My lesson, VL Commodore Budget rental car.
185kph in 4th.
189kph in 3rd.
Aerodynamic speed limiter!

225klm in a RX4

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Stop Licking the Dog...I Don't Care Who Started It

yes, you need to modify the engine a lot to have any use of the 2.76. thats why its so common to fit a 3.2 or 3.44
but the 2.76 is nice with blown engines

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Rover 214 atm ....

Wasn't the 2.76 diff model billed as the "Economy Model"

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

Just about any mini fitted with just abut anything taller than a 3.6 will not see it`s Theoretical/potential top speed,

the good Doc is dead right, even a stock-ish cooper S will have a higher top speed if fitted with a zippy-er diff ratio (pretty well most cases)

3.4:1 final drive has a "theoretical" top speed of about 145mph & they obviously don`t reach that speed in reality do they??? --->No,,, barely able to punch past 103mph (pretty well most cases)
& Reasons are simply wind resistance & just not enough grunt.

Add """PLENTY""" more grunt & you may get somewhere close to the mark.

Make the car more streamlined & you`ll get an even better result

but just adding a taller diff ratio with only make you go backwards,,, well ok, maybe not actually backwards, but you should get my drift, yeah?

Now,,, lets talk a turbo injected mini monaco fast back sprint with over 200hp & more than 5 inches shorter & windscreen raked back a good chunk & de-seam it, etc etc etc & add some skinny wheels/tyres & & & & etc etc etc etc, then i`d say maybe 150mph-ish, but would be one hairy ride

The Mini Marcos GT was claimed to have reached 141mph on the Mulsane straight at Le-Mans way back in the 60s, but it`s a bullet shape isn`t it? & it would also have had some pretty fancy go-fast gear under that fibreglass bonnet too.

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

but what about starlet minis or boosted A-series minis?
surely enough grunt to top out a 3.4?

"Eco"-998cc engines had the 2.95:1 final gear.
The MPI got the 2.76:1 gear mainly because of harder emission-laws, as far as I know.

Cheers,
Jan

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No speakers, no bodykits, no six-inch spacers, no spak filler, no bullshit

Ok, I've been away for a few days so I'll clear up a few things about my Mini...

It's a '77 Clubman, 12" wheels, 8.4" Discs. The engine is an 1100S 1275 offset bored out +.100" with Mazda pistons on lightened and balanced small journal rods. It has a freshly ground and balanced EN40B crank at +.010". The head is a heavily ported 916? (cant remember right now) with double valve springs and oversize valves. It's got a Piper Cross BP285 cam with adjustable double row timing chain. Soon to be on the way are a 123 Dizzy and maybe some 1.5 roller rockers depending on if they are going to work (not sure if they'll give too much lift). Gearbox is freshly rebuilt with with standard gears and ratios, and the diff is a Mini Sport cross pin diff (unaware of ratio, found it in a box of Mini goodies I bought together for a very reasonable price). Carburettion, well I've got the choice of:
Twin 1.5" SU's,
DHLA40 Dellorto
Single HIF44
45mm Weber
All are on nicely flowed manifolds. Also there should be a Mini SPares adjustable suspension kit finding it's way here very soon hopefully...

I haven't had it dyno'd yet, so I couldn't give you any figures, hopefully later this year I'll put it over a dyno and see what I get. All up, she's probably only got ~2000kms on the engine so far.

The "starting" point of racing for street cars is around the 125mph mark. I'd like to be able to get that, I'd love to be able to get more....

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-Wasabi
1972 Clubman - Daily Driver
1962 850 - EW1 Powered

What size tyres have you got?

If you 165/60R12, with a 3.44 diff then if you say rev limit to 6500rpm in top gear then theoretically 179kph or 111mph. Not quite enough.

With the same size tyres, but with a 3.2 diff (which are hard to find here in Aus, but I know one one that was available on Monday, unsure of price.) With an rpm limit of 6800rpm you make right on 125mph or 201kph. That's purey theoretical, and that's a big number for a mini. A real big number.

Although still quite possible. But not easy.

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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

My tyres are Yokohama A539 165/60/12.. I'm not sure what the redline is, but it seems a lot higher than 6.5k rpm. More along the line of 8k-8.5k. But this is yet to be proven with a dyno run to see where the power is dropping off. I've currently got a little shift light set up for about 6.5k because I dont know the real redline (playing it safe), but when it hits there, it's still pulling like a teenager with a Playboy...

Might be time to find a sportier shell.. This one gunna be turfed soon anyway, might have a play with a roof chop and windscreen rake

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-Wasabi
1972 Clubman - Daily Driver
1962 850 - EW1 Powered

Well if your motor does rev like crazy, providing it's got the power to make it to those revs in top gear. It should be quite good.

8000 rpm with a 3.2 diff would make you 237kph, or 147mph, I don't that's possible in a standard mini shell without tons of power. With a 3.4 diff 8000rpm is 220kph or 137mph in top gear Which is getting more realistic, but still very big numbers for a mini.

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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

DRiving mini's fast. Its great

Only things that would concern me.....

Tyre speed/temp rating.?? Those dry lakes can really cut up a tyre.

Gearbox/Driveline strengh.

Those guys doing big speeds in race conditions generally have straight cut boxes, and sometimes even wider gears from the clutch down to the box, long run-up should take a fair bit of the initial strain off , but at some point when it's just constant engine torque vs wind resistance, at those kinda speeds and hi revs, there could be the danger of something in the drive line failing.

Sounds like a great day out though, I reckon just leave her as she is and rev the ring out of it. (within reason )

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It's been 19Yrs in the Making.....Last Rego sticker 6/89

But SOON, VERY SOON

And don't forget to clean all the salt off the car afterwards.....

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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'd like to see 120mph from a mini, as its what the GT speedo goes up to.

The salt shouldn't be a problem as I'm planning to re-shell Alley, I'm figuring a top speed run on the salt flat could be a fitting end to a shell that I've spent the last 9 years with Maybe when I'm done with the shell, if I have fun on the flat, might have a go at chopping it up, try and rake the windscreen, a Clubman Monaco

Would the drag be very different between a roundie and a clubby?? (I hope this doesn't start another Clubby Vs Roundie war )

As for straight cut gears, I'd love to get some. I think they sound awesome, but I still drive this on the street a fair bit, and I dont know how the SC gears go with town work. I've heard it takes a bit of a "Knack" to use them.. Anyone wanna confirm, disprove this??

This is sounding like more and more fun by the minute

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-Wasabi
1972 Clubman - Daily Driver
1962 850 - EW1 Powered