Lap time question

Markus Becker

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Mar 18, 2011
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What would be a very good time for a 1960 Mini Mk.I going around the Dunsfold track? Not Stig-good but star-in-a-reasonably-proced-car good. I have no clue but I guess not as fast as the Suzuki Liana.
 
Well, an ordinary Mini (not the Cooper or Cooper S) had 34 hp at that time so it will be slow, I think around 2:20-ish. Even with just 620 kg dead weight 34 hp just isn't enough to go fast from Hammerhead to Bacharach.
 
For reference, the RPCs exceed the Mini's theoretical top speed in the followthrough/back straight regularly. Even if the Mini could achieve its top speed by the end, it would lose massive time everywhere.
 
Lotus designed Dunsfold to be a power circuit with some key handling tests. Power-to-weight ratio seems to be the main determining factor for lap times (just one example of that would be the Caterham superlight outpacing the Veyron). A Mini Cooper would be 86 bhp/tonne. The Liana's engine is 91 bhp (it's the 1.3l, right?) and weighed more than a tonne, so the Cooper would actually be better than the Liana in power-to-weight. What would kill the Mini would be its fifty-year-old brakes and suspension. Yes, the Mini's famous for its handling, but it's not as good as a modern-day small car. Chicago and Hammerhead would cause it severe problems, and it doesn't have the room to get back up to speed between Bacharach and Gambon. I'd say 1:54 to 1:57 in the hands of Sacked Stig, 1:52 to 1:55 in the hands of Current Stig (if that rumor that he lapped the Liana in 1:40 is true).
 
All right, that would make the Mini Cooper ~15 seconds slower than the Liana. That car?s best times were 1:47 to 1:48 so we?d be looking at ~2:03 for an early 60?s reasonably priced car. :)
 
The Liana managed as fast as 1:46 on the RPC board, and 1:44s in the hands of White Stig MkI (aka Sacked Stig) and Rubens Barrichello.

If Current Stig (White Stig MkII) did, in fact, go around in the Liana in 1:40, I think he could take a fifty-year-old Mini around in, at the quickest, 1:55.
 
Here's a test: it's not quite the same, but someone pull a flying lap on the track with the '98 Mini Cooper in GT5 :p

I know it's more modern, ~60 HP, and non-professional driver, but it will at least give us ballpark.

I'd do it myself, but my Mini has been quite heavily modded.
 
you can do a normal lap on the track, the timer doesnt start till you cross the line and you have plenty of time to get to it and stop. If I find the car I'll give it a shot. Also you can actualy lower the power of the car though the settings.
 
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the 98 mini with 55 hp and 720kg did a 1:58.699, could of done better if I plugged the driving wheel and pedals but a race car driver would of been alot better.
 
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you can do a normal lap on the track, the timer doesnt start till you cross the line and you have plenty of time to get to it and stop. If I find the car I'll give it a shot. Also you can actualy lower the power of the car though the settings.

It has just about every performance upgrade available, including weight reduction and engine mods which are unreversible.... the power limiter only goes to 50% which isn't far enough, too. In short I think it would be an altogether better idea to find a stock car, if I come across one I'll snap it up.
 
ok it turns out the older mini weighs a bit less I brought the weight down to 662kg and got a time of 1:57.586

Ok, that is the time for a Stig. So ~2:05 would be very good for a celebrity?

Related question: Who was the 1950?s equivalent of todays Jackie Steward? You know famous, retired racing driver. George Eyston?
 
I need a very good and at the same time realistic lap time for a celebrity in a fictional mid to late 1950?s Top Gear. I thought the Mini Cooper would be a good choice for a reasonably priced car ? I know it wasn?t around but it?s fiction/alternate history and what non-car buff knows the Morris Minor. However I had no idea what a good time for a Mini Cooper would be. Hence I turned to the experts.

Jackie Steward/George Eyston came up when I transcribed the dialogue of the actual TG episode. Jackie hadn?t stared his career then.
 
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