45 replies to this topic

[keefr22]

 

I was told that if you can prove the manufacturing date, obviously earlier than registration, you're all go...

 

Anyway, I thought on getting a MSA licence last year but then I realised that not being a UK national an extra fee had to be paid for the first one. The 1 year old little thing crawling on the carpet seems to be taking all my motor sport budget so I'm sticking to club card only events. One day...

 

Ha ha.....a baby will do that unfortunately!!!  Thats why i'm getting both my cars prepped as much as I can now, because as soon as I have kids the money will disappear!!

 

And you'd better believe that - & bear in mind Bank of Dad never stops so the money carries on disappearing....!!!

[Cooperman]

 

 

I was told that if you can prove the manufacturing date, obviously earlier than registration, you're all go...

 

Anyway, I thought on getting a MSA licence last year but then I realised that not being a UK national an extra fee had to be paid for the first one. The 1 year old little thing crawling on the carpet seems to be taking all my motor sport budget so I'm sticking to club card only events. One day...

 

Ha ha.....a baby will do that unfortunately!!!  Thats why i'm getting both my cars prepped as much as I can now, because as soon as I have kids the money will disappear!!

 

And you'd better believe that - & bear in mind Bank of Dad never stops so the money carries on disappearing....!!!

 

Just had my two youngest grandkids here for a few days with their mum. Wow, it costs so much for days out, like a trip to Wicksteed Park - great fun though going on all the rides with them. Literally just dropped them at Southend Airport for their flight home to Geneva.

[rally1380]

So....Rule number 1 to all those without kids wanting to prep a car for any form of motorsport.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Use Durex!!!!!!!

[Cooperman]

So....Rule number 1 to all those without kids wanting to prep a car for any form of motorsport.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Use Durex!!!!!!!

Er, to waterproof the electrics?????????????

[Cooperman]

In the hope you are not bored by vintage photos, here is the 'Young Cooperman', aged 20, navigating an 850 Mini for Bill Rogers on the 1961 Chess Valley Motor Club Scorpio Rally (a local club event). Seeded no.2 we finished 2nd overall. Note how basic the 850 looks with little 3.5" wheels and Dunlop Duraband RB1 tyres. Bill was a fantastic Mini driver, much quicker than I could ever be, and he is still my best friend 53 years later. He & I are doing a run to the South of France in his US registered Sunbeam Tiger (4.2 litre Sunbeam Alpine) in September. We will take it in turns to drive & navigate. Bill has done a few historic events in my Cooper 'S's in the UK & Europe and now owns one of them which he keeps at his home in California.

This photo is really illustrative of club rallying in the early 1960's when an 850 Mini was the car to have. When this photo was taken the 997 Cooper had not yet appeared. This one had a better cylinder head, raised compression ratio and not much else. Brakes were single leading shoe drums. But we were very competitive in it.

 

[Summerill2]

In the hope you are not bored by vintage photos, here is the 'Young Cooperman', aged 20, navigating an 850 Mini for Bill Rogers on the 1961 Chess Valley Motor Club Scorpio Rally (a local club event). Seeded no.2 we finished 2nd overall. Note how basic the 850 looks with little 3.5" wheels and Dunlop Duraband RB1 tyres. Bill was a fantastic Mini driver, much quicker than I could ever be, and he is still my best friend 53 years later. He & I are doing a run to the South of France in his US registered Sunbeam Tiger (4.2 litre Sunbeam Alpine) in September. We will take it in turns to drive & navigate. Bill has done a few historic events in my Cooper 'S's in the UK & Europe and now owns one of them which he keeps at his home in California.
This photo is really illustrative of club rallying in the early 1960's when an 850 Mini was the car to have. When this photo was taken the 997 Cooper had not yet appeared. This one had a better cylinder head, raised compression ratio and not much else. Brakes were single leading shoe drums. But we were very competitive in it.
 

You should have your own section to share these wonderful stories with your fellow mini fans!

[Cooperman]

And here is 65-year old Cooperman driving his Rover 214Si to 1st overall on the 320 mile long Yorkshire Endurance rally with son Mick navigating. The Winter fuel allowance for OAP's helped pay for the fuel  . That Rover was a fine rally car and with 117 (chipped) bhp a lot quicker than my Mini despite being heavier. Looking at the road surface it's a good job the suspension is slightly raised and GAX suspension is fitted all round.

 

[Cooperman]

A Mini again in this one. Club motor-sport at its best.

23-year old Cooperman winning the up to 1000 cc class in the Chelmsford Motor Club autocross in Sept 1964 in his 3-month old 998 Cooper.

 

[Gr4h4m]

Motorsport just seemed more alive back in the 60's.. Not that io was around but you hear loads of stories of people competing in nearly new cars.. I can't see many people doing that in this day and age?

[keefr22]

It was the same in the 70's - possibly because everything was a fair bit cheaper. However. new cars also often seemed to not last that long so there weren't so many older ones around! I remember buying a fully rally prepared 1972 Escort Mexico in 1977 that had a shell that was as rotten as a pear...5 years old! A trip to a local dealer netted a bog standard 3 year old 1100 2 door for £200, got the type 49 shell mods from the local RS dealer for less than 50 & a couple of weekends work got me another fully prepared 'Mexico' for about £500 total...& then weighed in the 'rotten 1100'!!

[Cooperman]

I do recall having to fit a new front wing to my then-wife's less than 3-year old Cortina 2000GT in 1975. It had simply rusted right through.

Most rally cars were less than 3 years old and the first Porsche 911 I rallied in, in 1968 - 69, was a 1965 car and folks were surprised at how reliable a 4-year old car could be.

[rally1380]

Motorsport just seemed more alive back in the 60's.. Not that io was around but you hear loads of stories of people competing in nearly new cars.. I can't see many people doing that in this day and age?

 

Think you'd be surprised..... at Knutsford and District MC we run various club level events/championships and all sorts of cars (new and old) compete.  We have everything from Diesel Skoda's and fairly new Suzuki Swifts to Mini's and even a Metro!!

 

I remember when I was a kid competing with my dad on a PCT in his company car at the time - Vauxhall Cavalier. 

 

Reckon sometimes its just good to get out there and compete - whatever car you have.

[Cooperman]

In the 60's a lot of club drivers used standard road cars with virtually no preparation on 'closed-to-club' rallies and even on some 'restricted' events.

Cars like the Cooper 'S' & Cortina GT were rallied by ordinary club drivers with just the addition of some DS11 brake pads and a pair of decent spotlights, plus a map light.

When a crew progressed onto 'National' and regional championship events the level of preparation became more serious with sump shields, different tyres, up-rated suspension, etc. No roll cages back then though.

I've rallied in all sorts of cars. I won my first rally in 1960 in a Renault 750 with the earlier mentioned Bill Rogers. I also navigated in the following in the 60's: Standard Vanguard Vignale, Austin A35, A-H Sprite Mk.1, Vauxhall VX4/90, Simca 1500, Ford V8 Pilot, Ford 100E, Ford 105E Anglia, TVR Grantura Mk.1, A-H 3000, Morris Minor 1000, Cortina GT, Mini (850, 997, 998, 1071 & 1275), Hillman Imp, Lotus-Cortina, Escort TC, Porsche 911, Rover 2000, Triumph 2000, MGA, Morris 1100.

And it was all such FUN!

[keefr22]

Reckon sometimes its just good to get out there and compete - whatever car you have.

After we broke the Mini on the first days Epynt hillclimb this year, my son was determined we wouldn't waste the second day's entry & that we'd do it in his daily driver Mazda RX8 in standard production class. As well as being much easier (check the tyres, fill it with petrol, chuck in the folding chairs, some tools & a tarp, drive to the event - no mucking about with trailers) I think it was also more fun - & I think he did too as he won the class! But in my case it's probably because I'm getting old & like the creature comforts of a 'modern'! Since then we've also done a sprint at Llandow in it, & aim do do another at Curborough or Castle Combe before the end of the season. As Dave says, it really is good to just get out & have a go!

[nocerb]

This is my 1969 Morris Mini, I used this car between 2000 and 2005.

 

We won a few class awards road and stage events back then, on events like the Y2K - the event tagged onto the Welsh Rally Retrospective (for 'modern' cars as the car used an A+ 998 engine back then) and Gremlin's road rallies 2001.

 

We made a trip to the Tour of Cheshire in 2004 with a 1293 a series installed, only for the head gasket to go part way through the event.

 

The mini which was under powered compared to the Mk2 Escorts (even more so as me and my brother who navigated for me are both over 6 foot tall and by no means of slim build). It was so much fun and as we didn't want to spend to much money making it faster we just entered events to have fun.

 

It was rebuilt last year as I missed how much fun you can have in a Mini.

 

It is prepared for stage rallying but also eligible for daytime historic rallies. In fact I have stuck with a 731 cam rather than anything wilder so the car is drivable on the regularity sections but there is still enough poke to have fun on the special tests.

 

We managed a third in the under 1400cc class on the WWRS Jaffa Stages at Pembrey last December, and then the wife used it on the Epynt Hillclimb in June this year. She prefers it to her 2002 BMW mini!!

 

A few pics

 

Harry Flatters Rally 2002 - Epynt

 

Showground Stages 2013 - Builth Wells

 

Gremlin Rally 2002 - in the lanes around Brecon somewhere