MINI MATTERS
MINI MATTERS
The new ADO5o Cooper-Minis have got off to a -convincing start. At MontlItery Track one of the early production versions was run for ‘,or° miles at an average speed of 84.27 m.p.h., driven by B.M.C.’s Chief Experimental Engineer, G. Jones, and carrying three members of the Experimental Department, who remained inside the roomy body during refuelling stops. Then, at the time of the Frankfurt Show, Graham Hill 3nd Ian Burgess averaged 72.7 m.p.h. for the 297 miles from Hamburg to Frankfurt in the actual Austin-Cooper of which a road-test report was published in MoToR SPota last month, and the girls, ‘Fish Ozanne and Ann Clayton, got front Aachen to Frankfurt in fog and rain at an average speed of 69.2 m.p.h. in a Morris-Cooper Mini. Incidentally, although outwardly the tyres fitted to Cooper-Minis give nothing away, they are actually nylon Dunlop ” Gold Seals,” Special to these fast mini-cars. The Editor is still using a normal Pirelli-shod Mini-Morris with considerable satisfaction.
LUCAS DEVELOPMENTS
The great electrical equipment firm of Joseph Lucas is keeping abreast of the times. Apart from their four-headlamp systems (illustrated elsewhere) they have electronic ignition, new wiper motors, and mechanism, the 6W screen-washer, 4GM Window lift motor, and the new 911 windtone horns, etc. ,
Two other developments are of importance. The first is a means of reducing the glare of direction flashers at night in relation to their daylight intensity. I thought I had met this, in a Fiat if I remember correctly, some years ago, but it turned out to be merely a means of reducing the dazzle from the warning light within the car. Now Lucas have applied themselves to relieving drivers of following ears from dazzle at night by those signalling in front. The other development is an -alternator more efficient than a dynamo, an innovation which Chrysler introduced on the Valiant, although even on that car I have already had a flat battery. But with the demands the modern car makes on the battery, these battery alternators are bound to become general.—W. 13.