Yeah, you heard it right!!!, A twin R1 Engined, 4X4, Race Mini.
Building this thing has been a bit of a nightmare, you may have allready read the "Turbo Alloy V8 Mini" Page, where i go on about how the CAMS in their wisdom have brought in "Weight Restrictions" for the "Sports Sedan" class in circuit racing here in Australia. Well...be buggered if i was going to shove "ANOTHER" 400+ kilos into my "Black Magic Mini" just to please some CAMS officials, it would be just dangerous anyway,,, so,,,I`ve decided to stick 2x Yamaha R1 engines in there instead. :-) One in the front & one in the back. Now these things are simply good cond , 2nd hand, power units, that i bought straight from the bike wreckers & have started making up the rear subframe to suit the rear engine & am simply stuffing the front engine into a slightly modded mini front subframe. Easy ???,,,well,,,not really :-) but still i`m doin it :-)
This page will change a bit here & there, Now & then,,,, so please do "Re-fresh" the dam thing whenever you do pop back for a look see. OK???

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Click onto these little Thumb nail thingys to view the Bigger picys.
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The first pic is a Yamaha R1, motorbike power unit, 1000cc (998cc to be precise) & is the one going into the front of the car,,, 1000ccs, Twin cams, 20 valves, 130+Hp, spins to over 11,000 rpms,,, then think about 2 of them , yeah, 2 of em,,,in a car that weighs something like 500kgs all up :-) Pretty dam good power to weight ratio, & also the added bonus of it being 4X4 & ultra smooth to drive.
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The second pic is the front subframe with a bit of a cut in it to fit the donk (subframe is yet to have the new piece fitted in, welded & strengthened) You can also see the little axle assy sitting at the back of the frame.
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The third pic is of that little axle assy,,, here i`ve made up a wooden "Pattern" for the axle, just to get the length & size & everything right before it`s all welded & bolted into place. & of course i`ll have a solid axle made from steel when it`s all a go-er. Notice i`ve used the mini inner pot joints & also made the whole lot so i can use 2x left (short) potty axles simply cause i can, i`ve got it all here, they cost diddly squat 2nd hand & it gives me equal length axles,,, at a later date i`ll probly shove a Datsun/Nissan viscous LSD into both front & rear, in place of the solid axles. & all of this stuff is made to fit up to a steel plate that will pivot from the top rear part of the mini frame, with 2 adjusting bolts at the bottom to effect the chain adjustment once it`s all happening. Now this has all beed made to suit 3x 45mm go-kart , self centering, axle bearings ,,,easy-peasy :-)
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How easy it all that then???,,,The rear suspension, engine cradle & rear swing arms are another matter tho, i`ll be having to utilise my good mate Dale Allen (Coach builder/blacksmith/metal fabricator, extrordinaire) to help me with all that lot.
I`m ok at dreaming all this stuff up, designing & spannering, but when it comes to welding,,, well,,,only the best will do... & Dale is the very best there is.
Click this dam "Thingy" to get back to my Home boy page.