44 replies to this topic

[MRA]

The Works 4wd cars were very fast - I was at Cadwell (servicing for a private entered Mini) when they appeared along with the 4 wd Capris and the Dafs.... Couldn't get near the Works cars in the paddock - they fenced them off. But it was a drive taken from the diff crown wheel - first used in 4wd Moke prototypes. It was a bit fragile - but in the snow they were fantastic!

Roy,

Do you know which area the weak spot was in ?

[bmcecosse]

I think the drive would fail where it was taken off the top of the crownwheel - BMC were very secretive and failed cars were put in the service barge straight away..... In the snow the cars were great - but if no snow, the wheels couldn't slip and the transmission would wind up. They were fantastic in the snow - John Rhodes and Brian Chatfield I think (long time ago -Ivor the Badger will be along soon to put me right!) driving. And yes - they were crossflow injected engines - I think with the iron (not alloy) head...... The drivers were treated like Royalty by BMC - nice warm motorhome - led to the cars wrapped in jackets/shoes wiped clean by minions etc etc. Meantime - we had our car on it's side and were changing the clutch plate in a blizzard........... No fancy tents/gazebos in these days ! We were freezing! And - I got booked by the cops in Cumbria on the way home for speeding with the trailer......At least he agreed to settle for a lower figure - he said if he put the speed I was doing - I would lose my licence........ He also 'let me off' not having any lights on the trailer..... We had to fix them before he would let us continue though (they had been (sort of) working on leaving Cadwell) - so i suppose he wasn't too bad a cop really..........

Edited by bmcecosse, 08 January 2011 - 07:17 PM.

[mini13]

there's a not very clear pic of the Austin Ant 4wd drive here,

http://www.austinmem...e48/page48.html

[danrock101]

[Stevee]

wonder where the 4 wheel drive clubby is then?

[danrock101]

sorry about the clarity my phone camera sux

[Stevee]

hm im just wondering what they used for a rear diff they wouldn't have used the moggie one be useless in a rally inderpent surpention all round

[Stevee]

http://forum.minicoo...hp/t-10643.html

[danrock101]

doesn't say anything about the rear diff, that's the easy part though.

[Stevee]

well some modifed rear hubs and brakes easyly done to take the drive shafts hmm that drawing reminds me of a Maxda mx5 diff

[Stevee]

The car was created in a week after lord Stokes watched his tele one Saturday and threw a wobbly on Monday morning asking why all these Fords won the rallycross at Cadwell. The reply "because you shut the comps department" was not well recieved.

The car was built from a left over Chilean army moke which used to tow dead Mgs off the production line at Abingdon. They were built with 4wd. The extra drive being apparently picked off the crown wheel with an extra pinion and then tun to the rear to a Herald(?) diff and the to special trailing arms. The moke was simply stripped and the parts fitted to an 8 port motor off the shelf and a handy shell, possibly just picked off the production line.

Brian Chatfield was picked as driver as he was not in the running for the Lydden rallycross championship. At Lydden, 4wd cars were handicapped by a delayed start. At Cadwellall cars just started level, although the 3 4wd Capris normally ran with John Taylor's escort in an all Ford race.

The mini basically thrashed the Capris straight out the box at Lydden, but lost out overall and Hugh Weldon won the championship there.


that forum has quite a bit on it haha sorry ill stop raiding now

[liirge]

To add something to this thread, i have somewhere pictures of the afore mentioned Austin Ant, of which i know of 2 in existence in this country. They used 1275 A series engines and ran a very short production line, and i believe most went over to BL/MC Africa and sundries.

What you showed in those pictures was the 'TwiniMoke' there are about 4 of those in private hands or thereabouts there were multiple prototypes, and an autocar review of one in the really bad Winter of 63 (i think that's the right year). The two gear knob system would only be used in times of trouble, there was a catch that would link the 2 gear sticks together in normal operation. The army rejected the Twini!

[mini13]

heres a couple of pics of the ST clubby

Attached Files

•  4wdstmini2.jpg   455.32K   32 downloads
•  stmini.jpg   474.28K   29 downloads

[M J W J]

Could always go the Twini route

Twin engined Cooper spotted at Gaydon in 2010

That is one of two twini's built by a guy called Neil Preston. I don't think he is on the forum unfortunately. His son Russell was my house mate at uni last year. Russ told me that it was based on a design that John Cooper did himself for a rally mini and had it approved fro road use as well. I think I've read an article somewhere on how John Cooper had a bad accident when something failed on the prototype on the way to pick up his girl friend at the time. Google Neil Preston twin and there is an article about the 1st one he built. It was sold to some guy in california and then sold again.

Neil's twini uses two 1275 engines both with manual gearboxes. Both boxes change at the same time off the same gear linkage.

[DAVEY_C]

http://www.spagweb.c...files/twini.jpg

http://www.spagweb.c...s/freestyle.doc that one gives an idea of the gear linkage needed for the rear

Edited by DAVEY_C, 11 January 2011 - 01:28 PM.