Tuning the MINI

Sections: Uncategorized Dec 3rd, 2004 4 Comments

The CarConnection takes a look at tuning the classic and modern MINI in a recent article. Here's an excerpt:

Have a guess what the very first tuned “sport compact” was. Honda Civic, you say? Good guess, but no. Nissan 240Z? Nice try but try again. Toyota 's original Celica, perhaps? Not even close. The first compact to get the proper tuner treatment was, in fact, the original Mini Cooper, more than forty years ago. You couldn't get any more compact than the ten-foot long Mini and you couldn't get better sport credentials than John Cooper Garages. Cooper was a big name Formula One at the time – World Champions in 1959 and 1960 – and used a tuned version of the Mini engine in some of his other race cars. When F1 started to get too expensive and Cooper decided to go rallying instead, the Mini's excellent handling and John Cooper's knowledge of the engine made it a natural choice. The Austin Mini Cooper first turned a 10-inch wheel in 1961 – and with that the pocket rocket was born.

You can check out the entire article here.

Written By: MF Staff

Vanwall
Tuning Minis and MINIs is a generational thing by now, kinda like rooting for the Sawx, or using the family Thanksgiving stuffing recipe – it's now a passed down process. ;-) The original Mini was endlesly tune-able, modded into every imagineable variation, and then some, and was the perfect personalized vehicle. Kinda like…Now! It's roadholding was what was most fun, tho. You could only tweek the old 'A' series so much before it grenaded on ya – long strokes and high piston speeds didn't mix well, but it had grunt and flexibility for the street in spades.

Back when tire technology was fairly limited, 'specially for the 10 inch Mini wheels, the driver was the real difference. Remember, BMC was really a rally car team for a long time, and getting down a real road as opposed to a track was of paramount importance. Hence the Flying Finns and Paddy. ;-)

The new bigger stickys we can run are light-years ahead of the old SP Sports, lemme tellya, and with all this electronic stuff and better alloys – jeez, I coulda used that! Until you've had to rebuild and balance a pair of 1-1/4″ SU's, you'll never know how much EFI is really worth!

My son, now, the 'S' kid, hasn't done this stuff…yet. But I fully expect the MINI tradition to carry on – he's teaching his girl to shift on his MINI Cooper S, just as I taught my girl, (now my wife), to shift on my Cooper 998 back in the day. Keep on modding, that's the spirit!
```
     BCNU,
   Rob in Dago
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John

Rob carries a proper amount of history and enthusiasm into his comments. I'll simply agree.

It is all happening again with the new car, and the pace will accelerate once we get to real used [new MINI] cars in another year or so.

There's lots of fun yet to appear around the concept of “MINI.” Modification is part of the heritage.
http://www.futuremotors.com omar bin dhaher

n/a
Dean

Yip Vanwall said it,Minis are the best vehicles to personalise. I am in the process of rebuilding my 1968 mini Traveller.I am ditching the 998cc motor and putting a 1275GT motor in with full electronic spark distribution and Fuel injection.(that is if I ever get around to designing and building the control unit =/ I also want to do a custom paint job with a wide body kit.I am also in the process of building my own Bucket racing seats which are based on the Cobra Clubman seats.that is going to be a lot of work. I have made a new dash right across the rails.(in place of the little console in the middle)I still have the centre speedo. I have a lot of work ahead of me but I make a little bit of progress every day. I could have had any other car to for my very first car but I chose the mini.My friends all laughed when I told them that i had bought a mini.well oneday when my mini is up and running they will all be sorry =) they have got 1600 mk1 golfs and opel(vauxhaul) astras and corsas but I have always got to be different.

Happy Tunin’ Dean

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