Hi all

Just thinking the mini has a history of rally racing.. Perhaps more prevalent than its road racing but i dont very often see or hear of anyone building a rally mini, or giving it a crack in the dirt.

SO is anyone here invloved as i would have thought even now a mini would be a tough beat on a tight course

It would be nice, that is for sure. Mini's and Moke's driven fast off road in the right hands are a LOT of fun, that is for sure, but since the Mini's rally hey-days of the late 60's there are many cars about that simply leave it for dead, much as the mini did to porsche anbd saab back in the 60's.

Also very very expensive car to maintain at it's peak if it is driven to it's peak.

Back in the late 80's & early 90's I did some PRC Rally stuff with a 74 mitsubishi galant. Increadibly strong car, not the fastest (but we did get a couple of 2nd places), very very cheap to rally. From memory over a 4 year period, replaced was;-

Tyres,
Clutch,
Tyres,
Cross member bolts,
Tyres,
Alternator Regulator,
Tyres,
Steering Box (although found no reason for it after removing it ),
Cross Member Bolts,
Tyres

Oh and did I mention Tyres,
and Cross Member Bolts

Being in that class (there is an equivilant is today) the cars were only allowed very limited modifications. Always drove it to the events (Bega, Batmans Bay, Dubbo, Forester, Narooma, Cooma, Central Coast, Goulbourn, Eden, Bathurst just to name a few) and always drove it home, then replaced those damm cross member bolts!

Had a LOT of fun and I have to say, it WAS hard to walk away, but I had other commitments.

It would be nice to have done it in a Mini, but only if someone else was picking up the tab, that list ^ would be 20+ times longer and considerably more expensive as well as the necessity of having to transport the car to and from events

In many of the events we rallied in, there were Minis, modified way beyond what the Galant was (because there were so many more factory parts available for the mini) but saddly, the mini's never did any good. Mind you, the driver and navigator ALWAY had that stupid ear to ear grin, not all teams had that

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In the VRC ( Victorian Rally Championship ) there is a guy ( name just slips me ) who rally's a Mini Van , he's 6 foot 6 and gives it hell , its funny watching him unfold himself from the car , not sure what class he's in but he's quite competitive
.

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A guy I know rallied a mini in the Historic Rally Assoc here in Vic and there were a few others, He still has it but no longer rallies because of children
He also drove an MGB in a re run of the London to Sydney, and did a repco re run in a XT (?) Falcon.

here' s a mini for sale on the HRA website.
http://www.hra.org.au/index.php?q=node/1996

Warrick Agustin rallies in a mini, im not sure how often but he does. He has a very quick rally mini with a mini powerplant, as far as i know and hear from him he goes fairly well at it (but sure sure if the stories i remember hearing were recent stories or old stories i forget).

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I rallied against him as recently as 1981.

thats a nice car for $20k nmnn

1981 i wasnt even born

I rallied minis in the mid '70s and they were almost cometitive then, today they don't have what it takes but I am building a toyota pwered mini for tarmac rallying, more info will come soon, I have commenced work on this but the build has been on hold for a couple of years but will restart in the new year.

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Motivate me to get this done... back in Sydney again...

Is it just a power thing? Why are they sooo far off the pace

some mini drivers are simply not as fast as others

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

I've considered it for some time.. Money really is the only thing that's stopping me..

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You need to pick your battles really. Instead of saying im going to rally a mini then put hours and hours of labour then get overexcited and fling it into a ditch on the first stage, buy an excel rally car, flog it to hell and back, sell it for what you paid for it then get an escort.

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Simplify and add lightness

but even replica rally cars i dont think i have seen any around Birisbane / mini musta etc

If i had a cooper i would consider it for sure - would never race it though in case it got a scratch


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First car I ever drove at a WDCC xmas motorkhana when I was about 10 (circa 1982) with Warwick in the second seat pulling the handbrake and yelling "hit it" when he wanted me to give it some. I think this experience is what got me into Minis in the first place

cheers
michael

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the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

Crossed my mind many a time....
Was a rally official for many years and thought I'd try the warm, undusty side of the sport....
but before spending all the bucks building a car- better try it first...
So bought a datto 1600 ....
Lot of fun but hard to organise ...navigators, service crew ....
Even the way the datto was geared - great on twisty tight stuff - I was almost competative...
but the majority of the stages were tending towards high speed sprints....
Wouldn't have suited a mini....

In 1996 a group of us from The ACT Mini Club drove a mini round Australia as part of the Kidney Foundation Kircle Australia Rally.
We smashed the gearbox once, snapped a crankshaft, hit a wallaby - but only had one flat tyre.
Minis are hard to work on - both mechanically and bodywise compared to many other cars. Makes running repairs an even bigger challenge.

So this time round I've taken up Circuit racing - and is a hell of a lot of fun and a lot less damaging to the car ... but rallying is still where the passion lies.

Minis do appear a lot in the Road navigation rallies ... ( if you watch Topgear you'll have seen them attempt one - as Jeremy put it "Doing maths exams while driving" )...
I got into this in the early 90's and am trying to get back into it....(if I ever get enough time from work)
Currently building a Works inspired (but NOT replica) for the purpose....
These are held on open roads - so all normal restrictions then will often have special events eg motorkhana or hillclimb..
All great fun and a lot more challenging than it appears
Club that runs these http://www.classicrallyclub.com.au/

( Been biting my tongue on this one... very nice car - seen it a few times ...
but EXACT replica it's not.... flares were not on the original car - and there the innocenti style ones not even Group 2 ... and they are running a later light lamp bar .. and the seats .. and ...
( Sorry to me this is like people advertising a Deluxe with a 1275 as a Cooper S ) (and hence why I'm not building an "exact replica" - ) (gets off soap box))

Back on topic ... .. in short would love to see a Historic rally mini in the forests....