 Graham Goode Racing in Leicester have over 30 years experience of tuning, building and racing modified cars. Graham's racing career started by winning the up to 1300cc Class of the British Saloon Car Championship in 1973. When the BMW Mini was launched it was only natural that he wanted to get involved. GGR kicked off with a 207 bhp supercharged Cooper S as their initial project car - and that conversion sold really well, before moving onto a more potent 245 bhp version. That car was fitted with the GGR 4-pot AP Racing / 330 mm disc big brake conversion.
Moving with the times, that supercharged Cooper S Mini has been swapped for a 56-plate turbo-powered version which the company have owned from new. Once the new car was launched it was only a matter of time before they got their hands on one.
"We took it for an initial drive to see how it compared as standard to our old supercharged Cooper," explained Alastair Mayne, GGR's Technical manager, who competed in the 1989/83 Mini Se7en Championship. " The car felt very similar although obviously the power delivery and engine sound were different; with the supercharger there was no turbo lag. On the new car there was a bit of lag and the power doesn't really come in until 2,500 rpm. Everything else on the car seemed very similar to the old Cooper S." But of course the team at GGR knew they could make some improvements.
"Even before we get our demo cars we usually have a good idea at which areas for improvements we'll be looking at, " explained Alastair."Manufactures are building cars to a lot of different constraints such as cost and durability in harsh environments. We don't have the same constraints, so for example our intake system is designed to restrict the airflow as little as possible, without any worries about additional intake noise."
Their unique 200 bhp conversion kit (a factory car is 175 bhp) consists of the induction kit, hi-flow exhaust down pipe with Sports-Cat and special GGR/Superchip re-map - all tailor-made to work together in perfect harmony. Looking at the rolling road graphs comparing a standard Mini with their tuned version and you can see the impressive leap in torque from about 3,500 rpm right up to 6000 before it starts to die off.
"Early testing confirmed that the mechanical changes worked effectively but we needed the engine mapping to get the best out of them," confirmed Alastair. The results for their conversion are 200 bhp @ 6500 rpm and 214 lbs/ft of torque (286 nm) @ 3850 rpm. It costs £1395 + VAT and takes a couple of days to fit and comes with their usual 12 month/ 12000 mile warranty. Alastair also points out that on everyday driving the petrol consumption should actually improve because the engine's performance and efficiency have been skillfully modified by experienced tuners - although understandably he can't promise that if you use that extra power all the time!
But how does all those facts and figures relate to driving impressions? Well the suspension braking and handling are still totally standard Cooper S, so obviously no grounds for complaint there. Despite the alterations to inlet and exhaust, the sound of the car is hardly changed either. Now the Cooper S engine could never be described as slow, but the GGR conversion just seems to give it even more urgency than the power figures lead you to expect. It's most noticeable in the mid-range from about 3000 rpm when the turbo is really earning it's money which makes accelerating and overtaking a delight, but also the improved throttle response makes the car feel much livelier in all situations .
www.grahamgoode.com |
