"More about Mini" is true to it's word, giving a wider view of the range of cars with a global perspective. No straight lists, but a good cross-section (and selection) of cars, famous names, and a tuning section as well. With a foreword by John Cooper, a Tuning piece by David Vizard ('God' to all amateurs), and even a selection of advertisments , it's a refreshing change, and has something of interest for any enthusiast.
Split into sections, there are plenty of clear colour and b/w pictures.
Mini Classics
Include Graham Hills Speedwell Cooper S, Paddy Hopkirks 1963 Works RAC
rally car, Peter Sellers film car, and the Broadspeed GT.
Mini Specials
Covers Cooper special editions, and the Cabriolet.
Modified Minis
Features plenty - Boopspeeds, Cabriolets, a Radford, Wood and Pickett,
Twin-cams, and even the famous V8 van.
Mini Racers
KAD-Narita ,1994 Monte Carlo rallycar, and more.
All these sections have nice pictures and well-documented and fairly detailed (and interesting) text of 1 to 4 pages each.
There follow details on Minis in Germany and Japan, Gaydon museum , the 35th birthday celebrations, the Italian Job charity run; as well as some interesting and worthwhile pages on well-known tuning and parts companies, AND the people who run them. (A pleasant change to see the faces behind the names.)
And then 20-odd pages of technical Tuning detail from David Vizard, which effectively bring his previous books up-to-date with the latest advances and developments, including 16-valve heads. Containing basic, advanced and all-out racing detail; from specifics on valve seat angles to threads and bearing materials. True to form for those who have read his previous writings, they contain several misprints!
The book rounds off with a reasonable list of Tuning companies, and of Clubs around the World.
Overall impressions
Good , interesting and up to the minute . Its not just a re-hash of
magazine articles, although inevitably it shows some of the same cars.
There is a genuine attempt to make it less UK-orientated, although there
are still many gaps. US and Australian examples are not mentioned, which is
a shame with so much interest and enthusiasm in those countries. However,
it makes no claims to be exhaustive, and remains an excellent sample of the
Mini word today.
I like it.
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Copyright © 1996, Greg Fripp - validated (3.2s)