by Margaret Patrick

We had five “Women and the Marque” with their Minis displayed at Ellerslie along with other invited car clubs at the Intermarque Concours D’Elegance on 11th February.
 
We thought we had planned for everything, except we didn’t pack waders. “Great weather for ducks” as the saying goes. The heavens opened and it rained all day. At one part of the morning we were clustered under our club tent on an island of dry land with a water moat surrounding us. Due to some clever drainage work by Lesley Robinson and Co the water was redirected, and we reclaimed space for ourselves and the many spectators who sheltered from the elements during the heavy downpours.
 
You never ask a woman her age but when it comes to her Mini, it is a different story. Great conversations were struck up about our cars. Lesley Robinson had her 1978 Mini Rover Cooper Sports Pack Rebuild and her 2015 John Cooper Works BMW Mini Cooper.  Margaret Patrick had her 1991 John Cooper Works S, along with Jo Wooding with her 1993 Rover Mini Cooper, and Shirley Grant with her 1995 Mini Estate. We had our car specs printed out on our new club spec sheets and displayed them in our newly revamped display stands.

Thanks KP for the great painting of the stands. I want to thank Kevin Taylor for bringing the club tent, and Murray, KP, Graham Wing and Warrick Robinson for helping erect the tent in somewhat blustery conditions.

Mark Lewis entered his 1966 Austin Cooper S in the Survivors Class and his display was really impressive, providing a photographic history of the car’s racing heritage when it lived in the South Island.
 
The rain didn’t put us off, so these MCCoA die-hards stuck it out to the end. We did go home like drowned rats but with a spring in our tails.
  
PS:Due to our team’s ingenuity we didn’t need the tractor to remove our cars from the grounds.
PPS: It was great to see an all girls camo dressed team clean up the club display with their Land Rovers this year. 

By Tony Maulder

Auckland Council are having a series of free movies in the parks around Auckland. On Saturday the 3rd of March it was Pork Pie’s (2017) turn at Rosedale Park Albany. As I work nearby I organised a bit of a Mini show, as there were many Minis from the Southland Mini Club in the film.

This turned out to be a mission and a half with all the Health & Safety regulations now days. I got permission to park a display car by the screen to promote our club, so on the night I set up my BMW MINI and some blurb about the club.

At 7pm, before the movie started, I had arranged to meet club members and their cars nearby to convoy into the movie. The site manager was so impressed with the four Minis that turned up, she wanted them all by the big blow up screen also.

After being led to their places by the site manager, with strict H&S procedures, and after phoning her manager to get them on site, the Minis were swamped with interested movie fans. Yeh! The four car loads of club members, their families and bean bags, camp chairs, rugs and all, set up near the screen and tucked into chips, hot chocolate, and popcorn.

An enjoyable evening was had by the Mini group and movie fans, even after a small shower at the start and a bit of a windy time, with the screen blowing about a bit.

Thanks to those who came along and helped promote our Minis. We were thanked by the organisers for adding a bit more to the movie night.

by Jo Wooding

​Jo and her green Rover Mini are regulars at club events, but Jo's recently bought a new MINI as well.

Jo, tell us about your new MINI?

My new MINI is a 2005 MINI ONE R52 in British Racing Green, like my Rover Mini. She is Auto–tiptronic with manual and sports mode (But I don't like using these modes). 

I decided to purchase a BMW MINI in October 2017 because I needed to downsize. I saw a blue one on Trade Me and test drove it.  I wasn’t sold on the colour and told the sales guy that I wasn’t interested and then jokingly said “Now if it was green” he turned around and said “how ironic a green one came in last night, do you want to see that?” OMG I test drove it and fell in love, had to have it, so I bought it.

Was it tricky to get used to driving this MINI after the classic?

It was very very different. The auto took some learning to take off without bunny hopping, and then going very fast once bunny hopping stopped, these were my challenges.  I overcame them to now be a master at driving her as she is my every day car. Thank goodness  the indicators are on the left just as my classic beauty, nothing catches me out now and it's very easy to swap over. 

Which do you prefer driving?

I do prefer driving my Rover Mini Cooper as I love that ‘OLD SCHOOL’ feeling and hey, she's a classic, who doesn't love driving a classic?
She handles very well, corners are a breeze. Being an outgoing person I enjoy chatting to the people who talk to me when I'm parked up, and it's much more fun to drive her in a convoy or club event.

There is plenty of room in my MINI, but I wouldn’t say I could fit much more in it than my Mini Cooper. I can put the seats down giving extra boot room, I can fit my grandsons bike in, but cant fit him in his carseat at the same time! Which defeats the purpose.

We know you're mad for the Minis, but what other cars have you owned?

I could almost say my love of Minis was from two weeks old, as my Mum owned a cream 1964 Morris Mini and I came home from hospital in it.  It was our family car till I was 2 when she bought a Hillman Hunter as my brother came on the scene.  She bought a red Mini LE in 1984 and I learnt to drive in it.  My brother bought a brown Mini in his teens too and belonged to a Mini club back then.

My very first car was a white Vaxhaull Viva Saloon, I saved very hard for a year to buy her in 1988.  I loved my Viva, she drove like a dream, she was manual so very quick off the mark.  I used to race people at lights and only lost to V8s. 

I  owned a Chev Impala for a weekend- I swapped my Mitsi Mirage for the Impala, but my Dad took one look at the Impala and demanded I take it back. I don’t think I ever got over that. I've always loved Minis but my ultimate dream car is a toss between a Chevy Belair and 69 Mustang.

by Zac Gould

Up for an early start on a bright sunny day! Great stuff as this is my favourite show.  I drove straight past the meeting place at Placemakers - nothing a quick u turn can’t sort out (way too early for a handbrake turn).

After a quick hello everyone gathered around Pete’s grey 850 which no one had seen yet. We soon figured out there were more horses than an 850 under the hood. A beautiful MED imported 1275 engine with all the fruity bits, and the car was sitting on a set of Rose petal 10” wheels. Very Nice!

Soon it was time to follow the leader to enter the show, and somehow I was given the task of being the leader. Unfortunately Jim’s 8 port Cooper decided it was not playing ball and threw a valve seat into the combustion chamber, which could be heard from those behind. All hopefully repairable.

Once in the park we eventually found our spot and parked up. Steve brought the Mini Club tent (amazing what fits in a Porsche). Thanks Steve, hopefully he will have a running Mini soon. Robbie and his boys rolled in, in two Elf’s and the super charged Mini. We all checked out their newly finished and very cool race styled Elf.
 
While everyone lined the cars up in old school fashion Nic and Richard decided our parking skills were crap (I had to agree), so Captain Richard rearranged the cars which turned out great! Well done Richard! 

While moving his car Richard once again had his front spoiler fall off. Instantly one of Rupert’s occupants helped by moving it into the nearest wheelie bin. And yes the spoiler got bolted back on again. 

We ended up with a good range of Minis on display including a nice blue 1275GT and a very original light blue 1981 Leyland round nose, and Phil with his Mini on the promotional stand.

The paparazzi showed up to take photos of our rock stars (Jo & Richard), to feature on none other than the front page of the Eastern Courier.

We were visited by an English couple who owned a very rare Mini Cooper 1071 back in the UK. They had won best in show with the 1071 at Cooper day Beaulieu, and showed us a few photos. They were very happy to look at Graham’s stunning 1275 Cooper S :-)

They had an interesting story about how at one of the shows in UK someone had taken photos of their car, log books etc and had cloned their 1071 S, and they had a notice arrive in the mail saying they had sold their car, which of course they hadn’t. So they now have to go through the process to prove they still own it! Unreal ....

Oh did I forget to mention Richard also lost his petrol cap key! and had no petrol! Many hands make light work and off it came :-)

All in all a perfect day.

We're roughly halfway through the club year, so Graham has kindly produced a table of club points so far.

Monte Carlo, 1963

January 2018 marks the 55th anniversary of the Mini’s appearance on the Monte Carlo dais, so by definition, the Mini’s rise to fame. 

Why was the Monte so important ? One reason only: sales. Britain was in the depths of winter, while Monte Carlo had a Formula I race, sunshine, casinos, and expensive yachts. The press was just itching for a good story, and here was one with glamour. The story was 9 years in the making, and this is how it unfolded.

In Dec 1954, George Harriman of the Nuffield Group ordained that a Competitions Department be formed, replacing the Nuffield Competition Committee, and this Department should be based at Abingdon, not Longbridge. John Thornley, General Manager of MG was to be in charge. The Nuffield Group, Morris, Riley, Wolseley, and MG, had just merged with Austin, to form BMC, and there was a palpable aura of optimism, now that wartime steel shortages were fading. 

The 1955 Monte was only 6 weeks away, with the MG Club usually tasked with finding the right drivers. Thornley had just appointed Marcus Chambers to be Competitions Manager, but Chambers was not subsequently impressed with the standard of drivers he had observed on the ’55 Monte or Tulip, in April. He determined that the 1955 Tulip was the last time BMC would use drivers not chosen by him.

The drivers which Chambers rated were already employed elsewhere. His only option was to build his own team, so in early 1955 John Gott from Standard, Ian Appleyard from Jaguar, and Pat Moss were lured to the BMC stable, along with Peter Riley, Tony Ambrose, and Willy Cave. Thornley selected expert mechanics for the workshop: Doug Watts, Tommy Wellman, Den Green, Cliff Humphries, Brian Moylan, and Bill Price.

During the summer of 1955, two major races with BMC entries (the Le Mans, and the Ulster TT), had killed spectators. Anxious to avoid adverse publicity, the Chairman, Sir Leonard Lord, issued an edict that, without ignoring racing, the focus was to be on rallying. The new BMC was charged with taking on Triumph, and Rootes, which had signed Stirling Moss, and European makes.

Until now, manufacturers rallied almost everything they made, just in case they stumbled on the magic formula, and found a winner. BMC was no exception. Through 1955, Chambers tested almost all models in the BMC stable, in an attempt to identify the most suitable models. So you might expect to see an Austin A55 entered in a rally, or an Austin Westminster doing private testing in the French Alps. Hard to believe, but there are photos. On 6th October 1955, Chambers wrote a memo to Thornley, headed, “In Desperation”, and it reads in part, “We are in desperate need of a first class rally car in the Normal Series Production Class…”, In other words, more power, more handling. The pressure to win was getting stronger, not just “see how it goes”.     

Normal cars, slightly modified, were the heart of all sales volumes. The public identified with, and bought, cars which they recognised. Britain had not had a win in the Monte since 1956, when Jaguar took the honours, with Sunbeam, and Standard close behind. The dominant opposition was Citroen, Mercedes and Porsche. Only 16 years after WWII, there was also a touch of nationalism, thus adding some needle to the British motor industry. The pressure was coming on: the drivers and co-drivers, the support team, and the stable all had to improve. Further, the stable should be reduced to winners only. More and more, Overall wins were sought, with Class wins only acceptable by circumstance. The mood was changing, and the heat was being turned up. The days when admonishments over the absence of eg. Wolseley from a campaign line-up were disappearing, while a sense of mission was ramping up.    

Following the mud and gravel of the RAC, the Monte began the rallying year in snowbound winter. Reliability was a very strong asset. Match results from these to results from the fast Tulip, and BMC had the basis of a sales campaign, hopefully backed up by results in the summertime Alpine, and the Liege-Rome-Liege rallies, this latter a real car-breaker. In 1957, the Competition Dept.  Annual Report recommended that these 5 rallies were the events to focus on, because they earned the greatest international media attention. Without doubt, George Harriman saw the link between motorsport successes and sales.

Since 1959, BMC had rallied the 850 with indifferent results, but not until the Cooper 997 arrived in 1961 did results start to come. So what gave the Cooper 997 this new edge?

Since 1959, John Cooper, and many car clubs, had seen the handling (read racing) potential of Issigonis’ front-wheel-drive Mini, and wondered how much better it could be made. With Managing Director George Harriman’s help, he got the factory to send him one which he played around with. 

Prior to the advent of the Cooper, John Cooper had been racing and building racing cars, so successfully that he won the 1959 and 1960 World Constructor’s title. He then decided to opt for Formula Junior competition, using A series motors. He took the crank for the 1100 which was coming out shortly after, and put it into a block which came in just under the 1000cc limit for FJ racing. 

He added a 2nd SU, a different cylinder head (12G202) with bigger ports and modified chambers, bigger valves with double valve-springs, a different camshaft (the famous 88G229), higher compression, a 3-into-1 exhaust manifold, a different gearshift and different gear ratios, disc brakes, and a few interior mods. In essence, John Cooper had designed for the 997 a 1961 torquey racing engine. 

John Cooper took it back to Longbridge, and drove George Harriman around the grounds. Harriman was delighted, but reminded Cooper that they needed to sell 1000 for homologation. They sold 150,000.

By late 1961, Chambers had had enough of the pressure, and gave notice, but suggested to Thornley that he ring someone who had had some good wins as a co-driver, had some brains, and was a reporter on Motoring News: Stuart Turner, next Competitions Manager, 1962.

Turner was to develop a fearsome reputation as a rally campaign planner. The big Austin Healey and the Cooper had emerged from the stable as potential outright winners, and so Turner axed the rest of the stable. With fewer drivers needed, Turner also dropped the part-time Gentlemen drivers, because he needed faster drivers, who also could spend time recceing. Professionalism was coming.

So now, building on the changing mood, BMC was acquiring better handling, faster cars, and faster drivers. In 1962, Pat Moss, in 737ABL, had won the Tulip in May, and the Geneva in September. In October, she came 3rd overall in the BadenBaden. Then Ford offered her much more money, which she couldn’t refuse. And that is how some vacancies opened up at BMC. Look who came along.

Paddy Hopkirk, currently with Rootes, wrote asking for a chance to drive the big Healeys, and got a Cooper 997 instead.

Turner had spotted Rauno Aaltonen at the 1961 Polish Rally, putting up very quick times on gravel, and he signed Aaltonen before anyone else did. Turner gave him a 997 for the 1962 Monte, which Aaltonen got up to 3rd, before crashing out. Then, in November, Rauno Aaltonen, in 977ARX, got 3rd in the RAC. 

Because Turner co-drove with Erik Carlsson for the 1960 RAC in a Saab, Turner knew that for some reason, Scandinavian drivers were fast. One day, Turner was visited by the Morris franchiser from Helsinki, enquiring whether Turner could find a car for a young Finn who was “rather quick”, and who might do reasonably well on the 1962 RAC. This young guy was told sternly to get the feel of the car, and not to bend it. His name was Timo Makinen; he got his 997 up to 7th overall, and won his Class.

The Cooper 997 had been already getting some good results, the talent had arrived, the engineering skills were second to none, but most importantly, the killer instinct had developed. BMC was stunned to realise that instead of hoping for Class wins, they were now contemplating Overall wins. The scene was set.

RESULTS 1963

• 288 with Rauno Aaltonen and Tony Ambrose in 977 ARX came in 3rd overall; 1st in Class
• 66 with Paddy Hopkirk and Jack Scott in 407 ARX came in 6th overall; 2nd in Class
• 58 with Pauline Mayman and Val Domleo in 737 ABL came in 28th overall; 4th in Class

The Mini had arrived, and this was a foretaste of the shock about to be unleashed on the world of motorsport.

Chris McMurray

​by Gary Ashton. Photos by Phil Kane

A meeting of old friends.

The alarm goes off at 4:15am on a Sunday morning. Bugger!!! We crawled out of bed and got ourselves organised and we were on the road by 4:55am. 

Had a good run into town, hardly anybody on the motorway. We are the first to arrive at Fred Ambler Lookout. Before too long there are 8 other groups from the club ready for the dawn breaker. 

Awaiting the start we chatted with old friends and new, while the container terminal below was a buzz of activity. We were set off with instructions a couple of minutes apart. 

We went along the waterfront through Glendowie and Tamaki, Pakuranga and headed to Whitford, Maraetai, Clevedon, up Ormiston Road and into East Tamaki for breakfast. I know most of these roads so it was like meeting old friends. 

A fabulous couple of hours on some brilliant roads with great people. 
Thanks Murray and Shirley for organising the run.​

For those that missed it, come along next year.

​Just before Christmas a bunch of club members and their Minis went to see the Christmas lights in Northpark. Local photographer Lee Jacques was there, and had the photos published in the Howick and Pakuranga Times. 

Here's what Lee had to say in the Times: 

"Not only did the Christmas lights at Uldale Place, Northpark, bring smiles to all the kids, but those of us of the older generation smiled even wider as we watched the Auckland Mini Club swing by for a visit and show off their classic cars under the Christmas lights, What also made it special for the kids was the appearance of a special cuddly bear. This bear has been to Invercargill and back to Auckland in the great Pork Pie run."

Lee has generously supplied the photos to us to use in Mini Torque and on the website. He also says he's looking forward to seeing all the Minis again at the Brit and Euro show in Pakuranga. 

​by Kevin Taylor.

The Maungaturoto Primary School sent out an invite to all car clubs to ask them to take part in their Annual Car & Bike Show to assist in raising funds for the school.

A small group from MCCoA met early at Smales Farm Takapuna, we had Warwick & Lesley in their JCW MINI Cooper S, Phil Kane in his yellow Mini & KevT in MINTED. Alan & Shelagh in their de Joux had left earlier as they were having starter motor issues and didn't want to stop. 

We set off for the 75min drive north to Brynderwyn where we would meet up with new club members Grant & Nadine Nicholas, along with their daughter in a Mini LE who drove down from Whangarei. We were also meet there by Chris Westlake from Matakohe in his Mini Ute & his friend John in his Clubman GT who had driven up from Te Awamutu earlier. 

From there we convoyed the short distance to Maungaturoto and were directed onto the playing fields of the local primary school. A number of cars were already there and the bouncy castles etc were being set up. The Minis decided to form up together along the edge of the field where we were joined by Dave Cotty who had arrived from Mangawhai in his Cooper, and several more of Chris's Minis that had been driven in by friends.

That were a total of 10 Minis which were well received by the organisers and enjoyed by the locals and other car enthusiasts who had gathered for the event. There was a large variety of cars from hot rods to late model muscle cars, a beautiful replica Austin Healy 3000 with a straight 6 BMW motor, to a very original Model A Coupe with pickup extension stuck on the rear that looked like it had been there all its life, not a polished beauty but a well used and loved working car/pickup. It looked like it might have been the original owner standing alongside.

An interesting sight was a collection of EV's (Electric Vehicles) mainly Teslas & Nissan Leafs (Leaves if there is more than 1?) The Teslas looked impressive up close and had been programmed to put on an entertaining "Dance routine" waving their multijointed automatic Gull wing rear doors in time to the music. I'm not sure how well the white leather upholstery handled the large number of kids and others climbing in and out all day.

There was also a Motorbike show on the paved areas in front of the classrooms as well as the usual food and craft type stalls that you would expect at a School fair.

When the show was over Chris had invited us to drive to his place at Matakohe for refreshments - he has a small 10 acre block on the side of the estuary and had put on a feast of food and drink for us with the help of his family and friends.  We had an enjoyable time relaxing there, I don't think that we made much of an impression on the food that had been laid out for us. Chris wanted us to look at his paddocks with a view to using them for a Mini motorkhana type event sometime in the future.

Time to head for home and enjoy the run down the highway until we got to Warkworth where the usual Sunday traffic congestion was well underway- not to worry, we had had a great day out, met some new members, and got a little sunburnt as well.

Thanks to all the members who took part and to Chris and his helpers for their hospitality.

By Deryck Freeland

Deryck and Warwick attended the last Meguiars' "public" training night held at Smits Auto Refinish Training Centre, East Tamaki.

Demonstration of the 3 step preparation and protection plan using Meguiars' Products by the technical staff member (Miles) followed by a BBQ and refreshments with an opportunity to buy product at a discount later.