I went for a run yesterday with some friends (me in the S and an accompanying 360 Spider and SL500). The road we were on is a well-known one from Hexham to the Hartside pass - on the border between Northumberland and Cumbria.

The road is plagued by maniacs on bikes when the weather is good and once on to the interesting section of the road, we had the tell-tale scream of bikes behind us - or so we thought.

A beautiful '67 Cooper S came past the group of three cars I was in as if we were parked - it was like a missile - with a big bike behind it trying to catch-up. The sound of it (as well as the speed...) was not that of a tuned A-Series...

At the Hartside pass café, the driver was just exiting the Mini as we arrived and it turned-out to be a friend of a friend. Even Mrs P was awe-struck at the speed this thing was pulling, so without much persuading he popped the bonnet to show a nice and shiny CTR engine and transmission (with LSD).

The car was absolutely immaculate - beautifully engineered and painted in period mid-grey with a lighter roof. It had all the period tweaks; roll-cage, four-point harnesses, twin tanks, Cooper S 'fleur-de-lys-type' embossed upholstery - the only non-period external clue as to what was concealed within were Rover Mini Cooper wheel arches to accommodate the increased width of the drive-train and wheels.

My friend's brother has been in this Mini (he's an ex-bike racer) and said the performance was simply outrageous.

Quite an appealing Q-car package... and no Road Tax either!

 

I'm sure there was a similar example for sale on Pistonheads recenly...

Ah yes, here we go...

Was it like this one? http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2471557.htm

 

No; the one I saw was front-engined.

 

It's not an unpopular conversion; as was the B16 before it.

Amazing it will fit - Minis are tiny.

 

A friend of mine at work is mad about his minis and has had all sorts in them. He's doing a CTR powered one at the moment

 

There are a number of videos on YouTube showing these crazy Mini's. They look ridiculously quick. One of the videos you can hear it spinning the wheels in first, second and third.
Wouldn't fancy having to spend over £16k to buy one though!!

 

it would surely be worth it to 'humble' supercars and 'bait' performance machinery though?

that's what EVO might say

I don't really like classics with modern running gear, however impressive the package

 

Awesome!!

 

Anyone heard of one with a F20C? Honda engines are compact, but mini?

 

I used to love my old BRG Mini Cooper (allbeit the one with the rubbish SPI engine). IIRC the Clubman was a more popular choice for engine conversion as there was a little more room in the engine bay.