Mick wrote:
I'm a bit of a believer in the minds of those earlier engineers. At the time they brought us the mini, they British had already brought us the turbine (Whittle), (Babbidge) computers, and the SR71 Blackbird (Kelly Johnson) which could catch the setting sun. There wasn't a lot they didn't know, and were simply waiting for the technology to catch up I believe.
Could there have been a reason they made heads (like the 202) like they did when they could just have easily stuck their fingers in the sand moulds to relieve the chambers? Removing sand or changing the patterns costs next to nothing, and actually reduces the amount of steel required, even if it is by a small amount...
Is it to do with the low speeds the engines were meant to operate at? Did it improve economy? I don't believe they were stupid, I think they had something else in mind when they designed and had the heads signed off by the engineering departments. A different mindset perhaps.
From what I understand the mini was targeted at the fuel crisis as economies were recovering from war efforts but actually missed the boat a little. But from the old data I have read fuel economy was always a priority as long as the car could reach 60mph
I think your thoughts are probably pretty sound Mick

I don't think back then when the Mini was released, anyone thought the mini could be considered a performance vehical until the cooper mini's started to surface??