The World's Fastest Mini

Hot on the heels of the cinematic portrayal of Burt Munro's exploits on his much-modified Indian Scout motorcycle comes this story; the Herald reports:

Following in the footsteps of legendary New Zealander Burt Munro, a team of Kiwis have smashed a world speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and confirmed their car as "the world's fastest Mini''.

They were told they didn't have a hope of even passing the tech inspection - let alone breaking the record - but their do-it-yourself attitude saw their 1964 Mini Cooper S reach an average speed of 235.9km/h.

"We had people telling us that a short car at that sort of speed would spin and all those sorts of things, but it just went beautifully - tracked down the line and had a huge amount of power,'' said Project'64 spokesman Mike Wilson.

To confirm them as the world record-holders, the Mini had to complete the feat twice. They recorded 229km/h on their first run a week ago, and 243km/h on their second on Saturday (NZT).

The previous world land speed record for a production car under 1000cc is 205km/h and the fastest time (unofficially) recorded by a mini was 196km/h.

This is a fantastic achievement from Project '64. And by taking an aging if much-modified Mini up to Bonneville, they have taken inspiration from Burt Munro; read on:

"One of the famous things that Burt Munro said was that anyone can go out and buy a new bike and go fast, but it's much more interesting and much more of a challenge to take something old and go fast, so that's why we used a 48-year-old Mini,'' said Mr Wilson, the team's photographer.

In 1962, at the age of 63, Mr Munro famously set off for Bonneville with the Indian Scout motorcycle he'd bought in 1920, immortalised in the film The World's Fastest Indian. His 1967 speed of 295km/h still stands today as the world speed record for under 1000cc motorbikes with a streamliner.

"Burt Munro was a definite inspiration and a lot of decisions about the car were based on that as well,'' Mr Wilson said.

"Everyone was very resourceful and I guess it's that typical Kiwi thing of not letting anything stop us. As far as we know this is now the world's fastest Mini''

Once again Kiwi ingenuity has triumphed in the land where cars have eight cylinders, and cubic inches reign. Well done Project '64!

Footnote: The Herald will, of course, have converted the speed figures back to km/h. At Bonneville Speed Week, speeds are recorded in miles per hour, the stock-in-trade of American motorsports. But according to this online converter, 243km/m equates to 150.99 miles per hour; and incredible speed for a less-than-1000cc motor.