Advise needed, Stunt Driving Mini's

[kevwrx]

Hi Everyone
I'm thinking of replacing our current fleet of Toyota Yaris stunt driving school cars with Mini Coopers.
We dont need forced induction cars as the speeds we do aren't very high.

We've been running the Toyota's for more than 3 years with absolutely no mechanical problems whatsoever. The Toyota's have done thousands of jumps, 360 spins, handbrake turns, etc., with no problems at all.
The only thing we have done to them is change the oil once a year, and change tyres once a month. From the above you can gather that we've had a great run with the Toyota's. Reliabilty is very important to our business.

The only problem with the Toyota's is that a lot of people find them a little dull.....

We're thinking of 2002-2004 Mini Coopers,which I know nothing about.
Here's my questions..
Is there an automatic version, and is it reliable ? (we need at least one automatic, because lots of our customers cant drive manual)
Are Mini's tough, will they cope with thousands of jumps every year ?
We need a stack of spare wheels, is there a cheaper alternative to the stock mini wheels ?
Has anyone here fitted a hydraulic handbrake to one of these cars ??
Can the engines cope with a thrashing ??
Anything else I need to know regarding reliabilty ??

Thanks for your help
Kind regards
Kev

[Putsy]

Hi,
There is a automatic version in this age gruoup of minis it is a CVT transmission,
Minis are fairly tough, once you start jumping any vehical you will find out what will fail in them, however in saying that there are lots of aftermarket parts avaible for them that are normaly stronget then the standard ones,
They are a 4 stud wheel pattern, cant rember the offest from memory but most 4 studs will fit,
I have seen hydraulic handbrake kits and used them but never fitted one but does not look to complicated the set up that was on it,
The motors are quite strong and can handle a fair bit of hard driving,
The only things that I see that have concent trouble with are clutches and the brakes are quite soft but work very well.
Hop this helps mate
Tom

[07BPB]

The wheel needed are 4 x 100 and have a normal offset around 45 I think?

In regards to "thrashing" the car. I've done a skid pan/ defensive driving course and we spent a good 5 hours on the skid pan. Did numerous 360s and 180s with the hand-brake, plus by the end of it I was able to "drift" around every corner consecutively. After the 5 hours I had not broken one thing and the car was still in perfect working order. So from my experience it can handle it, although we didn't jump anything or drive on 2 wheels.

[MickyD]

two things that I could see being an issue are strut top mushrooming, and maybe the front control arm bushes (mine is on its 3rd set including the originals). If you want a cheap Cooper S, mine will be for sale in about 6 weeks when the 120d arrives

[OZChris]

The early gearboxes (known as Midland) are a known to be unreliable when pushed. Do a search on Midland.

Later models had a Getrag box, which arrived in the Cooper in '05 (I think); these are supposedly more reliable.

Good Luck.

[NeuroBeaker]

Quote: Originally Posted by kevwrx (original)

Can the engines cope with a thrashing ??

Absolutely!

Quote: Originally Posted by kevwrx (original)

Anything else I need to know regarding reliabilty ??

Quote: Originally Posted by OZChris (original)

The early gearboxes (known as Midland) are a known to be unreliable when pushed. Do a search on Midland.

Later models had a Getrag box, which arrived in the Cooper in '05 (I think); these are supposedly more reliable.

Good Luck.

You're absolutely right on the Midland Gearboxes, these were used in ONE/Cooper models up to June 2004-build cars. From July 2004 (with the introduction of the 'Facelift', MINIs were built with the Getrag gearbox and it was considerably more reliable. Certainly, if you want a manual you should get a facelifted car.

All the best,
Andrew.

[robbo mcs]

Hi,

I think the cooper would be a good choice. The cars look great, and have a "stunt" heritage from the Italian Job movies. I think they would certainly go down well with the punters.

Apart from the midlands gearbox, they are pretty bulletproof.

Early models are now cheap. There are also lots around at wreckers now, so parts can be found cheaply.

You'd want to drive the CVT "automatic" before buying one. It certainly doesn't drive like a normal auto, ie it doesn't rev, and IMHO doesn't feel "sporty".

With regards to the wheels it is hard to go past the stock wheels for your purpose. I have 14 spare 16" rims in the garage which I have picked up for between $50-100 each. They are pretty easy to find, as people sell them when upgrading to aftermarket. The big advantage of the stock wheels is they are incredibly tough I have done over a dozen rallies, with lots of jumps, bumping up and down kerbs etc. Also I have done loads of circuit stuff, bumping of kerbs. I have also had some high speed impacts. In all I have now done 50,000km of racing / rallying in the car, and although I've scratched plenty of rims I've never bent one By comparison, I've seen aftermarket rims rendered useless after one rally. The other good thing about the stock rims is they have a run flat bead, which is an advantage in rallies, as it keeps the tyre firmly on the rim, and stops minor deflations on big impacts and jumps etc. I assume that would help with stunt work as well. You can probably find the stock 17" rims even easier, as they are unpopular for motorsport due to their weight.

Cheers

Robbo

[MarkW]

have a look into Russ Swift, him and his son are top stunt drivers and have been using MINI's for a while

Russ Swift Precision Driving Services - Home page

[pw4]

FYI there seem to be plenty of after-market reinforcements for the top of the strut towers for the Series 1 MINIs. (Series 2 are OK.)
Thought: if the CVT isn't suitable, you could always put a Series 2 auto (which is a conventional auto) in the the Series 1 manuals - most people can hardly tell the difference!

[kevwrx]

we just bought our first Mini stunt driving school car !
Its an 02 Cooper in blue with just over 100kms on the clock.
Very excited to pick it up on Tuesday this week.
We just need to find two more cars now, ideally we want a red one and a yellow one..
BTW if anyone has stock cooper wheels for sale please shoot me an email
driverdynamics@optusnet.com.au

regards
Kev

[dsakko]

I have a Mini Cooper for sale Has wheels!

And I can throw in an extra 3 sets of genuine MINI rims (1 x set 8 spoke 15", 1 x set 7 spoke 15", 1 x set 8 spoke 17").

And btw I ripped the f$%*ing midlands out and dropped in a 6 speed Getrag (facelight one with the closer ratios).

[kevwrx]

tell me about the car, we are buying two more coopers..
email me driverdynamics@optusnet.com.au

[kevwrx]

just a quick update..
we now have our second Mini Cooper stunt school car, it's a Red 04 manual.
The cars are getting fitted with dual digital speedo's next week and hydraulic handbrakes. We will be doing our first test jumps with the Mini's this Sunday at Sandown during our stunt driving course.
We're now looking for our third car, and hope to have the three working on our next stunt course in around 4 weeks time, i'll post up some pics of the cars as soon as the graphics are finished
Regards
Kev

[pw4]

Sounds good - I look forward to seeing the pics. I'm stuck in hospital for a bit and cant get to email - I'll call you about the wheels when I'm out.