Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2022 i Mini Magazine

Converting classic cars to electric power is a reasonably welltrodden path these days, and it continues to divide enthusiasts – some cry ‘sacrilege!’, others are intrigued by the technology and engineering. And it’s fair to say that the EV conversion we have on p.48 is no ordinary volts-swap; built for a life of hard work in the big city, this is a true test of the real-world viability of electric classics. Our ‘Racing Lines’ interview series has been getting a lot of good feedback, we’re very pleased you’re enjoying that. Nigel Death has been tireless in his pursuit of all the old-school greats, and this month he managed to pin down Steve Soper – you’ll find some charming anecdotes on p.20. And so to our main cover car. This Island…

■ The 24-hour race at the Nürburgring is considered by many to be the ultimate endurance test. And this year sees a MINI JCW compete in the 50th edition of the high-speed showdown taking place at the circuit, consisting of the Grand Prix circuit and legendary Nordschleife. In September last year, the project was launched at Bulldog Racing in the Eifel region; the base vehicle is a MINI John Cooper Works with the 306bhp 4-cylinder turbo engine from the JCW Clubman and Countryman. The 8-speed Steptronic gearbox taken from large-seriesproduction features an integrated mechanical diff lock, and a few further mods were carried out for racing purposes: a specially developed rollcage was installed, the fuel tank volume increased to 100 litres, and extensive modifications to the aerodynamics included an adjustable…

Salon Privé isn’t really a thing that’s blipped on the Mini Magazine radar before. The highend concours’ first outing was back in 2006 at the Hurlingham Club, moving to Syon Park in 2011 and then Blenheim Palace in 2015 as the annual show continued to grow. It’s the sort of place where you’ll find millionpound Bugattis, historic Targa Florio entrants, helicopters, and a lot of Champagne. For 2022, however, there was a new offshoot: Salon Privé London. A scaled-down concours as a satellite to the main event, the venue was the Royal Hospital Chelsea – somewhere we’re very happy to pop along to, as it’s just over the river from Battersea Park, and there’s a kiosk in the park that does really good hot dogs. (Tip for the tourists…

PROJECT PROFILE THE OWNER NAME: Nathan Bunting AGE: 30 OCCUPATION: Fabricator, Welder LOCATION: Wrexham, North Wales THE CAR: CAR: Mini City E START CONDITION: Bare rusty shell CONDITION NOW: Midway through TIME TAKEN SO FAR: 2 years ESTIMATED TIME OF COMPLETION: Late summer 2022 With some odd bits of steel, tin sheets and corrugated plastic - not forgetting your side of the garden fence - it’s surprising what can be achieved to create a makeshift garage, which is exactly what Nathan Bunting did. And with the garage built it was time to start work on reviving his Mini’s body shell. As it turned out, this wasn’t the easiest of tasks as he needed to replace the floor, rear tubs, battery box, the front end – pretty much everything other than…

If there’s one phrase that’s been annoying tuners since the birth of the idea of mucking about with cars to make them faster, it’s ‘Slow and steady wins the race’. Your mum loves to tell you that, in the hope that it’ll stop you driving about like your shoes are on fire, but it’s a nonsensical concept isn’t it? Races are there to test who’s fastest, and fast is logically faster than slow is. QED. What’s really annoying about this stupid and illogical phrase, however, is that it’s actually true. Just look at Aesop’s fable of the tortoise and the hare. There are other factors in reaching the finish line beyond relentless all-out pressure. Remember in the first Cars movie, when Lightning McQueen refused to stop for tyres as he…

MED ROCKER COVER CAP £49 A-series tuning specialist MED has released a tidy new rocker cap, designed for both alloy rocker covers and the standard steel type. There’s a discreet breather and wire gauze inside, as per the later Metro cap, and the top section rotates once fitted so you can re-align the logo. The cap is machined from billet aluminium and clear anodised for longevity. ● www.med-engineering.co.uk GAZ R50 COOPER & R53 COOPER S GOLD COILOVERS £1277.11 GAZ has relaunched these Gold kits with the added benefit of a Black Zinc protective coating. The new-look kits are suitable for street, track and competition; the coilovers are produced with a gas cell in the outer reservoir, which helps prevent cavitation, then filled with a high-viscosity index fluid to help resist…

Vikki Campbell has always been a petrolhead, in love with cars. The die was cast with her first car, not a MINI but a black Vauxhall Corsa SRi. This was highly modified by her, with a full bodykit, Audiobahn sound system, K&N air filter, a sports exhaust system and Recaro seats. “It had the full works. I had it painted with chameleon flip paint,” she says, and all this hard work resulted in a small feature in the iconic modders’ magazine, Max Power, back in the day. Lots of cars followed after that Vauxhall, including a couple of Subarus, a Ford Escort RS Turbo and various BMW models. But it wasn’t until husband Lee brought an R53 MINI Cooper S home, then turned it into a track car and subsequently…

When we first heard about Simon Fearnley’s collection of Minis, we weren’t quite prepared for what was in store. Not only does he keep a varied selection inside his spacious workshop including bare shells stacked on shelves, there are countless others lined up outside too. For any true Mini fan, this is undoubtedly a mouth-watering sight to behold, and we were keen to find out more. It’s not uncommon for enthusiasts to own a small selection of cars, often in a garage or workshop, but Simon’s collection really is on another scale. In fact, you’d automatically assume he’d been amassing Minis for decades, but far from it – all of this actually began only two years ago! “My first car was a Mini,” he explains. “I’ve owned many other types…

■ Cornish Mini Club’s 2022 Riviera Run was a roaring success, celebrating its 25th anniversary in style. Based at the friendly Pentewan Sands Holiday Park, St Austell, an action-packed programme ran through April 30th to May 2nd, including demonstrations of engine tuning, vinyl wrapping and car detailing, as well as traders including Minis R Us, Smiffy’s Bits, Selective Mini Spares, and Prestige Valeting. Competitions included a show-and-shine and rocker cover racing, and there was plenty of entertainment and fun for all the family. Attendance for the show was slightly down from the last running in 2019, which was largely to be expected as grassroots events like this are still bouncing back from the ravages of the pandemic, but the numbers were still impressively strong: the show area saw 336 cars…

There’s no shortage of Mini fans in the north, but shows dedicated to our favourite motoring icon are admittedly a little thin on the ground. Fortunately, Paul Slater from Traction Control UK recently came up with an ideal solution by organising a meet at the equally perfect venue of NY500 in Pickering, North Yorkshire. “I started Traction Control as a lockdown project, initially by sharing images of cars and general automotive content,” Paul explains. “It soon grew a huge following, and recently I’ve begun to organise events.” As a proud owner of a classic Mini himself, the NY500 meet seemed like a no-brainer as northerners have been waiting an age for an event like this to take place. “I chose NY500 as their showfield is huge, while their café has…

It’s fair to say that mid Wales-based Ethan Tunley lives the Mini pledge. His first car was a City, his current daily driver is a modified early-1990s Cooper, and he’s got an original, unmolested 1987 Mayfair tucked away that’s ripe for restoration. Then there’s the car you’re looking at: built as a 1974 Austin 1000, but now rocking the Mk1 Cooper S look – only turned up a notch or three – it’s set to take the summer shows by storm. Recently completed after an exhaustive rebuild, every detail on the car is spot-on – partly the result of Ethan wanting each aspect of the build done right. “I’ve got my dad, Michael, to blame for that,” he admits. “He loves his Minis – he’s got a 1989 City which…

For those of us who grew up in the Max Power era, the idea of an audio build is a clearly defined thing: a show car with an interior stuffed with curvaceous custom enclosures, housing improbable quantities of amplifiers and mighty subwoofers. The aim was to make the windowpanes rattle in houses a mile away while also – crucially – not vibrating the car itself to pieces. And there’s always been a magnificent mischief, and indeed artistry, in the act of transforming a teeny-tiny car into a fullblown audio build. After all, anyone can take an estate or an MPV and fill it with noisy hardware, but if you’re working within the tight confines of a pocket-sized city car, you’ve got to be really careful about how you package things;…

Following the successes of the Mini 25 and Mini 30, it was inevitable that a special edition would be wheeled out for the 35th anniversary in 1994, and you’re looking at it right here. Unlike the anniversary models that came before it, this one took a more humble approach, essentially being a specced-up Sprite. Three colour options were available – Diamond White, and two fresh new shades: Nevada Red, and the metallic Arizona Blue you see here. Limited-run status was marked out by unique side decals as well as ‘35’ badging for the bonnet and steering wheel, and the interior was trimmed with the jazzy visual assault of the pink-and-blue Jamboree cloth. All 35s came with popout side windows as standard, as well as a radio-cassette; dealer options included automatic…

The world looked very different a quarter-century ago. No smartphones, no Google, only five terrestrial TV channels (and one of them was brand new)… Men in Black had just come out in the cinema, your local branch of Our Price was stacking Radiohead’s OK Computer and Prodigy’s The Fat of the Land in the window display, and MTV had only just launched in the UK. Fashion designer Gianni Versace died and American footballer Bryce Love was born; the United Kingdom was handing sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China, while 34-million miles away NASA’s Pathfinder space probe was touching down on the surface of Mars. And on the shelves of newsagents across the land, issue 14 of Mini Magazine had something very colourful on the cover. 1…

Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Bloody vandals, taking that characterful A-series out of the Mini and turning the car into a buzzing appliance. How dare they? Yeah, yeah – we’ve heard it all before. Electrification is a polarising issue. But what we’re seeing here isn’t just a case of some random person deciding to hoik out their smoky four-banger and drop in the motor from their Moulinex. This is a properly interesting concept, a cuttingedge experiment with a keen eye on the future. You see, while there are pros and cons to converting classics into EVs, and for a lot of people the costs far outweigh the benefits, this is no ordinary Mini. This is, in fact, one of the hardestworking Minis in the world. You’ve probably…

COST Compression tester c£25, leak-down tester c£50 TIME Allow a few hours DIFFICULTY The Mini’s A-series engine can be resilient even when past its best, but to ensure proper reliability and enjoyment, it needs to be fit and healthy. This is especially true if you plan on tuning it, as the extra strain could shorten life expectancy even further. At the heart of the engine are the combustion chambers, and if the valves, piston rings and/or head gasket are not sealing as they should, performance will be hampered. Some signs of wear will be obvious, such as smoke from the exhaust and excessive oil consumption. But even if there are no clear signs, it’s better to be sure before you go bolting on go-faster bits and tear-arsing about everywhere. The…

It’s very easy to go fast in modern cars. Well, that’s a flippant generalisation, a lot of modern cars are slow, and it’s easy to go fast in many old cars too; what we’re getting at is that the relentless march of consumer-pleasing in terms of soundproofing, lightness of touch and the anaesthetising of the driver experience means that the modern motorist has lost a certain sense of wonder. If it’s easily achievable for any old humdrum hatchback to crack 70mph and onwards without the driver having to hang onto the wheel for dear life and try to make their peace with the almighty as they weave between the cats-eyes, then where’s the sense of achievement? “My first car was a red 1979 Mini 1100 - it all started from…

the natural state of existence for a car is to be in motion. That’s literally what they’re for: machines designed to convey the occupant from Point A to Point B. Naturally there’s always been a keenness to deviate via the entertaining twistiness of Point C, which is why so many cars have been developed over the last century or so to be amusing and exciting rather than merely a means of locomotion. And the inherent utility of car-as-machine does tend to lead to a certain amount of face-palming whenever you see classic sports cars or modern-era supercars crossing auction blocks all over the world under banners that say things like ‘Delivery mileage only’. The cynical speculation of buying, for instance, a brand-new Ferrari 488 Pista or Porsche 911 GT3 Touring…