MINI2

bigturtle · Oct 29th, 2005, 08:15 AM

Time to reminisce

I'm just swapping all my old photos over from old computer to new, and looking at a few that I'd forgotten about. We've been active in Fiat circles for a zillion years, and have done a lot of really fun events in some great cars. Not everything has always gone to plan though. This one is from the Australian Motorkhana Championship, either 1999 or 2000. Our Niki (Fiat 126 in the rest of the world) had a mid-mounted Alfasud engine and transaxle. The roll centres at both ends were very low and gave excellent geometry, but at the expense of a little more weight transfer than was desirable. The Niki was mostly used on dirt, where the grip was low and it wasn't a problem. This picture though was taken running slicks on a very grippy bitumen surface. It sure got my attention at the time!

bigturtle · Oct 29th, 2005, 08:23 AM

Here's another. This is the thing we've been punting around for the last two years. This is the very first outing, before we'd done any suspension sorting. It was ... errrr, very hard on it's tyres until we got things ironed out. Still, I fell like the supreme hoon doing this but it did leave a set of Michelins hanging in tatters.

Quickbrick · Oct 29th, 2005, 08:24 AM

good one Bigturtle

are you sure you shouldn't have titled this one "Cars 'wot ' I've tried to kill"

I'm pretty sure the Niki was never offered with a central-steering position, so I am guessing this is just gravity at work in the photo.

bigturtle · Oct 29th, 2005, 08:28 AM

Same car again, after a couple of events. It was slightly better behaved, but still prone to losing the tail. This is a mate of mine, trying (and failing) to catch a slide. As a kid, I had a frisbee that didn't spin as well as this car!

bigturtle · Oct 29th, 2005, 08:32 AM

The Niki was just a litle bit removed from standard. It did actually have just one seat, right in the dead centre, with a firewall immediately behind that and a removeable spaceframe carrying the drivetrain and rear of the car. I'm belted in pretty tight in that photo.

bigturtle · Oct 29th, 2005, 08:41 AM

And here's Mrs Bigturtle in action. Sllipery bitumen, bucketing down rain, and we've brought the wrong tyres. I *hate* the weather man, and he hates me. Oh my God what a challenging day.

And yes, I do think her eyes are closed.

meinamini · Oct 29th, 2005, 09:23 AM

Yep I reckon they're closed

AndrewH · Oct 29th, 2005, 12:25 PM

So how long do you reckon it'll be before your doing this sort of thing in the Mini?

Todd! · Oct 29th, 2005, 12:38 PM

Nice shots mate!

I love the look of the little open wheeler. What is it powered by? Looks like a turbo... with the highmounted filter... is it a Hyabusa motor??? I noticed the high mounted shifter too... I cant believe you do that with no arm restraints... thats a nice looking front end too... I take it the MINI is for something a little more sedate?

bigturtle · Oct 29th, 2005, 08:20 PM

I asked My Good Lady Wife the other day if we should use the MINI for a bit of club motorsport stuff, expecting a swift uppercut and to be sleeping with the dog for a week. Instead she said "yeah, I've been thinking about that too". The temptation is strong .....

bigturtle · Oct 29th, 2005, 08:29 PM

It's powered by a 2 litre Fiat twin cam through a Lancia Beta gearbox. The engine is still a stocker other than for a conversion to EFI, so it's only around 130hp still (but is also only weighs 458kg). I've been thinking about chasing more power via an engine swap, but haven't found anything yet that meets the packaging requirements and is cheap enough and light enough. I keep looking at superchargers on the web, but I dunno if I want to do all that work supercharging the Fiat engine as a one-off with no guarantee of success.
Of course, I haven't run a tape measure over a Cooper S drivetrain yet. But you never know ....

The arm restraints thing is a bit of a problem. Driver's left arm is a little exposed, but given the packaging requirements for a tiny car to carry a large driver (I'm enormous. I'm sorta like one of those old Valiants, except on legs) it was the best I could do. It's CAMS log booked though, including the roll over protection and driver restraints, so it does actually meet all the requirements for driver safety.

AndrewH · Oct 29th, 2005, 11:11 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by bigturtle

I asked My Good Lady Wife the other day if we should use the MINI for a bit of club motorsport stuff, expecting a swift uppercut and to be sleeping with the dog for a week. Instead she said "yeah, I've been thinking about that too". The temptation is strong .....

Hahaha seeing those earlier photos, it doesn't look like Mrs Bigturtle will need much encouragement

Oct 29th, 2005, 08:15 AM	#1
bigturtle Oh God, what have I done? Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Brisbane, Australia. Local Time: 06:54 AM Posts: 301 Offline	Cars 'wot 'ave tried to kill me Time to reminisce I'm just swapping all my old photos over from old computer to new, and looking at a few that I'd forgotten about. We've been active in Fiat circles for a zillion years, and have done a lot of really fun events in some great cars. Not everything has always gone to plan though. This one is from the Australian Motorkhana Championship, either 1999 or 2000. Our Niki (Fiat 126 in the rest of the world) had a mid-mounted Alfasud engine and transaxle. The roll centres at both ends were very low and gave excellent geometry, but at the expense of a little more weight transfer than was desirable. The Niki was mostly used on dirt, where the grip was low and it wasn't a problem. This picture though was taken running slicks on a very grippy bitumen surface. It sure got my attention at the time! Attached Thumbnails

Oct 29th, 2005, 08:23 AM	#2 (permalink)
bigturtle Oh God, what have I done? Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Brisbane, Australia. Local Time: 06:54 AM Posts: 301 Offline	Here's another. This is the thing we've been punting around for the last two years. This is the very first outing, before we'd done any suspension sorting. It was ... errrr, very hard on it's tyres until we got things ironed out. Still, I fell like the supreme hoon doing this but it did leave a set of Michelins hanging in tatters. Attached Thumbnails

Oct 29th, 2005, 08:24 AM	#3 (permalink)
Quickbrick MINI2 Regular Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Brisbane Local Time: 06:54 AM Posts: 312 Offline	good one Bigturtle are you sure you shouldn't have titled this one "Cars 'wot ' I've tried to kill" I'm pretty sure the Niki was never offered with a central-steering position, so I am guessing this is just gravity at work in the photo. QuickBrick

Oct 29th, 2005, 08:28 AM	#4 (permalink)
bigturtle Oh God, what have I done? Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Brisbane, Australia. Local Time: 06:54 AM Posts: 301 Offline	Same car again, after a couple of events. It was slightly better behaved, but still prone to losing the tail. This is a mate of mine, trying (and failing) to catch a slide. As a kid, I had a frisbee that didn't spin as well as this car! Attached Thumbnails

Oct 29th, 2005, 08:41 AM	#6 (permalink)
bigturtle Oh God, what have I done? Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Brisbane, Australia. Local Time: 06:54 AM Posts: 301 Offline	And here's Mrs Bigturtle in action. Sllipery bitumen, bucketing down rain, and we've brought the wrong tyres. I hate the weather man, and he hates me. Oh my God what a challenging day. And yes, I do think her eyes are closed. Attached Thumbnails

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Oct 29th, 2005, 08:32 AM	#5 (permalink)
bigturtle Oh God, what have I done? Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Brisbane, Australia. Local Time: 06:54 AM Posts: 301 Offline	The Niki was just a litle bit removed from standard. It did actually have just one seat, right in the dead centre, with a firewall immediately behind that and a removeable spaceframe carrying the drivetrain and rear of the car. I'm belted in pretty tight in that photo.

Oct 29th, 2005, 09:23 AM	#7 (permalink)
meinamini Livin' the country life Join Date: May 2004 Location: Livin' in the OC! Local Time: 07:54 AM Posts: 4,030 Offline	Yep I reckon they're closed

Oct 29th, 2005, 12:25 PM	#8 (permalink)
AndrewH Were there Oompa loompas? Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Canberra Local Time: 06:54 AM Posts: 4,209 Offline	So how long do you reckon it'll be before your doing this sort of thing in the Mini? Jan 06 MCS Checkmate

Oct 29th, 2005, 12:38 PM	#9 (permalink)
Todd! Boy who made the wolf cry Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Geelong, Vic, Aus Local Time: 06:54 AM Posts: 10,892 Offline	Nice shots mate! I love the look of the little open wheeler. What is it powered by? Looks like a turbo... with the highmounted filter... is it a Hyabusa motor??? I noticed the high mounted shifter too... I cant believe you do that with no arm restraints... thats a nice looking front end too... I take it the MINI is for something a little more sedate? PROJECT POLARIS - Die Wiedergeburt eines kultautos

Oct 29th, 2005, 08:20 PM	#10 (permalink)
bigturtle Oh God, what have I done? Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Brisbane, Australia. Local Time: 06:54 AM Posts: 301 Offline	I asked My Good Lady Wife the other day if we should use the MINI for a bit of club motorsport stuff, expecting a swift uppercut and to be sleeping with the dog for a week. Instead she said "yeah, I've been thinking about that too". The temptation is strong .....

Oct 29th, 2005, 08:29 PM	#11 (permalink)
bigturtle Oh God, what have I done? Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Brisbane, Australia. Local Time: 06:54 AM Posts: 301 Offline	It's powered by a 2 litre Fiat twin cam through a Lancia Beta gearbox. The engine is still a stocker other than for a conversion to EFI, so it's only around 130hp still (but is also only weighs 458kg). I've been thinking about chasing more power via an engine swap, but haven't found anything yet that meets the packaging requirements and is cheap enough and light enough. I keep looking at superchargers on the web, but I dunno if I want to do all that work supercharging the Fiat engine as a one-off with no guarantee of success. Of course, I haven't run a tape measure over a Cooper S drivetrain yet. But you never know .... The arm restraints thing is a bit of a problem. Driver's left arm is a little exposed, but given the packaging requirements for a tiny car to carry a large driver (I'm enormous. I'm sorta like one of those old Valiants, except on legs) it was the best I could do. It's CAMS log booked though, including the roll over protection and driver restraints, so it does actually meet all the requirements for driver safety.

Oct 29th, 2005, 11:11 PM	#12 (permalink)
AndrewH Were there Oompa loompas? Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Canberra Local Time: 06:54 AM Posts: 4,209 Offline	Quote: Originally Posted by bigturtle I asked My Good Lady Wife the other day if we should use the MINI for a bit of club motorsport stuff, expecting a swift uppercut and to be sleeping with the dog for a week. Instead she said "yeah, I've been thinking about that too". The temptation is strong ..... Hahaha seeing those earlier photos, it doesn't look like Mrs Bigturtle will need much encouragement Jan 06 MCS Checkmate

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