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Anyone know what happened to Graham and John Hill and their Twini hillclimb Pickup ?

Graham told me that they scrapped it which seems sad. It had an ingenious gear change to the rear unit.

Nick,
Thanks for that.
Yes they put the rod change through the front of the rear box and deleted reverse gear in the rear box. Simple solution to a complex problem.
Do you have any contact details for Graham? I need to speak to him regarding a rare piece of kit of bought from him eons ago.
Roger

Graham is still in the area, i will try to get you a phone no.
I think the only parts of the pickup that still exist are the twin throttle pedal assembly and the exhaust, the gearbox casing was bought by an autograss racer some years ago.

Does any one have any pics of this car, a guy from Sydney used to have a goggo mobile with two s units in it that he used to hillclimb,
left the line faster than any EVO or WRX.

Steve65, that would be great help, thanks. Last time I spoke he was still in Coughton Lane, many years ago.
Roger

Good point made by 850GT there, does anyone have any pics of the Twini Pickup to post up?
Steve 65, any joy with Graham's number please?

Is this the one which was white with a black roof? It was featured in Mini world in the early 90s

Al

Pandora, that would be the one, yes. Got any pics? Got a contact for Graham?
Cheers
Roger

Sorry, got rid of magazines last year when I moved. I think his jumper was very 'topman' circa 1986. Funny the things you remember.
Al

Haha!
I meant pics of it in action or any technical pics.
Any offers anyone?
Roger

If it helps the article

Cheers for posting that Catmint, it was certainly quite some machine, would have loved to have seen it perform. Pity they dismantled it really.....
I now have a number to try Graham on after the holidays.
If anyone has other pics of it, please post.
Many thanks
Roger

Looks like it had a few nice bits on it, two Maestro blocks by the looks of it as well.

I always wonder why "The units were built so they were virtually identical". Surely, this means that when you go around a corner, the back engine promotes understeer, so either you want different throttle quadrants, a split pedal, or a front engine with slightly more welly.

I find the last paragraph about the Ant gearbox intriguing.

Tim

Tim-the-ever-observant.....
That one became my first Ant gearbox.
Neither Graham, nor me, knew at the time exactly what it was, or thought to question it. We both presumed it was an Ant gearbox, end of.
Not so, it took me several years to suspect it was from the very first series of prototypes, even longer to prove it beyond all doubt. And after that I found there was a third type!
Lack of matching rear diff prevented the Hills ever building this into any form of motorsport missile, but even then, they may have abandoned any plans due to complexities and weight. You really wouldn't need a two speed transfer box for any speed related vehicle. For motorsport it was a non starter.

Roger

I thought you would know what happened to it Roger. I didn't re-read the article, I remembered that it mentioned an Ant gearbox from when I read it 20 years ago!

Tim

Tim, what an excellent rememberage gland you have, so you'd also remember the £100 I lent you in '92 then......... ? !!
There was a bit of a localised Ant cluster, three miles up the road from the Hills was Neil Wedgbury with Ant #123, I spoke to him about that 'box once and said he avoided it as there was "something odd about it", at least he was right on that count, he just didn't realise why it was odd!
Another eight miles on, I eventually got hold of the second 'box, after being messed about something chronic by our friend Mr. Hailes, that one had been lurking in a garage for ten years before I dragged it out into the light of day, poor thing was like a pit-pony brought to the surface!
TOG 622H was the real odd one though, it was up for sale at Mini 35 Silverstone in '94 on a trailer, I presume it didn't sell, but I'd like to know what happened to it prior to, and from then on. It was in reasonable shape at Silverstone, but it seems to have suffered badly in the mean time until 2008 when it was found in a yard in poor state. It then had a failed attempt at restoration before I bought what remained.
Where was it all that time and where was it before?

Roger

Teckeldog wrote:Nick,
Thanks for that.
Yes they put the rod change through the front of the rear box and deleted reverse gear in the rear box. Simple solution to a complex problem.
Do you have any contact details for Graham? I need to speak to him regarding a rare piece of kit of bought from him eons ago.
Roger

I think this is the same method used by Carl Austin on his twin engined drag car (the maroon one)...
For anyone interested in it, might be worth giving Carl a shout at Force Racing.