The British company Powerflex, which specializes in the production of chassis parts, presented an unconventional project: a three-door Mini with rear-wheel drive and an eight-cylinder under the hood.
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The company named the car Vini for the current Goodwood Festival of Speed. And in collaboration with several other automotive parts companies, she worked on it for four years.
Of course, stuffing a large eight-cylinder under the hood of a small Mini is not just that.
The people from Powerflex chose the S65 engine from BMW for conversion, ie the four-liter V8 known from the M3 generation E90. Along with this unit, a seven-speed automatic transmission also moved into the bowels of the Mini. In addition, the modifier decided to turn the Mini into a butt.
The creators had to rework the parts of the chassis due to the installation of new technology, they also helped themselves with, for example, an auxiliary frame from the Subaru Impreza STI or their own design of the front axle.
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But the result is definitely worth the effort. Weighing just 1,300 kilograms, the Mini now sets in motion 420 hp (309 kW). In addition, the creators praise that they managed to build a car not only fast, but also fun (by the way, it has a hydraulic handbrake and a self-locking differential) and comfortable enough for everyday use. After all, the car is allowed on ordinary roads.
However, the interior, which resembles the cockpit of a race car, does not look like much for everyday use. It is quite significantly dismantled, stripped of insulation and instead of the standard dashboard, it offers a minimalist floorboard made of carbon fiber. There is also a protective frame, a motorsport-inspired steering wheel and shell seats with four-point seat belts.
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