Historic Race Minis

Racing Mini Coopers

	1971 SCCA Regional Racing Recollections From John Unsbee I had been aware of Mini Coopers from British racing magazines in the 1960s and saw the first ones race at the inaugural Grand Prix of Canada at Mosport in the summer of 1967. There was a gaggle of Mini Coopers along with a lot of other little cars in the sedan support race and up front were two big Mustangs and two Camaros. I was surprised at the reaction of the crowd on the pace lap because they were all cheering and waving their arms. It was just a support race - what was all the excitement about I wondered? Clearly they knew what was coming and I didn’t...
	1966-68 ARRC Champion: Purple People Eater This 1965 Austin Cooper 1257 "S" raced by Richard McDaniel won the American Road Race of Champions* three consecutive years. McDaniel was awarded the prestigious Presidents Cup in 1968.
	1967 Monte Carlo Rallye Winning Mini Cooper Winning the rally gave the car a great deal of credibility and publicity. The 1966 event was the most controversial in the history of the Rally. The first four finishers driving three Mini-Coopers, Timo Mäkinen, Rauno Aaltonen and Paddy Hopkirk, and Roger Clark's 4th-placed Ford Cortina "were excluded for having iodine vapour, single filament bulbs in their standard headlamps instead of double-filament dipping bulbs." [1] This elevated Pauli Toivonen (Citroën ID) into first place overall. The controversy that followed damaged the credibility of the event.