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Kiwi-built Mini dominates land-speed records

18 August, 2016

 

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“When Kiwis travel abroad to do battle, it’s a big deal, and a long way. So you may as well make the trip worthwhile, right?”

After making the decision to contest Bonneville Speed Week in Utah, the Project ’64 Mini Cooper team, based in the South Island of New Zealand, had been working extremely hard to get the Mini ready for battle. Now they’re there, though, they’ve already claimed two new land-speed records in separate classes in their 52-year old Mini Cooper. 

The first record claimed was done during a tuning session for the I/BGALT class. Their speed during the session was 144.033mph (231.799kph), miles ahead of the previous standing 133.896mph (215.485kph) record. This class only runs a standard petrol mix, so when the team decided to switch to methanol, they had to move to the I/BFALT class. 

With the switch to methanol made, the team yet again broke another record during a tuning run. The previous record was a 140.458mph (226.045kph) run, but the team beat this with a speed of 158.039mph (254.339kph). Unfortunately, an issue with a hose prevented them from backing it up, however, once the problem was repaired the team qualified with an impressive 153.710mph (247.372kph). Having to back up that run, the team went out the next morning and claimed an even more impressive 156.006mph (251.067kph). Might we remind you that this was done in an old Mini Cooper?

With a hunger for more records, the team will be switching classes yet again, so we’ll keep you updated on their progress as it comes through. 

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29 August, 2026

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Motorsport Flashback: The Temple of Speed

28 August, 2026

On the banks of the Lambro River is Europe’s largest enclosed park, all 688 hectares of it. Parco di Monza was commissioned by the son of an Austrian empress as a summer retreat in the late 1700s, but it would be for another century and a half before ground was broken on what would become Italy’s famous theatre of speed at the park’s northern end. One hundred years ago on 3 September, less than four months after work started, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza was officially opened and the first race – appropriately, the Italian Grand Prix – was run a week later. Monza was the world’s third purpose-built circuit, after Brooklands and Indianapolis, and was the result of the Milan Automobile Club financing the 3500 workers who created the super-quick, and consequently dangerous, track that made the word ‘Monza’ synonymous for speed.