The testing was carried out at Bruntingthorpe proving grounds and the times were measured on Leitz Correvit computerised timing equipment.

Each car made three acceleration runs from a standing start up to one mile and a fourth for top speed.

All the mini's were an unknown quantity except for the ERA turbo. They managed to match the Company's(ERA) published top speed figures, but the 0-60 was down slightly, probably due to Bruntingthorpe's slight gradient.

What they didn't print was the conditions. A nice dry sunny day. I was present at this test, (I was working at, and representing Avonbar at the time.) I remember the day well, as it was the first time any of the mini specialists there, had seen the ERA. All the cars had a driver(obviously!) the timing computer operator and his on-board equipment (You should have seen him trying to sit on the floor of the spaceframe car and trying to operate this equipment - a bit of a balancing act!!)

I do remember that the Two Guys from ERA were very distant from the rest of us, and not saying a lot. They were polite enough but didn't want to give out to much info about the car at that time.

The article has a small piece on each car based on Myk Cable's comments, who drove the cars for this test session. It would take me hours to type it all up so I'll just put the figures achieved and a few comments that Myk made. The BHP figure is based on the owners details and is NOT the result of any power runs on the day.

All the cars ran on road tyres except No's 5 & 6 were on slicks.

Car & engine spec	BHP	Notes from Myk Cable's comments
1. 1293cc - Minisport 1293cc 9:1CR stge2 headCA2 cam HIF44 3.1:1 diff	95bhp	Lots of induction roar, unwilling to rev due to diff, handling Choppy. An enthusiastic runabout
2. ERA Mini Turbo Standard spec -allegedly! (Steve Whitton of MED wouldn't believe them -led to a bit of argument between them!)	94bhp	Good package with fine handling. Performance needed honing, ideally Another 20bhp. Liked wheels & interior.
3. Avonbar 1380 'fitted to '64 Cooper 'S' Race head, piper 285 magnum, 1.5:1 rollers, 45DCOE 3.2:1 diff	115bhp	Best car of the day.Excellent for age.Good mid-range but lacked top end. Not cammy or fussy although kept overheating. Handling beautifully balanced.
4. MED 1430 MK1 1960, stage 3 head Kent 296, HIF44 (no diff figure)	120bhp	A very deceptive car. Didn't look much but very quick. Slightly cammy but strong when in the power band. Handling unpredictable-requiring driver commitment to corner quickly.
5. Minispares Mini Miglia 998 649cam (no diff figure)	125bhp	Cable's own car. Peak power 8250rpm. Power band 6-9000rpm. Engine response good. Car is more like a go-kart, totally different to road cars.
6. Spaceframe Racer 1295cc Short stroke, race head 310cam split 45DCOE's JK dog box, Salisbury LSD 4.3:1 diff.	145bhp	Cable didn't drive (this is what is says in the article - the truth is the owner wouldn't let him!) Owners comments - very cammy! Hard to drive. 4,500-8000rpm power band. The performance speaks for itself.

Right, that's all the talk, now for the torque! The results of the day were as follows(in secs);

SPEED	1293cc	1275 ERA	1380cc	1430cc	998 Miglia	1295cc Spaceframe
0-10	1.17	1.01	.98	.98	.95	.95
0-30	3.57	3.02	2.96	2.86	2.72	2.55
0-50	7.87	6.55	6.51	5.61	5.65	4.56
0-60	11.10	9.61	8.79	7.88	7.60	5.85
0-70	15.22	13.12	12.47	10.20	10.45	8.02
0-90	34.33	23.55	21.92	17.57	18.78	13.19
0-100	-	35.02	32.85	23.86	26.32	17.56
0-110	-	-	-	33.63	-	26.84
1/4 mile	18.32	17.26	17.06	16.08	16.16	14.77
1Km	34.13	32.21	31.60	29.72	30.13	27.60
1Mile	48.69	45.58	44.85	42.10	43.03	39.67
Vmax	100.5	110.8	107.9	113.6	108	115.6