UP NEXT
From pen to production: Camilo takes us for a ride in his GT vision come to fruition.
Sign up to receive the weekly newsletter featuring the very latest from Petrolicious. Don’t be left out—join the ranks of those who Drive Tastefully.
Already a member? Log in
We're glad you're back.
Not a member yet? Sign up
We'll get you back on track.
Films:
This Austin Mini Is Part Of A Coming Of Age Story That Honors The Past
As you may know, when Alec Issigonis drew the Mini, he was not thinking of a performance car. He was designing a car, he said, for “the district nurse” and it had independent suspension because of the need to accommodate rural roads. And then the car started to win rallies, and it won an early one against far more powerful and larger cars, and it won that rally outright: not first in class but first overall. Someone better versed in Mini history than I am will know which rally this was, but that is not so important in order to support the following point. From the fundamentals the car did so much that was new for the time, and that now is common place.
For instance, the wheels are at the far corners of the car. This is now general. Performance oriented cars have very short or no over-hangs. Of course it was exceedingly light; it was monocoque; the c.g. was low; the suspension was independent. But also it had a ‘rubber’ suspension. The spring were rubber cones. There were no steel springs. The car rode on rubber cones. And this is a highly non-linear spring.
A lot of modern sports cars corner on their rubber bump stops. On a lot of contemporary sport coupes during cornering the chassis rides, on the outboard side, directly on the rubber bump stop. By “directly on the bump stop”, I means to say that the side of the chassis on the outside of the turn sits direct on the two rubber “bump stops” on that side. These ‘stops’ are a progressive-rate, rubber spring of complex design. And those two out board bump stops sit on the top of the shock shaft that is attached directly to the to control arm for the wheel. The two ‘outside’ progressive rubber springs, during cornering, become dominant since the rubber spring at its limit has a far higher spring rate than the steel helical spring. And this becomes de facto, during corners, a rubber suspension of the type that Alex Moulton designed for his friend Issisgonis when Issisogonis needed a compact, light, low cost non-linear spring for the the Mini.
There were other elements which have carried far into the future. The car is arguably the first ‘hot hatch’ produced in serious volume. The car is, from the fundamentals, a corner stone of the features that are now everywhere in contemporary cars.
Im a proud owner of a Mini Cooper MkII 1970. It was rebuilt by my father in 2005. No its mine and I love it. My kids to! Great video. Tomorrow, I will use it!
https://instagram.com/p/BOmywoZBxyrZZeum-hCLzfNqZklB2LFMOcEgcQ0/
This film brought back many great memories. I was a boy living in a small village in Essex, England (Gt. Easton) and there was a garage on the corner and their mechanic had a Mini Cooper. The mechanic (Peter) asked me one day if I’d like to take a ride in his car and very much like the young man in this film off we went into the country lanes at great speed. I was hooked. Years later my first car was a ’67 Mini Cooper S and again, like the young man in this film it was love at first sight and drive. I always think of Peter who tragically died very young of cancer but that one drive in his Mini changed me forever. Since then I’ve driven some of the greatest car marques made but my Cooper S still remains one of my all time favorites. Great stuff guys.
I really enjoyed watching this film about this young mans mini. It brought back memories when I attended College. My professor drove an old blue right hand drive mini. He would joke that they all came to America pre rusty. I was a bit surprised that the car in the film was not a right hand drive also. Still looks fun to drive and I wish the young man many years of fun driving it. Thank you young man for sharing your enthusiasm and experience with the mini.
Thanks for the great video. My first car was a ’70 Mini that I purchased new. Great car, but it blew a main bearing in the first 6 months. Have own German cars ever since that experience. Didn’t own another British car until last year when I bought a ’75 TR6. Would love to own a Cooper S some day. Time heals all wounds.
