Goodwood Revival - Classic Mini Race

maz64    on 22 September 2009

All were using the 1293cc engine my dad swears that they were reaching 120mph

Were they in standard tune though?

1066    on 22 September 2009

they looked like they were doing around 100mph but it's so difficult to tell the speed when you've been watching so many cars around the track for 3 days.

pleiades    on 22 September 2009

Depends on gearing and how many revs the drivers prepared to use but as a guess wouldn't think these original 1293s taken much over 7,000 so if geared around 14/15 mph/1000 would be doing around 105 mph - of course in their hey day full race minis used 8,000 or even more (poor little push rods and rockers!)

lotusexige    on 23 September 2009

Now this is all from memory and it is a long time ago. The Autocar or Motor road test figures for the 1275 S were 0-60 11.2 seconds and top speed 97 mph. I think that the claimed bhp was 76 but very far from certuian on that. Can't remember the final drive ratio of the production cars but most likely 3.7 or 3.4.

A serious rally version with the Mk4 Sorite head, 649 cam, good manifolds and a 45DCOE Weber would have been around 120-130 claimed bhp. I suspect that claimed figures in those days may have been more optimistic than now. Wit a 4.1 final drive they would have been doing 100 mph at 7000 rpm, 0-60 in the 6 to 7 second region. You could rev a 1275 S based engine a bit more but at the expense of its life.

It was possible to take the A series out to somewhere around 1500CCs by useing the crank from the BMC 1300 range. To keep costs down this was not nitrided unlike the S engine which was but had 2 inch big end journals unlike the S which had 1 3/4 journals. Thus it was possible to offset grind the 1300 crank, Tuftride it, and gain a bit of stroke. Combined with the 1293 pistons with the max overbore of 40 thou this ended up with 1540CCs if I remember. Definitly a 7000 rpm engine with the longer stroke and the crank Tuftrided instead of nitrided.

The limiting bit for the higher powered versions really was the gearbox.

Altea Ego    on 23 September 2009

100mph in a mini feels quick. specially round corners.

Glaikit Wee Scunner {P}    on 23 September 2009

In the late sixties/early seventies I remember watching Minis racing at the Ingliston Circuit. Some of the faster ones had Ford engines. Andy Barton springs to mind having a dice with the hot Firenzas/Escorts.