BR-Foto Track test VLN-Mini by Schirra Motoring
10/26/2012
' Grandma's base was a Cooper S total loss in 2007 ', team boss Joachim Schirra thinks back. Today nothing is reminiscent of the basic car. The key data of the 989 kilo racing mini: wide body with carbon fiber body parts, Drexler lock, all-round uniball-mounted and four-way adjustable Sachs chassis and a 300 hp 1.6-liter turbo.
Racing Mini is constantly being developed
Without factory support, the racing project initiated by Friedrich von Bohlen and Joachim Schirra in 2008 has been advanced to this day. Schirra meticulously developed the Mini further. “AVL has reprogrammed the production control unit. The engine is now stable, ”explains the team boss. So that the engine based on the series engine can survive tortures of up to 338 HP (with 1.8 bar boost pressure!), Series pistons and crankshaft were specially machined. Schirra also uses other injection nozzles and Pankl connecting rods.
Compared to Schirra-Mini in comparative test 2010 , which at that time achieved an impressive Hockenheim time of 1:07.1 minutes, the current expansion stage on the Nordschleife has gained in driving stability. In the past a little too nervous, today with the right amount of agility that constantly brings a grin on your face. “This is mainly due to the underbody and the rear wing, which is placed backwards,” says regular driver Friedrich von Bohlen, who shares the cockpit with ex-DTM drivers Harald Grohs and Markus Oestreich.
Probably the fastest race -Mini of the world
With the help of Hans-Dieter Schopper, who as an aerodynamicist at Daimler was also responsible for the wind tunnel measurements of the sport auto super tests for a long time, the Mini was aerodynamically optimized in the Daimler wind tunnel. The result is probably the fastest racing mini in the world with a time of 8.58 minutes on the Nordschleife plus a short connection to the GP course.
Even though the grandma had to retire from the 6h race after a technical defect, the champagne corks popped anyway . The second Mini in the Schirra group finished 17th overall - ahead of the supposedly faster competition from Aston Martin, an Audi R8 and numerous Porsche 911 GT3s.
