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MTN was published by David Vizard from Jan 1980 to Dec 1983 and in the days before any monthly Mini magazines was essential reading for Mini tuning enthusiasts, Triple C by then was reducing its coverage of the Mini as other far more modern cars were by now taking its place in the world of small competition and performance saloon cars. I was a subscriber to MTN and after sending in regular content by mail to DV in the USA/winter, UK/summer (pre-internet or email days) he later promoted me to 'Roving Editor' with a regular column called 'The Bell Report'! After 4 years DV sadly had to call it a day due other demands on his time. For those that still have a collection of MTN's i recently noticed Mk1 forum member 'r.tec' has found and kindly shared a useful link on TMF to an index of the contents of all the MTN newsletters which can be read and downloaded as a pdf file here:-
Mini Tech News contents index:-
http://www.baukasten.homepage.eu/userda ... alt001.pdf

I have a full set of the newsletters which I will hopefully get round to scanning as pdf's to share eventually (unless someone already has?).....in the meantime for interest here are a few front covers i have scanned in the past but which I don't think I have posted on here before but i may be wrong.....

(Little did we know back then that the Mini would go on to last another 18 years in production,
despite the reports at the time of it's impending demise........)




David Vizard attended and reported on the IMM - 'International Mini Meet'
held 21st-23rd May 1983 in Ansembourg, Luxembourg.

Mini Aerodynamics - MTN 1982:-
viewtopic.php?t=10097

John Cooper - David Vizard Interview 1982 (MTN):-
viewtopic.php?t=6059

1275GT ‘Around America Economy Drive’:-
viewtopic.php?t=6472

I think the DDD412C plate came from the 850 that became the red racer.

Great post Martin.

If you do ever get them scanned, I'd be happy to host them.

M

DV offered Leyland Cars his expertise as a consultant but they already knew everything about the A Series.

The Mini and Metro 998 could have been genuine 60+ mpg cars.

Fitting the 295 to all the small bore cars would have been an excellent start. I could never understand why they didn't do that.

I would have gone for a 1098 with a 10.5:1 compression, breakerless mapped ignition, very long inlet manifold tracts and reduced valve overlap to give excellent 1500-2500 torque, 40/45 bhp and a long final drive to give 20 mph/1000 rpm. Soft valve springs and thin piston rings to reduce friction. The torque of a 1275 but at low engine speeds to make it effortless to drive at tiny throttle openings.

The 998 HLE engine was some of the way there but it could have been a lot better. There was likely 65-70 real world mpg potential there. Driving like a Granddad but achievable.

Hello,
yes, the index is from me. I wrote it many moons ago while working on a Sperry-Univac host (long before the first IBM-PC appeared). I printed it on a then common needle printer and later copied the MTN-logo on top of it. Years later I scanned it into my first PC as a .pdf. It was laying somewhere around my current PC when I saw that Mabuk showed some of the titles & stories.
Over the decades I always wanted to scan all the issues (I think I have all of them).
On one of the title pages is the IMM of the long gone Sweet Mini Club Luxemburg which was my very first IMM I attended. And of course I could speak a few words with DV concerning the 731 cam. He then signed my copy of his Mini book I took with me. I later met and spoke to DV again but I do not know which IMM at Silverstone it was or perhaps the Rover organized Mini 40.
I will scan the signed page of my book an put it here in due time.

mk1 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 10, 2021 8:31 am Great post Martin.

If you do ever get them scanned, I'd be happy to host them.

M

Thanks Mark, that would be great to host them, I will keep you posted!
Like r.tec above I have always wanted to get all the MTN issues scanned and put online for sharing.