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| Strapped down | Ready to Go |
Last year Eric Lange, of Dutch Mini Mailinglist (DMM) fame organized a meet at BCCP to (finally) get an idea if all the efforts to make our small beasts go faster had been as effective as we hoped. The report can still be found here.
The problems that showed up there were mostly solved later
that year.
But after the breakdown
earlier the year, and the installment of so called Jack Knight
Straight Cut drop gears , I got the impression that the Van was a
lot 'nippier' than before.
So it was time again to have the Van tested.
I sourced a local garage that also runs a Rolling Road bench (a
Schenk) and had them take a run or two with the Van.
Unfortunately there wasn't as much to see as there was at BCCP.
The operator put thye Van on the rollers, checked clearance,
strapped it down and strated the runs.
The Schenk didn't reveal much; just two dials were moving.
It did plot two lines on a piece of paper though, but
interpretation of it required some study of the operator(s).
I must say that if the reading is correct (and I don't have a
reason to doubt it), I'm very pleased with it; they measured a
whopping 72bhp at the wheels.
Now for people used to quoting 160+ bhp that doesn't sound much,
but for a moderately modified Mini it's quite a good reading.
And, as said above; you can really experience this power while driving the Van; the added fun was what made me wonder in the first place.
In short; me happy.
All that's left to do is do another session at a rolling road
where they can produce such nice graphs as they can at BCCP.
