1965 Morris Mini Cooper FIA Historic Race Car

First introduced in 1959, the Mini is the most famous small car in the world. The inventor, Sir Alec Issigonis, and friend, John Cooper, could both see the potential of the car in competition and their joint vision lead to the Morris Mini Cooper first appearing in 1961. Their development and evolution eventually led to the Austin Mini Cooper S appearing in 1963, and they went on to claim world wide success in both rallying and racing with the versatile and nimble Mini.

This car was first spotted by noted New Zealand historic racer, Roger Wills, on the front cover of the Mini Cooper register magazine in 2008. It was a successful Scottish rally car, and Roger purchased it to be converted in to a full FIA race car by renown Mini race specialist, Leigh Dale, with an appearance at the Goodwood Revival in mind. Leigh prepared the car very thoroughly on a no expense spared basis, using mostly Swiftune parts, to the ultimate 1293 FIA spec with fully optimised brakes, suspension, gearbox and engine within the regulations.

The results proved all the hard work to be very worthwhile with Roger and his racing partner, Joe Twyman, beating Mini legend Nick Swift at Brands Hatch in the Masters race in 2011. In fact the car has always run at the front of its class in all the FIA races contested, both in the UK and Europe, which have included Carol Spagg's UTCC series and Masters FIA saloons. It last won its class at Portimao in October 2011, finishing a highly creditable 5th overall.

Registered for the road, and thus eligible for Tours as well as many races and rallies, the car is freshly prepared and sold ready to go with correct FIA HTP papers. Having been invited to the highly prestigious Goodwood Revival in the recent past, it remains eligible for all the worlds top touring car events. Great fun and superb value for money in our collective view.