Motoring
| Date | 01 June 1964 |
| Author | John Gott |
| Published date | 01 June 1964 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X6403700610 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
JOHN
GOTT,
M.B.E.,
G.M.,
B.A.
Chief Constable
of
Northamptonshire
Our Motoring Correspondent considers the merits
of
a
genuine"
Q"
car and gives the latest information about the British Police Effort in
the Ninth International Police Rally,
Drivers of the same type of car have often bought it for widely
differing reasons. Mr. Marples is the owner
of
a
Cooper"
S "
because he apparently considers it an extremely safe vehicle
ideally suited for driving in London. Ibought aCooper .. S ",
without first even having tried one, because I felt, on its specification,
not only should it be capable of high average speeds, with complete
reliability and good petrol consumption, but also be enormous
fun to drive.
After a year's ownership of
an"
S
",
in which I have now done over
16,000 miles, I am convinced that the car more than meets all these
varied requirements.
The general lay-out and specification of Alec Isigonis's remarkable
Minis are too well-known to need elaboration, and I had
of
course
driven a great many versions in either standard or tuned form.
None really satisfied me. The standard ones seemed to lack perfor-
mance and the tuned ones were very noisy and too often the brakes
didn't match the admittedly startling performance.
The ..
S"
type was a far more rational approach.
For
£695
(£126 more than a standard Mini-Cooper), I got a car which to the
uninitiated looked just like any other Mini, yet which had a very
different mechanical specification.
The"
over-square"
1071
engine
of
70.6 m.m. X68.26 m.m. largely developed from the formula
Junior racing engines, gave a net 67 b.h.p., or 12 more b.h.p. than
the standard Mini-Cooper, but the brakes were an even bigger
improvement. The rear drums were unaltered, but the front discs
were increased in both size and thickness and the system fitted with
a servo. The result, in a car weighing around 13 ClVt., was fade-free
braking figures superior to those returned by almost any other car
on the road, yet produced by minimum pedal pressure.
Mini road-holding is, or course, legendary and wellable safely to
handle the extra performance of the bigger engine,
but
to cope with
the increased power, ..
S"
types have wide
4!
in wheels, usually
fitted with Dunlop S.P. tyres, which increases the track by an inch.
287 June 1964
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