Hey guys,

At the weekend I decided the time had come for my R1 powered mini to undertake a full on shakedown at the trackday circuit here on the Isle of Man. I'm really pleased to report that putting a bike engine in the front of my mini wasn't such a stupid idea after all, and we had an absolute blast stretching her legs around the track. Apart from a few minor issues, the mini is everything I dreamt it would be, and to drive it still feels like a mini...just a bloody quick one! With a few more tweaks and some bodywork jobs to sort, she'll be painted up and ready for action by the end of the year hopefully. I need to address a coolant pipe sealing issue, a slight blow in the exhaust, and an oil leak around the sump which is only a trickle. The geometry setup was a bit of a rush job about 11.30pm the night before completing a 14 hour slog on the car to get it ready for the trackday. With the ride heights spot on and it properly corner weighted, she should handle really well. I was really impressed with how light the car feels as on the brakes it just feels so much easier than a standard mini would with it's heavy A series lump in the front.

Anyway, if you want to check out some footage from the shakedown sessions then here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV9d3zQsjyg

Cheers, Ben

Good stuff

Sounds brilliant, mini's are great + good vid's. I thought you could have tested on your roads though. Barry

I have done some testing in the industrial estate outside my garage, but I needed to get up into 6th gear and at max revs to really see what she could do. Once the front end is fitted and it looks a bit more like a complete mini, I can test her out on the road some more.

Ace

no worries with engine cooling then