TWINI MINI

The front brakes are standard Cooper 'S' 71/2" variety with the standard drums on the rear, with the assistance of a servo the rear regulator valve has been left out of the system and the brakes work very well. As the weight of the second engine amounts to the equivalent of two 11 1/2 stone passengers. Rear cooling is taken care of using a 1300 radiator mounted in the standard position. The heater take offs are connected to a 19 row oil cooler. A 1300 expansion tank and Morris Marina fan complete the system. Ignition consists of a standard key switch which then supplies two separate feeds via a switch to the engine. Each engine canthen be started by its own floor mounted solenoid indepdendently. A Mini van fuel tank sits boxed in behind the front seats, the tank filter extending to the normal position. The exhaust system, two RC40's, one for each engine are mounted transversely behind the rear engine. The hand brake cables are home made using Mini inner cable and Peugeot outer cable (the only non BL item on the Twini). The dash is simple, but like everything else impressive with a single central speedo, but one oil pressure gauge, one water temperature gauge and one tachometer for each engine. All the driving controls are standard and access to the rear engine is far better than the front.

Keith Dodd had the pleasure of going out in the car with Richard and confirmed that the noise levels were not as high as one would expect. The acceleration is very quick and very noticeable at about 60mph when flooring the pedal it keeps pulling hard to its limit which is expected to be about 105mph although unproven on a low final drive ration of 3.7 to 1.

The Twini has two standard 1300 power units with twin 1 1/4" SU producing about 130 to 140 bhp. Handling is very neutral and best if power is kept on all the way round a bend, where the car drifts to the outer edge of that bend. The ride is better than standard as the extra weight in the rear takes out some of the bouncy ride. For long hauls the car is driven on the front engine only to save fuel, wear and tear. At about 60mph 30 mpg can be achieved, but blasting around on both engines consumption drops to 15-18mpg. On a steady run both engines return about 25mpg.

Looking at the quality and standard or work it is a wonder how costs were kept down to about £3000.00. Richard's labour was obviously free and only a very understanding wife enabled him to put such a mammoth project into reality. How many hours?

The original Twini conception was way back in 1963 when John Cooper and BMC (independently of one another) constructed a proto-type Mini. This car boasted four wheel drive, twin camshaft, 16 valves, quadruple carburetters and a 2.5 litre capacity. How was this achieved? Following experiments with a Mini Moke fitted with two engines to enable four wheel drive which was undergoing evaluation for military purposes. John Cooper hit upon the idea of doing the same to a Mini. This resulted in a Mini with four wheel drive and 178 bhp. At the same time Jack Daniels (Issigonis' number two) constructed the BMC Twini Mini along similar lines.

What was the fate of the two cars? JohnCooper wrote his off in a bad accident at over 100mph on the Kingston bypass. The BMC Twini raced in the 1963 Traga Florio and did well in the early stages, but dropped down the field and struggled to finish 5th in the proto-type class after being plagued with rear engine water loss. The ultimate fate of the car is unknown, believed dismantled.

John Cooper to this day still believes the Twini Mini could have been a winner and merited further development. Since then a number of twin-engined Minis have been built for off-road use such as auto cross. This car has now been sold to the land of the Rising Sun!

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