Front wheel drive = you always want to be pulling through corners, put your foot DOWN dont ease off

I rebuilt my van with the intention of racing it, we have a hillclimb on this weekend, but Im not entering it just doesnt feel as strong as the car Ive been racing, dont want to break it
Maybe after I finish it totally, might give it a squirt on a track, would be good to see how it compares to my other car and other Minis that race the same tracks.

I dont have any rear bracing either, even tight cornering on the streets I hear the back section moving

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78 van 1300 cam extractors weber, 12" Superlights Metros Konis HiLos MP3 Amp Sub Alpine speakers and lots of fur
www.crazybitchracing.com

[quote="j]

I dont have any rear bracing either, even tight cornering on the streets I hear the back section moving [/quote]

I am thinking of seam welding mine as much as zi can. The production welding was only oxy in as few places as possible and on mine it did not always oenetrate to the parent metal.

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Chris

Everything I like is either
illegal, immoral or fattening.

I'd like to put a big rollcage, with points at either end of the payload and a bar running down the side to pick up the shocker tower...

my van has cracked around the rear wheel arches on both sides, where they meet the floor, before I put the brace bar in, I could bounce up and down on the back with the doors open, and watch the arches move a few mm from side to side

if you haven't seen my brace bar - here 'tis, it works well, and gives me something to tie stuff to in the back

I've got both a hot Cooper S and a Mini Van with worked 1100S motor. The S has dry suspension and all steel panels, the Van has a one piece f/g rear door and f/g bonnet, perspex windows and lightweight seats so it is not as heavy as the Cooper.

On the same stretch of twisty road around Adelaide the Van is quicker - just. It outhandles the S and you can steer (slide) it round corners using the throttle to control the degree of tail out, thanks to the longer wheel base. Even more go-kart like than the sedan. Both are on 10 inch wheels (the best), the Van running 5 1/2 inch wide Contessas with Falkens and the Cooper two piece spun 7 inch wide chromed S steel wheels with Bridgestones.

Autosport on Magill Rd in Adelaide had a catalogue of prefabricated roll cages for cars and surprisingly there was one listed for the rear of a Mini Van. This was a couple of years ago now. I think it was priced at around $500. Been meaning to grab one but haven't got round to it yet.

Mini vans have been succesfully raced in the UK, one even had an Imp engine installed. And there are a couple over there with Rover V8s stuffed in the back one of which is used for drag racing.

Perhaps the meanest-looking custom Van I ever saw was that built by Tony Farrell and used as a runabout to promote his business, Evans - Farrell Developments. This was a Mini Sprint lowered waisteline version with one-piece rear door, wide factory flares and square Renault R16 headlights blended into the front bodywork. 4 inches were taken out of the body line, the front screen raked back further and there were no bumpers or chrome fittings. The wheels were 10 x 7 inch wide ex Hillman Imp Racing Team items (the works Imps used 10s not the standard 12s because of the greater availability of 10 inch racing rubber in those days). It was fitted with an 1100cc motor with a sidedraught Solex 44 and developed 80 bhp. The van, which was painted bright gold, was well-known around Melbourne in the late sixties and was featured in a couple of magazines from the period, one of which I still have in the archives. I wonder what became of it?

SLIDE