Brewis 8-port Mini Special Saloon

10/08/2026

This weekend we learned of the sad passing of Steve Pattinson a fellow Special Saloon Mini racer in the 1970s and follower of our project and this page. Steve competed in a green Mini ‘Chug a Lug’ but also later in other series including in a VW Golf/Jetta.

We remain forever grateful to Steve for the occasion he lent a spare tyre at Lydden Hill, which allowed Graham to go on and win the race outright. Our condolences go out to Steve’s family & friends and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time. 💚

30/07/2026

We’ve been wanting to get a noise reading since fitting a repacked silencer. These days noise plays a large part in where and when you can run. Safe to say the Special Saloon Mini remains very 1970s in its volume!
Unfortunately this does limit our options to demo runs rather than trackdays as the exhaust length is critical to the Arden A-series engine’s performance with the 8 port head.
Noise test was conducted at 6,000rpm!

16/06/2026

Today we ran the Mini up after some maintenance jobs to run some checks. A re-packed exhaust silencer, rebuilt fuel pump and new clutch to name a few. I could only film from the drivers seat!

22/05/2026

17/04/2026

A big thank you to Remy Brooks-Johnson for the tip-off that has led to us collecting this spare 970S crankshaft, with rods and pistons thrown in! Very rare to find, let alone one without a re-grind or two…

21/03/2026

We’re currently working on a modified exhaust silencer to replace the original one, which has seen better days and probably isn’t doing very much.

The new Jetex silencer was unfortunately too large so this custom stainless one was chosen, however it still required a ‘flat’ to be added to ensure it fits snugly against the floor. It was expertly modified by JY Welding. Additional wadding has been added to pack out the silencer.

In the top picture you will see we have also fabricated a custom fl**ge to ensure a tight and reliable mating to the collector pipe, all taking care to ensure the total exhaust length is kept to Jim Whitehouse’s recommended measurement - 60” from valve stem to silencer tip.

09/01/2026

Happy New Year to our followers! I've just added a few more images from the Mini World photo shoot for you to enjoy. We had some computer problems at the backend of last year, but we're rolling again now thankfully.

For the car, we've just ordered a new silencer box from Jetex Exhausts and we are already looking at where we can run the car again this year. Stay tuned for more updates and thanks for taking an interest!

Russell

09/01/2026

29/08/2025

Apart from being fantastic race cars in their own right, the in-car sound of early Group A E30 BMW M3’s does bear some harmoic resemblance to our 8 port Mini.

If only the camera hadn’t failed at Brands Hatch last year I’d be able to show you. We must get some in-car footage next time the car’s out!