Mini vs Austin A35
Turbo Mini Forums

Had a most interesting and rewarding afternoon in the company of Robert and his near 190bhp mini,today.

Robert invited me some considerable time ago to sample his mini and I had said it would not frighten me, rather that I would frighten him in the ill-handling Austin A35, with its mediaeval suspension.

We got together on a nice dry sunny day that the BBC had said would be pouring wet, so, so far, OK.

We went out in the A35 first and Robert diagnosed that I was just about on the limit before detonation (sneakily, I had upped the boost just for this occasion, to try and impress - you know how it is) He made, during the course of wide ranging conversation, several useful suggestions for improvement, and I will be re-visiting in the future for a more comprehensive review and tuning session.

We then went out in his mini.

The last time I drove a "performance" mini was when the 1275S was announced, in about 1964, when it had IIRC about 65bhp.
The power of Roberts mini was not the first thing that alerted me, (mainly because he was only warming it up) but the cornering power of the mini which quite took me by surprise and, until I saw how good the brakes were (and the driver) some mild concern as to whether we were going to make the bext S bend.

Then he let rip.

I,m used to acceleration, as I have ridden bikes, some pretty high powered, for a very long time , but the savagery of how this mini tugged at the steering wheel and tore off was impressive to say the least.

Robert did one standing start as a demo and we reached an indicated 100mph, via 7000rpm in the gears, in a stretch of (private ) road in about 1/4 mile, which accords with his drag strip performances , despite my adding 16 stones(over 100kg) to the overall weight.

We looked at his other vehicles, with one exception, all turbocharged, even the Honda 500 twin in a 125 frame, which looked pretty lethal to me.I was offered a ride but declined, made my excuses and left( well no, not really, we were having such a nice afternoon)

I left eventually, with much food for thought, and the A35 stopped dead about 5 miles later -oh joy !

Swapped back to the distributor in 2 minutes and it fired up and got me home in its usuall entertaining manner.I reinstated the Megajolt in the workshop upon return and it fired up and ran normally.so I went indoors and did terminal damage to a bottle of red.

What a good Sunday !.

Sounds like a good day!

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

sounds fun! robert is a smart cookie, advice is yet to steer me wrong lol

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

blimey ,thanks david ,and denis !

it was a lovely afternoon ,blue and fluffy ,and really liked the a35 ,immaculate and fast , unlike my car lol. potential for a lot more power id say ..

lots of grip on the roads for once , i ran 12 psi max since i had 95 octane in it ,but was happy with its performance .

heres davids a35








WELL over 100 bhp

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM

that is such a cool car, got to be the ultimate sleeper.

I agree, cooler than penguin pee.

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

Its sickening because you are a far better photographer than I, too !!

Will you be coming to Avon/MITP this year David?

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

looks stunning! yummy...

Sounds like fun, great little car to.

WWW.TURBO-MINI.COM

May be at Avon, but I am there just before then at the NSRA Nostalgia weekend where I am going head to head with the only other turbo A35 that I know of.

Avon have agreed to let us run down the strip together, but the other driver(also a David) has so far only tried 8psi
so I think he,s a bit of a wuss for that.
(Not really, just a cautious rather clever guy who wants to take it stage by stage, not like me, three engines in 12 months.)

Got to give Phil a credit, its his cylinder head on there, and his modified elbow.

Sounds interesting. May have to look into that.

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

Nice write up mate, glad you had a nice day. And glad you got home ok. Sound like a beasty, you'll have to go out in benross car next mate!

Best 1/4 mile 13.2 seconds @116 mph
First 5 port miniturbo to make over 200 bhp on a carb?
First 5 port miniturbo to make over 200 bhp on Injection?

http://www.mattwoodsphotography.com

love that a35

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

Dave.

Your car is stunning and you've done a great write up to what must have been a very rewarding day !

Your comment about stopping and converting back to dizzy due to a sick MJ mirrors what I've done on the van.

I'm running Megasquirt and direct driven wasted spark but have left my Turbo dizzy and cap permanently in place with the 12v feed to the amp disconnected and insulated and the HT leads tied up and bagged under the intercooler. Easy to reinstate if need be.

Has got me home a couple of times in the past year. Once when the coilpack failed and on another occasion when one of the coil drivers in the ECU blew. This is a good fallback if you're not worried about the extra weight and have space available. Some people haven't.

Hope to see you at one of the many events this year, and maybe a run up the strip together would be fun - I think we'd be quite well matched going on the last time I followed you home from Pod !

Richard.

Minivanless, but reluctantly happy living with the decision. There'll be another one day.
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=minimadmotorman#p/u

Looking at those cool pics makes me all of a sudden want one badly I actually found a '58 UK registered one for sale here in NL, asking 1200 euros... Since that would make it both tax- and MOT excempt I could just register/insure it and do whatever I want with it... I have an inline 1275 block and ribbed tranny from that racing midget already, oh, and a spare eaton M45:p
I'd better sit in a corner for a bit until this all goes away again...

1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up

On 5th Jun, 2010 Arnoud said:
Looking at those cool pics makes me all of a sudden want one badly I actually found a '58 UK registered one for sale here in NL, asking 1200 euros... Since that would make it both tax- and MOT excempt I could just register/insure it and do whatever I want with it... I have an inline 1275 block and ribbed tranny from that racing midget already, oh, and a spare eaton M45:p
I'd better sit in a corner for a bit until this all goes away again...

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

Well, I did notice in a lot pics of A35's racing they're trying to keep up with a Mini. Still it sounds like a hoot to find out.
I suspect some massive bullocks are involved in keeping one of these on the track at speed, which of course would add to the total weight of the car...

1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up

Got to defend the A35 because it does not race in the same class as as a mini.
No way will it ever get near a mini for handling or roadholding but in the pre 1959 class it trounces 3.8 Jaguars (in the right hands)

Not sure its entirely about big balls either -have a look at Rae Davis Racing and see what he does, both in the workshop and on the track.Rae is an experienced racer and I doubt he would race a car with so much success if it did not handle.

Can't you see? I love 'em:) Just tryring to avoid embarking on yet another project...

1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up

OK I see.

It did take me almost 30 years to do mine, after all.