Anyone following Project Binky?
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An interesting video. Clearly the BITOG censor hasn't figured out what 'a bender' is yet (it's what my dear departed Dad would refer to as a 'Nancy Boy').
Anyway, if you're into mad Minis, probably the maddest of all was the outrageously noisy and smelly but lightning quick MG Metro 6R4 Group B rally car from the 1980s. It wasn't a car that had a particulary long or glorious heritage but for people of my age, it sort of carried our collective hope that the British car could still do something 'different' and 'special' and that we could dig ourselves out of the mess we had got ourselves into (we couldn't). I used to see it when they showed rallying on the TV and was lucky enough to see it in the flesh when I took a tour of the Williams F1 factory which was just around the corner from where I lived back then.
Here's a nice little video of one Brit talking about his 6R4. The affection that he has for this car is touching...
https://youtu.be/Zz472ocDJjc
Anyway, if you're into mad Minis, probably the maddest of all was the outrageously noisy and smelly but lightning quick MG Metro 6R4 Group B rally car from the 1980s. It wasn't a car that had a particulary long or glorious heritage but for people of my age, it sort of carried our collective hope that the British car could still do something 'different' and 'special' and that we could dig ourselves out of the mess we had got ourselves into (we couldn't). I used to see it when they showed rallying on the TV and was lucky enough to see it in the flesh when I took a tour of the Williams F1 factory which was just around the corner from where I lived back then.
Here's a nice little video of one Brit talking about his 6R4. The affection that he has for this car is touching...
https://youtu.be/Zz472ocDJjc
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Originally Posted By: SonofJoe
Here's a nice little video of one Brit talking about his 6R4. The affection that he has for this car is touching...
https://youtu.be/Zz472ocDJjc
Hmmm.... a V6 that actually sounds nice!
Here's a nice little video of one Brit talking about his 6R4. The affection that he has for this car is touching...
https://youtu.be/Zz472ocDJjc
Hmmm.... a V6 that actually sounds nice!
Those Group B cars killed themselves by killing spectators at rally events where there was no crowd control.
It appears that you did not drive one of those cars as much as you aimed it and lit the throttle. When you got to the place where you aimed the car you then aimed it at the next place, and so on.
These cars could only be driven anywhere near the limit by a very good but more importantly a very brave driver.
It's going to be interesting to see Binky move under it's new power. The fabrication process has made for an amazing run of video episodes.
It appears that you did not drive one of those cars as much as you aimed it and lit the throttle. When you got to the place where you aimed the car you then aimed it at the next place, and so on.
These cars could only be driven anywhere near the limit by a very good but more importantly a very brave driver.
It's going to be interesting to see Binky move under it's new power. The fabrication process has made for an amazing run of video episodes.
you kidding? i have both their Ball cap, and Mug. use both proudly and often.
Originally Posted By: Linctex
Originally Posted By: SonofJoe
Here's a nice little video of one Brit talking about his 6R4. The affection that he has for this car is touching...
https://youtu.be/Zz472ocDJjc
Hmmm.... a V6 that actually sounds nice!
Was an interesting engine.
The old alloy Buick 215 V-8 was sold to Rover for their 3500 cc V-8 engine, lord knows how long ago (the 3.8V-6 is a descendent too)...it Came to Australia as a 3.5 but was pumped up to 4.4L for the Leyland P-76, served in Range Rovers and LandRovers, TVR tasmans and tuscans, and all sorts of displacements.
For the VR-6, they did a buick, and knocked 2 cylinders off the 90 degree V-8, adding some major bottom end changes and heads with DOHC 4 valves.
Oh for Group B...
Was silly enough to look up Renault 5 turbo the other day in the used car ads...there was one of them...$100k...
Originally Posted By: SonofJoe
Here's a nice little video of one Brit talking about his 6R4. The affection that he has for this car is touching...
https://youtu.be/Zz472ocDJjc
Hmmm.... a V6 that actually sounds nice!
Was an interesting engine.
The old alloy Buick 215 V-8 was sold to Rover for their 3500 cc V-8 engine, lord knows how long ago (the 3.8V-6 is a descendent too)...it Came to Australia as a 3.5 but was pumped up to 4.4L for the Leyland P-76, served in Range Rovers and LandRovers, TVR tasmans and tuscans, and all sorts of displacements.
For the VR-6, they did a buick, and knocked 2 cylinders off the 90 degree V-8, adding some major bottom end changes and heads with DOHC 4 valves.
Oh for Group B...
Was silly enough to look up Renault 5 turbo the other day in the used car ads...there was one of them...$100k...
Rally has always been my favorite form of racing. Car, driver, ridiculous speed, mechanical brutality, trees, hills, cliffs (!) - what's not to like? The innovations David Richards of Prodrive introduced (helicopter video, synchronized in-car video, multi-racer video overlay to compare progress, computer graphics, et al) really made it something special. Even prior to that the Subaru rally effort was run by him as well. Subaru should still be paying him a fee for every Subie made IMHO. I would never have heard of Motul oil if not for them. Motul should also be still paying the guy. It was a sad day when the OEM's bailed on that generation of rally. Thank you for introducing me to this Mini build.
I watched the first one some time ago, but haven't kept up with it. Do our American viewers know what Binky refers too, where it came from...who he is, or who his owner is?...?
Originally Posted By: Silk
I watched the first one some time ago, but haven't kept up with it. Do our American viewers know what Binky refers too, where it came from...who he is, or who his owner is?...?
myself, personally, no idea.
please do enlighten me.
I watched the first one some time ago, but haven't kept up with it. Do our American viewers know what Binky refers too, where it came from...who he is, or who his owner is?...?
myself, personally, no idea.
please do enlighten me.
Terry Pratchet.
Binky is Death's steed, the horse he rides around on, very useful for The Grim Reaper.
I get the impression Discworld is not widly read in the US. In my family we walk around dropping Discworld quotes amongst normal talk.
Binky is Death's steed, the horse he rides around on, very useful for The Grim Reaper.
I get the impression Discworld is not widly read in the US. In my family we walk around dropping Discworld quotes amongst normal talk.
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