Mini’s racing history
THE ORIGINAL MINI WAS NOT DESIGNED TO BE A RACER BUT WAS GREAT ON TRACK ANYWAY
New Zealand has a littleknown link to the motorsport legacy of the high-performance versions of the ubiquitous Mini.
Mini designer Sir Alex Issigonis had no motor racing aspirations for his creation, yet it soon became apparent that the 1959 original had great potential.
Australian Jack Brabham and Kiwi Bruce McLaren were Cooper Formula 1 team drivers and quickly assessed the competition potential of the 848cc Mini Minor. They helped persuade boss John Cooper to evolve a sports version of the car with a larger capacity engine and front disc brakes.
The first Mini Coopers went on sale in the closing months of 1961.
McLaren tempted New Zealand crowds with a racing Mini in 1962 and the following summer returned with a 1.1-litre Mini Cooper, which stunned the crowds at the first local Grand Prix meeting at Pukekohe.
The Mini was expected to run in the saloon race for smaller cars, but McLaren instead competed in the event for the big guns. He finished just one-tenth of a second behind the 3.8-litre Jaguar of Alistair McBeath.
Ardmore’s airfield circuit in January 1961 marked the first competition appearance for the Mini, with seven of the BMCs facing larger saloon cars.
The long-running, relatively lowcost Mini Seven series attracted large fields.
Christchurch driver Jim Mullins took his white Mini Cooper 1293S to victory in New Zealand’s national Group 2 saloon car championship for the 1965/66 season.
Mullins and Lin Neilson also won the Three Hour Challenge race at Pukekohe.
At the 1966 Grand Prix
Pukekohe meeting, Sydney driver Brian Foley kept the crowd on its feet with spectacular driving in his 1.3-litre Mini Cooper, finishing second to Frank Bryan’s 4.7-litre Ford Mustang.
Aucklander Rodger Anderson ran a Mini Cooper S in the onelitre class and was crowned overall saloon car champion in 1968.
Rod Collingwood set his sights on racing a Mini after watching McLaren in 1963; eight years later he won the 1000cc championship.
Reg Cook became a new rising star among Mini drivers in 1971, and the following year was the man to beat.
The arrival of the newgeneration Mini in 2001 saw development of an international Mini racing series and with Mini NZ backing, 20 specially prepared versions of the supercharged 1.6-litre Cooper were imported for the 2006/07 season.
The Mini also made its mark in other forms of the sport, with Scotsman Andrew Cowan and local navigator Jim Scott in a white Clubman GT taking outright victory in the 1972 Heatway international rally, run over rugged New Zealand roads.
Car club members relished the way the Mini performed in gymkhana tests and they were exceptionally good in fuel economy runs. George Drayton and Laurie Timlin achieved a world record 60.19 miles per gallon (4.7 litres/100 km) with a Mini in the 1961 three-day Mobilgas Economy Run.