Munich/Monte Carlo. These days marks the sixtieth anniversary of one of the spectacular successes within the historical past of worldwide motorsport. With Irishman Patrick “Paddy” Hopkirk on the wheel, the Mini Cooper S received the general standings of the Monte Carlo Rally. Happiness? Coincidence? A quirk of destiny? Probably not, as a result of two extra victories adopted on the Monte Carlo Rally and quite a few different successes till the top of the Nineteen Sixties. Looking again, the explanations for this have been: trendy expertise, high drivers and new logistics requirements.
“Paddy Hopkirk’s victory in the Mini Cooper S in 1964 marked a turning point in the history of Mini. It proved that the classic Mini was not only a charming city car, but also a successful car in motorsport. This tradition and passion for racing is in our legacy and can still be felt in our models today. Motorsport has shaped Mini and will always remain an important part of our DNA,” says Stefanie Wurst, Head of MINI.
Blueprint for contemporary small vehicles.
At the top of the Nineteen Fifties, the rally greats largely moved in stately and lavishly motorized automobiles by English forests, over French passes or from Liège to Sofia and again once more. Austin Healey and Ford Falcon have been the benchmark on the rallies and dominated the scene. They weren’t actually appropriate for on a regular basis use. During this time, Alec Issigonis, on behalf of the British Motor Corporation (BMC), constructed the probably the most trendy automobile of its time: with its transverse engine and front-wheel drive, the basic Mini met the usual for small vehicles that’s nonetheless legitimate right this moment when it debuted in 1959.
An spectacular sports activities profession required a second good automobile man: John Cooper. He had achieved fame as a racing driver and wealth as a designer – and he was instantly satisfied of the sporting potential of the basic Mini. Cooper, who in his Formula 1 vehicles didn’t place the engine in entrance of the motive force, as was typical on the time, however behind him, summed it as much as his pal Issigonis, who noticed the basic Mini as extra of a automobile for everybody: “That’s a damn race car. Give it more power, improve the brakes and build the thing.” The underestimated underdog – a task that MINI has been completely happy to tackle many times in its greater than six decade historical past – was born.
64 years of the model, 62 years of motorsport.
The first Mini Cooper was created in 1960 – with a powerful 55 horsepower as a substitute of the 34 horsepower of the unique Mini from 1959. As early as 1961, the Mini Cooper, which was simply three meters lengthy, turned the world of high-speed drivers the wrong way up. From now on, even the much less well-off may tile throughout the nation no less than as shortly because the homeowners of pure sports activities vehicles and high-horsepower limousines. And on the rally trails and racing tracks, the little racers with their nearly delicate ten-inch wheels received the trophies.
The basic Mini Cooper was tailored for the rally routes of the time. Hardly any physique overhangs ensured a beforehand unknown impartial driving habits.
And because of the quite modest 650 kilos {that a} Rallye Mini weighed on the time, the power-to-weight ratio was fairly acceptable with the modest 55 hp. This development was to change into the origin of the well-known go-kart feeling.
In May 1962, the basic Mini entered the winners’ listing of a global rally occasion for the primary time. At the International Tulip Rally, which led from the Dutch municipality of Noordwijk to the French Riviera and again once more, Pat Moss, sister of the four-time vice world champion and 16-time Grand Prix winner Stirling Moss, drove the basic Mini Cooper within the quickest time over the route.
Finnish ice speedsters and virtuoso left brakers.
Also in 1962, BMC sports activities director Stuart Turner signed two abilities from the Nordic forests alongside Irishman Paddy Hopkirk: Timo Mäkinen and Rauno Aaltonen. The Finnish ice hustlers and virtuoso left-hand brakers shared a love for onerous acceleration – and but could not be extra totally different. Mäkinen was not a fan of many phrases and went down in historical past because the Flying Finn. Aaltonen speaks 5 languages fluently and pursued motorsports with scientific meticulousness, which later earned him the title of rally professor.
From then on, Mini started to achieve for the celebs. No matter how hopeless a process appears, Mini has all the time confronted competitors all through its lengthy historical past. The ingenious primary precept of the car and the three high drivers have been vital pillars of success. Just just like the skilled logistics developed by Turner. He set new requirements by way of service group and was the primary workforce boss to ship ice spies to the particular levels. John Cooper continued to fine-tune the combustion chamber quantity and produced 90 hp within the mannequin now known as Mini Cooper S after the displacement growth to 1071 cc outlined for the 1100 class.
By the best way, the Mini Cooper S was visually much like any on a regular basis Mini. No sporty tailgate, not even a tachometer, as a substitute a skinny plastic steering wheel and spartan seats with out lateral assist. A shelf as a substitute of the dashboard, exterior physique folds and hinges. Thanks to the economical furnishings, a specific amount of house in a tiny automobile and an excessive economic system of house. In brief: a daring simplicity.
Behind each success there may be onerous work.
Even within the Nineteen Sixties, it wasn’t simple to win the Monte Carlo Rally with none prep work. In 1963, Rauno Aaltonen took his firstclass win on the Monte. And but the success within the general rating in 1964 was an enormous shock for the opponents – the competitors appeared too overwhelming. 277 vehicles took half within the thirty third version of what’s most likely probably the most well-known rally on the earth. The meticulous preparatory work and the climate situations with loads of ice and snow benefited the basic Mini. And so in a single day the underdog and frightened favourite not solely turned a crowd favourite, but in addition a motorsport legend.
Ice, snow and 34 hairpin bends over a size of 24 km.
It was the legendary “Night of the Long Knives”, the penultimate stage of the rally, that introduced the Mini Cooper S with beginning quantity #37 and the since well-known license plate 33 EJB to victory within the winter of 1964. During the take a look at on the Col de Turini within the French Maritime Alps, 34 hairpin bends need to be mastered over 24 kilometers – an actual problem in snow and ice at a move altitude of 1,600 meters. Hopkirk reached the end line simply 17 seconds behind his closest rival, Bo Ljungfeldt, within the rather more highly effective Ford Falcon with a V8 engine. Due to the handicap method in drive on the time to compensate for variations in weight and efficiency, the basic Mini was within the lead within the general rating. And he additionally defended his lead within the ultimate circuit race by the streets of Monte Carlo.
In the house nation of the basic Mini, the victory was in fact celebrated enthusiastically. Hopkirk acquired a congratulatory telegram from the British authorities and the Beatles have been among the many first to congratulate him. “There came an autograph card from the Beatles,” Hopkirk later recalled, which stated: “Now you’re one of us, Paddy.” An incredible reminiscence.” Hopkirk turned a motorsport hero in a single day and one thing just like the fifth Beatle.
A win will be luck, a successful streak is talent.
The basic Mini continued to dominate the Monte Carlo Rally in subsequent years. Timo Mäkinen received with an enormous lead only one 12 months later. The displacement growth to 1275 cubic centimeters additionally helped. Mäkinen was the one participant who remained freed from penalty factors over your entire distance. Despite tons of snow and ice, the organizers had scheduled a second evening journey by the Maritime Alps. Mäkinen and his Mini Cooper S have been unimpressed and received 5 of the six particular levels on the ultimate stage.
In 1966 the supposedly final triumph got here when the Mini pilots took locations one to a few. The race administration disqualified all three automobiles due to allegedly non-compliant lighting expertise – a expertise together with the attribute extra headlights in entrance of the radiator grille, which remains to be one of the standard equipment within the model’s vary to today. Even French rally fanatics have been embarrassed by the disqualification. It solely underlined the legendary standing of the basic Mini. From now on, Aaltonen, Mäkinen and Hopkirk have been thought-about the “Three Musketeers” – and gross sales of the basic Mini skyrocketed. In 1967 Aaltonen took general victory – and but the top of an period started to emerge. The following 12 months, Vic Elford received in a Porsche 911 – Aaltonen saved the consideration of the basic Mini with third place.
In 1970 it was lastly over. The Leyland Group bumped into monetary difficulties – an impressive chapter in motorsport historical past was closed. In July 1971, the final Mini Cooper S rolled off the meeting line.
Proven ideas and new fashions.
The motorsport successes of the early years formed the model into the brand new millennium. And the heritage is rigorously maintained and developed additional. Front-wheel drive, engines mounted transversely on the entrance, brief physique overhangs, agile dealing with and loads of house for passengers in a small footprint – elementary traits that have been transferred from the basic Mini to the brand new MINI, which has been obtainable since 2001, refined and remodeled into the premium section. New variants such because the MINI Clubman, the MINI Convertible and the MINI Countryman have been added – they’ll all be instantly acknowledged and skilled as MINI.
Only a number of car ideas have survived an identical time span because the MINI. Hardly another car has achieved such reputation. None of them has ever been carried out in such all kinds of variants because the MINI. Driving a MINI was and isn’t just pure transportation, but in addition an expression of your individual model. The basic of automotive historical past has change into a timeless, cross-generational, and class-spanning car.
MINI stunned everybody once more – its successes on the Dakar Rally.
And in fact, because the takeover by the BMW Group, motorsport and the title John Cooper proceed to play an vital function. In 2011 and 2012, MINI continued its motorsport historical past with the John Cooper Works WRC at chosen rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). From 2012, the MINI ALL4 Racing, designed particularly for marathon rallies, took on a particular problem: the Dakar Rally, the final word endurance take a look at for drivers, automobiles and groups. The efficiency and reliability of the MINI ALL4 Racing led to 4 consecutive Dakar successes from 2012 to 2015, adopted by numbers 5 and 6 in 2020 and 2021.
And as soon as once more the motorsport world had underestimated the little man who had all the time achieved such nice issues.
The model title John Cooper Works ensures excellent efficiency not solely on the racetrack, but in addition on the street. John Cooper Works tuning kits for sequence automobiles have been already very fashionable within the Nineteen Seventies – they emphasised crucial virtues each visually and technically. A convention that continues with the brand new MINI. There are additionally excessive athletes with the addition of John Cooper Works and an output of as much as 225 kW/306 hp.
Private motorsport groups proceed the custom.
The ardour for racing nonetheless exists and is now lived by non-public motorsport groups. In 2021, the Bulldog Racing undertaking was created in Nürburg which is devoted to basic endurance racing. When Bulldog Racing’s MINI John Cooper Works made its first look on the 24-hour race on the Nürburgring in 2022, the John Cooper Works defied all odds for 40 laps and was taken out of the race after an accident. The combative effort thrilled the followers and the purple speedster shortly turned a crowd favourite.
In May 2023, within the second 24-hour race, the Bulldog Racing Team achieved a extremely acclaimed second place in its class with a MINI John Cooper Works 1to6 Edition on the 24-hour race on the Nürburgring. As one of many few automobiles with a handbook transmission, the near-production model relied on basic MINI virtues: low weight, quite a lot of sequence and much more emotion. In 2024, the Bulldog Racing Team shall be racing within the “Green Hell” once more with a MINI John Cooper Works racecar.
On the best way to changing into a purely electrically powered model.
The way forward for the MINI feeling is sort of silent, domestically emission-free, however extraordinarily highly effective. The MINI Cooper and the the MINI Countryman have been confirmed already, whereas the brand new MINI Aceman, a very new car that sits between these two fashions, will observe within the first half of 2024. And the MINI John Cooper Works fashions are additionally being regularly electrified – a brand new chapter within the model’s greater than 60-year historical past.
