Mini Cooper Motoring

A Shopping List of Basic Improvements for the MINI Cooper

2008-05-08T06:51:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about the MINI Cooper is the robust nature of the basic engine. It is capable of producing much more power than it does right out of the showroom, even with the supercharger. There are some good reasons why it doesn’t.

For one thing, an engine that produces better performance costs more money. Materials used in a high-performance engine are better and the engine is assembled with greater care, both of which add costs.

However, most people really don’t care enough about performance to want to pay the extra price. Also, with higher horsepower, the engine doesn’t produce as many miles per gallon, and is more difficult to tune to meet emission limitations, so the product designers, even in the MINI, simply had to make some compromises.

But you don’t have to compromise. Aftermarket suppliers (the companies that make products that are bought by owners after the car is bought from the dealer) have developed a number of products that will allow you to improve the engine performance in your MINI to get better pick-up, higher speed, and simply more driving satisfaction under all speeds and situations.

If we think about that basic air/fuel/spark/exhaust equation, we want to do four things. We want to increase the amount of air entering the supercharger and we want to increase the compression capability of the supercharger, both to get more air into the combustion chambers. Then, we want to have the ECU take advantage of that added air flow to by altering the fuel mixture and timing for performance efficiency, and we want to make sure that all the smoke from the combustion can get out of the combustion chambers quickly.

We can make those improvements by upgrading the throttle intake and supercharger pulley, reprogramming the ECU, and upgrading the exhaust system. Since each of these components operates as part of the overall internal combustion cycle, you’ll get the best performance from each if you upgrade them all at once.

However, if you can’t do that, you can upgrade these components in any order that appeals to you and you’ll still notice the improvement that each component contributes to overall engine performance. And when you’re done, you’ll really have an engine you can brag about. We’ll discuss the upgrades in the order that they occur in the operation of the engine and describe the upgrades you should consider.

Mini Cooper Cold Air Intake System

Before we can have combustion, we have to have air. If we can increase the amount of air flowing into the supercharger intake, and keep it as cool as possible, then we’ll be helping the supercharger do its job by giving it more air to breath.

We can do this by replacing the standard air intake system with an upgraded “Mini Cooper Cold air intake system.” The standard cold air intake system in the MINI is really not all that complicated. Air flowing into the engine compartment through the grille is channeled into an air intake box on the top of the engine. In the box an air filter removes dust and dirt that would create undesirable wear in the engine. From the air intake box, a duct directs the filtered air into the supercharger. In addition to capturing and filtering the air, the ducts on the standard air intake system have been tuned, like you might tune an organ pipe, so that the air flowing through it produces as little noise as possible.

The standard Mini Cooper cold air intake system easily can be swapped for an upgraded one that has been designed with performance in mind. Several aftermarket equipment manufacturers make replacement cold air intake systems for the MINI, but we’ll describe two typical designs.

The simplest way to improve the system is to replace the stock air filter and air intake box with a higher-quality filter that has been designed specifically to increase air flow while still providing the same filtering functions. K&N makes a high quality filter that is used in combination with high-velocity ducts in several of these kits to replace the basic system. Since it can be cleaned and re-used, we don’t have to buy a new filter every time the old one gets dirty.

An alternative approach that not only improves filter performance, but also provides additional air flow into the intake is now being manufactured by several companies. In this system, the entire air intake box and filter is removed and replaced by a conical filter surrounded by an L-shaped divider. This system helps increase power not only by improving filter efficiency, but also by increasing the flow of air into the system.

This system is designed to do a more efficient job of directing the air from the front Mini Cooper grille into the engine’s air intake. In addition, by being open at the top and back, it captures air from the grilles below the windshield, which are in an area of the body where air flow creates high pressure. By ducting some of that air into the supercharger in addition to the air coming in through the grille, the system naturally allows more air to enter the supercharger intake.

To make sure there is as little as possible to obstruct the air flow once it gets into the air box, the cold air intake system incorporates a reusable high-flow cone-shaped air filter. K&N’s popular re-usable high-performance filters are frequently used in this application. The design of the upgraded cold air intake system offers one other advantage. While providing a direct path for air from outside the car to flow into the supercharger, it blocks off the hot air swirling around the engine. As we learned in science class, hot air is thinner than cold air, so the cooler the air going into the supercharger, the more efficiently the supercharger can do its job.

Though generally similar in design, these systems do vary somewhat from supplier to supplier. Two features should be considered when deciding which one to buy. First, the best dividers are made of shiny stainless steel. As a result they will reflect engine heat back to the outside of the box, so the cool air coming in from outside the car doesn’t get heated up before being pulled into the supercharger. Second, the divider should have good space all the way around, so that air can flow into the entire surface of the filter without any restrictions.

A typical cost for the parts for an upgraded Mini Cooper cold air intake system is about $200. The design is simple, and can be installed by anyone with the instruction sheet and the proper wrenches in a few hours or less. If it is done in a MINI service shop, it shouldn’t take more than half an hour of shop time.

If you own a Cooper model, you can still make improvements in air flow into the engine. A less-restrictive reusable flat filter is available for about $50 to replace the stock filter. Aftermarket developers have also re-engineered the ram air intake duct and air box cover to improve air flow. Installing this improved ducting system in conjunction with a reusable high-performance flat filter will cost about $200 and make a measurable improvement in your Cooper’s horsepower.

The Basics of Internal Combustion in the MINI Cooper

2008-04-29T07:13:00.001-07:00

Let’s start at the beginning. Your MINI Cooper is powered by an internal combustion engine. Aside from some electric cars, nearly all cars on the road have IC engines. All this means is that the power is produced by an explosion—combustion— that happens inside—internal to—the engine.

In contrast, in an electric car the combustion happened somewhere else, at a power plant or in the sun. The resulting energy was sent over the electric power grid to be stored in the car’s battery and then used by the car’s motor to produce power.

With a hybrid car, the power still comes from internal combustion within the car’s engine. However, what makes the car a hybrid is that it also has an electric motor that can be used as both to produce power and to generate power. Normally the car is driven by the IC engine, and any excess power is used to make the electric motor generate electricity, which can be stored and used by itself, or in conjunction with the IC engine. But we digress.

In an internal combustion engine, the power is produced by the interaction of three forces. Air is pulled into the engine, is mixed with gasoline, and then the mixture is compressed by the cylinder and ignited by a spark to produce an explosion which pushes the cylinder down, turning the crank, and producing power. Air, fuel, and spark. Once the explosion occurs, the only remaining task is to get the resulting smoke out of the engine as quickly and efficiently as possible, so a fourth factor, the exhaust, enters the equation.

In modern automobiles, to provide the fine-tuning needed to maintain performance while meeting emission regulations, the air/fuel/spark equation is controlled by an engine control unit (an ECU)—a computer which controls basic engine operations like fuel mixture and spark timing— linked electronically to the throttle pedal and to several sensors that measure engine performance.

The S Stands for Supercharger

In the MINI Cooper S, the engineers added another component, the Mini Cooper Supercharger, which is only used on high-performance cars. It is used on Jaguars and Bentleys, for example, but on few cars as inexpensive as the MINI. The presence of the supercharger is one of the few major differences between the MINI Cooper and the MINI Cooper S

The supercharger is worth a few words on its own. As we mentioned, in order for the fuel to burn, we need air. If we want more powerful combustion, then we need more air.

This principle first became an issue back in the days when all airplanes used IC engines and the designers wanted their craft to fly higher. However, the higher the airplanes flew, the thinner the air became. With less air, there was less power produced by the engine. So engineers came up with the idea of using a little component with spinning blades, powered off the engine, to compress the air coming into the engine. With more air being forced into the engine, more power could be produced. They called it “supercharging” the engine.

It wasn’t long before automobile designers were using the same invention on the ground to make race engines run faster without having to get bigger. Remember the “Blower Bentleys” that were raced at LeMans in the early 1930s? You probably don’t, unless you’re an auto history buff. They were probably the earliest well-known application of a supercharger in a racing car. But if you want to impress your car buff friends, just tell them you have a “blown” MINI and refer to your supercharger as the “blower.”

It’s that same principle we find in the MINI Cooper S today. A small turbine between the air intake and the engine is driven off the main driveshaft by a pulley and belt to compress air coming into the engine. More air means that more fuel can be added, and more power will be produced.

Incidentally, engines in some other makes of cars address the same problem of compressing the intake air by using turbochargers. The difference between a supercharger and a turbocharger is how the little vanes in the turbine are powered. In a supercharger, the power comes directly off the driveshaft, connected to the supercharger pulley by the main engine belt. In a turbocharger, there are two sets of vanes, connected by a shaft. Exhaust gas coming out of the engine spins one set of vanes, which in turn push the other vanes that push air into the engine.

The problem with a turbocharger is that you’ve got to wait for the engine to build up some exhaust pressure before the turbo kicks in—what the gearheads call “turbo lag”—which means that the added power isn’t immediately available. With a supercharged engine, the supercharger spins faster as the engine gains speed, so the added power is always on tap and ready for use.

Improving Your MINI Cooper

2008-04-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

You’ve probably already been impressed by how good the MINI Cooper is at what it does. It’s quick off the mark, fast on the highway, and can zip around corners at an enviable clip with almost no body sway or looseness.

What’s to Improve?

To be more specific, the stock MINI Cooper S can get from zero to 60 in just under seven seconds, which puts it easily in the middle of the pack of what are called “performance cars.” Top speed is north of 130 miles an hour, which also makes the car quite respectable in the sports car league. That speed is much faster than most of us should be driving, even on a closed course, though it does mean that at normal highway speeds the engine is right in the middle of its power band with lots of reserve power when needed.

Cornering is where the car really excels. BMW has a well-deserved reputation for suspension engineering, and it is really reflected in this car. Compared to even the best of the performance cars, this car chews up corners without looking back, leaving most of the rest of the pack at its rear.

However, there are still areas where the MINI’s performance can be improved. That’s not surprising, of course, since the design and development of a modern car is a balancing act. A wide variety of vehicle specifications are affected by laws and regulations. Fuel economy, smog emissions, and crashworthiness requirements all challenge designers by adding weight and putting limits on engine performance.

Designers also have the problem of deciding what the market actually wants in a car. Most auto journalists and some potential customers want a car to be fast off the mark, capable of high speeds, and able to corner without body sway. At the same time other buyers simply want a car that is quiet, comfortable, and smooth-riding.

And all of this regulation-following and customer-pleasing has to be put together into a car at a price that will be competitive in the marketplace and still produce a reasonable profit. So automobile designers and engineers have to make compromises.

The great thing about the MINI is that the basic platform is well-designed and very well put together. So once you’ve decided what kind of a MINI owner you want to be, you can make the changes you want so that your car won’t be just some product planner’s package of compromises. And with some knowledge and care, you can make your changes without having any bad effects on the overall quality and reliability of the car.

So if you will all take your seats, we’ll start the first class in “Maximizing Your MINI 101.” In this first class, we’re going to focus on the principles of making the MINI make more power. We can do that because the steering, handling, and braking are all well above average, so we can save those factors for a later class.

Join Your Many MINI Friends

2008-04-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

Sure your MINI will be great for all the normal stuff, getting to work and out in the evenings, transporting you and your luggage on trips, or moving furniture, plants, or whatever else has to be moved from one place to another on the weekends. But there’s no substitute for just taking the car out on a weekend for the sheer pleasure of driving.

If you can combine that with some friendly comaraderie, all the better. And there is where the MINI will excel. When Minis were first introduced in the sixties, their owners immediately recognized that they were a special group of people, able to appreciate the finer things in automobiling, and Mini clubs rapidly grew up all over the world.

Those clubs remained active throughout the dark years when Minis weren’t even sold in the United States, and were a ready-made network of friendship and support when the new MINIs were first introduced. Recognizing the common appeal of old and new Minis, the club members were among the first to line up to try and buy the new MINIs, and the clubs welcomed the new owners with open arms.

Today, any assembly of club members will still include a few of the old classics, but the majority of the members will be driving new MINIs. It’s easy to become one of those members.

All clubs arrange frequent tours to allow members to get their cars out on the good roads in their areas, as well as organizing social and charitable activities around their cars. You’ll be surprised at how many activities are available.

You’ll also probably be surprised at the wide range of backgrounds and interests represented by people who have been drawn together by the attraction of this new car. Membership in most of these clubs will span every age, from new drivers to old veterans, and their day jobs will cover every occupation and endeavor.

The nice thing is that, regardless of how much different the members are from one another, you’ll all have one common interest in your MINI, which means there will always be something to talk about as you get to know one another. As one member said recently, “I was surprised at how many friends I had that I hadn’t even met yet.”

In the appendix to this book, we’ve listed the contacts for as many of the clubs as we could find at press time. For current information, check with your local MINI dealer, who will know if there is a MINI club in your area, and it won’t take you long with an internet browser to find a current list of clubs.

If you can’t find a local MINI club, maybe now is the time for you to start one. It won’t take much effort. Find a local restaurant or pizza parlor with a back room you can reserve, make up some flyers announcing a meeting in a month or so, then stick them on any MINIs you see. Offer to work with your MINI dealer to start a club. In no time, you can have your own local club.

Take a Course in MINI Motoring

2008-03-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

Once you’ve read the manual thoroughly, and become an expert on your own car (just try not to bore your MINI-less friends with your new-found knowledge and enthusiasm) and you’ve been around the block a few times with the car, it’s time to get serious about really learning to drive.
First, we want you to go back to school. Yes, we know you’ve been through that driver training school before you got your license, and some of you might even have already had the experience of taking one of those state-administered driving schools that are offered with the first traffic ticket. Trust us; they didn’t even scratch the surface.
When you were driving that little driving school car around your town, did you ever stomp on the brakes hard enough to make the anti-lock braking system kick in? Did you ever take a turn fast enough to make the tires squeal? Did you ever get the car to skid? Intentionally? If you haven’t done all of these things, you haven’t begun to learn to really drive.
When you’ve had the chance to learn these things and practice them, the difference will be that when things do go wrong, you’ll be able to be a real driver, not just another potential crash dummy or organ donor behind the steering wheel.
What we’re talking about is a real driving school, like professional race drivers take when they first start to learn to drive fast. We’re talking about taking the car out on a driving course or race track so you can find out what happens when something unexpected happens. We’re talking about learning what you should do when things do go wrong, so you can make them go right again.
Lest you assume that you only need to go to an advanced driving school if you’re thinking about racing, let us be very clear. Participating in one of these schools will return every penny it costs and every minute it takes will make you a better, safer driver even if you never put a wheel on a track or autocross course again in your life.
In several studies comparing high school students who have taken advanced driving courses to a random sample of those who didn’t, the rate of accidents was shown to be significantly reduced. Most insurance companies even give a discount to young drivers who have completed one of these schools. And if these penny-pinchers see the dollars and sense value of advanced driving schools, then you can make up your mind that value exists.
There are lots of different opportunities to learn to drive better. Start by checking with your MINI dealer, since some of them sponsor MINI driving schools, or will be aware of courses in the local area. Check with the websites listed in the back of this book for driving schools sponsored by or in conjunction with the suppliers of aftermarket parts for the MINI.
If there is a auto-racing track near you, check with them as well, since most race tracks host driving schools. The best situation is one where you can drive your own car in the course. One basic driving courses where you can use your own car is available at Thunderhill Park near Willows in north-central California (www.thunderhill.com).
At least one driving course has been designed specifically for BMW MINI drivers, developed and presented by the Phil Wicks Driving Academy. Information is available at www.Minidriving.com.
In this book, we’ll be passing on many of the tips that these courses offer their students, but nothing substitutes for the experience of taking a good driving course in your own MINI to put those tips into practice.

Getting to Know Your New Best Friend

2008-03-19T19:50:00.000-07:00

Right off the mark, two things are good about MINIs. First, they’re already among the best sports cars on the road in terms of their ability to go fast, corner fast, and stop fast. Second, like other cars that are just plain fun to drive, MINIs have the uncanny ability to gather people together into clubs and organizations that have the sole intent of helping their members enjoy driving their cars.

Combine these two factors, and you have a recipe for easy weekend fun: a good car to drive and a like-minded group of friends to drive it with. Our first recommendation is to get to know the car well so you’ll know how much fun it can be. Our second recommendation is to join a Mini club so you’ll have excuses to have fun with it as soon as possible.

We’re even going to recommend that you not make any changes in the car immediately. Why spend money improving the car until you’ve got a benchmark to which you can compare it? With a clear memory of what your car was like before the improvement, when you do make changes in the car you’ll be the first to notice and appreciate the difference.

The MINI has been designed by enthusiasts with enthusiasts in mind. What we want to do is show you the difference between simply operating an automobile as a means of transportation, and driving a performance car for the sheer pleasure of it. But where should you start?

We’re Serious: Read the Manual

We’re going to assume that when you first considered buying a MINI and visited the dealer, the sales rep spent a few minutes showing you the good features before you went out on a test driver, and told you more about how and why things are designed the way they are.

We’re going to hope that you allowed a little time and curbed your enthusiasm when you first picked your car up to listen again as the rep talked you through the main controls and features. However, we’re going to bet you weren’t paying much attention. Sitting in your very own brand-new car is just too overwhelming an experience.

So now that you’ve been driving your new MINI for at least a few days, what should you do? Start with the owner’s manual. We’ll bet that you’ve never read the owner’s manual from beginning to end for any car you’ve ever owned. Too bad. There’s a lot of information in those manuals so that from the beginning you’ll feel confident that you understand your car.

The best way to do that is to take an afternoon in your driveway and sit in the car. As you read each section, look at the diagrams and compare them with the way things actually look in your car. Move, adjust, push, pull, try each of the levers and buttons. Don’t just look at the top of the oil dipstick, for example. Take it out and see what real oil looks like. Take the radiator fill cap off and look inside to see where the level should be.

In other words, get to know the car thoroughly. Learn about it as if your life depended on knowing the car. Some dark night, it very well might.

If you don’t have time to read the owner’s manual all the way through right now, then put it in the bathroom. Owner’s manuals are great reading material for those few minutes when you really don’t have anything else to do. Every time you have a chance, read a section, and then when you go out to your car the next time, try to remember what you just read and check out how it looks in real life.

Another tip: when you’re driving your car, try to be as aware as possible about what it does and how it does it. Try to feel how the car moves and sounds when you accelerate, when you take your foot off the gas pedal, and when you put on the brakes. Try to feel what the car is doing when you turn a corner. Turn off your Ipod once in awhile and listen for the sounds of the engine as you accelerate and shift gears. Those feelings will be important as you start to plan how you want to improve your MINI and when you work on improving your driving.

MINIs for Streets and Roads

2008-03-09T18:37:00.000-07:00

When the original Minis were first introduced, they were intended simply to be used by regular drivers on regular streets and roads. Nevertheless, with a few upgrades by John Cooper, they proved to be great on the long-distance European road rallies such as the Monte Carlo and Alpine rallies where they first made their fame.

In SCCA club racing and later in vintage racing events in North America, they showed their ability to wag their tails at the opposition and then run away and hide until they took first at the checkered flag. They were also very successful in European saloon racing (which isn’t racing around liquor bars, as you might expect, but the continental term for sedan racing).

But classic Minis became popular mostly because they were so darned easy to drive fast, and because they could go so many places and do so many things better than bigger, more powerful cars.

The new MINIs are stamped from the same mold, fun and practical at the same time. Right out of the showroom, they’re able to do the everyday stuff well, and still bring a smile to your face every time you take one around a corner quickly or pass a pokey car on the highway.

But we’re here to tell you that you can tweak your MINI just a little bit and make it even better, making your driving around the neighborhood or around the countryside even more fun. With a little professional instruction and some opportunity for practice, you can also learn to drive it better than you’ve ever driven another car.

Going Fast is All About Stopping

2008-02-28T19:37:00.000-08:00

Any racing driver will tell you that speed doesn’t matter. That’s why most real racing cars don’t even have a speedometer. We would argue that the same thing is true in everyday driving. As long as you’re not over the speed limit, you won’t get a ticket, but that’s really the only instance where it even matters what the speedometer says. What does matter is the distance the car will go in the time that it takes to notice and react appropriately to changes in conditions. Here are three rules of thumb that will tell you whether you’re going too fast. Stopping Distance
We’ve already recommended that you look a long distance down the road to anticipate what might happen before it happens, but what really matters is how long it takes for you to stop or change directions before you hit the car ahead of you. We all know that the faster we’re going, the more distance we’ll cover before we can hit the brake pedal, or turn the wheel. We also know that the faster we’re going, the longer it will take to stop, and that we shouldn’t turn the wheel abruptly at high speeds because that will cause the car to swerve.
But we can’t look up our speed and distance in car lengths in some book every time we want to know whether we’re driving too close to the car ahead, or whether the car behind us has enough room to stop if we do have to stop ourselves.
To determine how close you should be to the car ahead of you, all you need to do is count to three. Notice when the car ahead passes a particular point, such as a tree or mile marker. If you can count to three slowly before you get to that point, then you have room to bring your car to a stop, or turn into the next lane, should the car ahead stop or swerve abruptly. No matter how fast you’re going, it will take three seconds for you to get your foot from the gas to the brake, and bring the car to a stop.
What about the car behind you? When you’re passing, or changing lanes, you want enough room to give the car behind a safe space. As you pass the car ahead, wait until you can see them completely in your inside rearview mirror. If you can see them completely in your rearview mirror, it’s safe to move over into their lane. Remember that your side mirrors have been adjusted to cover your blind spots, which are close to you, and that the right mirror says “Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.”
On the road or on the track, it isn’t enough just to be ahead of the person you’ve just passed before you change your line. You need to be far enough ahead of them to cut over into their path and still give them time to react.
But what about when you can’t see the car ahead? Curves are another place where we often drive faster than we should. After cleaning auto wreckage off curves for many years, the highway departments of America finally figured this out and started posting warning signs, with a suggested speed for that curve.
Unfortunately, most of us see these signs as challenges since we think they are the fastest speed that the highway department thinks the average driver can get their car around the curve. So we see how much faster we can go than the warning sign. “I took a curve at 40 mph that was posted at 20 mph. I guess I’m twice as good as the average driver,” we say.
Too bad that’s not what the sign means. What it means is that, if there is something in the road ahead that you can’t see, the posted speed is the fastest your car can be going and still have time to stop when you do see the obstacle. You can test the laws of physics if you like, but you won’t win.
On an open race track, things will be different. There will be a person on the corner looking around the bend for you, to wave a yellow flag if there’s a problem while you’ve still got time enough to stop. That’s the place to see just how fast you can get the car around the corner, because if the corner worker isn’t waving the flag, you can be sure there isn’t anything there. But on the highway, with no corner worker, it’s best to slow down to the recommended speed. The stalled driver, bicycle rider, or deer you have time to avoid will thank you for it.
That’s enough driving lesson for one day. But if you’ll practice a good driving position, get used to thinking 360 degrees and into the future, and not going faster than you can stop, you’ll be a better driver when your new MINI arrives at your dealer, and be ready for our next lesson in motoring.

Look Ahead, Think Ahead

2008-02-18T19:48:00.000-08:00

Whether you’re just on your way to the grocery store, or coming through that fast right-hander at the race track, it is critical to think far ahead of where you are and where you want to go. You always want to be continuously aware of everything around you. Here’s our first lesson in how to drive fast and safely. The moral of this message not only will help you stay safe on the highway, but it will also help you become a faster driver when you do get out on the track.
Get into the habit of continuously scanning your environment, never letting your eyes pause for more than an instant on any one point before you move on to the next point. Look far down the road, then bring your vision closer. Check your left sideview mirror, then your rearview mirror, then your right sideview mirror. Sweep your eyes across your gauges to check not only that your speed and rpm are where you expect, but also your safety gauges—the gas, temperature, and oil pressure, and “idiot” lights—aren’t signaling any impending problems. Then do it all again, maintaining a complete picture of everything around you that might in any way affect you.
The problem with most drivers is that when they’re in traffic they fixate on the rear bumper of the car ahead of them. If something happens a little further up the road, they don’t notice it until after the car ahead does. Then it’s too late and they don’t have enough time or space to do anything except become part of the accident report.
When you’re scanning all the things in your world—what’s happening far down the road, what the car ahead of you is doing, what’s on either side of you, how wide the shoulders are on the road, what’s behind you and how fast are they overtaking you—you should also be playing a continuous game of forecasting the future.
For example, is that car that just came onto the freeway from the exit ramp ahead going to try to spurt all the way across the road ahead of you and try to cut into your lane? If a car several hundred feet ahead has just put on their brakes, or changed lanes abruptly, could they be reacting to something in the lane that you can’t see yet? Is there a driver tailgating you who might not be able to stop when you do if there is an obstacle in your lane?
The trick is to look ahead, think ahead, and decide ahead of time what you will do if one of the things that could go wrong does go wrong.
A story is told about Juan Manuel Fangio, the famous Argentinian driver of the late forties and fifties—well before our time, of course—in a race in Italy. The photographer on one of the corners said that every time the great driver passed him, Fangio’s front wheel would touch the corner within inches of where it had touched the time before and the time before that, exactly on the fastest line around the corner. Then, on one lap, passing that corner Fangio abruptly swerved wide several car widths to the middle of the track.
An instant later, a crash and smoke from around the corner telegraphed the news of a serious accident. But Fangio’s car came around again on the next lap without problems. He had managed to swerve offline to miss a swerving car that he couldn’t even have seen.
When he talked to Fangio afterward, the photographer asked about the accident. Fangio told him, “Every time I came up to that corner, I could see the crowd looking my way. Then on that one lap, they were all looking the other direction, down the track. So I knew something was wrong and moved off the line so I would have room to handle a problem if there was one there. Sure enough, they had seen the driver ahead lose control of his car and swerve sideways, but I was able to get around him.”
Fangio was not only watching where his car was going, as well as a thousand other details like the condition of the pavement, the feel of his tires, and the gauges on his dash board, he was even aware of what direction the crowd was looking. And noticing a small change in one detail of his surroundings saved his life and allowed him to win the race.
While you may not be able to process information as fast as a famous racing driver from history, you can do the same thing he did. You can be aware of changes in your surroundings, and decide what they might mean to you, so you’ll be prepared to avoid an accident instead of winding up in the middle of it.
Practice this every time you drive so you can react not just to things after they happen, but be ready for anything that could happen. Soon it will seem like you not only have 360 degree vision, but also have the ability to predict the future.

Driving a MINI Cooper Fast Safely

2008-02-06T20:52:00.000-08:00

Before you jump in your current transportation module and head out to your MINI Cooper dealer, let’s take the time to go over a few basic driving tips that you’ll be able to use when you buy your new MINI. You can practice them every time you drive so you’ll be ready when your very own MINI Cooper arrives. And we can guarantee that these tips will help you avoid any life-threatening, or license-threatening incidents so you’ll be safe and alive when the dealer calls you to come pick up your MINI.

Good Driving Starts Before You Turn the Key

We’re going to start with the absolute basics. How do you sit in your car? As you go faster, you’ll be surprised at the importance of your basic sitting position. We realize it may seem cool to have the seat reclined to the point where the only thing showing above the door sill is a reversed baseball cap. But from that position it is impossible to stay in control when the motoring gets interesting.

As soon as you get in, push your butt back into the seat until your lower back is against the backrest. Now slide the seat forward or back until you can push the clutch pedal all the way to the floor with your left leg straight but your foot at a right angle to your leg. That should put your right foot on the accelerator with your knee slightly bent.

Now adjust the seat back until your wrists can touch the rim of the steering wheel with your elbows straight. In that position, your hands will rest comfortably on the sides of the steering wheel rim with your elbows slightly bent, making it easy to turn the steering wheel. Most important, there should be at least 12-14 inches between your chest and your steering wheel, so that if the air bag explodes it won’t hit you in the chest before it does its job of absorbing your forward momentum.

With you and your seat in the proper position, now adjust the rearview mirrors. The center mirror should show the entire rear window, giving you as much vision directly to the rear as possible.

The Mini Cooper sideview mirrors are there for a specific purpose. They allow you to see the blind spots beside you that you can’t see out of the corner of your eye or in the center rearview mirror. To adjust the left door mirror, lean over until your head is right against the side window. Now adjust the door mirror so that you can just see the left side of your car on the inside edge of the mirror. Adjust the right door mirror by leaning to the center of the car, then adjusting that mirror the same way, so you can just see the side of your car on the inside edge of the mirror.

Now check your whole field of view. The view in your left-hand outside mirror should just overlap the view in your center mirror, and that view should just overlap the view in your right-hand outside mirror. If this is the case, then you’ll have no blind spots in which a car can hide to cause problems when you change lanes or later, on the track when you get ready to make that pass.

You can check this when you get out on the highway. As you pass a car, as soon as you can’t see it out of the corner of your eye, it should be squarely in the sideview mirror. As it passes out of the sideview mirror, it should be completely in view in the rearview mirror.

Now, you can start the car and head out, comfortable, confident, and in control of your car.

Wait a second. Where should you put your hands? Of course, you’ve been told to keep both hands on the wheel – no cruising along with one arm on the window sill and one wrist lazily draped over the rim of the wheel – but at what position? When you took driver training in high school, we’ll bet you were told to keep your hands at “ten and two o’clock” thinking of the wheel as a big clock face. That may have been all right years ago, with large steering wheels and no air bags, but in today’s cars, that won’t work.

For everyday street driving, the best position for your hands is at “four and eight o’clock.” This position is comfortable, allows you to keep both hands on the wheel for quick response in an emergency, and most important, the air bag can deploy without hitting your arms and throwing one through your side window and the other knocking your passenger unconscious.

We should note that if you take the car out on the race track, you’ll probably move your hands up to a “nine and three” position, like your favorite race driver, but on the track you only need to move your hands a few inches each way for most turns, and you want the maximum possible control to cut that corner apex neatly.

One more thing about those hands. A light grip on the wheel is all you need. Squeezing the rim hard and flexing those biceps isn’t going to make the car hold the road any better around the corners. All you will do is tire yourself out.

Other Accessories and Choices

2008-01-31T20:39:00.000-08:00

But wait, we’re still not through with all the choices in all five boxes on the MINI website. We still have to think about interior trim and a few other miscellaneous goodies.

Let’s start with seats and upholstery. Since you’ve already opted for the Cooper S, you’re going to get a good set of sport seats, with effective bolstering to keep you from sliding around on those tight corners. And you can choose from a variety of different colors. We don’t have any advice on most trim decisions but we do suggest that you order the gray cloth upholstery rather than the leatherette or leather.

In our view, cloth upholstery is best because it provides more grip against the seat of your pants in tight maneuvering, helping those bolsters do their job. It’s also cooler in summer and warmer in winter, and won’t show wear as much as the leather or vinyl.

Best of all, the cloth doesn’t add anything to the cost of your MINI. We talked about trade-offs earlier. How about thinking of your decision as trading off the leather, which won’t help you go faster, for a set of tires and wheels that cost about the same and will definitely help you go faster. Seems like a fair trade-off to us.

There are a few other choices to make. If you didn’t choose the Sport package, you might want to look at those front fog lamps again, but as far as we’re concerned they don’t really do much good in fog conditions, and they just irritate other drivers ahead of you. Rear fog lamps, which provide brighter visibility to drivers overtaking you, on the other hand are a good option if you ever drive anywhere when you’re likely to be in the fog.

The navigation system is another option that depends on what kind of driving you do. If you are going to be driving back and forth to the same office every day, and rarely venture into unknown territory, you can probably pass on this expensive item. It certainly isn’t going to be much help getting through the corkscrew at Laguna Seca.

On the other hand, if you’re going to be using your MINI to make sales calls or long-distance trips, the navigation system can be a real time-saver. We’ve tested them and we can say that the latest generation of these high-tech gizmos is pretty terrific. It will change the interior in one important respect, however. The screen goes where that big pie-plate of a speedometer would normally be mounted, and instead you’ll get a smaller speedo mounted next to your tach on the steering column. That’s actually kind of a good thing.

The multifunction steering wheel and cruise control are also a matter of personal taste and requirements. If you expect to spend long periods of time on the highway, being able to set the speed and forget it, while tuning the radio without taking your hands off the wheel, are good things. If you don’t expect to do much over-the-road driving with your MINI, save the $650 to spend on your new go-fast, sound-good exhaust system that we’ll discuss in the next chapter.

Auto-dimming mirrors, rain-sensitive wipers, and automatic air-conditioning are nice things, we suppose, but these are probably things you can manage to do for yourself rather than paying little robots to do them for you. As for the “park distance control?” Give us a break; the car is only 14 feet long, for heaven’s sake. If you can’t get it into a parking place without a back-up beeper, you’re never ever going to master the Charlize Theron parking maneuver or even hope to drive your MINI through a Beverly Hills mansion without knocking over the lamps.

Whew! That should take care of all the little choices to make and right-clicks to push, so you should have an idea of what the car is going to cost and be ready to talk to a real live MINI expert at your nearest dealer (the address of which, of course, can be found on the website, along with a map and driving directions).

Getting the Right Rubber for the Road

2008-01-22T06:44:00.000-08:00

We’ve already said that you may not want the wheels and tires that the MINI dealer has to sell you. To understand why, we need to start talking about performance.
Performance, in gearhead terms, is the general measure of how well your car does the four things it is supposed to do: start, run, turn, and stop. To win on the autocross or race course, you need to get up to speed as quickly as possible, go as fast as possible, get around corners as rapidly as possible, and stop in as short a distance as possible.
While many of the components on the car contribute to one or more of those goals, your wheels and tires contribute to all four. More than any other component on your car, the tires and wheels you choose will make significant differences in performance.
Let’s be clear about one thing from the very start: there is no such thing as the best tire and wheel for all those jobs. But there are some features that you should consider when buying any tire and wheel. They include weight, flexibility, and grip.
Weight is the most important aspect to consider. When we measure weight in a performance car, we divide it into two categories: unsprung weight, and sprung weight. Unsprung weight is the weight of all those things that stay attached to the road, or at least should stay attached to the road, when you hit a bump or pour the car into a turn while the rest of the car, the sprung weight, goes up and down on the springs. In other words, the wheels and tires are most of the unsprung weight.
In order to improve performance, we want to reduce our unsprung weight to the minimum required to get the job done. The first issue with heavy tires and wheels is that it takes more torque to get them up to speed. Further, Since heavier wheels have more momentum than lighter wheels when they are spinning, more braking effort is required to slow them down.
Finally, the more unsprung weight you have, the more difficult it will be to adjust the handling of the car. Changing springs, shock absorbers, and anti-sway bars will change how the weight above the springs moves around, but it won’t change have any effect on movement of unsprung weight.
For these reasons, you really want the lightest wheels and tires you can buy within your budget that are still strong enough to do their job.. The problem with the original stock or factory-optional wheels is that they’re heavy. There are many choices of wheels on the aftermarket that are much lighter because of their materials and construction, but that will still provide all the safety and functionality needed.
Tires are another issue where we’re going to go to the aftermarket to get better performance. Your MINI can be purchased with two different types of tires: performance run-flats and all-season run-flats. Notice that both types are “run-flat.” That’s a nice engineering feature, assuring that a flat tire won’t leave you parked beside the road. They also allowed the designers to avoid having to figure out where to stick a spare wheel and tire, which saved weight and cost.
But there are two problems with run-flat tires. In order to provide the run-flat capabilities, the tires are heavier than standard radial tires and they are stiffer than regular radial tires. As a result of the weight, they require more engine power to turn and have more inertia when stopping. Because of the stiff sidewalls, they don’t flex as well, so they don’t stick to the pavement as well in turns. They also give a rougher ride than most standard radial tires, which may not affect performance, but certainly detracts from comfortable motoring.
So here is where we stick our neck out for the first time and suggest that if performance is your goal, you can improve the performance of your new MINI by buying from sources other than the dealer. Reputable aftermarket dealers offer an extensive variety of wheel designs to choose from at a wide range of prices and varying weights, as well as tires with different performance and behavior characteristics from several different sources.
Tire Rack (www.tirerack .com) for example lists 42 different wheels, and several different brands of tires for a high-performance MINI Cooper S for you to choose from. The MiniMania catalog shows 25 different choices of wheels, which are supplied with Kumho Ecsta Supra 712 Z-rated tires, a tire choice that they’ve tested and liked on their own cars.
Making the change won’t even cost too much. A good set of four aftermarket wheels that are much lighter than the MINI wheels, shod with a set of proven performance tires, can be put on the car for between $1000 and $1,300. Of course, you can get much fancier, and more expensive, tires and wheels but at least that gives you a ballpark idea of your costs.
Bottom line, if you don’t need or want the other components in the Sport Package, such as the Xenon lights, save your $800 and put it towards a good set of tires and wheels. It will be the single best investment you make in improving the safety and handling of your MINI.

John Cooper Works Tuning Kit

2008-01-16T07:47:00.000-08:00

You said you wanted performance, right? Then why not go for the whole deal and have your local dealer install the BMW-approved John Cooper Works Tuning Kit? After all, it takes horsepower from 163 to 200 ponies, and brings torque up to 177 pound-feet from 155 in the stock MINI Cooper S. With that power, you can get from zero to 60 in 6.5 seconds and, if you can find enough space on a closed course, get up to 140 miles per hour. And you get a slick decal and engaving on the exhaust pipes to prove you’re faster than the average bear. Now that’s motoring.
Nevertheless, we suggest you don’t opt for the JCW kit. We say that because the parts are pretty expensive at $4500 in the box, and then you still have to pay your dealer to install them, which takes ten hours of shop time. The whole thing is going to cost from $5000 to $6000 out the door.
For the same amount of money, with aftermarket components you can easily get your horsepower well past the JCW’s 200 mark, and at the same time improve the tires, wheels, brakes, and suspension to keep your power under control, so that you’ve got a balanced performance package. If you still need decals to impress the pedestrians, the aftermarket suppliers will be happy to help you out.
You might note that the MINI website makes a point that the JCW tuning package comes with a factory warranty, and won’t affect your standard warranties on your car. That’s an important point, of course. When you start making changes to engine, suspension, brakes, or other mechanical parts of the car, these changes can affect the performance of your car.
However, reputable aftermarket suppliers now offer their own warranties on the parts that they sell, and some, such as MiniMania even guarantee that if their properly-installed parts cause a problem that voids any part of the factory warranty, they’ll pay for the repairs and replacement themselves. You should check the fine print yourself on both the factory and the supplier warranties, but at least you know that you can make changes to upgrade your MINI without worrying that you’ll lose the peace of mind of BMW’s solid warranty protection.

Tintop or Ragtop?

2008-01-11T18:43:00.000-08:00

We can’t really help you much with your decision if you’re trying to decide whether to buy the MINI Cooper coupe or the MINI Cooper convertible, often referred to as tintops and ragtops by motoring enthusiasts. BMW has done an excellent job of engineering body stiffness into the MINI Cooper convertible so it won’t rattle and shake over rough roads and railroad crossings, so the convertible will be just as good as the hardtop on backroad tours. Also, there’s a lot to be said about being able to look up at the mountains or redwoods when you’re driving that scenic byway, instead of craning your neck to peak at them through the windshield.
However, the convertible does have some blindspots when the soft top is up that you wouldn’t have with the hardtop. That can make it a bit less safe in heavy traffic, or when backing up. More important, most track day activities and some autocross events won’t allow a ragtop to run because it offers less protection in the unlikely event of a roll-over. So if you’re thinking seriously about high-speed and timed events in your MINI future, the hardtop might be the better choice.
The real question is where you’re going to be driving. If your home base is blessed with temperate weather all year around, you’ll be able to get a lot of driving time with the top down. On the other hand, if your driveway looks like Ice Station Zebra six months of the year, the hard top may be easier to live with.

Premium, Sport, and Cold Weather Packages
After you’ve clicked the button marked MINI Cooper S, decided on coupe or convertible, and taken a first shot at picking a color scheme (don’t worry, you can come back and play with this again later), you’ll have to decide whether you want to take any of the three combination accessory packages—Premium, Sport, or Cold Weather—that the MINI dealer will offer you. The simple answers, we think, are “no,” “maybe,” and “it depends.”
We would say no to the Premium package because the primary component in it is the sunroof. It’s very nice if you want to cruise down the highway with the sun fighting the sun block you just applied, but when you’re going fast and concentrating on your driving, it’s just a noisy distraction. And it adds weight, something the person seeking performance isn’t going to want. Besides, if you envision your perfect car with a checkered flag, Union Jack, or custom graphics on the roof, you won’t want the sunroof.
The other components in the premium package, including cruise control, multifunction steering wheel, automatic air conditioning, and on-board computer, can each be bought separately for a total of $1200, so even if you want all of these convenience items, you can still save $100 by buying them separately. On the other hand, if you have your heart set on the sun roof—and it certainly is the closest you can come to a convertible without buying the cabriolet—and think you want any one of the other convenience items and can live with the rest, then at $1300, the premium package would be a bargain.
The Sport package is a definite maybe. It includes one thing you will want, the Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) system, and some things you might want, including the Xenon headlamps with power washer, fog lamps, and bonnet stripes. The package also includes 7x17-inch MINI S-Lite alloy wheels and tires.
If bought separately, these options would cost a total of $1890 but the complete package is available for $1300. This price difference makes the choice seem obvious, but it really depends on whether you want all the individual upgrades in the package.
We definitely advise you to buy the DSC, whether or not you buy the rest of the package. Selected separately, this option costs $500. That’s a small price for the peace of mind you will have in knowing that if you hit a patch of wet pavement or black ice on a dark night while cruising down the road, sensors in the system will tell your throttle to ease back and apply the brake on the spinning wheel to keep you from skidding, all in the fraction of a second it will take you to realize you are in danger of spinning into oncoming traffic.
Sure, you’ll switch off the DSC before your turn in the next drifting competition, but the rest of the time, you’ll want it on. And yes, the standard traction control system will keep your wheels from spinning under most circumstances, but it won’t help you much in the turns.
But the main issue with the sport package is the wheels and tires. We’re going to recommend you buy performance wheels and tires from aftermarket sources, since there are better choices out there. Unless you definitely want the Xenon headlights ($550), fog lights ($140), and bonnet stripes ($100), you’ll save money by not buying the Sport Package that you can use to get the high-performance wheels and tires you want.
If you have decided that you do want to get the lights and stripes, as well as the DSC, then you might as well get the whole Sport combo. There’s nothing wrong with the bigger wheels and tires offered in the Sport package, and by the time you’ve paid for the other parts of the package, the wheels and tires are effectively free when you buy the whole deal (you can do the arithmetic). Then you can wait until you’ve worn out your first set of tires before ordering your own set of wheels and tires from your favorite aftermarket supplier.
As for the Cold Weather package, that depends on where you live and drive. If you live where winter lasts four months of every year or more, with colder-than-whatever mornings, accompanied by slush on the road and the sun not even over the horizon yet, then the warmers for the seats, mirrors, and windshield washers will be very good things to have, indeed. And they won’t slow you down during the fast season. Those warm seats are also a nice option in other parts of the country if you’re buying a convertible and like to drive with the top down even on chilly morning.

Tips on Filling Out Your MINI Cooper Order

2008-01-07T13:05:00.000-08:00

Now that you’ve spent some time thinking about your ultimate goals, and how fast you want to get there, we can help you sort through the choices you’ll need to make before you sign the order form and start counting the days until your very own MINI is produced, shipped, and prepared for you to pick up at the dealer.

Cooper or Cooper S?

The first buttons you’ll have to click are the ones labeled Cooper or Cooper S. This is actually pretty simple. Since the Cooper S costs only $3000 more than the Cooper, and offers many more features and capabilities, we think it offers the best value for money.
For starters, the Cooper S has a 6-speed manual transmission. That difference alone, in almost anyone’s book, would justify the extra money. You’re probably already pretty sure that an automatic transmission is for people who want to use their right hand for something inane like applying make-up. You already know that a quick hand on the gearshift and a good foot on the clutch separate the motorists from those people who buy a car for transportation. And you get the bolstered sport seats thrown into the bargain.
But it isn’t only the MINI Cooper gear shift and sports seats that you’ll be able to look forward to. It’s all the extra horsepower potential lurking in the pages of the go-fast catalogs that separates the Cooper S from the perfectly-adequate-for-other-people Cooper. Yes, the Cooper can be made to go faster. But by the time you’ve installed everything possible, you will have spent more than the $3000 you saved, your Cooper will have reached its maximum horsepower potential at just about where the Cooper S starts, and you’ll still have only one tail pipe on the back.
By comparison, with a Cooper S, you start with a car that is already pretty quick, and after that the sky’s the limit. So click the button marked Cooper S and we’ll move on.
(For those of you who already bought a Cooper before you bought this book, don’t worry. Keep on reading and we’ll give you all the tips we have on how to get the most out of your Cooper. If you decide you want a little more performance, we’ll discuss modifications that will give your Cooper approximately the same horsepower as the standard Cooper S.
And if you have to drive under conditions where an automatic transmission makes sense, the Cooper automatic still allows you to upshift and downshift on your own, so you can learn to upshift and downshift at the most efficient shift points.
And we can guarantee, if you learn to be a better driver as we’ll teach you along the way, you’ll be able to beat many of those Cooper S owners who think that they can buy fast lap times with their credit card.)

2007-12-31T14:49:00.000-08:00

How Fast Do You Want to Get There?

2007-12-30T14:24:00.000-08:00

Another factor to take into account before you buy the car is how much you’re eventually going to spend, and how fast you want to spend it. Fortunately, the MINI Cooper isn’t a very expensive car to start out with, and it is possible to replace and upgrade its components one step at a time. We’ll help you start having fun immediately, and then show you how to upgrade slowly if that’s what is necessary to keep from maxing out your credit cards.
The first thing you need to decide what kind of a car you want to have, so that you don’t spend more than you need to at the dealer. Then you should consider the parts that you’re going to want to upgrade or add in order to create the MINI Cooper that will suit your own ideas of what motoring fun should be. Finally, you should list the parts in the order that you plan to make the changes, so that you get the maximum benefit from each dollar spent and don’t waste money doing things that you’ll eventually have to do over.
We’ve written this book to help you make your budgeting and planning decisions in a logical order, taking into account what you want to do with the car and how much fun you want to have. As you get to know the car and start to have fun with it, you can consider all the ways there are to enjoy it. Each of the four sections of the book will discuss things you can do to have fun with the car, what kinds of modifications and accessories you will want to consider to make the car perform better in those activities, and offer you tips on how to drive better at that level.
This first section of the book will give you some basic buying and driving tips. Then the second section will tell you how to set up your car for a better street and touring performance and give you some tips on driving faster while still staying safe. The third section will help you to make your car and your driving more competitive on the track and autocross course, and fun but safe on back-roads tours. Finally, the fourth section is intended for those of you who want your times to be the fastest on the track or the autocross course, even if that means that space in your back seat is taken up with a roll cage instead of dry cleaning and groceries.

What Kind of Motoring Do You Want to Do?

2007-12-24T09:32:00.001-08:00

If you’re considering buying a MINI Cooper, you’ve probably already gone to the MINI website, www.MINIUSA.com, to see for yourself what all the hub-bub is about. The website provides a neat way to look at all the options and do some thinking long before you have to sit across the table from a dealer representative.

A MINI Like No One Else’s
If you’ve checked the MINI Cooper website, you’ve probably been impressed with, maybe overwhelmed by, all of the choices that are available. First of all, the car is available in two models in the United States, the Mini Cooper and the Mini Cooper S. (The rest of the world can also buy a third model, the MiniOne.) The major difference between the Mini Cooper and the Mini Cooper S is in the engine tuning, with the supercharged Cooper S producing more horsepower. There are also a few cosmetic differences.
Since the fall of 2004, you can also buy your Cooper or Cooper S in two different body styles, the two-door coupe with a hard-top, or the convertible with its three-position soft-top.
In addition, you can choose to add any or all of three major performance packages, or select specific options from within those packages. You can also choose from three different sizes of wheels and tires, and there is a long list of other Mini Cooper accessories and options to consider.
And that’s all before you have even confronted the truly significant questions of exterior and interior colors and trim materials. You may see lots of other MINIs on the road (and you’ll get to wave at all these new friends you haven’t met yet as soon as you’re behind the wheel of your own MINI) but your MINI doesn’t have to look like everyone else’s.
This seems like an almost overwhelming richness of choice. But making your decisions may not be as complicated as it seems.
We’re going to assume that since you bought this book, you do share a few things in common with us. You understand the messages in the MINI Cooper ads. You want your car to perform. Getting from Point A to Point B may be enough for most drivers, but you want to enjoy your time behind the wheel. You do want to motor.
But motoring is a broad term. We’ll need to get a little more personal and a little more specific here. This is the time to have a heart-to-heart talk between your intellect, your wallet, and the little voice down deep inside you that tells you how hard you should push the fast pedal.

End of the Old; Birth of the New

2007-12-19T13:20:00.000-08:00

Even though the Mini had to be withdrawn from the U.S. market in 1967 because smog and safety regulations had become too stringent for the financially-stressed British Leyland company to meet, it had made its mark. To keep the cars alive with the loss of the dealer network, Mini clubs sprang up all over the country and several businesses took root to keep Minis running and on the road.

The rest of the world was more fortunate, and the Mini continued to be manufactured and marketed. As a small right-hand drive car, it was especially popular in Japan. As a result, U.S. owners continued to be able to get parts for their Minis. A trickle of slightly-illegal gray-market cars also found their way across the borders from Canada.

By 1996 the Rover Group, recently acquired by BMW had become the successor to British Motor Corporation. BMW product planners decided that forty years was enough for one design, even if it was so good that it would later be anointed the European Car of the Century. Nevertheless, the designers at the Rover Group knew they had to find a way of preserving not only the design concepts, but also the fun and games quotient of the original Mini.

Development goals were obvious: the new MINI should be small, cheap, practical, fast, and fun. As you will soon find out, if you haven’t already made your pilgrimage to the MINI dealer near you, BMW designers succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations. As a result, today you can buy a car that is a direct beneficiary of the heritage that dates back to 1959. The new MINI in the showroom is everything the old Mini was, and more.

The ultimate test of whether the new MINI should be considered a legitimate heir to the classic Mini traditions was passed when the established Mini clubs and their diehard enthusiast members adopted the new MINI into their clubs. So when you choose a MINI for your own fun and games, you’ll find a ready-made group of like-minded friends to play with.

But enough of history. Let’s talk about tomorrow and your own trip to the MINI dealer.

John Cooper had Another Idea

2007-12-15T08:14:00.000-08:00

At the same time that Issigonis was designing the car, racecar builder John Cooper was adapting the same BMC A-series engine to his Formula Junior racecars and was running the BMC works racing teams. It was only a matter of time before Cooper dropped a race-tuned A-series engine, with modified bore and stroke producing 997cc (under the important one-liter limitation for several racing classifications) into the great-handling Mini to produce a candidate for sedan racing and rallying. In 1961 the Mini Cooper was born.

Never one to be content with just enough, Cooper worked his magic again and adapted his 1100cc Formula Junior engine to the Mini to produce the Mini Cooper S, introduced in 1963. A year later, a 1275cc version of the Mini Cooper S was introduced. This little buzzbomb could go from zero to 60 in less than 11 seconds and continue accelerating up to 97 miles per hour, capable of beating most sedans on the road.

With the handling that had always been a strong suit, this was just the car to take on the Alpine and Monte Carlo rallies. And so Cooper did, with his cars winning the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964 with Paddy Hopkirk at the wheel and in 1965 with Timo Makinen. In 1966 Mini Cooper Ss took first, second, and third place in the Monte Carlo rally, only to be disqualified for violating a rule about light switches. However, Rauno Aaltonen took his revenge, conclusively winning the Monte in his Cooper S in 1967.

With its superior handling and ability to accelerate out of turns, the Cooper S became very popular in shorter distance track events. The new European Touring Car Championships was a perfect opportunity to show how easily the car could be tuned for high-speed competition in the under-1000cc Group II classification. Minis did very well at Nurburgring, especially against Fiat-Abarths which were the main competition. International teams from Spain, Sweden, France and Germany as well as Great Britain, ran Minis quite competitively. Works cars were event built to compete in the Tasmanian series in Australia and New Zealand.

Your Basic Economy Car

2007-12-15T07:53:00.000-08:00

To insure economy, British Motor Corporation specified that the car would use its small 848cc four-cylinder A-series engine. To save even more space, Issigonis turned the engine sideways, and placed the transmission directly underneath it, effectively in the engine’s sump. With the transmission connected directly to the front wheels there was no drive shaft, and no center hump inside the car.

The result was a car that could easily hold four people and their luggage comfortably, but still fit into a space only only ten feet long, five feet wide and four-and-one-half feet high. Making it even more attractive, BMC priced the car at well under $1000. With its small size and economical engine, it could cover 50 miles on a gallon of gas. As a bonus, the small wheels, tight suspension, compact size, and direct steering produced a car with surprisingly good handling, a feature that wasn’t even on the original wishlist.

Marketed by both Austin and Morris, the two main brands of the British Motor Corporation, the car was first known as the Mini-Minor with the Morris badge and the Se7en, using the number seven instead of a V, when carrying the Austin badge. However, with its diminutive size, it was soon referred to simply as the “Mini.”

Within a short time, the Mini became one of the icons of swinging England, along with the Beatles, Twiggy, and Carnaby Street’s mini-skirts. Soon every with-it celebrity owned one, and the cars played starring roles in the first version of The Italian Job and Return of the Pink Panther.

It’s All in the Breeding

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When Alexander Issigonis set out in 1957 to design a car that could cope with the Suez Canal fuel crisis, he wanted to create a car that would be both practical and affordable. To achieve this, he put the car together in a completely new way. The tiny ten-inch wheels were placed at the outside corners so as not to intrude on interior space Issigonis supported the suspension on rubber cones which took up much less space than traditional springs and shocks.

Buying Your New MINI Cooper

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Inspired by the enormously popular Austin Minis and Morris Mini Minors produced in the millions from 1959 to 1999, the new MINI by BMW combines the efficient package and sporting heritage of its predecessors with thoroughly modern technology, creating an automobile that is both fun and practical to own.

This book has been written to help MINI owners get all the fun and enjoyment they can out of this great car. In this first chapter, we will tell you about the traditions that have been built into this marque, and offer some suggestions on buying your new MINI, if you haven’t already purchased one. We will also give you some basic driving tips so you can begin right now developing the driving style that will help you enjoy your new MINI to the maximum.