Software.......Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Professional.
Time.............09 Hours

MINI COOPER

You’re sitting in a car which is about 4 feet wide and 10 feet long, the central speedometer shows 120 mph of top speed, The engine is a 1275cc with Twin SU Carburetors, delivering 76 bhp, enabling you to do 0-60 mph in 9.7 seconds, and a top speed of 0-100 mph in 20 seconds. Its almost possible to reach maximum speed in one mile from rest, You have got front well ventilated 8 inch diameter Lockheed disc brakes, to stop you, you’re sitting in a Mini Cooper.

The Mini Cooper was one of the Britain’s great motor sport legends, an inspired confection that became the definitive rally car of the sixties. Because of its size maneuverability, and front wheel drive, the cooper could dance around bigger, more unwieldy cars and scuttle off to victory. Even driven to the absolute limit (169 Km/h) it would still cling limpet like around corners long after rear wheel drive cars were sliding sideways.

The hot Mini was a perfect blend of pin-sharp steering, terrific handling balance, and a feeling that you could get away with almost anything. The Mini got independent front and rear suspension with rubber cones and wishbones, and hydrolastic suspension from 1964 onwards. Originally the brainchild of a racing car builder John Cooper.

Original Mini was Designed by Sir Alec Issigonis; the Mini became a key icon in the 1960s. Issigonis left Morris in 1952 when it merged with Austin to became British Motor Corporation (BMC). He was brought back to BMC by Leonard lord, the group’s managing director, and from 1956 set to work on the design of a British people’s car. It was due to fuel shortages and the competition from bubble cars.

The challenge was to create the smallest car for four people plus luggage, and should use minimum quantity of fuel. Typically Issigonis approached the problem from inside out, to create as much internal space as possible. He achieved this by laying the engine in a sideways (transverse) position; putting the wheels at the extreme corners of the “box” and making them as two thirds the usual size, putting the gear box in the oil sump under the engine.

The result was radical. At only 10 feet long, 4 feet wide and, and 4 feet high, the mini was the shortest car, yet four adults could get into it and pack some luggage in the trunk, the Mini is considered the first front wheel drive car in the world, with a low centre of gravity and four wheel independent suspension, the mini had the perfect credentials for superb handling.

The Mini Coopers came in a choice of 970cc, 997cc, 1071cc and the famous 1275cc transverse mounted Austin A-Series engines, Crankshaft Con-rods, valves, and rockers were all toughened, and the Cooper also had a bigger oil pump and beefed-up gear box to handle 76 bhp. BMC used the same A-Series engine in many cars.

It was 23 January 1964 when Mini driver Patrick Hopkirk, a young Northern Irishman from Belfast, and his navigator, Henry Liddon, piloted a Mini Cooper S, (Car No. 37, registration 33 EJB) to victory in the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally race against bigger, more powerful cars. They were up against V8-powered Ford Falcons, the Mercedes-Benz 300 SE, a Volvo 544, Saab 96's, as well as a number of fine-handling Citroëns

From 1961 when first Mini Cooper appeared, to 1968 when the Mini Cooper was finally overwhelmed by the Ford Escort Twin CAM, the little boxes were always competitive, The first Mini Cooper win was by Pat Moss in the 1962 Tulip, the most famous Mini Successes were three Monte Carlo Victories (1964-1965-1967) and a disqualification after heading the 1966 event, but they could, and did, win anywhere and everywhere.

Best Wishes
Ahmed Nayyer


(the following Books were taken as reference for this text: Rally Cars Given the Works, A Century of Car Design, and CARS, A celeberation)