Fred Game's memories and specs of his CCC Mini racer as kindly posted on TMF by Jordan 'pickuptruck1994' 
http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/to ... ?p=3336556
Basis for shell was a 1959 Mini rolling chassis which, in all steel form, had been used for grass track racing by one of the magazine’s advertising reps.
Can’t remember what it cost me (but it wouldn’t have been much!) and I collected it using Phil Whitehead’s trailer and moved it to his father’s garage in Bickley, Kent, where most of the work was done.
We removed the entire rear panel, boot floor, seatback, front end and roof – retaining the shell’s integrity by welding brackets to the roll cage and inserting bars to triangulate the rear of the cage with the floor and transverse box section.
An HF Sprint Team alloy beam took the place of the rear sub-frame, with the trailing arms linked to the roll cage using Spax adjustable spring/dampers. Initially the springs were rated at something like 140 lb/ft - but they contributed to making the slightly flexible car handle like a club hammer!
I believe the one piece glass fibre rear panel and the first replacement roof (moulded to look like it was leather covered, complete with seams) were also from HF Sprint Team. I thought the one piece front came from Keith Ripp, who also supplied the ‘S’ front brakes and shafts.
Initially the rear side panels and door panels were made from aluminium, but the latter were changed to glass fibre much later in the car’s life.
All windows were Perspex – the front and rear screens heated up and curved using string and an electric fire at home!
Tony Chammings gave me a pair of his Hi-Los to uprate the front suspension and enable the ride height to be adjusted, plus we fitted a pair of fully rose jointed radius rods/lower suspension arms which had come into the office for review. Although the latter looked really nice, one broke when kerbed at a speed hill climb, causing the car to roll and the need for a new roof to replace the shredded former item. Replacement suspension was from Special Tuning.
Engine was a fairly mild 970 ‘S’ with an ST 649 cam and a downdraught Weber 45IDA (?) which poked up through the bonnet. Unfortunately, it spat fuel onto the screen on over-run, hindering vision somewhat, especially when braking for Druids hairpin at Brands and looking into a low sun……
When Swaymar Race Engines supplied one of their beautifully finished cylinder heads, with offset valves and dowel aligned manifolds, we changed over to a side draught Weber. Dave Martin of Swaymar also gave me a combined radiator/oil cooler from an Alexis 18B formula Ford (converted to Chrysler power with new suspension and body), we rebuilt for monoposto and hill climbing*. We fitted that to the mini in place of the angled, side mounted radiator and separate cooler – it seems to have gone now?
Swaymar were agents for MSD in the UK and so the mini also won an MSD 7 Transistorised ignition package which was very impressive.
We originally set everything up on 7x13 Revolution wheels with polished rims and red centres – to match the car body which was bright red – I think BLMC Tartan Red. It retained that colour until 75/76 when it was painted black with gold signwriting.
The aim was to fit the rims with sticky Firestone B33 formula 3 front tyres, which had a rolling diameter only a little larger than conventional mini slicks for 10inch wheels. A local Firestone depot manager - who had seen me do quite well in a Brands Hatch celebrity race one Easter Monday – promised to locate some 33s (they were like hen’s teeth at the time; you couldn’t buy them at any price) and came up with a supposed set in almost new condition, for the price of a couple of beers.
With a Maniflow exhaust fitted and a nice new Corbeau seat and Mountney steering wheel in place, I took the car to test it on the Brands club circuit. In dry conditions pushing it down to almost 60 secs (Miglias were doing about 56 at the time) was pretty lurid. I asked friend and successful 850 racer, Dr David Enderby, to try it and he came back with eyes on stalks having recorded 61 ‘ish. “Undriveable” was his quote! We checked the serial numbers of the tyres and they proved to be B18s, not what we had hoped for and much, much harder – impossible to warm up.
At a late season Brands meeting, I could get the car into the 61s on a set of borrowed, narrow CR65 Dunlops in the wet, which certainly pointed to a lack of rigidity.
Whilst the shell’s flexibility was never fully addressed, Phil had a couple of struts welded to the back of the cage which should have also been bolted to the suspension beam but weren’t (!). However, softer 70 lb rear springs and Dunlop medium hard fronts and super soft wet compound (but not grooved) tyres on the rear at least got the car into the ball park. However, I once overtook Dr David going into Gerrards at Mallory during a Hitachi championship round and he still thought the car looked “all over the place” and pretty unsafe! Dry tyres were on 7x10 Revolutions at the front and 6x10 at the rear. A mix of second hand Goodyear/Firestone wets were mounted on 6x10 Mambas similar to those the car now has, except all the 10inch wheels were painted gold.
I still have a pair of the Firestone shod Mambas which I kept as mementos. -
Fred Game (2015).
More photos and scans of the original Triple C articles here:-
http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/to ... ions-mini/