Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2020 i Mini Magazine

We're already starting to get excited about 2020, and as you'll see elsewhere in this issue, our plans for the year - and more specifically, the Minis we plan to enjoy - are already coming together. A new car has joined the Mini Magazine fleet, and I can't wait to get my hands dirty on this one. We spend a lot of time around tuned and race prepared cars, and I have to admit, the thought of actually getting to take part in some kind of track based or motorsport activity rather than sitting on the sidelines with camera in hand has long appealed. Thanks to readers, Clive and Scott Harrigan, I'm now one step closer. And even if the car doesn't take us all the way to track glory,…

As Autosport celebrates its 70th year, anticipation is high for Autosport International and it has been confirmed that F1 race winner Charles Leclerc will be the star guest. As part of the proceedings, high-profile leaders from across the world of motorsport will come together to discuss the future of motorsport in the Motorsport Leaders Business Forum. The Motorsport Leaders Business Forum will make up part of the Autosport Business Forum during the show’s second trade day on Friday, 10 January at Birmingham’s NEC. For its second year as part of Europe’s largest motorsport show, it will consist of two primary sessions along with other events hosted and moderated by Motorsport Network President James Allen. While the Motorsport Leaders Business Forum will take place on one of Autosport International’s trade days,…

• A wonderful time was had by all at the H Café annual festive party. Ray Smith runs the Mini Meets and, along with his wife Margaret, organised the Christmas party and raffle. The raffle was in aid of Guide Dogs for the Blind and raised £165. Amongst the prizes were tickets for two people for a tour of MINI Plant Oxford donated by the Plant. Colin Woodage’s MkII Morris Cooper won the best decorated Mini prize for the fourth year in a row! The H café Mini Meet happens on the second Thursday of the month – for more details, find them at www.facebook.com/groups/hcafeminimeet…

The Mini 7 Racing Club will once again be featuring at the DTM (German touring cars) weekend at Brands Hatch next season - pretty big news for the Mini. The club thought it would be a one-off in 2019 for the 60th but it turns out that the organisers enjoyed it so much they want them back. Achim Kostron, Managing Director ITR GmbH: “The DTM weekend at Brands Hatch is one of the highlights of our season. Almost all the DTM drivers cite the classic Grand Prix layout as their favourite circuit of the year, and the racing is always thrilling and unrelenting. For 2019, it was fantastic to welcome the Mini7 Racing Club onto the support package – and their huge fields and close, frantic racing definitely entertained the…

11th-12th January The Performance & Tuning Car Show Taking place at the NEC, Birmingham. This unique event is for enthusiasts of high-end modification and tuning. Check out our news pages for details on how to enter your car for the Revving Red Carpet. Tickets for the Performance & Tuning Car Show 2020 are also valid for the Autosport International and the Live Action Arena, which take place at the same time. www.autosportinternational.com/ 12th January Wirral to Llandudno Mini Run Annual scenic Mini run from Wirral, Liverpool to Llandudno promenade in Wales via the Great Orne. Pre-booking essential due to limited numbers. www.wirralminis.com 26th January Mini Fair 2020 British Mini Club are very proud to be celebrating the 21st year of Mini Fair, kicking off the new year in style with…

There is no doubting that the Classic Cooper Sport, with its raft of factory-fitted upgrades, was a very desirable variant when it left the production line. Desirable, although as with any Mini there was still plenty of scope for modifying and personalisation. The feature car, a late 1999 model, belonging to motor trader Paul Gershon who, with his son Troy, owns and runs Different Class Cars in South Woodford, is a perfect example of how to take the factory product and enhance it. “I already owned a nice Mini which my son and I had used on one of the Italian Job runs, and which was used by the last owner on the 40th commemoration of the film in 2009,” reveals Paul. “It was in great condition and good to…

Hearing Glenda and Harry Williams tell us that their Australian Export Moke got finished on the day of the Irish IMM (meaning a frantic dash up the motorway) we aren’t surprised. The couple exude vibrance and find adventure everywhere they go. After that seat of the pants experience they’ve since avoided motorways, but the Moke has taken them on all sorts of adventures – including trips to Switzerland and Germany- and they always have a great sense of fun wherever they go. They were publicans when Harry bought the Moke in February 1994 through one of their customers, a student who had been on holiday to Italy. “During the cold winter, every Sunday he would be working on it, followed by Sunday lunch at the pub, where I’d keep badgering…

Much has been said and written about the Nürburgring. The racing track, hidden deep in Germany’s scenic Eiffel forest since the 1920’s is famously dubbed ‘The Green Hell’. At nearly sixteen miles long, the winding circuit climbs over huge differences in altitude and through no less than 73 daunting curves with eerie names such as ‘Galgenkopf’ (Gallow’s Head), ‘Flugplatz’ (The Airfield) and ‘Bergwerk’ (The Mine). As well as a race track, it’s one of the world’s most famous testing grounds for motor manufacturers - but you can also famously drive the circuit yourself. There have long been rumours of the circuit being shut down for safety reasons, but to this day you can still buy a ticket for 22 euros and try to beat the ‘Ring record. Be warned though…

One of the most important tools in your toolkit is the torque wrench. This particular item allows you to tighten any nut or bolt to a pre-set torque rating. This is needed in just about any mechanical job you undertake from replacing discs and pads as shown in this feature to more complex work on the engine such as removal and refitting of the cylinder head. Failure to tighten certain nuts and bolts correctly can lead to premature wear or complete failure of an item so it is extremely important to get it right. Prices for a good torque wrench will vary but expect to pay anything from around £25.00 upwards. As with any tools, get the best you can afford and ensure that the range available covers everything you…

“Damp storage and mild steel are not happy bed fellows” It had taken a lot longer than we’d expected. Stripping the Downton GT back to a bare shell wasn’t something we’d thought we would do in an afternoon but as we’d taken great care to dismantle the car and note all of its little peculiarities, the process had consumed many weeks. When you’re talking evenings and weekends, it’s incredible how long this can take. With the bodyshell cleaned off and laid on its side, the first task was to repair the damage to the boot floor. Water damage in storage had caused serious but thankfully, very localised, rot which was cut out and replaced with fresh steel. If we had found any more serious corrosion, it would have been necessary…

Despite not learning to drive until the age of 32, Tina Riordan has made up for lost time when it comes to the varied world of modified classic cars. Her husband Chris happens to be heavily involved in various motorsports. “Tina supported me during my many days spent drag racing, hill climbing and taking part in sprints and trackdays,” Chris explains, “it was great to see her becoming as keen as I was and more involved.” A motley selection of cars passed through Tina’s hands, many of which could now be described as classics, including a 2.0 MkII Escort, 2.0 Capri, a Cavalier SRi and a Mazda MX5 to name but a few. “In 2003 I came across a blue BMW MINI Cooper for sale on a forecourt,” Tina recalls,…

• The British Motor Museum’s Archive has unveiled an online catalogue for their Archives Revealed project, entitled ‘The Art of Selling.’ The unique collection of Sales and Press Material originating from British Leyland and their competitors at home and abroad has been catalogued thanks to funding from The National Archives, The Pilgrims Trust, The Wolfson Foundation and The Foyle Foundation. In June 2018 £30K was awarded, to pay for the employment of an archivist, Katie Finn, to sort and catalogue the collection, training volunteers to work on the collection and on future new projects, as well as archive materials to rehouse the documents. Work on the project began in Autumn 2018 and so far as taken well over 3,000 hours to complete. Over 500 boxes have been sorted and nearly…

• “I married the love of my life, Syreeta Mitchell on the 21st September 2019. We had the most fantastic day and were blessed by enjoying what ended up being the last day of summer. Thank you Syreeta for your unwavering support.” Jason has owned Minis since 1995, his first being a Mini Minus which he still owns today. He also has a Hawk Minisprint and an Almond Green 1962 MkI which was his wedding car and sports a 1310 Rotrex Supercharged engine. The kit was supplied by Specialist Components and the conversion undertaken by Alex at The Car Kitchen.…

Organising bodies have been releasing dates for 2020, and it looks like being an exciting year for Mini motorsport fans. The Mini Seven Racing Club is now in its 56th year of racing and celebrating the half-century of Mini Miglia, next season will consist of a 15 round National championship and the renamed 0-Plate Winter Challenge to bookend the season over two weekends. For rally fans, details of the 2020 FUCHS Lubricants Motorsport UK British Historic Rally Championship have been revealed. The schedule grows from seven rounds in 2019 to eight events in 2020, and will include five gravel events and three asphalt events, including two major closed-road rallies. New to the schedule is the Jim Clark Rally in May, which returns to the calendar after a break and offers…

RAT RACE Name: Alex Charlton Car: 1983 Minivan Location: Portsmouth • Alex found ‘Van’essa’ online… She may not have been running at the time, but he finally had the van he always wanted, with a near new powerhouse and a great sounding back box! It’s running a Minispares Ivor Searle engineered 1380 on an A-plus box with straight cut drops. He’s spent all his years of owning her chasing gremlins and rust, spending all of his cash just keeping her MoT’d and on the road. The latest of repairs being a new front loom and new sills both sides. The main thing left now is a new paint job and to sort the interior, but Alex likes that his van is a bit ratty and rough around the edges. It’s…

“We’d argue that not all highly tuned A-series are peaky, intractable monsters but there is a limit” THE CONVERTED Q I’ve owned Minis for many years and have enjoyed taking my cars up to various states of tune. For road cars, I’ve always appreciated that you can only go so far with modifying the A-Series before it becomes undriveable but I find I’m increasingly drawn to the idea of fitting an alternative power plant and going for some really big bhp figures. After seeing a number of alternative engines in cars featured in Mini Magazine, the choice feels a little bewildering – what would you recommend for a fast road conversion? And do I need extensive engineering skills to convert a car, or can I simply buy a bolt-in kit?…

It’s that “What shall we do next year” time. We put my historic racer to bed including putting it on its Avon tyres for the winter and thought what to do. With all the focus on racing last year, the Biota had got ignored – we got it running, took the engine out as we mistakenly thought it need a refresh and then ground to a halt with Goodwood on the horizon. I wanted to change the gearchange as the original system was unusable if I ever wanted to change gear in a hurry – it goes in through the top of the gearbox which means that the gate is in effect lying on its side, and none too positive. I fancied circuit racing it, but that would involve cutting…

A couple of issues back in this column I was pondering the possibility of another project, and had been drawing inspiration from recent feature cars. With the Elf on the fleet satisfying my classic/ standard needs, I would like something that would lend itself to some modification and perhaps the chance to take to the track – most specifically at Mini In The Park at Mallory, but also to try out some sprints and hillclimbs. Regular reader, Scott Harrigan, got in touch and asked if we’d managed to track down anything suitable, as his father, Clive, had a project that he might be willing to move on to the right home as they had too many projects on the go. This was no exaggeration – they have already had their…

• The rise of the zero emission vehicle continues with the new all-electric MINI Cooper SE which will hit the road in Spring 2020, priced from £24,400 on the road. Almost noiseless, the new car is powered by a 135 kW/184 hp electric motor which will offer lively performance. To aid handling, the high-voltage battery is located deep in the underbody and so shifts the vehicle’s centre of gravity down considerably. And the hallmark suspension set-up also contributes to the fact that electric mobility goes hand in hand with the typical MINI go-kart feeling for the very first time. The new MINI Cooper SE accelerates from zero to 60 km/h in 3.9 seconds and from a standstill to 100 km/h in 7.3 seconds. In addition to its agile handling characteristics,…

Judges in January’s Performance & Tuning Car Show 2020 customisation competition - Revving Red Carpet - have announced their top 20 tuned cars of 2020 and three Minis have made the cut! Nick Shaw with his Mini Clubman, Matthew Merrick with his Mini R56 JCW and James Legg with Rover Mini Cooper Sports Pack. Each of the top 20 cars showed a high quality of customisation and creativity along with a unique mechanical style. The Revving Red Carpet judges - the Director of the Automotive Lifestyle brand SlammedUK, Jordan Clarke, Coventry based car meet ‘Dub Club’ organiser Ian Cook and Liberty Walk Director, James Pearman analysed each of the top 100 to narrow down to the top 20 of 2020. The finalists will now go into a public vote across…

During Labour weekend, which fell on 25-27 October, Minis from all over New Zealand converged on Tauranga for the 25th Mini Nationals, hosted by Tauranga Mini Owners Club Inc. Based at Hotel Armitage, registration and socialising at the hotel were on Friday night. This was also an opportunity to view Denny Hulme’s 1960 Mini which was on loan from the Hulme family and on display in the hotel lobby. The carpark had a wash bay set up specifically for Minis where plenty of owners took advantage to get cars prepared for the Show and Shine. Minis taking part in Sunday’s hillclimb, were also scrutineered at PF Automotive. On Saturday morning 224 Minis entered into the Show and Shine; a record for the Nationals. The show was held at the Cliff…

There is no denying that Lee Williams is a Mini fanatic. He’s had over thirty Minis since he bought (and lovingly handpainted) his first one at the age of 16. He used to take his wife out in it when they first met. Nowadays, the couple have six distinct Minis and three children who all share their passion for our favourite car. They do London to Brighton every year as a family and are regulars at Caffeine & Machine. A couple of years ago, there was only one Mini in Lee’s garage – a copper and white Minivan with Miglia arches and OS4 turbo rims. On 5th May 2018, after months of careful restoration, Lee and his brother, Carl, finally got the van started. That evening, Lee and the family…

Australia made far more Mokes than anywhere else (a staggering 35,000 compared to England and Portugal’s 15,000), but none of them were ever officially imported to the UK. Some Australian Mokes were brought over to the UK during the 1970s and early 80s by private individuals and dealers, but only three exist that, like Harry’s, were built to meet the early 1970’s US Federal Vehicle Specs. The factory coded YD030 was developed to meet an order for 100 Mokes from the US Virgin Islands – so they had to meet Californian emission and safety laws (requiring the 1275cc engine from the Austin America with its charcoal canister and exhaust air pump). Safety improvements included replacing the fuel tank with one from the Austin Healey Sprite and moving it to the…

Keeping you brakes in tip top condition is one of the most important aspects of classic Mini ownership and should get the same amount of attention as say engine tuning or styling. On a classic Mini doing this sort of work at home is completely acceptable assuming you have the required tools and the relevant know how. If you feel it’s something beyond your current capabilities try asking a friend who does to help you or failing that, consult a Mini specialist. The main part of any cars braking is done by the front brakes and this is why the old-style drum brakes were replaced at the front with the now common disc brake arrangement when the Mini’s power output began to increase, yet the rears have remained essentially the…

GUNSON TOOLS STATIC WHEEL BALANCER £175.26 This simple to use static wheel balancer lets you quickly and easily balance your wheels in the home workshop or garage. Static balancing ensures the tyre is balanced around its circumference, even as it deforms with speed, temperature and pressure. This reduces vibrations at high speed and enhances tyre tread life. • 01926 815000 • www.gunson.co.uk B-G RACING HUB STANDS KIT £2393.99 This system replaces the vehicle’s wheel and tyre set, thereby giving access to carry out a complete suspension and alignment set up. The vehicle does not need to be lifted and the need to roll the vehicle on and off scale pads to unload the suspension after adjustments is eliminated. The B-G Racing Hub Stands are height adjustable to suit different tyre…

Last November, a Hollywood blockbuster movie I’d been particularly looking out for finally made it to the silver screen. And what an effort they’d made to promote it! Le Mans ’66 is all about, erm, the 24-hours race of Le Mans in 1966. And as you will know by now, my little baby had its finest hour since it was raced, not unsuccessfully, then and there. Of all the races in the world, the French endurance race of Le Mans may well be the best known. And of all the 24-hour races at Le Mans, held since 1923, the 1966 event is perhaps considered as the best of them all. And not just because the Mini Marcos was in it. Why then? Well, mainly due to the fact that Ford…

It all started when a large two inch rock dropped off a lorry I was following on the motorway. It hit square on the front edge of the bonnet with a large bang, and I knew it was going to be bad from the noise it made. When I finally got to work and stopped swearing at the lorry and rock, I got out and took a look. It wasn’t as bad as I’d thought but it wasn’t going to be just touched up. The bonnet would need to be repaired and painted so off it came. It was while the bonnet was off and the van was being driven in and out of the workshop, I noticed the supercharger belt was a little loose. On closer inspection it wasn’t…