907 replies to this topic

[rally1380]

 

 

And that dolly is a very nice bit of fabricating!

 

 

Cheers....why do something the simple way, when you can spend loads of time and effort doing it a far more complicated way. Satisfying though.

[minisi35]

Very nice Dave, get back in the game !!

[DEPS]

 

Just for the record. I was looking at the HRCR junior cup out of interest for my son, not that we could afford it!! I had a look at the car that was on show at the NEC and got some details for the junior series. Basically you have to have a safety devices cage, either the multipoint bolt in or the weld in. Pretty sure the car on show was tied into the A pillars. Also noted that the big box cross member on the floor had been completely altered on the drivers side. It had been made narrower to allow for the seat to be moved further forward, but be kept lower down in the car.

 

Personally think they have got the spec wrong for the junior cup and made it far more expensive than it need be, but that is another point entirely!! Think they only have one registered entrant so far.....

 

That's interesting.

 

I wonder why they have specced the SD cages?  Maybe they are offered at a reduced price?

 

In what way do you think the Junior Cup is wrong?  I'm just interested to hear your thoughts really as I've not looked into it as i'm well past that age...ha ha.....although if it's still around in 15 years time I might be interested in building a car for my son.

 

Sorry bit slow coming back to you. As MIJ says you have to buy everything from Minisport and the kit is rather expensive. They have chosen the 998 as a base but you can rebore and add their modified head and carb kit that really pushes the price up, but without you are not going to be competitive. However, you can not use fibreglass panels (bonnet & boot and not sure that you can use polycarb windows) which are cheap to replace and a far cheaper way to a better power to weight ratio. They also state a rather high minimum weight. 

 

Think a more standard 1275 spec. say 1275 with single carb and stage 1 kit, fibreglass panels and standard 2 pot disc brakes would be fun, not too quick and relatively cheap. Understand a good cage is very sensible, but any msa compliant multipoint should be acceptable.

 

Again as MIJ says a Micra would be much cheaper and could also enter more events without having to travel so far. Although of course a Mini is far more appealing than a Micra!!

[rally1380]

I agree with all your comments.

 

I think if they are going down the 998 route they need to keep things affordable and not daft. Stock engines with only changes to carb and exhaust (stage 1 if you will) should be allowed, maybe a head at the very most....the price of stock 998's is so cheap that this would make the series a serious contender for bargain hunters....they do it in grass track stuff, so why go daft here....oh yes, so Minisport can sell stock, that's why.  But I suppose they are the pushers for the championship, so why shouldn't they have a vested interest.....they put the effort in after all.

 

Since my bump i'm a huge advocate for safety stuff, but I do think any cage that meets requirements should be allowed so I definitely agree there too. 

 

I also think the series should be open to all and not just juniors........I love the idea of a fair and level playing field and having the chance to show driving skill and not just who can afford the big power big bore engines.  To be fair I've not read the regs so they may already allow older competitors (i.e. me), but i'm sure I will be corrected if that is the case.

 

I'm excited about mini only class rallying, I really am. I think it offers a fairly affordable step into stage events and they are cars we all know and love.  Yes a micra is faster, cheaper, stronger, etc etc etc.....but it ain't what I want to rally so i'm not even considering it.....I have my green Ibiza for 'modern' rallying and i'll get spanked in that anyway as i'm in the 2000cc category which attracts the big boy escorts with bigger budgets and power outputs that I will ever have.....but sometimes (not always though), it's about just getting out and competing.

 

I just hope that by the time I have my car ready there will still be stage rallying and the Mini championships still exist......failing that i'll be heading to Europe to rally over there instead......less politics, less BS, better beer.....win, win, win. 

[DEPS]

Yes think we are all in agreement. 

 

Unfortunately the junior cup is for the under 25's only. Drivers that is. So I could co-drive my son.

 

Was looking at the entry for the AGBO historic rally. 30 out of 60 entries are Minis!! Fantastic. If they had started this all asphalt historic championship about 3 years ago I would definitely have built "Baldric" back up as a stage car...bit gutted really, but spent too much on respray and he looks too pretty now! Although still tempted 

 

I am a bit confused by how the class system works outside of the juniors as well. There are categories 1 to 4 decided by age of car, but within that as long as you are under 1400cc  and comply with the HRCR technical regs there does not seem to be any other definition so an 8 port seems to be in the same class as a 5 port from what I can gather?? There is an open class for cars that do not quite meet the historic rules, but they must still run an A series. Would just like the classes to take into account the amount of modification/money spent. E.G with the junior class you could have a standard engine class and a super engine class with modified head etc

 

So for the time being I will continue to do local-ish events in the 106, but do find myself keep looking on ebay for a good shell 

[rally1380]

Holy Thread Resurrection Batman!!!!!!!      

 

I hadn't realised how long it was since I posted anything on here!!!!  Quite a bit has changed in that time, but i'm afraid it's not mini shaped changes that have happened.  Our family has expanded and now includes a set of twins...so essentially I've been rather busy with that side of things and have not even touched the mini!!!!  

 

That said, I have still been planning the project through and i'm still none the wiser which way to deal with the roll cage side of things....and that's a fairly important part of the project!  I have even started considering buying and fitting a weld in cage myself as my welding is certainly up to scratch, although I think for peace of mind I would still like it TIG welded in, which I cannot do. Then I started thinking about just refitting my existing 6 point Safety Devices cage and making some additions which don't mess with the homologation - door bars cross and a proper harness bar, but then I remembered how limited you are with the fitment of seats with the 6 pointer and a bucket seat can only really fit in one place thanks to the main hoop and the B pillar locations.  And then there is still the option (and probably still favourite) of getting a fully bespoke cage fabricated and fitted...just a shame it's not cheaper!!!!

 

A few more roll cage pic's from my research...............

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by rally1380, 07 September 2018 - 08:33 AM.

[rally1380]

What I've also been up to apart from fatherdom.......

 

Back in June I navigated on the R.A.C.E Oaks Trophy Targa with a gentleman from the motorclub in a bog standard 1400 Fiesta that's been fitted with a very thin checker plate sump guard and cheap as chips M&S (Mud and Snow, not Marks and Spenser!) tyres off ebay.  We finished 8th overall and 2nd in class which we were very happy with.....and just goes to show that you don't need to have a fancy dancey 'rally car' if you have a fast and neat driver and a nav who doesn't make mistakes.  Superb tests that borrowed a fair few venues from the targa I helped organise in 2017 so I knew them fairly well and had a good idea what was coming up.....hopefully I will sample the venues again next year with the Ibiza and me driving!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by rally1380, 06 September 2018 - 12:03 PM.

[keefr22]

Many congratulations to you & Mrs Dave on the additions to the family Dave! Are the twins boys, girls or one of each?! 

 

 

.....hopefully I will sample the venues again next year with the Ibiza and me driving!!!!

 

 

Will you have to put the full interior back in the green machine for this type of event?

 

Keith

[rally1380]

Many congratulations to you & Mrs Dave on the additions to the family Dave! Are the twins boys, girls or one of each?!

.....hopefully I will sample the venues again next year with the Ibiza and me driving!!!!

Will you have to put the full interior back in the green machine for this type of event?

Keith

Hi Keith.

One of each..... Little Orla was born first, promptly followed by Ethan. Mum and twins have been awesome and doing amazingly well.... Time has flown to be fair!

Ibiza - yes some interior needs to remain. Essentially it's road rally rules so carpet, rear seat, roof lining and door cards are needed. Add bucket seats, harnesses and a roll cage if you want but not essential. All 3 times I've navved on a targa it's been in a fully stock car with no "rally" gear.

[rally1380]

This is what I have been concentrating on in the garage recently and Keith you will be very pleased................

 

 

 

 

The reason for this is because of the expanding family, we're in need of extra rooms so the garage is having a couple of rooms bolted on top. Obviously I don't want the builders dropping bricks on the cars, so the Ibiza needs to be road worthy by the time they start, and the mini shell needs to be housed somewhere until it's safe to return.

 

 

 

 

Obviously it's still a fair way off, but nothing I can't do now the darker evenings and wetter days are upon us. Plus, the plan is to compete on a few daytime events next year in this whilst I get the mini ready for the 2020 season on the Mini SPort Cup (fingers crossed!)

[keefr22]

Yes. you're right Dave, very pleased...!!

 

Keith

[Richard19]

Congratulations Dave and family!!..  Nice to see the Rally driving and projects doing well. Hope you are in good spirits and looking forward to continued progress on the Rally front especially the Mini.

[DEPS]

Hi, Congratulations to you all. You will do well to mess about with cars with 3 little ones. We had 2 and the mini went about 15 years without being touched .

 

Cage wise, personally I would definitely go weld in and with the bars going from front legs forward towards subframe mounts. These apparently are designed to stop the front wheels getting friendly with your feet and legs. I also learned from Rob at minisport that when they put a weld in cage in they cut the roof off and then weld back on ......which certainly put me off converting my nicely painted clubman. 

[rally1380]

Hi, Congratulations to you all. You will do well to mess about with cars with 3 little ones. We had 2 and the mini went about 15 years without being touched .

 

Cage wise, personally I would definitely go weld in and with the bars going from front legs forward towards subframe mounts. These apparently are designed to stop the front wheels getting friendly with your feet and legs. I also learned from Rob at minisport that when they put a weld in cage in they cut the roof off and then weld back on ......which certainly put me off converting my nicely painted clubman. 

 

Cheers and Yes, I've realised there is precious little spare time.  I see 4 options to solve this issue....

 

1 - Try and make time and get it done myself (I'm currently trying to do this one)

2 - Pay someone else to do the work (can't afford that)

3 - Stash the cars in the garage and revisit them when I have time....18 years time then!!! (not keen as I will probably loose the motorsport bug and do something else)

4 - Sell up all of my cars. ( I have considered this!!!  )

 

As for the roll cage method.....Not keen removing a roof skin from a completely brand new shell. The other way to do it is cut holes in the floor and lower the legs of the cage through the car so you can get the cage low enough to get the welder on top of the joints...then bring the cage back up and weld the holes up and plate over with a spreader plate as per the MSA requirements. As long as the spreader plates cover the hole completely I see no issue with strength loss...whereas removing the roof does IMO. Plus, the amount of spot welds in the roof gutter is daft so no chance i'm drilling them out!!!!! I toyed with the idea of removing the skin from the crashed shell but the amount of spot welds way crazy and I gave up after 5 minutes....just wasn't worth the hassle so I sacrificed the roof skin and rear panel to save the rear 3/4 panels instead.

 

Hope all is well with your toys???

[keefr22]

 4 - Sell up all of my cars. ( I have considered this!!!  )

Should this become your preferred option Dave, let us know how much you want for the green machine !!    (probably couldn't afford it now, but you never know!!  )

 

Keith