1980's Mini Racing Photos

[mab01UK]

Just found a shoebox full of some of my 1980's 'period' Mini racing photos in the bottom of a wardrobe and thought they may be of interest. Any additional information on drivers or their cars feel free to add.....I think there are many more photos of interest so will add more as time allows.......also more from the 1970's in other boxes!

A wet Brands Hatch paddock early 1980's, Wendy Wools Saloon Cars.

Driver Peter Bray




Interesting arches on this Clubman.....Driver: Pete Daniels, his teamate in the matching 1275GT/Clubman behind started on pole position (see grid photo below).

[lotustwincam]

Great to see these photos, I cant add any details except that I think the two minis on 10" wheels were using tyres from the front of the Tyrell P34 six wheeler when they were made redundant by the ban. I would love to see any more mini pictures from the 70s and 80s.

[oneofapair]

The two minis that ran with Tyreell 6 wheeler tyres were in fact "Wallace windsreens" cars driven by the Hills brothers, I dont think the cars picture are those!!

[mab01UK]

A guy on the Miniforum who goes by the user name 'oldskoolcool' has now posted this extra information and photos about these cars

..................'I can shed a bit more light on the subject.The clubman with the big arches was built by my father (Peter Hill), it was raced by himself from 1975 to 1978.

It originally was a mini miglia (998). In 1977 he was able to obtain some set of tyres from the Tyrell 6 wheeled F1 car .
These were fitted to 8x10 mamba solar 3 piece split rim wheels .The front brakes were also from the Tryell, these were huge vented discs that were x-drilled and pegged with copper rods. The calipers were modified alloy F3 GR units with cortina brake pads. Probably the first vented disc set up inside 10s.

The arches were hand made and were originally polished alloy and looked a hell of a lot better! He only ever raced the car once with those arches on, as the scrutineers were not very impressed. He sold the car in 1978 to build a brand new miglia.

The other clubman was his brothers(Charles hill) old miglia that was also running with the Tyrell tyre set up'............

[paul craymer]

The top pics of mini no 42 is Peter Bray from Southampton,ran a 1300 bda motor later in the 80s.

[mab01UK]

Some more 1980's racing photos that I took at Lydden Hill circuit in Kent. My brother Steve was mechanic on a Mini 7 at the time and went on to become Chris Tyrrells mechanic in Mini 7 and for a while the Metro Challenge before reverting back to Mini7 and Miglia as a driver in the 1990's.

[VIVA GT]

I'm really going to have to dredge through nmy 35mm slides (I only have thousands of them!). I must have a few Mini 7, Miglia, Modified & Special Saloon pictures from 1980 to 1984 (as I was racing a Mini 7 in '82 & '83)...

[mab01UK]

More photos from Silverstone April 1981

[mab01UK]

Brands Hatch paddock April 1981

[mab01UK]

Following on from Last years success at the Goodwood 72nd Members Meeting, Swiftune have been invited back to take part in the Gerry Marshall Trophy featuring Group 1 touring cars from the Seventies and early-Eighties including Swiftune's Longman 1275 GT Mini replica which finished in a fantastic 3rd and 4th position earlier this year.
As well as the Longman Replica, Swiftune have also been invited to bring along another Mini to take part, and especially for this event, the team are hard at work restoring the original Jon Mowatt 1275 GT Mini back to original livery.
Swiftune purchased the car from Jon Mowatt in mid 90's and sold it on to a german racer and has stayed in Germany since, with multiple owners. Now re-gained ownership, Swiftune have been commissioned by Goodwood to restore the car in time for the Members meeting happening March 21st-22nd 2015, and will be driven by Glyn Swift.
http://www.swiftune.com/NewsArticle/...s-meeting.aspx

Keep up to date on the build progress throughout the next few month running up to March on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Swift...54?ref=tn_tnmn

(Back in the 1980's I used to have our road and race Mini's set up on Jon Mowatt's Rolling Road in Essex......Mowatts still comes up on a google search is Jon still around and in business?)

[historic racer]

This is my old car I ran it in 1978 BTCC and shared with Jon for the TT, Jon purchased it from me and ran it for several years. Jon sold the business and retired many years ago don't know if he is still alive.

[Robert Farrell]

Wrong era I know.
But I can`t resist it
Hopkirk leads Fitzpatrick

[mab01UK]

[mab01UK]

A 1990's photo....



Just found this photo I took of the Jack Knight 16V Mini at Brands Hatch in the early 1990's. It went up against the 16V KAD Mini in 1994 for the 'Fastest Mini in the World Race". If I remember right it was a very close race between Peter Baldwin (JK) v Bill Sollis (KAD) and the KAD Mini won?

[mab01UK]

Mini Challenge/ Mini 7 & Miglia (1988 - 1997)
All films include practice, available as dvd or download:
http://www.vfsvideos.co.uk/mini.htm

1998-2008 including Mighty Mini's
http://www.vfsvideos.co.uk/mini_01.htm

[gt917]

Originally Posted by mab01UK

If I remember right it was a very close race between Peter Baldwin (JK) v Bill Sollis (KAD) and the KAD Mini won?

Seeing this mention of Pete Baldwin .......................

The famous FORC club have him as the guest speaker at the usual big do on Wednesday night, This is going to be a good un.

Any one interested, get on to FORCLUB website straight away, just in case there are a couple of seats left.

[SidewaysFeltham]

Originally Posted by mab01UK

(Back in the 1980's I used to have our road and race Mini's set up on Jon Mowatt's Rolling Road in Essex......Mowatts still comes up on a google search is Jon still around and in business?)

I last met Jon a few years ago: he had moved from running his gargae and tuning business, increasingly into haulage.

Sadly, he suffered a coranary and lost his full racing license, but - typical Jon! - persuaded the regulators to grant him a limited license for hill climbs and was then occasionally, campaigning a venerable Morgan. Plus, he was deeply involved in radio controlled model aircraft.

Interestingly, as my maternal grandmother's maiden name was Mowatt, Jon and I decided we were distant cousins!

His grandfather was apparently the black sheep of the family and went to sea. Clearly, this is here Jon inheritated his genetics!

We also used Jon's road for a bit; however I then (Circa 1971) installed a state-of-the-art Heenan-Froude (Crypton) water brake which could absorb up to 300 bhp at the wheels and was extremely accurate, whereas Jon's brake was an old Sun paddle air brake.

My road could thus deal with American "Muscle Cars" happily.

I used to regularly see Jon around the circuits in the early 1970s as despite the dominance of the 1300 Escorts at that time, Jon's full-works spec 1293s could on a good day, give 'em a run for their money!

Glyn Swift: another name from the past: Glyn was the only guy I ever knew who didn't bother to tie down his race Mini on the trailer. Couldn't be bothered. Until one fine day on the way to Lyddon or Brands at his usual speed, the car fell off.............

Ooops!



In the early '70s, my team Felspeed Racing, ran a 997s, in special saloons: this had been exchanged with a charming American guy called Ed McDonnagh, for a Lotus Formula Ford we had kicking around. (Ed later distinguished himself by writing off Norman Abbott's BDA Escort at Silverstone when going rather quickly).

Felspeed's 999s was unusual then as it was non-cross-flow. I asked my chum Bruce Renny (who had built the increadibly powerful Twink for our Formula Atlantic) to sort out the Min. He hated BMC engines with a Caladonian passion! Howver sort of emulated screamer F3 approach, re-jigged the inlet ports and we finished up with two DCOE 45s milled in half (i.e. one straight port for each siamesed inlet) and it was a rocket! Fastest non-crossflow in the country then. pulled happily to 10K RPM without bursting.

A beam axle rear ( A la Abbott) finished the development.

Noisy little S*d, though! Had a Jack Knight pawl type LimSlip. The first time I tested it at Silverstone, on the club circuit, the straight bit was covered with small puddles.................and the Min hit these and leaped sideways at speed ((and the revs soared!) until grip was re-established.

Frightened me to death until I realised what was happening.

[morninggents]

Originally Posted by SidewaysFeltham

In the early '70s, my team Felspeed Racing, ran a 997s, in special saloons: this had been exchanged with a charming American guy called Ed McDonnagh, for a Lotus Formula Ford we had kicking around. (Ed later distinguished himself by writing off Norman Abbott's BDA Escort at Silverstone when going rather quickly).

Was that the pink Escort with 2.1 litre twin cam and Hewland gearbox/transaxle at the rear? I thought that was damaged by John Emmin somewhere then sold to Chris Meek and run as the Princess Ita Escort.

[SidewaysFeltham]

Originally Posted by morninggents

Was that the pink Escort with 2.1 litre twin cam and Hewland gearbox/transaxle at the rear? I thought that was damaged by John Emmin somewhere then sold to Chris Meek and run as the Princess Ita Escort.

I wasn't there at the time. The source of this information, was our then demon engine builder, Bruce Renney, who having started on MAEs et al in the screamer era of F3, had moved on to Twinks and then FVAs/FVCs and knew Norman Abbott quite well. I believe they bought and sold parts and service work to and from each other.

Bruce was the original Mr Lugubrious!

Perhaps Abbott rebuilt the car and it wasn't damaged as badly as first thought?


Corrigendum:

Ed's correct surname is McDonogh, ex racer of distinction and now an eminent journalist and author on the sport.

[mab01UK]

Some more of my photos of the late Chris Tyrrell - Mini Seven Champion 1974, 1986 and 1987.

[mab01UK]

Some more photos of Chris Tyrrell and his Mini 7.







(Photos: Se7enthHeaven)

[VIVA GT]

Now, that's more how I remember it rather than that shiny red thing!

[mab01UK]

Early 1990's (I think) in paddock photos of my late brother Steve Bell (Wood & Pickett sponsored) and his then team mate Mickey Bray (also sadly no longer with us).

[mab01UK]

A couple more of my photos taken in the race paddock at Brands Hatch 31st July 1983......





(According to the DVLA website the red Minivan MUV 878L (May 1973) was last taxed in 24th Sept 1991 so looks like it lasted another 8 years).

[mab01UK]

Some more photos but fron the early 1990's.....

A few nice shots below taken by 'Pogie' of the Mini Forum (TMF) from the paddock of the 'Fastest Mini in the World' race that was held at Mini 35 at Silverstone in 1994.
"The green Autodelta Mini from Japan sadly wasn't allowed to race as it failed scrutineering on quite a few safety issues. The mechanics were working like mad to make up a bulkhead to separate the fuel tank from the driver but they run out of time. It was a shame it didn't run as it had loads of hi-tech features but you would have thought the builders would have checked the UK racing regulations before hauling the car halfway around the world. I doubt if so many race Minis of their type will be bought together in one race ever again."

In the end it was a very close and exciting race between Peter Baldwin (JK) v Bill Sollis (KAD) and the KAD Mini won.



















I was at the Silverstone race in 1994 but not sure if I took any photos.....but here is a photo below I took of the Jack Knight 16V Mini in the Brands Hatch paddock in the early 1990's.