Little & Large – Matt’s Type-R Clubman
ABOVE THE photo of a shiny new H-reg BL Mini Clubman is the ad line: ‘The Big Happening. The New Mini Clubman.’
Sandwiched between the large photo and two smaller ones, showing a Mini alongside its new big-nosed 1969 brother is the bumpf. It reads:
‘A new car is a new car. You like it or you don’t. A new Mini is something else. It could be the end of a 10-year love affair or the start of another. Well, we’re not going to break off a great relationship.
‘The classic Mini shape will still be in the showrooms, still offering the finest value in motoring. But something big has happened in the Mini range. The new Mini Clubman. The Big Happening.’
So it sounds like tosh and adverts have a very long established relationship with each other, but at least this old BL ad actually tells you something about the car – which is something that cannot be said about ads promoting modern tin.
‘First thing you’ll notice about the Mini Clubman is the whole new front end. Bumper, headlamps, grille and the bonnet itself have been redesigned. It’s taken the best automotive designers we’ve got [please no tittering at the back] two years of careful consideration to re-style the Mini. And it shows.’
At this point you’ll probably start reading it to yourself in that curious mock transatlantic voice, which certain voice-over chaps in the late Sixties used to use to hide their well-rounded and polished public school vowels. It continues:
That’s not all. It’s a bi happening inside the Mini Clubman too. For the first time a Mini has wind-up windows set in padded doors. Then there’s air-flow ventilation out of a brand new fascia. The seats are new. The steering wheel’s new. In fact there’s so much new about the Mini Clubman, there’s only one way to discover it all. Go see it. Let it all happen.”
Right-ty-o dad-dy-o, you old cosmic groover…
Of course, what the Clubman was really all about was helping to establish a BL corporate face by giving the Mini a touch of the Maxies – and in return, helping to freshen up the old fella to make the most of its rekindled popularity following the 1967 fuel crisis. Yes, it had a lot of new stuff going on – but under the bonnet was our dear old iron-blocked pal, the A-series.
Fast forward to 2009 and the Clubman has long been a favourite of Mini transplanters because its Maxi-like front gives a lot of opportunity for something more powerful to be fitted. After all, you can only go so far with an A-series before either it or your bank account will go bang.
Mention Clubmans amid the Mini scene and there are two responses – the traditionalists who bemoan the car for vandalising the Mini’s classic cheekiness or those of us who fondly remember them from our childhoods.
Modders though, look at the Clubman with different eyes, because what they’re interested in as the potential underneath that spacious square-cut front. It’s an engine bay which is almost begging for a transplant and in Matthew Lawrence’s case he had dreams involving a Honda VTEC.
So Matthew, which came first your fixation with Minis or Hondas? “Minis – my first car was a 998cc Mini, then I had a Civic VTI and then two Integra Type-Rs one after the other and now this, a 1976 1098cc Clubman.
“The Clubman was in original condition but it was bog standard. The front floors had large holes in them, the wings were shot – and so were the A-panels, inner arches, and the inner and outer sills. It was fairly bad really,” says Matthew with a heavy dose of understatement.
“The engine is from a Japanese spec EK9 Civic Type-R, it did take a fair bit of work to install it, but now I sort of forget how much was really involved. Thinking about it, there was quite a bit of messing around.”
Did it involve a lot of subframe jiggory-pokery? “The subframe I got from Allspeed Engineering, but it wasn’t designed for the EK9’s engine, so I did have to change it around quite a bit to get it to fit because it’s got different engine mounts.
“I had to cut all the inner wings out. I then bolted the engine up in there, with some help from Dad, and cut the bulkhead and stepped it back by about 4 inches to get the Honda inlet manifold on. I didn’t have the bodywork done, but the car was pretty much there. I even had it running, but then I had to pull it all apart and painted it. Everything else was just built around it.”
Filling in the missing gaps of the spec, is a custom exhaust system which utilises Integra Type-R and new Mini Cooper S components. The brakes are KAD 8.4 inch vented discs, whilst rear Cooper S drums follow up behind with EBC competition linings and the servo is inside the car too. The suspension consists of: standard rubber cones with Gaz adjustable dampers, Hi-Los; the front is fully Rose-jointed and is adjustable for camber and castor, while the rear is adjustable for camber.
Was that a case of trial and error with setting up the suspension? “Yeah, I started with the standard settings and just went from there. It’s running slightly more positive castor at the front with more negative camber at the rear.
“It turned out better than I thought it would. It doesn’t get too much attention because most people don’t realise what’s in it. At Himley, I left the bonnet shut and everyone was walking past it – but as soon as I opened the bonnet, that was it, everyone crowded around.”
We’re not surprised because this Clubman VTEC really is a stunning piece of work. However two things really stand out above everything else. Its subtlety – despite running a VTEC with Honda five-speed and LSD, it retains the Clubman’s track and at normal speeds you’d never know that there was a 185bhp beast under that familiar nose; and Matthew – he tackled everything on this car, even the paint and built the custom dash (using a modified Civic LSI instrument cluster), giving the car a superb professional finish.
It’s understandable therefore that when Matthew says: “Nothing has been shipped to anyone,” that you can detect a faint touch of pride in his voice.
“It’s been used a fair bit lately, I did 160 miles in it yesterday and last year I did drag race it at Avon Park where it clocked the quarter mile in the low 14s – and that was with the suspension not quite there, because it was torque-steering a bit.
Any other plans for this stealth Seventies projectile? “I’m not really tempted to get more power because it goes nuts after 6000rpm anyway, plus its lower geared than it would have been in the CTR and the Clubman is lighter too.”
Job done and in the bag, Matthew climbs into the Bronze Yellow Clubman – it’s a couple of rungs up the eye-catching ladder from the Clubman’s original Sandglow paintjob – he fires it up. Again, there is really is little to suggest that there’s one of the world’s finest performance four-cylinders in this Mini. Such is the quality of the work (Matthew has only previously restored his Mum’s 1993 Cooper to OE-spec) that you’d just think that this was a subtly tuned Mini.
That is of course, before he disappears with the taps open and the needle screaming around to the realm of the bonkers cam profile. Boy, if only you could hear it! Oh hold on, you can…
Lawrence BL Mini Clubman VTEC
Technical Specification
- Body: 1976 BL Mini Clubman 1098cc with modified inner wings bulkhead and modified Allspeed Engineering front subframe, Gp2 wheelarch trims (plus rubber strip). Full Sparco rollcage, stripped out interior, race bucket seats and harnesses, Cooper drilled alloy door furniture. Paint: BL Bronze Yellow.
- Engine: Honda B16B 98 Spec R, DOHC, 1585cc, 81.0 x 77.4mm, CR: 10.8:1, 16-valve with VTEC variable valve control, electronic fuel injection, Rover Mini Cooper fuel tank with Honda CRX fuel pump and sender. Max Power: 183bhp @ 8200rpm; max torque: 111lb.ft @ 7000rpm.
- Transmission: Front-wheel drive, five-speed Honda gearbox with Honda quickshift, limited-slip differential.
- Suspension: BL rubber cones, Gaz adjustable dampers, Hi-Los, Rose-jointed fully-adjustable front suspension (rear suspension adjustable for camber).
- Brakes: Front: KAD 8.4 inch vented discs; rear: Cooper S drums with EBC competition linings, servo-assisted (servo located in boot).
- Wheels & Tyres: Revolution Motorsport 7J x 13in alloys with Yokohama A539 175/50R13 tyres.
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