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The UK's leading tuning specialist for "A" series engines |
The cars shown on this page are just a selection owned by a cross section of customers at Bill Richards Racing. Over the years Bill Richards Racing has supplied engines and prepared cars for numerous customers worldwide competing in many forms of motorsport. In addition we have also built some very high specification cars for road use.
| Ben's update June 2005:
I
am still waiting by the phone for that elusive tyre deal to come along for
some cheap hillclimb Good luck to Bill, Lee and the team in 2005" Ben
Norfolk |
"Since
the heady glory days of a championship class title in the ACSMC Speed
Series, Sophie the Mini has undergone some serious work in the garage. A
re shell was needed after some terminal bulkhead damage and so the chain
of events began... The cage was welded in with additional supports for
torsional stiffness and a new cooling system was designed and built using
an electric water pump, front mounted radiator and an alloy swirl pot
along with silicon hoses, which should help the power stakes now I can
control the engine temperature.
  Here's
David Stutz, another of our customers who competes in Luxembourg. This is
a picture of his second race, which was a combination of Hill climb and
slalom. David finished ahead of some Honda Civic's and even an M3 BMW,
despite being on standard tyres. The car ran faultlessly and a lot of
people were amazed that David arrived even without a toolbox (not
necessary when you have a well built road car...built by Bill Richards
Racing, of course !)
Photo by: Otmar Britz www.automobilsport.com |
Another non-Mini, lovingly maintained by
Bill Richards and the team. The engine was re-built by Bill in 1997,
which has made the car a lot more fun to drive. Sue and Jim Judd
are keen entrants in the MSA Euroclassic. This year will be the
eighth such event for them. Past events have taken them to Prague
and Budapest, Monza, Venice via the Stelvio pass (with 48 hairpin bends
on the Tyrol side) and this year it's off to Valencia. Average
mileage covered on these events and back home is 2,500 miles in 10 days.
The car also gets thrown around a few race tracks for fun, therefore it
needs to be well prepared!
Sue's Sprite is pictured above at the famous Paul Ricard race-circuit near Marseilles, France |
Martin Breathwick - Back to top
| This is Martin Breathwick's
beautiful Mk5 Mini. Martin is a city financier and has had this
car built as road/track day car. This type of role always poses a few
challenges for an engine builder. The car must be tractable enough to
handle London traffic but sporty enough to be entertaining as a track
day car. Martin's machine has an interesting spec, it's been built with
a 1425cc long stroke set-up. The shell used for Martin's project is the
latest from Rover Heritage and has been painted in red/white - it's got
a Union Jack on the roof and it does look very nice indeed. We look
forward to seeing it out on the track later in the year
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Click on the images to see the full sized photos
|
 Recently
featured in MiniWorld Magazine, Chris Hill's Mini started off with what
appeared to be a 1984 Mayfair although it was later found to have a
particularly rust free 1995 body shell. The previous owner had done quite
a lot of work to the car but Chris had plans for this one, his Mini was
going to be a fast road machine but with the sort of performance and
handling that would make it a really good track-day weapon. Chris had
spent a fair amount of time fettling the car but when it came time to up
the horsepower he came to Bill and sorted out a nice 1380cc motor with a up-rated
gearbox to deal with the extra power. A visit to Peter Baldwin's rolling
road enabled the carburation to be set-up and Chris's car was found to be
producing 115 bhp at the crank. As with most projects, this one is still
unfinished and Chris is already looking at going to an even higher
specification motor.
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Click on the images to see the full sized photos
|
 Rupert
recently brought his 1973 Innocenti Cooper 1300 to Bill, having found
him through this website. He'd bought his car in April and although he
had found no major problems, the motor was using a fair bit of oil and
wasn’t as sharp as he would have liked.
Bill went to work and has transformed the engine, diagnosing the oil problem and fitting a variety of new parts, including camshaft, valves, pistons, radiator, electronic ignition, plugs, etc. He also added new disc brakes, new shocks, and a new clutch! Rupert found Bill’s and Lee’s enthusiasm and expertise to be remarkable and he was delighted to have been able to benefit from them. Rupert saya that he intends to continue to visit for jobs large or small – and he is hoping that Bill does not succeed, as he said that he would, in wrecking his marriage! (please note that for readers not familiar with Innocenti Minis - please examine the photo closely, the red vehicle is not Ruperts Innocenti !)
|
 This
is Tristen Knight's 1380 cc Sprint Mini, he's just completed his first
sprinting season double driving with his brother Tom. Tristen has
been competing in the AEMC sprint championship and has managed 4 wins
and 2 second places from just 8 sprints only just losing out on the
championship, still second place in his first season has got to be
considered a huge success! Tristen's brother Tom started later in
season and is eager to get behind the wheel more often in the coming
season.
Over the winter Bill and Lee are going to be involved in a few modifications for the 2005 season which include adding a Limited Slip Diff, further cylinder head work and a change to programmable ignition. Tristen would very much like to pass on his thanks to: Bill and Lee for all their help, Sarah Munns and Tim Cole for their helpful advice and of course his Father for all his hard work that he's put into the car. |
Tony and Louise Street - Back to top
|
"Bill was asked to take our treasured Mini Cooper 1275cc and tune it within the limitations of the Rover fitted ECU unit. Bill's response was to build a 1293cc, lightened and balanced engine using precision engineered race spec items, including a custom made Piper CAM. The cylinder head was gas flowed to optimise the available injection of fuel. A four speed, straight cut gear box was fitted with a lowered final drive ratio of 3.7:1. The Braking system was up-rated with 4 pot alloy callipers, drilled/grooved discs and alloy rear drums. Once all this was put together, the car geometry was addressed and it now all works together in perfect harmony ! We now have a car that can be driven every day with the perfect combination of acceleration and torque for around town journeys. The handling of the car is precise and the engine note turns more heads than we would normally expect !".
Click on the images to see the full sized photos
|
 Bill
has recently completed the preparation of a 1964 Austin Mini Cooper 'S'
for Belgian Rally driver Jean Saeys. Jean's Mini Cooper S recently
competed in the 'Neige et Glace' (Snow and
Ice) rally. This event, which is one of the Classic winter rallies, took
place in February 2006, it included vehicles from pre-war to 1977 and
consists of three days of thrills and chills on the winding,
winter-white roads of the French Alps. Jeans's Cooper competed in group
6/7 - which includes vehicles produced
between 1960 and 1977. Jean Reports, "The car did it
perfectly, it was a real pleasure to drive!....... thank you for
the perfect and professional job you did!" Jean and his
co-driver Frédéric Saeys finished
1st in class and 12th overall, an excellent result. |
 Just
in case you wonder who it is that puts this site together and if that
person is a Mini enthusiast - here's your answer: I don't currently own
a Mini but Bill used to look after 'Flossie', my little red Mayfair. My
Mini was my daily transport rather than a track-day special and was set
up for fun rather than comfort. My car had had up-rated suspension
bushes, a mildly tweaked motor, racing seats and harnesses and a customs
dashboard with very nice stereo. The most distinctive thing about
Flossie was its outrageously huge tailpipe - not that it was overly
loud, it just had a very unusual engine note. Flossie is pictured here
in one of her more important roles, she was used to drive my wife and I
from our wedding to our honeymoon. We had lots of fun with Flossie, we
attended several Mini rallies and travelled widely to officiate at Motor-sport
events. |
