Mini grasstracker

PaulTRose

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bear with me...there's a bit of a story with this one

a long long time a go, at a race track far far away.........

actually it was in the late 1980s at Amen Corner race track near Rufford Park....it's now a go kart track but back then it was a grass track circuit

so both my older brothers decide to have a go at grass tracking......one went the route of single seater space frame chassis with ever increasing powerful engines......the other went the cheap and cheerful Class 1 route

Class 1 was front wheel drive max 1100cc engine......in other words a Mini

in 1986 Neil acquired a Mini Clubman that was going to fail its MOT. it was a genuine little old ladies car.......the old lady in question had bought it new in the mid 70s, it hardly ever left the village where we lived, the local garage did all the servicing etc, when she gave up driving a guy bought it to learn to drive in.....again it never went far beyond the village boundaries even though he failed his driving test 10 times!...he gave up and by now the body shell was getting to the point where it was never going to get through the MOT without serious welding........and that's when Neil got it.......it was about 13 years old and hadn't even done 25k miles!

we stripped it out, added all the usual racing gubbins like roll cage and harness etc, did plenty of welding/strengthening and he went racing................was Nottingham Class 1 champion 2 years on the trot

by the end of the second season the shell was totally knackered.....so he acquired a standard MIni with a seized engine.....plan was to swop the engine with the one from the Clubman which was still running well....not as easy as it sounds as the Clubman engine/transmission is 3 inches wider and about 9 inches longer but with indiscriminate use of a Number 1 Adjuster it all fitted

so he went racing again...............half way through the season he ended up rolling it end over end 3 times.........concussion and broke his wrist in two places, car completely trashed.

so since i got back into this modelling lark he asked if i could do a replica of his Clubman......thing is no one does a Clubman kit in 1/24 so he's going to have to settle for the standard Mini .....and it's got an easier paint job too lol :smiling3:

so this should be an interesting one as I'm going to build a replica of a car i helped build for real 26 years ago!!...not sure how accurate it will be in the end

the date on the back of the pic is 4th of April 1988 and this is its first outing of the season cos its nice and clean

this was it a few hours later......must have been muddy that day lol

going to be using the classic Tamiya Monte Carlo Mini kit as it has noggly tyres

not going to bother with sprue shots since we all know what's in the box and I'm not going to using most of it anyway!! :P
 
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Polux

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Wow! Lovely story ;)

My best wishes, will be an interesting build that I will follow with interest :smiling3:
 
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Jason
Nice idea Paul. Gonna require a few body mods, can't wait to see how you tackle it.

Jason
 

yak face

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Great Idea Paul , its always good to see a personal connection with a model . Cant wait to see the butchery begin!! cheers tony
 

john i am

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Great idea I will be watching with interest will you be doing the nice clean version or the dirty one :smiling3:
 

PaulTRose

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\ said:
can't wait to see how you tackle it.Jason
that makes two of us then cos at the minute i have no idea :eek:

\ said:
Great idea I will be watching with interest will you be doing the nice clean version or the dirty one :smiling3:
its going to be the clean one, i have a little display box from a diecast car that its going to go in, planning on sticking that photo in the back of the box
 

colin m

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What about building it after the crash. That'll surprise your brother.
 
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\ said:
bear with me...there's a bit of a story with this onea long long time a go, at a race track far far away.........

actually it was in the late 1980s at Amen Corner race track near Rufford Park....it's now a go kart track but back then it was a grass track circuit

so both my older brothers decide to have a go at grass tracking......one went the route of single seater space frame chassis with ever increasing powerful engines......the other went the cheap and cheerful Class 1 route

Class 1 was front wheel drive max 1100cc engine......in other words a Mini

in 1986 Neil acquired a Mini Clubman that was going to fail its MOT. it was a genuine little old ladies car.......the old lady in question had bought it new in the mid 70s, it hardly ever left the village where we lived, the local garage did all the servicing etc, when she gave up driving a guy bought it to learn to drive in.....again it never went far beyond the village boundaries even though he failed his driving test 10 times!...he gave up and by now the body shell was getting to the point where it was never going to get through the MOT without serious welding........and that's when Neil got it.......it was about 13 years old and hadn't even done 25k miles!

we stripped it out, added all the usual racing gubbins like roll cage and harness etc, did plenty of welding/strengthening and he went racing................was Nottingham Class 1 champion 2 years on the trot

by the end of the second season the shell was totally knackered.....so he acquired a standard MIni with a seized engine.....plan was to swop the engine with the one from the Clubman which was still running well....not as easy as it sounds as the Clubman engine/transmission is 3 inches wider and about 9 inches longer but with indiscriminate use of a Number 1 Adjuster it all fitted

so he went racing again...............half way through the season he ended up rolling it end over end 3 times.........concussion and broke his wrist in two places, car completely trashed.

so since i got back into this modelling lark he asked if i could do a replica of his Clubman......thing is no one does a Clubman kit in 1/24 so he's going to have to settle for the standard Mini .....and it's got an easier paint job too lol :smiling3:

so this should be an interesting one as I'm going to build a replica of a car i helped build for real 26 years ago!!...not sure how accurate it will be in the end

the date on the back of the pic is 4th of April 1988 and this is its first outing of the season cos its nice and clean

this was it a few hours later......must have been muddy that day lol

going to be using the classic Tamiya Monte Carlo Mini kit as it has noggly tyres

not going to bother with sprue shots since we all know what's in the box and I'm not going to using most of it anyway!! :P
Great pictures, I did the same in the early 70's using a mini estate. Great fun so looking forward to this build. :smiling3: :smiling3: :smiling3: :smiling3:

Gregg
 

eddiesolo

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Oh, this is going to be something special me thinks. Settles in, coffee, nibbles...make a dirt car Paul!

Si:smiling3:
 

PaulTRose

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heres a sitrep

not had much time this last week due to crappy shifts at work

got the shell door cut down and bits like the headlamps covered over

if you are wondering what the hole in the lh headlamp is for, we used a bit of heater duct to funnel air into the engine compartment, dont know if it ever worked but it certainly didnt hurt lol

as the Tamiya kit has a rear seat which of course isnt going to be used i had to fabricate some kind of rear bulkhead

then ive fabbed up the roll cage.....ive had to improvise with what ive got as the cage that come with the kit just isnt right. theres supposed to be some bits coming forward and down the A pillars but what i did knock up just didnt look right so im going to leave them out

im pretty sure we stripped out the clocks and then covered over with aluminium sheet, so ive done the same with plasticard

at least you can see the rough idea of what im trying to achieve

looking forward to finishing the bodging and getting it put together
 

PaulTRose

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finally got to the point where i can start glueing bit together

made a harness from some 3mm ribbon.....the turnbuckle is actually one of the fuel filler caps on backwards lol

might not see much for another week or so as im getting ready to spray up the shell.....got to plan how im going to mask up the union jack on the roof

View attachment 101903


View attachment 101904


211jxis.jpg

2r5c75u.jpg
 
V

V1P3R

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Looking forward to seeing finished result! Coming on nicely!

Sent from me to you
 

eddiesolo

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Bit of a revival, but did you ever finish this Paul?


Si:smiling3:
 

PaulTRose

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\ said:
Bit of a revival, but did you ever finish this Paul?
Si:smiling3:
nope......the roof and body got sprayed 5 times, went wrong each time and had to strip it each time....my fault but now ive got a new airbrush i am going to have another go once i get space in my build calender lol lol
 

PaulTRose

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well......i havnt forgotton this one


8 times ive now tried spraying it and 8 times i have failed for one reason or another.....just can not get it right :mad:


that was the reason it went on the Shelf of Doom, just got frustrated with it....and now ive had another 3 gos and fails ive come to the conclusion that i have bitten off more than i can chew, paint job wise, its not just the union jack roof which is proving rediculously hard but the body shell too keeps going wrong


so its back in the stripper once again!.........and im going to finish this as just a generic racer with a simple paint job


good job i never told my brother i was trying to build this for him, he will be non the wiser ;)


so expect some pics soon when i have yet another go at something simple
 

papa 695

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How are you doing it Paul ( without trying to sound too condisending ) it look like a fairly easy paint job, spray the body work white mask off the white part then spray the red front and blue back, same with the roof but mask off each colour after painting. It would be such a pity seems it's a suprise for your Brother.
 

PaulTRose

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\ said:
How are you doing it Paul ( without trying to sound too condisending ) it look like a fairly easy paint job, spray the body work white mask off the white part then spray the red front and blue back, same with the roof but mask off each colour after painting. It would be such a pity seems it's a suprise for your Brother.
you would think it would be easy, wouldnt you.............8 times ive tried and failed.....always something going wrong


and dont forget that roof is less than 3 inch by 2 inch.....and ive got fat finger syndrome :P


ive done far more intricate masking jobs than this and got them to work


im just bored with trying and failing...need to move on
 
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