The protagonist
Among monsters of unspeakable beauty – the Porsche of Le Mans, the Bizarrethe Ferrari most precious – it was the small Mini Cooper S 1275 that was the star of the latest edition of the Vernasca Silverflag. So among 205 of the most fascinating and famous racing cars in the world, the tiny rally dominator took yet another revenge.
The “Giant Killer”
A revenge in the wake of his nickname, “Giant Killer” which was awarded to her for the three overall victories at Monte Carlo Rally of 1964, 1965 and 1967, which would have been four if, in the 1966 edition, the three Mini Cooper S that came in the first three places overall in the final classification had not been disqualified for a dubious irregularity in the headlights. So, if back then the Giant Killer beat the giants on the tracks, today it beats them in the world of classics.
The first series is in competition
And it is no coincidence that the specimen brought to the Vernasca Silver Flag, a rare first series from 1964 with a 1275 cubic cm engine and 76 HP, it ended up in the spotlight more than many other supercars.
Thanks to Gianluca Bardelli, an authority in the sector and winner of several historic car championships, who perfectly restored it and returned to its ancient splendor. To then make it debut to the delight of Vernasca enthusiasts. A curiosity about the restoration: “During the set-up – explains Bardelli – we found lead ballast weighing 20 kilos! Symbol of the fact that the car has been the subject of obsessive tuning, things that were once only done on thoroughbred racing cars. So to comply with the regulations it was necessary to make it heavier…”.
In short, if already as standard its weight of 635 kg gave it a weight/power ratio of 88 kW/ton (extremely competitive and in line with direct rivals such as the Ford Cortina GT500 (77 kW/ton) and the Renault R8 Gordini90 kW/ton), imagine what the three-time queen of the Monte Carlo rally racing car could have been like.
Of course, looking at it even today, the racing microbe is scary: you can see that the car was born to revolutionize the world of small cars: Alec Issigonis he created it with a formula that would become an example. That is, transverse front engine, gearbox mounted below it and single oil sump, front-wheel drive and wheels mounted at the four corners of the body. Result? The passenger compartment surface occupied 80% of the car’s space so four people and some luggage could fit comfortably in a car only 3 meters and 3 centimeters long. A crazy record. Then, to keep costs down, the standard equipment and instrumentation were reduced to a minimum, the door hinges and welds were visible and the tank was placed in the trunk. In short, the perfect small car.
The Genius of John Cooper
A little one that only the genius of John Cooper managed to transform into a racing beast. The owner of the Cooper Car Company, designer and builder of some formula 1, 2 and 3 cars, he intuited that the dimensions, the weight distribution and the weight-power ratio could be deadly weapons in rallies. No sooner said than done, the monster was born. The rest is history, legend, in some ways poetry.
The Mini strategy
An inimitable mix of beauty that the Mini constantly keeps alive: at Vernasca Silver Flag the English company brought – to keep Bardelli’s car company – the latest Cooper model, precisely to underline the fact that even the largest industrial projects must be supported by precise cultural strategies. In a car world that is about to be invaded by soulless Chinese cars, a beautiful revolution.
#Mini #Festival #Vernasca #Silver #Flag #FormulaPassion.it
