I noticed that Gerry Mo, aka Gérard of this parish, got excited about a Morris Minor in Baubles photo thread, so I sent him details of a Morris Minor owned by a friend of mine, Nick Mann back in my time in the UK doing the Hillclimb thing. He (Gerry Mo) was amazed by the car and said I should tell the rest of you, so here goes.... posted here so as not to sully Bobs photo thread!
Nick had inherited the standard Minor from his Mother when he became old enough to drive. He quickly got bored with the performance of it it so he proceeded to install an MGB engine. He turbocharged it later and then later still replaced the MGB lump with a Rover V8,,,, which he then turbocharged and ultimately added nitrous to it as well. Result = a 600hp Morris Minor.
He would run it in the RAC and other championship hillclimbs and sprints, driving it to the event on the road with the slicks in the car to be fitted before racing. It would spin the rear wheels in top gear in the dry!
I seem to remember it was tested by Autocar or similar mag, and they decided it was the fastest accelerating road registered and road driven car in the UK.
Nick was a brilliant engineer (used to work in R&D at a car manufacturer) and his next project was a Mallock type clubmans car he made , running 4WD, and to which he fitted a Turbocharged BDT which he helped along with a turbine out of a helicopter engine. Basically the turbine would spin the turbo at max revs even when at tickover, so he got zero turbo lag even at tickover, and a huge power band from 2000 ish RPM through to 9000.. Quite a performance to start it but bloody quick.
Found this article and pics of the Morris
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threa...l-1989.312352/
Here is a bit about his helicopter turbine BDT 4WD clubmans car
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oRJVa_pG2A
Here is it leaving the line at Shelsley Walsh Hillclimb.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11687nVdzdk