There are race circuits around the world which are legendary; Daytona in the USA, Italy’s Monza and Mallory Park in the UK to name but a few. For Aussie motor sport fans, however, there is no greater arena for man and machine than Mt Panorama at Bathurst, NSW.

While Bathurst’s mountain circuit is known for 30-odd years of Ford Vs Holden (the Australian GM branch down under) V8 conflict, 1966 will forever be sealed in the annals of Australian motorsport history as the year of the Mini - or of the Mk1 Cooper S at least.

"I remember watching the video of it back in the mid-80s and the sight of this big Mini ‘snake’ was just incredible," recalled Peter Everett.

The snake Peter refers to was no less than eight Mk 1 Cooper S Minis running nose to tail around the Bathurst circuit, leading the field and putting an end to the Ford Cortina GT’s domination of the Great Race (Cortina GTs won Bathurst in ‘63, ‘64 and ‘65).

The winning Cooper at Bathurst in ‘66 was driven by Rauno Altonen and Bob Holden, although it was a one-off victory that would eventually become diluted over the years.

For one thing, the Cooper S stormed to victory right around the World (still does!), clocking up innumerable wins never mind a single event at Bathurst. But by 1967, Ford had unleashed its V8 XR GT Falcon and Holden followed in ‘68 with the Chev’ V8 equipped Monaro - beginning the V8 dominance of Australian motorsport which has lasted to this day.

Nonetheless, the Cooper S was just about the fastest car on the roads of Australia for a lengthy time period and there are plenty of Aussie enthusiasts who like to keep the spirit of the car alive.

Unfortunately, Peter couldn’t quite afford a Cooper S in his youth, so he had to be content with a Morris 850, which was actually his first car.

Then, when a family arrived, Peter opted for the obligatory Japanese family car like so many Australians, yet seeing that film of the ‘66 Bathurst event some years later revived the interest in Minis from Peter’s youth.

Spotted hiding in the Classifieds
"I found this Cooper S in a local paper for $5,000", explained the store manager for local hardware giant, WA Salvage.

"It was semi prepared for race use, with a 1275cc worked motor and a stripped interior - all things considered it seemed like a great starting point and a good buy."

Peter admits that when he bought the car he did have a slight interest in going racing himself. Not full on State Championship competition or such, but more in the way of local club competition, sprint days and hill climbs.

Still, attention turned more towards tidying the car up and a restoration based more on cosmetics was performed. In this trim, Peter’s Cooper S actually appeared in Mini World’s ‘All Your Own Work’ section back in 1993.

Inspired, Peter decided to take the next step and have his already worked motor bombed totally off the planet. The bug had bitten and life was about to take an entirely new direction.

Peter had by now become well acquainted with Cono Onofaro, who had already performed numerous little jobs on Peter’s Mk 1 thus far.

Cono runs a business called MiniCraft in Perth, Western Australia and is undoubtedly the best in his business west of the Nullarbor ( the big sandy dry bit that separates Perth from the rest of Australia ... ).

The real job begins
In Cono’s workshop, the Mk 1 was quickly stripped down to a bare shell and ‘skewered’ up on a spit.

Although the Australian climate is somewhat easier on car shells than European conditions, Peter’s Cooper S still needed a fair bit of bodywork.

The front box section required extensive restoration, while the right front A-pillar had to be replaced and new floor pans brought in from the UK. Notice also in the photos that Peter’s Cooper S has the Mk 1 flares which were a factory option for the Aussie Mk 1s. As we shall see further on, Australian Mk 1s received a few other nice options.

The bodywork repairs culminated in that rather attractive Racing Yellow and Midnight Black paintwork, applied locally by Greg Thompson using Glasurit two pack paint.

Incidentally, if you think that the Yellow and Black combination is familiar, you’re right.
"I copied it from the Britax Cooper S that was featured on the May ‘95 front cover of Mini World magazine!" said Peter.

And remember the above mentioned Morris 850 that was Peter’s first car ? Well, the number plates from that now adorn the Cooper S.

From topside to underside, where the hydrolastic suspension was replaced with much stiffer componentry. This saw the standard rubber spring set up used along with Aussie made Gabriel gas shockies.The original Cooper S brakes meanwhile, were fully rebuilt front and rear.

The time-bomb conversion factor
When it came to the heart of the matter, there was no way Peter would settle for anything less than the full monty. Yet when Cono pulled the semi race engine apart, it was discovered that Peter had been driving around with a time bomb under the bonnet just waiting to go BANG !

"Cono found that the crank was cracked quite badly and how it had survived for as long as it did nobody knows", concedes Peter.

"After looking at all the options and weighing up the costs, it was decided to start with a new block and crank, although the original block was OK as far as we could tell."

Cono quickly set to work on a block sourced from a ‘69 Morris 1100 S, performing a 20 thou’ re-bore before stroking, wedging, nitriding and balancing the 1100 crank.

Not surprisingly, the engine measurements are anything but standard and with a bore and stroke of 73.406mm (2.890") X 84.328mm (3.320"), the capacity rounds out at 1427cc.

The conrods from the time-bomb engine were checked and found to be fine, so they were re-installed after being shaved by 0.060". Hypatech cast pistons were then skimmed by 0.060" to help achieve a 10.6:1 compression ratio and slotted into the bores.

"The Hypatech pistons are actually from Taiwan," admitted Cono, "but they’re a bloody good piston and I’ve used them in a number of racing engine builds to great effect."

With a bullet-proof bottom end built, it was time to get some heavy breathing happening, so a Mini Sport stage 5 head was brought in and ported to the absoloute max’.

The head now carries some wild valve gear, including oversize valves from Mini Spares, CB4-6 double valve springs from Australia and 1.5 ratio Triden roller rockers from Mini Spares. All that quality valve gear is topped off by a 176-0 Wade scatter cam.

Induction is handled by a 54mm DCOE Weber carburetor sitting on a match ported 5.5" Redline intake manifold. The carbie has been fitted with larger chokes and some venturi modifications have also been performed.

On the exhaust front, Sonic Long Centre Branch (LCB) extractors feed into a locally made 1 ¾" exhaust that runs up the centre of the car and ends in a custom muffler.

The whole plot is kept in perfect working harmony by the original points ignition system, backed up by a re-graphed distributor and heavy duty Bosch coil. And to keep any dreaded cooling problems at bay, an 1100S Morris radiator was slotted into place.

Cono estimates that Peter’s engine package should be good for some 90Hp at those 10" X 6" Mini Lite rims, which would equate to well over the 100Hp mark at the engine !

On it’s way to those 10" Mini Lite rims, the power is transferred through a PBR clutch and a lightened flywheel. The gearbox retains the original Cooper S ratios, but an A-Plus conversion kit uses a few stronger components including a larger mainshaft pilot
bearing, larger cluster shafts and more.

The finer details
As can be seen in the photos, Peter finished his Mk 1 Cooper S project off by carrying the black-on-yellow theme through to the cabin. Scott’s Trimmers added the vinyl to the original seats and doors, the latter items carrying another of those features which marks this car as a genuine Aussie Cooper S.

"The Australian versions all have wind up windows, unlike the domestic market Cooper S’ which have sliding windows," Peter explained. "Other Australian features include the over riders and twin fuel tanks."

The seats, steering wheel and pedals are all original items, while a brand new Smiths speedo and a number of other gauges from the renowned English instrument specialists have been added to the cockpit of this Aussie gem.

The extra dials certainly hint at the sporting heritage of the car and indeed, by the time you all read this, Peter will probably be competing in the above mentioned club events.