Story starts back in 1990 when a slightly butchered about (mk2 backpanel) and rusty mk1 cooper got
broken for spare parts and it's stripped Shell was sold for little Money.
I bought it, filled all the gaping holes that were not supposed to be there and had it repainted
in procelain green. The engine came from an Innocenti Cooper that I had broken for spares months
earlier and Newton Commercial provided a brand spanking new interior. On the assembly i only used stainless bolts
and new parts wherever possible, it was almost a new car.
I was in love with the car, put it in my Garage and thats basically where it remained for the last 20 years.
A few months ago i decided that a Garage Ornament is no good and i looked at it long enough.....
I signed in to an international winter Rally called the "2014 Winter Raid" with my 998 Cooper
A good Service and clean later we realized it Needs a whole lot of changes in order to compete, when
i built it i thought i was gonna use it for Shopping and driving around town....
A terratrip, an Ipad Mount, works dash, rev Counter, Safety Devices Rollcage, Contour Seats, Harnesses etc etc etc all had to
go in the Little car in no time.... With the help of my Navigator who runs a bodyshop it morphed from sweetiepie to
Rally car within just a week and honestly i was quite chuffed with the outcome.
There were however concerns from my side as the engine had not been used for 20 yrs (nor any other part of it) and i
had only done about 150 miles with the car total, in all it's life..... Not that i told anyone, i just kept that part to me
So last thursday we started to the 3 day / 800 miles Event from switzerland to italy to Austria, to the slovenian border and back....
The mini first of all, on her spiked tires, was amazing. We had a blast going over surely a dozen snowy passes where normally
only snowchains were allowed.....
The mini treated us so well and lasted without any hickups, bar when a mean Lancia Fulviadecided to throw sludge at the poor Thing and wet the Distributor.... he did not like that and spluttered at us for a few seconds to remember
the Crew on board to overtake the italian intruder.....
I did and all was fine with our Little gem back on full blast....
As we were complete rookies to rallying the last thing we expected was to win anything,
actually we were happy to have learned so much about driving the Specials and Navigation with
a roadbook. then, unexpectedly our names were called out.....
We, or shall i say the Mini, won the last stage and got a trophy for it
Over the moon with it all and it somehow feels the Mini is not mad at me for keeping it in a quiet protected place
for so Long, she quite liked it and was eager to show off. She paid me back every minute of sweat i spent building her.
As my Little daughter says.....I love Mini.....
so....apart comes perfectly fine original mini.....
bye bye Newton Commercial seats and hello rollcage...
gauges
seats
harnesses
done
competitors have arrived...
next morning in litaly....
in Action
