Motorsport - Monterey Historics - Another Perspective 18-20 August 2006

Motorsport - Monterey Historics - Another Perspective 18-20 August 2006

Reprinted by permission. The historic races at Laguna Seca, Monterey, in California, are considered the ultimate event of its kind held in the USA. This year’s featured marque was Cooper and, much to the delight of the crowds, you cannot honour Cooper without acknowledging the Mini, so seven Cooper S were entered in the feature race. Dale Shore’s blue Mini has been a racecar most of its life. Evolution in racing being what it is, it is fair to say that the car is better prepared today than ever in its past. The Fortech Racing/Seven Enterprises Mini has been raced by Mark Kearney for a good many years, and it was decided to dress the car in the livery of the Cooper Car Company. Doug Peterson of Comptech Racing, who has previously won the national Championship in the Fortech Mini, was asked to drive. The ultimate in effort and quality of preparation, was entered by Rachel and Andy Nelson from British Columbia, and had been a racecar almost from new. See last issue for a detailed account of their weekend. Cindy Shaffer has made a serious effort in recent years to race her Mini up to ten times per year, gaining a lot of recognition for her efforts. Although one of the few females in the US driving a Mini, she does a good job for the marque. Tom Cotter’s 1071cc Cooper S was the only non-1275cc Mini in the event. Tom is typical of so many race guys, in that despite all the advance notice for the event, the motor was completed only a few days before the start. Nick Martin is an Englishman who has been living in the States for the past 30 years, racing his well-prepared Mini for at least ten. Although he had taken some time off from racing over the last couple of years, his car was still in pretty good shape and did not require a lot of back-dating to period specs, or updating to be competitive. My own “Monte Mini” has been raced for the past twenty-plus years, and was built in the 1980s in honour of the 1967 Monte Carlo Rally-winning Cooper S. As I was entered in another car, I asked Nick Swift, of Swiftune Racing in the UK, to run the Mini in this event. It soon became obvious that we were simply out of time for our plan to fi t one of Nick’s killer engines into the car, and the old motor would have to do, with a change of bearings and rings. Nick was to fl y in a week early, for some testing, but the latest terrorist threat closed London airport, and Nick was forced to delay his trip for several days. This meant that his fi rst day to see both the racetrack and the car was the day he was to qualify. The “Monte Mini” and “Mini Cindy” were entered for the testing weekend prior to the event. As Nick was stuck in London, he asked good friend Barrie Williams, who had arrived from England a few days earlier to race a Cooper Monaco, to do some testing of the Mini. Cindy ran the test weekend without a hitch. Barrie also did a fantastic job in the Monte, turning lap times far better than I have experienced in the same car. However, on Sunday afternoon the Monte’s gearbox failed! My workshop is a fi ve-hour drive away, so I loaded the Mini on an open trailer and sent it toward home. Two days later it was back at the track. Nick fi nally got his fi rst ride in the Monte on the Thursday, only to bring it into the pits with a failed brake master cylinder. The replacement was completed in time for Friday’s qualifying. Qualifying went almost as anticipated. The top three Minis ran within half a second of each other, while managing to place mid- fi eld among the Cobras, Mustangs, Alfas, etc. Dale’s Mini was fastest, qualifying fourteenth overall, then Swift, Peterson, Martin, Shaffer, Nelson, Cotter. Saturday was a day for checking the car and watching others race. But numerous small problems still had to be sorted out on a number of the Minis. Sunday morning brought a fi nal short test session. Sadly, the mechanical woes were not yet fi nished. Nick Martin’s Mini suffered a broken trailing arm bracket, while Cindy’s suffered clutch failure. After much effort, both cars were again ready just in time for the race. The race itself ended very closely to the order of qualifying, with Dale fi rst of the Minis, Nick Swift second, and Doug Peterson third. All the other Minis ran well, with the exception of poor Cindy who’s clutch repair failed to allow her to fi nish the race. It was a great show by all, and every Mini out there was a crowd favourite.