So every once in a while I check out howstuffworks.com and today when i went there this article came up on the front page of the auto section!
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/mini-cooper.htm

Its a really cool article about the history of the Mini and how it evolved to the car we all love and adore

 

Great find!
Of course, this contributed 30 minutes of unproductibity to my day

 

Very nice find

 

Is this a 'spot the error' competition ?

The original Cooper S was NOT turbocharged

an 'F' Registration Mini (DWL 293F) is ~ 1968 NOT 1961


Still reading......

 

The S had an extra head bolt, nut a turbocharger.

 

Also, the 1st Gen S was supercharged.

They say the supercharger didn't come until the JCW package.

BEEEG wrong.

 

I thought we were talking about the original Austin Mini Cooper (you know, the thing that's about half the size of a MINI)?

 

Interesting article but not very accurate. The original mini's were produced under 4 different name plates, Riley, Woolsly, Morris and Austin. Usually the only way you could tell the difference was (1) the grill, (2) the name plate and (3) the air cleaner.
The "S" models were neither super charged or turbo charged but normally aspirated with minor changes to engine internals and a different crank damper which had a tendancy to loosen and take out the radiator. Also the "S" had twin SU 1 1/2 or 1 1/4 inch carbs ( I can't remember exactly )
I purchased a new 1275 cc "S" in 1965 and raced the thing in Germany. During that time I also worked in a speed shop in Ramstein Germany ( regular job was USAF) where we specialized in mini performance engines. By then special cams, 5 spd transmissions, headers, diff gears, cams, pistons, valves, etc were avaliable . One of the hot modifications of the day was to buy a matched set of valves or push-rods, pistons, rods. Since it was not permitted to use modified parts in many classes there was a healthy market for sets of parts such as pistons that were in fact competely stock but had been sorted.

That is a supplier would purchase a large number of pistons and then sort them by weight for matched sets all weighing the same. Obviously the lighter sets were more valuable.

If you knew the proper people, you could get a complete set of valve train parts that were light and balanced.

Another difference in the "S" model was the extended gear shift housing which converted the shift lever from a long curvy stick coming out of the bottom of the firewall at the floor to a short stick about 1 foot long sticking straight up out of the floor between the seats. The was very helpful in performance driving but did nothing to correct the "hole" in the 2-3 shift, which if you fell into the hole it was very difficult to get out of and ruined you lap time for sure. Brakes and wheels were different also.

Tires of the day included Dunlop Green Spots for dry weather and Yellow SPots for wet 10" please. One of the notable people who owned and raced mini's other than Paddy Hopkirk was Baron Von Ricktoven who was the grandson of THE Red Baron of WWI fame. He was a great guy.

 

Great info, ozarkroots . . . I especially enjoyed the info on the practice by suppliers of sorting by weight.