FULL SPRINT CAR IS ALSO AN ENJOYABLE ROAD MACHINE

The pictures above were very kindly donated by Ken's Daughter Angie. Needless to say,

I am very greatful for the being able to show these excellent previously unpublished private photos.

(Click for a larger image)

 

Enthusiasts have long since stopped marveling at the performance which can be from a Cooper Mini. Today, it is taken almost as a matter of course that the best tuned will be tagging on behind the 3.8 Jaguars, and on the tightest circuits, even mixing it with them. In rallies they are just as successful-perhaps even more so-and in Sweden they seem to be gaining a following as enthusiastic as that for SAAB, which suggests that they are well able to cope with the rough stuff, when they are suitably prepared for it. But most of the important sporting events, both at home and abroad, are for Group 2 cars, and consequently there are important restrictions on what can be done to extract more power. It is usually in minor events, such as club races and sprints, that Group 3 cars can be used, and as the majority of Mini racers like to have an occasional crack at a more important event, the number of fully tuned Group 3 cars around is comparatively limited.

This is a pity, because a competent tuning specialist, given a free hand, can transform a Cooper Mini into a really potent 'bomb', as I found out recently when I borrowed a car from Speedwell. This was not a specially prepared test car, but one owned by a customer, which had been back at the works for an end-of-season check-over and service, after six months of sprint-type competition in the North.

The body sides carried the motifs 'Team Speedwell Yorkshire', and apart from the 'Speedwell' badge on the back, the extra safety clip on the engine cover, a sticker on the rear window, and the lack of wheel covers, this looked just like any other green and white production Cooper Mini. Inside the deception was carried further, for the car was fully trimmed and carpeted, and it even had a heater and radio! The small hint of something out of the ordinary came simply from a rev counter, a combined oil pressure and water temperature gauge, and an oil temperature gauge. There was also a matching competition-type seat, a combined diagonal and lap strap, and tucked away beneath the facia on the right side was an air slide for the Amal carburetors, replacing the normal pull-type choke.

The car is owned by Ken Lee, who has been having a very successful 1962 season, mainly at BARC events. His score sheet includes six 'firsts', including four new sprint records, and apparently this car has been the cause of some spirited rivalry between Cooper Mini owners in the area! The Lee car has been progressively 'breathed on' throughout the year, to stave off ever-growing competition, and when I tested it it had 'the lot'. Yet remarkably, it was still a most usable road car, which indeed is its major function, the car having covered some 11,000 miles already The engine modifications include boring out the block, and fitting 67 mm pistons (made in Germany) to increase the capacity to 1,152 cc. The normal cylinder head has been discarded and replaced by a Speedwell Clubman-type light-alloy head, plus a special camshaft and valve gear. The engine runs on a compression ratio of 11,5 to 1, and as mentioned earlier, the fuel is fed through a pair of Amal carburetors.

There is a special flywheel, having only 50 per cent of the moment of inertia of the standard components, and the con rods are hand picked, machined at vital points, and crack tested. The bottom end has been 'beefed up' by strengthening the main bearing caps-this has been achieved by machining off the caps, and surrounding them with steel straps which are bolted down with longer bolts. A lot of time is spent on profiling and finishing off the cylinder head, and the result is a unit which can be revved for shorts bursts up to 7,500 rpm, and which delivers 82 horsepower at 6,600 rpm, and 71 pounds feet of torque at 5,000 rpm.