so theres no better way to spend your money then

and none that would only cost around 50 G's.

Hmm, interesting topic. Probably true, but it depends on "fast". If I wanted a fast car, I'd buy an Evo, or some type of Subaru or Honda. But clearly none are minis and I bought into minis for different reasons other than speed.

However, from a standard engine, almost anything you do to the motor will make it faster - I picked up an LCB for NZ$45 and have a couple of sets of twin carbs to rebuild and drop on. A bit of a head skim and look - it's going faster. A 15bhp increase in a Mini will seem like a lot compared to 15bhp in a Honda.

Is it ever going to beat a Honda or other modern japanese car? No, not without a lot of money and it would be pretty pointless as their motors have inherent advantages, namely the benefit of nearly 50 years of motor development over the A series. As far as dropping a hyabusa or blackbird motor in - it's hardly a mini, is it?

So it all depends on your definition of "cheap", "fast" and "mini"

well put angusdog
i think it would be interesting to see what it would cost to build up a 1275 with say an elder 8-port head, or even an arden with ijection to the same specs power/torque wise as a more modern jap engine(1300ccish) and then compare the cost of the a-series vs a jap crate engine.
also remember the mini WAS a cheep car, comparing a mini with a new daewoo, or dihatsu or suzuki, the mini starts to look pretty good, it was not made to compete with sports cars the equivelent evo's or subi's(cortina gt/lotus, or lotus elan) the performance part came with time, just like id did with the swift gti, starlet turbo ad charade gtti(oh yea )
Alec had NO INTEREST in motorsport, he wanted the mini to have a flat 2 of some description, its only because of retentive accountants that we even got the a-series!
i doubt that there are many modern cars in the price bracket that the mini was introduced into that would compete arround a track, or on a winding road, with a 998 mini(850 may struggle)
50 years is a long, long time in engine development.
perspective is important is, i guess what im saying.

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speed costs....how fast do you want to go...

my sisters morris 850 gives my 1275 a fair run on a dirt road, probly due to tire choice and suspension etc.
and henry draper runs a morris 850/988 (not sure) standard suspension and light engine work and comes sixth outright at the targa tasmania....... thats pretty good.
as a car not purpose built for motor sports, it holds its own nich for millions of people around the world..... how many other cars have owners that name their cars.
this could've been slightly left field, but i just wanted to say why i have a mini.
i have one because it feel's second nature when i drive it. the perfect size and just enough HP to have fun with.

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real men race downhill - keiichi tsuchiya

Yeah this is true. I mean it would be great to be able to dish out huge humiliation to larger, more powerful car owners of today as the mini did in 66 at bathurst. But really isn't easily possible. Although mini's tend to come out with average mid-field results in national historic racing, which to me is still a great feat when takingon GT falcons and the like.

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1964 Morris 850, 1330 Supercharged - 81.8hp atws.
1975 Leyland Mini S 1100S powered - Nice and reliable.
1977 Leyland Mini LS - Project LS-T

i didnt mean to be-little the mini, im just saying it started out as a cheep car, then became a giant killing monster the point is that we all love em, enjoy them, and from time to time (or mor often) drive the wheels off them!

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speed costs....how fast do you want to go...

i wont stop modifying until i can waste a bini S

they just upped the anti with bini mk2!

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speed costs....how fast do you want to go...

i thought brad did the 13.8 on 133hp atw.

Con from memory in his GTi Turbo mini did 12.7 on around 180hp atw.

oh yeah, i had a roll on drag from second gear with an 02 rexy a while ago. he was shocked when i got a car length on him before i hit fourth. even pulled up at the lights windows down asking what the hell was in my car. his face was funny when i told him a 1.3 litre. he he. then he smoked me off the lights. damn AWD.

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Torque Steer is a very evil thing. Fun..... but evil.

West Aussie Mini Boys Represent...!!!

the wrx is slow to get on boost isnt it? especially the aussie ones which are detuned because of our crap fuel?

i remember reading a roadtest where the guy was trying to beat an oldschool colt where the lanes merged and he had to let the colt in front of him

Thats horse hockies. The WRX that are slow on boost are autos. There is no excuse for a manual WRX to be off boost.

Drive one and tell me you get a na 4 pot to beat it.
Heres your opinion coming out the back of a horse now.

so you're an expert on wrx's then? i never said i was, just i read a roadtest one time saying they had major lag because they had been detuned for aussie roads.
heres your face coming out of the back of a horse now

Like any turbo the wrx if not up on boost is about as quick as grannies VW actually grans VW is probably a bit quicker untill the turbo gets up and spinning

Jon

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Roundies and Clubbies(except vans) are both ugly that is why I have Midas and a van
1293 Mini Midas Bronze,1275 Clubman van

Jap power is all about boost. To even have an attempt at keeping up high boost really is the only way. I was wondering, for an a-series what would be a good boost level (in psi) to not need too much work done to enging and head. I'm talking about doing for a 1275.

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1964 Morris 850, 1330 Supercharged - 81.8hp atws.
1975 Leyland Mini S 1100S powered - Nice and reliable.
1977 Leyland Mini LS - Project LS-T