Comments on: Four Decades of MINI in Motorsport http://www.motoringfile.com/2007/08/05/four-decades-of-mini-in-motorsport/ MotoringFile | MINI news, reviews and opinion. MINI Cooper, Cooper S, Clubman, Countryman Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:14:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: TSizemore3 http://www.motoringfile.com/2007/08/05/four-decades-of-mini-in-motorsport/comment-page-1/#comment-148337 TSizemore3 Mon, 06 Aug 2007 13:46:08 +0000 http://www.motoringfile.com/2007/08/05/four-decades-of-mini-in-motorsport/#comment-148337 <p>Thanks for posting this. One hopes that with the longer Clubman coming out, allowing the MINI to conform with length rules, that maybe MINI will once again persue it's rally heritage with a factory sponsored entry in the WRC. That would help combat the mis-conception in this country that the MINI is a "chick car."</p> Thanks for posting this. One hopes that with the longer Clubman coming out, allowing the MINI to conform with length rules, that maybe MINI will once again persue it’s rally heritage with a factory sponsored entry in the WRC. That would help combat the mis-conception in this country that the MINI is a “chick car.”

]]> By: GregW http://www.motoringfile.com/2007/08/05/four-decades-of-mini-in-motorsport/comment-page-1/#comment-148146 GregW Sun, 05 Aug 2007 20:39:26 +0000 http://www.motoringfile.com/2007/08/05/four-decades-of-mini-in-motorsport/#comment-148146 <p>Most Mini racing history seems to overlook the tremendous contribution made by the Australians and to a lesser extent, New Zealanders. Mini was being raced on Aussie tracks after introduction and peaked in 1966 when the annual Bathurst 500 mile race was won by a BMC Australian Works Cooper S driven by Rauno Aaltonen, in fact Mini Cooper S cars took the first 9 places. As well a Works Mini Clubman GT won the 1972 International Rally of New Zealand driven by Scot Andrew Cowan. NZ F1 driver Bruce McLaren also raced the first Mini Cooper in New Zealand when he was part of John Cooper's F1 team in 1962.</p> Most Mini racing history seems to overlook the tremendous contribution made by the Australians and to a lesser extent, New Zealanders. Mini was being raced on Aussie tracks after introduction and peaked in 1966 when the annual Bathurst 500 mile race was won by a BMC Australian Works Cooper S driven by Rauno Aaltonen, in fact Mini Cooper S cars took the first 9 places. As well a Works Mini Clubman GT won the 1972 International Rally of New Zealand driven by Scot Andrew Cowan. NZ F1 driver Bruce McLaren also raced the first Mini Cooper in New Zealand when he was part of John Cooper’s F1 team in 1962.

]]> By: Vanwall http://www.motoringfile.com/2007/08/05/four-decades-of-mini-in-motorsport/comment-page-1/#comment-148113 Vanwall Sun, 05 Aug 2007 18:06:53 +0000 http://www.motoringfile.com/2007/08/05/four-decades-of-mini-in-motorsport/#comment-148113 <p>"The Works Minis", by Peter Browning, is the definitive work on the rallying end - Browning was the last Competition Manager before British Leyland killed off the BMC related works teams after the merger, and he had an insider's knowledge of how it all came about, inheriting a first-class organization from Stuart Turner, the real architect of the BMC heydays. As Manager during the most revolutionary period in rallying, Turner was a master organizer, and had a good eye for the up and coming Flying Finns, in addition to any local talent that was looking for ride.</p> <p>"Anatomy of the Works Minis", by Brian Moylan is a nice run-down of the actual mechanical choices the Factory made to the various versions. The Mini was mainly seen as a rally car by the Factory, and most changes were in line with winning on the special stages, altho it was a fast tarmac racer as well. It's no coincidence that the trend for extended road sections towards the end of that period was an attempt to limit the Mini's capabilities - the other interesting aspect was the realization that BMC was the blueprint for teamwork, and modern rallying is very much the outgrowth of that. It's no coincidence Turner ended up at Ford, and became the man who got the Escort going as a household name.</p> <p>The saloon car racing aspect hasn't really been addressed in any depth as far as I know, altho it's briefly covered in Browning's and Moylan's books, but it was just as amazing - at one point almost every top level racer or rallyer in Europe had a Mini in their formative years. The picture above is only a little snippet of the long and successful racing career of the Mini, and sideways in a cloud of tire smoke was the order of the day. There are some great shots of the Galaxies and Jags dicing with the Mins from back then, and it really was amazing to see how well the Mini did with those little 10-inch rims. If you know someone with an original Cooper 'S', try get a drive in one - it's a revelation.</p> “The Works Minis”, by Peter Browning, is the definitive work on the rallying end – Browning was the last Competition Manager before British Leyland killed off the BMC related works teams after the merger, and he had an insider’s knowledge of how it all came about, inheriting a first-class organization from Stuart Turner, the real architect of the BMC heydays. As Manager during the most revolutionary period in rallying, Turner was a master organizer, and had a good eye for the up and coming Flying Finns, in addition to any local talent that was looking for ride.

“Anatomy of the Works Minis”, by Brian Moylan is a nice run-down of the actual mechanical choices the Factory made to the various versions. The Mini was mainly seen as a rally car by the Factory, and most changes were in line with winning on the special stages, altho it was a fast tarmac racer as well. It’s no coincidence that the trend for extended road sections towards the end of that period was an attempt to limit the Mini’s capabilities – the other interesting aspect was the realization that BMC was the blueprint for teamwork, and modern rallying is very much the outgrowth of that. It’s no coincidence Turner ended up at Ford, and became the man who got the Escort going as a household name.

The saloon car racing aspect hasn’t really been addressed in any depth as far as I know, altho it’s briefly covered in Browning’s and Moylan’s books, but it was just as amazing – at one point almost every top level racer or rallyer in Europe had a Mini in their formative years. The picture above is only a little snippet of the long and successful racing career of the Mini, and sideways in a cloud of tire smoke was the order of the day. There are some great shots of the Galaxies and Jags dicing with the Mins from back then, and it really was amazing to see how well the Mini did with those little 10-inch rims. If you know someone with an original Cooper ‘S’, try get a drive in one – it’s a revelation.

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