Rotary Midget project by Dutch 1960

3 minute(s) of a 97 minute read

Mini Mania's hard chrome moly axles, cited in the other thread close by, are about the same price per side as stock replacement axles at Moss. I'm thinking of going the Mini Mania route. Since I will not be slaloming this car, but just driving it around on the street, I think it should work just fine, and I don't really need an LSD or a welded differential (I have another '74 shell--thanks BillM--and a couple of ported engines, should I get serious about killing cones--one reason for this build is to reconnoiter and learn, for maybe doing a second competition build later on).

Hap, it's good to hear that the old RX3 pros are still around and remembered. Roger, Jim Downing, and Joe Varde were my racing heroes back in the day (I followed them in "On Track" magazine). The RX3s were "throwaway" cars back then, especially after the RX7s showed up, and darn if everyone didn't just throw away their RX3s. The RX3 itself wasn't much of a car, but the light weight matched with an early rotary engine was a fun combination, and the 510 and Capri guys didn't like it when you showed up with the noisy "beer keg" engined car.

My 1275 engined MG mutant has been dead reliable, point set and Lucas and all, matter of fact. But it has only two speeds, idle and full out. It also feels like it is working hard all the time, kind of like the old flat fender Jeep engines. The rotary has a peculiar "effortless" feel to the acceleration, and 100 hp in a car 800 lb or so lighter than the car it came in (the RX7), should make things very effortless. BTW, I have grown to like the 1275, too, it has its own charms.

Ron, that video is cool. 3/4/6 rotor engines = rotary on steroids.