Multimedia Library

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2010

The last round of the Pro Street drag racing for this year, only an 11.8@116mph. Tried out 100hp nitrous on the rear to see if it would hold together with the stock transmission and it seemed to be ok apart from it had too much torque and was spinning the rear tyres now which explains the not very good time.  Hopefully get some better rubber on there for next year.  Used both cameras on this run so could put inside and outside, discovered that the new HD camera won't work in the car, which is a disappointment, due to CMOS type sensors not coping with vibration compared to the CCD type used in my older camera.

Had a magazine photo shoot in Sept at Santa Pod with Practical Performance Car.  This was also their £999 Challenge day so I had the opportunity to take the feature writer for a couple of drag runs and also a quick run around their autotest circuit which was good fun. As the track was so short I was able to stick the automatics both into 2nd gear as down shifing manually would have been difficult with 2 gear sticks lol.  This should be resolved for next year with the addition of a single ratchet shifter.

Another outing at a Shakespeare Raceway RWYB weekend.  Increased the nitrous a little to 60hp on this run and did 11.66@116mph but couldn't try again as had some timing issues which bent a couple of valves however seems to show about 1 tenth of benefit per 10hp nitrous so looking good for more improvement soon :o)

The second trip out to a drag strip with the new automatic transmissions for the Performance Vauxhall weekend at Santa Pod.  With the speed sensor problems resolved the mini ran a 12.55@109mph then with the addition of 50hp NOS did an 11.760@115.55mph.  The 60ft times were improved dramatically with the addition of the nitrous coming down from 2.05 to 1.83 on this video of the 11.76 run but the next day pulling consistent 1.76's but with a headwind only an 11.88@112mph.

First outing in 2010 using the new automatic setup, despite some issues with the gears not selecting consistently (down to a speed sensor problem) the mini still did it's fastest ever time of 12.66 seconds and that was without nitrous and also probably over 100kg's heavier than 2009 due to the automatic transmissions.  Makes for a much easier drive up the strip now :o)

2009

The first event for the mini of 2009, now including a little shot of the nitrous (only 25hp on the rear engine for this run as it is still in testing) and a new PB of 12.68 seconds.  While this is only marginally quicker than the best the mini has managed the previous best of 12.69 seconds was set when the car was around 50kg lighter (and I was about 20kg lighter too).  The 60ft time was pretty poor compared to the consistent 12.8 second runs at the previous event so I expect a low 12.6 or 12.5 in current setup with a better launch.  You can just about hear the nitrous when going through the first gear.

2008

Some very strange handling issues during a RWYB day at Shakespeare Raceway, had snapped the front right engine mount into 2 pieces and also located a very bent top arm on the front passenger side.  Now made a very strong mount to replace the rubber one with a bolt all the way through so shouldn't break again.  Made for an entertaining start to the run however as a side point the car really hooked up off the line with the new Quaife ATB diff installed even in 1st gear. 

2007

At a test and tune day at Shakespeare County Raceway I ran a 12.8second 1/4 mile which was similar to the previous events but recorded from outside the car so I thought i'd add it to the multimedia library.

Always have a go at the 0-60 at Trax although i'm never certain of the accuracy of the timing gear :)  Here at the 2007 event I did 4.4sec 0-60 here which isn't my best as had given the traction control at the front too much allowance as can be seen from the front tyre smoking away but good fun none the less.

For a bit of fun I attended the Curborough Sprint Circuit with the 200+ Club on the 19th April 2007.  There wasn't any timing setup but this clip shows the traction control in action, it's most noticeable as entering the short main straight from the hairpin with the front scrabbling for grip and the traction control bringing it back into line with the rear.

2006

At TOTB 2006 there were a few problems getting gears correctly and as usual not having much grip on the 1/4 mile so only a 13.07 1/4 mile then ran out of time.  This is a video of the Mini on it's only run on the little sprint circuit as there was no time for further runs which was a little disappointing as it was good fun and I think that the speed would have improved over a few more runs.  Still managed to win Class D overall on the sprint circuit but only as none of the other Class D cars actually had a go :o)

The Mini's first public appearance (Mini Showdown 2006) at Shakespeare County Raceway had very large traction problems not having the assistance of a front LSD of some type causing massive wheelspin when launching in 2nd gear at any decent rpm.  In the end I decided to try and let the engines bog down at the launch hopefully eliminating the wheelspin so the power was put down properly.  This made the 60ft time no quicker than a high rpm launch but it gave both engines the chance to power away albeit out of the torque band initially but still helped it along to a respectable first event effort of 12.695sec 1/4 mile @ 115.39mph.  Came 4th Place in Class 'J' and 6th place overall which i'm very happy about for the cars first time out.

Both the Mini engines spark into life for the first time together.  First one started is the front followed by the rear then the front is switch off leaving only the rear.  I was surprised that the rear wasn't as loud as expected due to such a short exhaust system but it will probably be much louder when under load.

LOW QUALITY (WMV)

Quartermile HD 7.wmv 1.6mb

Quartermile HD 7h.wmv 4.6mb

PPC Autotest HD LQ.wmv 4mb

PPC Autotest HD.wmv 10mb

Quartermile 6.wmv 1.8mb

Quartermile 5.wmv 1.5mb

Quartermile4.wmv 850kb

Quartemile3.wmv 1255kb

Mini all over the place.wmv 1004kb

Quartermile2.wmv 1010kb

Trax 2007 0-60.wmv 625kb

Curborough Sprint Circuit.wmv 3.2mb

Quartermile1.wmv 981kb

Twin Mini Engines.wmv 1011kb