Legendary Racing Careers Started at Wheel of a Mini
The Mini was however highly successful not only in rally racing, but also on road circuits, bringing home numerous wins in the 1960s. Indeed, through its long list of successes in motorsport, the Mini became the most outstanding racing car of the entire decade.
A particularly interesting point is that many spectacular racing careers started at the wheel of a Mini, a certain racing driver from Austria called Nikolaus Andreas Lauda entering his first hill-climb race at the wheel of a classic Mini near the Austrian town of Linz in April 1968, and immediately finishing second. Only two weeks later Lauda again confirmed his talent when scoring his first racing victory in a career which would take him on to three Formula 1 World Championships. And just like Niki Lauda, Formula 1 Champions Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees, Jochen Rindt, and James Hunt all gained their first racing experience in a classic Mini.

Niki Lauda
One of the few Formula One racers who bought their way into the sport, Nicholas Andreas Lauda was born in 1949 in Vienna. His father was a paper manufacturer who had managed to amass a fortune for his family – a fortune which Nicholas never saw. His family shunned his desire to be a racing driver and refused to support him in an effort to bring him to his senses. But Niki was strong-willed. He skipped university and borrowed money from various Austrian banks in order to get himself in the races. He started his career in 1968 in a Mini and before long was attempting to race Formula Vee and Formula Three.
http://www.autoracing.com/formula-1/drivers/niki-lauda/

Niki Lauda's race Mini



James Hunt's race Mini

 

Rush - James Hunt Mini - Mk1 lookalike reg KLE 767D in movie
(The Mini may come up for sale in the UK in near future)

 

Excellent pics!

 

Posts like this..makes me want a Classic

 

Great photos.

 

make me an offer

 

I was disappointed that the movie credits did not mention the owner's of the many valuable cars used in the movie.

Find the Road and Track article / Ron Howard interview if you've not read it. Many of those F1 cars were the REAL DEAL and the current owners allowed many 'horrible things' to be done to their collectables to make the movie more authentic.

Hey .... where did the Mini come from?????

I sat in the theater watching the credits - and the kids sweeping the trash - hoping for an acknowledgement for the ones who'd given much . . .

whoa .... is it Veteran's Day?

 

Up for auction is the Mini from RUSH the movie:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Mini-f...item2c7beba441

 

points to ponder

when I last checked (minutes ago) the bid was around $11,500 US

notes:

if you did not read the fine print this is NOT an original Cooper

it is a 1985 Mayfair modified to look like a 60's Cooper. It DOES have a lot of nice stuff on it but it is not a Cooper (or S) ... it DOES have the movie credits and could be shown that way if that's your thing (the 'classic' from new Italian Job sold for silly money along this line and is now misrepresented in a car museum last I saw ...)

appears to be a solid rebuild and for a US buyer add about $1000 for shipping to a port of entry (mine came thru Jacksonville) {duty???? I dunno}

 

Hello,

Does somebody know the code of color on this Mini?