The original Austin Mini was Britain’s most popular People’s Car, in a way. It was a budget vehicle built to appeal to the masses that ended up writing itself a grand page in the automotive book of legends. Its motorsport history saw it celebrated for victories in rallies and circuit racing, and it continues to be a popular platform for high-octane antics today. As a rally man himself, Liam Doran has recently turned to the Mini platform, but it’s quite unlike what you’d imagine.
Right away, it’s obvious that this thing is hardcore. The Mini hood, doors, and roof are all there, but the back half of the car has been cut down into a tiny ute-like body style, supported by a tube frame. It’s an incredibly becoming look, and a functional one, too—because that bed is actually full of a ridiculous powertrain that we’ll get to in a minute.
Other hints of insanity are the mesh windshield and hacked-out front and rear fenders, through which high-end shocks are readily visible. It tells you that suspension travel is a big deal for this build, which is built for rapid combat on grass and dirt instead of tarmac.
So exactly what was this black-and-purple monster built for? It’s for a uniquely British racing discipline called Autograss. It involves holding races on dirt and grass circuits, generally of no longer than a quarter mile or so. It’s an amateur form of motorsport that is divided into a number of classes depending on performance and chassis types. Watch a race here:
Doran’s Mini fits into Class 7, one of the higher categories that features high-performance custom built machines.
The powertrain is oddball, but that’s down to how Class 7 works. Engine capacities are unrestricted at the top end, but are expected to exceed 1,421 cc, or just over 1.4 liters. That is unless you’re using a motorcycle engine, where a 1-liter unit is acceptable. Or, as many competitors decide to do, you can run two motorcycle engines coupled together for more power. Whatever you run, though, it has to drive the rear wheels.
In Doran’s case, as per a Motor Trend interview, his Mini rocks a pair of Hayabusa engines prepared by DM Racing, which sit just behind the cabin. Each engine has its own four-speed gearbox. The outputs drive a special twin-drive gear unit from X C Worx built for dual-engine setups, which then sends power to the rear wheels. There’s no word on the exact power output, but you’d expect a pair of race-tuned Hayabusa engines to put out well in excess of 300, if not 350 horsepower.
That’s plenty of grunt, given the lightness of the stripped-back Mini—which weighs in at just 1,323 pounds. Indeed, combine the lightweight, eight-cylinder torque, and the fact that the engine’s in the back, and the thing will readily chuck a wheelie with the appropriate provocation on the right surface. Something Doran is more than happy to demonstrate in his recent Instagram posts. The green underglow doesn’t hurt a bit, either.
Doran isn’t the only one campaigning a Mini like this in the Autograss world. Class 7 mandates a “saloon, hatchback, or pickup” body, and others have gone the same route in previous years. Driver Liam Evans ran a pickup-style Mini in 2017, while one Kirsty Godfrey built a similar style of car for Class 5 in 2021.
Don’t expect to see too many Minis like this Stateside. There’s nothing stopping you from building one, of course, other than the short supply of cheap Mini shells and supporting components. Much of the ecosystem to build these exists largely in Britain, though if you’ve got the checkbook you’re sure to find suppliers like X C Worx willing to ship across the Atlantic.
We love seeing a small humble car turned into a racing monster, even more so when motorcycle engines and rear-wheel-drive are in the mix. The dirt-spec suspension and pickup body style are just the icing on the cake, with the latter also worth viewing as a boon to serviceability. In any case, all this has us dying to get behind the wheel of a Class 7 Autograss monster for our own nefarious joy.
Image credits: Liam Doran via Instagram screenshot
I love the drone footage as it provides a much-needed vantage point for watching how each vehicle handles position (inside or outside) in the turns. Love it!
https://images.app.goo.gl/vKAVi6XcHaiDm9eN8
George Miller, we’ve found the star of the next Mad Max installment.
WHEEEEE!!
This looks like terrifying fun: we absolutely need more of this kind of awesome stupidity in our lives.
or… is it just me?
You are not alone. My son and his friends are building a CrossKart for their school project.
I really love this combination of 1,300 lbs and 8 cylinders… Very hoonable machine.
Yup. Tho I do think, as it’s a mini, they ought to make it FWD. That would be far more amusing.
I like it RWD as it is. If they could build a streamliner body over it with a CdA value under 0.25 m^2 that doesn’t add more than 200 lbs, and re-gear it to take advantage of the higher possible top speeds, it would be sooooo much more to my liking. Imagine being able to hit 200+ mph in something this light.
The land speed record for a Mini (with the original body) is 151mph: https://nelsonweekly.co.nz/2012/08/worlds-fastest-mini/