My new racing car....

commited

commited

commited

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
5,367
Location
Dublin, Ireland
I've been wanting to go racing for years, and a friend basically pushed me in the right direction and I just decided to buy it!

I wanted to wait until I had some decent pics of my own to post up but cant find the lead to my camera...

Crappy pic:
DSCN1941.jpg


Yes it isn't to everyones taste, so please no "Mini's are crap" comments - it isn't your standard 850 rusting Mini as you will see from this spec:

Rolling shell: Prepared to full Miglia spec by Peter Vickers, rear seat pan/storage bins removed, laminated screen, polycarb windows, steel doors lightened to Miglia spec, front end removed & replaced with removable carbon fibre front end & bonnet. Front bulkhead/parcel shelf removed - new bulkhead & dash fabricated, wrapped around additional bracing bars, fully integrated into Safety Devices bolt in & welded in full cage with further bracing to current Miglia race specifications. Boot floor removed, alu sheeting & foam filled race spec fuel cell with sump & lock, Facet race spec interrupter fuel pump & filter in boot, carbon fibre bootlid. Braided fuel lines & copper braking pipes routed through inside, brake bias adjuster beside gearshift. Gearshift mechanism/quickshift with 2 UV joints fitted inside car. SPA Design firex, electrical control box & special loom, aircraft switches, ignition cutout, start button fitted to passenger side on floor. Instruments: Stack RT 400 tacho with datalogger 0/10k, Racetech Design combined oil pressure/water temp gauge. Sparco rev seat, Sparco steering wheel, Luke harness, Varley Red Rop solid state race battery. Racetech big capacity alloy racing radiator, new 115 comp alternator.

Suspension: front & rear subframes fully seam welded, gussetted, strengthened to Miglia spec., brace bars fitted to front subframe, dampers: TrackSpax at front, Avo at rear, original Ripspeed Hilos, Minispares race rubber cones, KAD adjustable rear camber brackets, custom built rear antiroll bar, KAD rosejointed front lower arms & racespec adjustable tie rods. New Lloyd Hutchinson quickrack.

Brakes: KAD race alloy 4 pot calipers, 7.9in vented discs, carbon metallic pads, Minifin alloy rear drums with Mintex race linings, Goodridge braided hoses front & rear.

Wheels & tyres: Revolution alloys 6x10 - Avon CR6ZZ E rated control race tyres.

Engine/gearbox new May 2006 - Hutchinson built

MED supplied head, offset valve race spec No: 1187MED, fitted 37.8mm inets, 31mm exhausts, Iskendarian race double valve springs & caps, Titan 1.5 full roller rockers. Block MED 65400LW 1425cc, A+, full race prepared, offset bored & honed, Omega 11mm dish pistons, new Cooper S rods, relieved & balanced, crank stroked, relieved, wedged, balanced, 4 bolt steel centre main bearing cap. Comp oil pump, Kent 310 scatter pattern billet cam, lightweight race duplex gear, etc, filter head drilled, tapped & bypass plugged, ARP race spec bolts throughout. Lightweight race steel flywheel & backplate, race paddle clutch, Brise reduction gear starter motor.

Gearbox late spec casing fully machined to take very latest current spec Quaife dog gear set, LSD, race straightcut drop gears - 1.0416, centre oil pickup, race output shafts & bearings, semi helical final drive. Ratios: 2.309, 1.49, 1.197, 1.00, final drive 4.07. Primary gear 24 tooth, effective final drive 4.239.

Carburation: Weber 45DCOE tipo 152 on Maniflow 7in steel inlet (new 2005), MED integrated filter/induction box with revised carb trumpets (new 2006).

Ignition: Aldon Automotive race distributor & ignitor pack, Luminition blue silicone 8mm race leads, Aldon epoxy solid state coil - all new 2006.

Exhaust: Maniflow big bore race LCB with matching Maniflow exhaust system, single box silencer, centre exit.

Power plot - dyno sheet available: Tested at Westward Engineering 24 May 2006, newly built, ambient 14c, barometric 1000mb.

Max torque 107.10 ft lbs @ 5312 rpm
Max power 119.7 RPM @ 6991 rpm
Power loss, trans/tyres 19.4 bhp
Power at wheels 100.3 bhp
Max road speed in test 98.00 mph
Max engine speed in test 7655 rpm

My plans include:
Another set of wheels with slicks
6 pots
quickshift
Ramair system

It'll need a new carbon Fibre front end too, but that can wait until funds recover :o

Out for testing tomorrow - can't wait :D
 
A guy called Eamonn Ledwidge bought it in the UK and brought it back here and fitted that engine! I helped him out with the car a couple of times, he sold it as he bought a Crossle racer.

I'm racing in the Irish Mini challenge here, I missed the first race of the season, but next one is this Sunday. Really can't wait. I won't be eating for a few weeks though :D
 
The great thing about Ireland is that anything over 30 years old doesn't need an MOT ;) So theoretically, I could just tax it and take it out on the road, but it's so low that one pot hole (and there are many) would destroy it. :(

Volospian - 6pots are the way to go apparently. All the quick guys have them. Mine has the older design KAD 4 pots which are great for road cars, but once I get slicks they will really let the side down. There is next to no braking effort on the back.
 
a1ex2001 said:
I love old mini's and I've always wanted to race one, I know it's rude and don't answer if you don't want but how much did she set you back?
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About £7500 + £750 for the trailer. It isn't cheap. Still need to buy a few £££ bits for it too, would say I'll easily have spent £10k on the car by the end of the season.

It's about £270 a race day + fuel + everything else.

I have a company jeep so no to or fro expenses thank god!

I now have 4 cars including the Jeep. REALLY need so sell the 530d and 318iS :( No debt yet, but no money either :(
 
All set for the race tomorrow - just home.

Had a nightmare day - didn't get to work on the car until 2, snapped a head stud, then had to redo the whole gear linkage and fit a quickshift. Then got flashed by a scamera :( :(
 
What a day - gonna just quote what I posted elsewhere :)

I had a day with its ups and downs.

Qualified really well with a 1.07.8 - not bad for my first time in the car in the total dry. Managed to lose my sump plug due to stupidity but got away with it and the car still ran

1st race - Was caught napping at the start and dropped 7 places. Climbed back up the field and had a great little dice with Kev and was flying. The car wouldnt engage 3rd twice so I ended up dropping back a bit and all of a sudden Berty was on my tail. Stayed like this for 6 laps, and we went across the line with me just 0.2s ahead biggrin.gif That battle made the day for me - great sportsmanship all around. Finished 9th, 4th out of the Minis. Would have been 3rd if I hadn't been napping at the start but ah well!! Did a 1;07.575 this race.

2nd race - following someone stealing a spring from my engine bay which was nice of some scumbag, I got on the grid. Car felt good. Lost 1 place at the start from Des due to what I thought was wheelspin, but I think was clutch slip. Had a brilliant battle with him over a couple of laps, finally getting past biggrin.gif Then I noticed the clutch was slipping badly in 3rd and 4th and was getting plumes of smoke in the cabin. I eased off a bit and took it handy the rest of the way, but still came 10th

Thoughts - AWESOME day and the Mini guys are a great bunch - everyone helping everyone. Reminds me what the non-racing MR crew used to be like. Time for another set of wheels and some slicks, because Berts getting more confident (huge improvement today in his times!!) and my Avons are going off too quickly. Also need to fix this clutch business :S Also, might have a look at the set up, I reckon there is more in the car!!

Everyone else drove really well and cleanly, Ian unfortunately broke his box, Des had a misfire in race 1 and a spin in race 2 which was unfortunate as it's a very very quick car! Richie didn't even need his 4th cylinder to pick up a few trophies!

Bring on the next one!
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My first race - did quite a bit of overtaking, and was 0.8seconds quicker than the previous owners best time :)
 
Dogbreath said:
Commited, what a fantastic car and opportunity to start in such an exciting and close racing series. Me, envious? Well, yes quite a lot actually :D
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Cheers.

Unfortuneately it isn't as close as you might think!

From the Minis, there are 2 guys with about 200bhp in the class ahead of me.
In my class, there are 2 guys who have over 130bhp and slicks, so have quite an edge over me. There are then 3 guys with the same sort of power, all with slicks (who I was faster than :D ). In fact, I'm the only one in my class without slicks, and I still came 3rd in class, 4th in Minis, in my first race :D
Then in the class below, there are a few guys with around the 100bhp mark.

There are some great battles though and I really enjoyed it. Ordering slicks later because I just sold the e30...
 
Stinky - yup had to get my racing license - still on a "provisional" one which means I can only race up to 2000cc, but after I finish 6 races I can race anything.

rG- All the Minis I've ever really used daily have been well sorted, safe examples. Quite a few of my mates just use their road cars in the race, they are that safe ;)

Saitrix - classes for the Minis are:
Class 1: Non-standard heads, Forced induction
Class 2: Over 1400cc A series head.
Class 3: 1350-1400cc A series head
Class 4: up to 1350cc A series head.
I'm either going to up the engine size to 1480cc or drop down to 1400cc, havent decided yet :)

I'm in a racing series in ireland :) Haven't weighed car.

Slicks have been ordered - woo!
 
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100bhp at the wheels? I assume it will be have a 16v head or turbo'd or Supercharged?

Otherwise, tbh he has NO chance. No matter what anyone says to you, that's ridiculous. Mine has 100bhp at the wheels, and it makes good power and torque for a 1430.
 
I'll believe it when I see it man :) I know a lot of guys that build a lot of engines, and when the most you cant realistically get from a 1430 with A series head is 140bhp at the flywheel, I very much doubt you'll be able to get nearly 120bhp from a 1085cc!
 
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