inspection. And realistically you could fully prepare a race Mini bodyshell, then use it on the road,…

RACE JACKET £65 MED has designed a new race jacket to accompany its range of shirts and fleeces. The soft-shell jackets are a smart black design with embroidered logos from MED, Omega Pistons, Arrow Precision and Piper Cams. The high-quality three-layer jackets offer warmth and shower resistance during the colder months and are perfect for browsing the Mini shows or race meetings. As worn by many drivers in the Mini 7 Racing Club scene, these are available in men’s sizes from small to XL. • 01455 618464 • www.med-engineering.co.uk CHRISTMAS JUMPERS £25 Christmas jumpers – despite how silly you may look during the festive season, you cannot deny they’re a thing! Fancy some Classic Minis on your festive jumper? Well Ben from Minivation can help. He’s offering multiple Classic Mini…

Everyone needs a Mini project, I should know as I was bitten by the bug when I was 17, and despite many more Minis and MINIs coming and going from the Collins drive, I’m always on the lookout for another! Like me, Darren Lane, the owner of this 1974 MkIII, had owned a Classic Mini before this one. More standard than this one, it was a 1984 Mayfair and bought in the early ’90s, when he was in his early twenties and before he had children. “Since then I hadn’t owned one, but once the children were all grown up I decided I needed a project again,” Darren smiles. Darren lives on the Isle of Wight, where he admits the selection of Classic Minis for sale is limited, and in…

• We saw a new Mini show on the calendar this year - The Mini Barn Bash. And we’re happy to announce that after a successful 2018, the show will be returning to the Stonham Barns complex, in Suffolk, for 2019! Tickets are already on sale for next year’s event, which will take place over the weekend of 7-9 June 2019, and we’re told they’re selling strongly! For full details of the 2019 event and what the ISMOC have planned, check out the website at: http://ismoc.co.uk/MiniBarnBash.html. Plus the promo film at: https://youtu.be/WU79KFSfkd0.…

Jeff Smith has confirmed plans for a racing return in the Mini Se7en Championship. Former BTCC driver Smith, who was side-lined for over a year with multiple injuries following a huge accident at Croft in 2017, will return to a full season of racing in 2019. He’s joining the Mini Se7en Championship, along with partner Jo Polley, who will move up to the Mini Se7en S-Class following a successful season in the Super Mighty Minis. Looking forward to getting back behind the wheel for a championship assault, Smith commented: “After doing a couple of guest drives in Minis during the second half of this season people always say to me how does a little classic Mini compare to a BTCC car? But it’s all relative, you have less power but…

Since its inception, the Italian Job charity rally has raised almost £3 million for children’s charities. This year’s charity, Buttle UK, is raising money for its Chances for Children campaign, which provides beds for children that don’t enjoy the luxury of one for a proper night’s sleep. Last year we completed our first Italian Job together in our new MINI but this year we vowed to return in our Classic, a 1997 Sportspack MPi named ‘Ernie’, for the full-fat experience. Many of the Minis (and the Thames van with a top speed of 50mph!) elected to follow the service van route down through Belgium, Germany and Austria into Italy. Although the van follows a more direct route, most of the Minis scarpered into mainland Europe for off-piste adventures. Together with…

PROJECT PROFILE THE OWNER NAME: Gordon Brown AGE: 35 OCCUPATION: Coachbuilder LOCATION: Ayrshire, Scotland THE CAR: CAR: Mini Flame START CONDITION: Standard, in need of TLC CONDITION NOW: Not finished TIME TAKEN SO FAR: On and off for seven years ESTIMATED TIME OF COMPLETION: Hopefully summer 2019 Gordon Brown can remember wanting a Mini from a very young age, even going as far as doing drawings of how he wanted his Mini to look! Then, at the tender age of just 14, he got a Minivan to restore. Unfortunately, this project was never finished as the car was too far gone to be saved. But from that moment on, all the way until he bought this very saloon, he always planned to own another. However, it wasn’t until Gordon went…

The weekend of 19–21 October saw Minis from all over New Zealand converge on Wellington for the 24th Mini Nationals, hosted by the Minis of Wellington Owners Group (MOWOG Inc.). Activities began on the Friday with registration and a social gathering at the Trentham Event Centre. Minis that were taking part in the motorsport events were scrutineered at PD Automotive, a local Mini specialist’s workshop. Saturday morning saw just under 150 Minis entered into the Show ’n’ Shine, which was held on the capital’s waterfront. Minis of all shapes, sizes and colours were entered into 13 classes –ranging from completely original saloons, vans and Mokes, to highly-modified and race Minis. Rocker cover racing featured again, and as usual this proved very popular! The show was held right next to Te…

Disc brakes are a wonderful invention. They give a compact method of converting the kinetic energy of the car into heat. They also don’t need adjustment and it’s relatively simple to check the condition of the components whilst fitted to the car. As Mini production progressed, the size of the discs they used increased from an initial seven-inch, through 7.5-inches to 8.4-inches with the introduction of 12-inch wheels. The increase in size provides the opportunity for larger pads and therefore a greater surface area between the pad and the disc. This extra surface area gives more of a friction area which, in turn, has the potential to generate more heat. The larger disc gives more opportunity to lose this heat to the air around it. As an aside point, the…

You’d think that after spending most of the year at race circuits, in and around Minis, it would be refreshing to spend the ‘off season’ doing something completely different. Quite the opposite in fact - the action hasn’t stopped. First was a visit to a new motorsport experience day, back at Silverstone in the F1 paddock. Motorsport Days Live aimed to fill the void between static motorsport shows and full race weekends. We had a stand booked with the Mini 7 Racing Club so I thought best to go and help out. It turned out to be an excellent first outing for the show. Garages were divided up to allow various championships to showcase their cars, from Minis and Ford Kas to TCR saloon cars and carbon-fibre tub prototypes, with…

• Unless you’ve been asleep since before the last show season, you’ll be aware that 2019 is a big birthday year for the Classic Mini. So, why not celebrate the 60th birthday of your favourite marque, with thousands of other Mini enthusiasts, at the International Mini Meet (IMM), which is coming to the UK and Bristol in 2019! The 2019 IMM will take place at Washingpool Farm, Easter Compton, between the 8-12 August. The IMM is a yearly get-together for Classic Mini enthusiasts from around the world. The first one took place in Germany in 1978, but since then it’s been held in many different countries including Portugal in 2018. If you fancy a full weekend of IMM action in Bristol, a weekend ticket will cost you £80, which includes…

Competing over 12 challenging stages, our crews were certainly put to the test but the Cheviot Stages Rally was enjoyed by the majority of those competing. It was a bad event for Shane Gamble/Bob Ward who were plagued with a misfire on two separate occasions, resulting in fifth MC2 and seventh Mini overall. Peter Ellerby/Ben Anderson’s notorious bad luck continued to taunt them, after blowing a head gasket out competing at Flanders in Belgium, Peter has had the engine completely rebuilt and fitted with new pistons, only for the engine to seize after Stage 3 of the Cheviot! We would like to send our best wishes to Ian Clare/Antony Elkes, who suffered an accident on the event and have been recovering in Newcastle Hospital’s spinal unit - we’re happy to…

Hands up all those who can remember when a Mini was the second family car on the driveway. Cheap, compact, economical, and as reliable as any other small car of the day, a Mini was the obvious choice for a family with extra transport demands. There was room inside for 2.4 children plus another 1.6 if the school run was to be shared with the next door neighbour, and it made the perfect get-away car at the school gate. Ideal as an urban runabout, the Mini dodged through traffic with a giggle and shot into parking spaces which were four feet too short for most other cars. There was just about enough room for the weekly shopping, a gallon of four star stretched for miles, and nimble handling rewarded the…

White and black, it’s a Classic Mini Cooper colour combination and one that I’m particularly fond of. Why? Well, it’s the one I had on my first Classic Mini – a 1000cc Cooper replica. All too rare on later Coopers such as Ian Chilcot’s neatly-modded 1994 single-point injection car that we have here, I still have many fond memories of a visit to the original John Cooper Garage at Ferring, with mate and Mini Magazine contributor James Holland, in his white and black J-plate Cooper. It was my first experience of a ’90s Cooper and I have to admit I was a bit envious that ‘Tolly’, as he called this Mini, was his and he was just a year older than me! “I had always been interested in cars... I…

The odd bid in the Dutch Mini racing scene could be this autocross ’70s shelled Mini, which started life as an ordinary daily runaround. By the time Johan Booi got his hands on it, it was no longer drivable or even roadworthy. The previous owner had lost all paperwork and it was not possible to get the car taxed or back on the road. So Johan decided to do something different. Some six years ago, the idea was borne to enter the Mini into a cruel race of 500 laps on a dirt track. To get an easy ride they changed a little on the rear suspension with Honda parts. This worked and the car handled very well. Over the years the car was battered around and over the last…

ENGINE IDENTITY I have a question around engine numbers. I have been offered a Minivan which is suppose to have a Downtontuned engine in it. The problem is that I cannot find any reference to the engine number, RKM1114E****. I thought it might be a South African 1275 E motor but the oil filter is not high on the block. The head is a cooper S head with the 11 studs. Also the clutch housing has a funny extra rib near the breather that I have never seen before, could this be an A-plus end cover? I would value your thoughts for an ex-pat in Australia. Paul Tinley All we can tell you from what we know is that ‘RKM11...’ numbers were used as the later factory reconditioned Silver Seal…

How time flies! A year ago the plan was to have my Mini Marcos body shell fully restored and painted by the summer, pick it up from the UK and bring it over to Le Mans just for display and then carry on along the AutoRoute towards the southwest of France where the engine is being built. But things went very differently, as I have regaled in the pages already! To bring us up to date, the Netherlands-based body restorer turned out to be a great find. The front, floor and balsa wood sections were all painstakingly restored back to their original guise, and the many cracks on the car’s roof, sills and sides have also been drilled out with a Dremel, sanded down and covered with a thin layer…

I have to throw stuff away on a regular basis, but I surprised myself recently when I threw away three bodyshells. One had been out in the open for 20 years, another had been under the back of a lorry and written off, and the third was the ’69 Clubman that I got months ago, all having donated parts. I also had to clear out my mechanical scrap and ended up taking 1.25 tonnes of dead bits to the scrapyard. There, sadly, was a Riley 1.5 sat forlornly but at least on its side and therefore not about to be crushed. However, I wanted to get out to play. The HSCC has an end-of-term bash where you can have a race with whatever aged car you have; one race for…