A Mini of 1964 reaches 250 km/h at Bonneville

No customer of Mini in 1964 could have imagined that one of that year’s Mini Cooper 970S would one day, in a distant future, the year 2012, run at 250 km/h. The years have passed and today the early-generation Mini models are already classics. They have also been converted to uses never imagined by Sir Alec Issigonis, some even converted to use motorcycle engines.

And speaking of engines, the 970 cc engine of the Mini of that era has served perfectly to set this speed record on the salt flats of Bonneville, where year after year vehicles of all kinds try to beat existing speed records.

The Mini competed in the category for vehicles with engines of 1 litre or less, setting the record after several runs in both directions and averaging a top speed of 251 km/h. At that speed, the New Zealand team that took the car to the USA has commented that the Mini is almost impossible to drive, mainly because they tried to keep the car’s original shape as much as possible, which is not aerodynamic by any means. Sir Issigonis did not design it for 250, but for 120 km/h or perhaps less.

I would have liked to know what preparation the engine has or at least see some photos of it, but that won’t be possible since Mini Motorsport has not released any technical details about the car. A real shame.

Via | Mini Motorsport

Technical specifications of this car

HatchbackMINI Mini33 versions · from 28,050 €