Thunderbirds Are Go!

- Craig 'Watto' Watson

First up was a fairly short trip to Sydney, about 900km (559.2 miles) from home, in August for the Rylstone Classic Rally (see report in the November 2017 issue of MiniWorld) and the All British Day.

The red Mini ‘Clubvan’ has been fitted with a 3.2:1 differential, meaning two things: firstly, it now cruises comfortably at a genuine 100km/h (62mph) at around 3,700rpm, which makes light work of a 10-hour trip up the freeway. Secondly, the speedo is now absolutely dead accurate. It is without doubt the most accurate speedo I have ever seen in a Mini.

Unfortunately, the speedo in the 1969 yellow Mini Van (Thunderbird 4) was fairly accurate before changing to a 3.2:1 final drive ratio. Now it under-reads by about 10 per cent. With the current emphasis on speeds on our Australian roads, being caught just 5km/h over the speed limit lumps you in the same antisocial class as someone who tortures little animals or runs down school children.

In order to avoid the wrath of the law, I have to do some mental mathematical gymnastics to even know what speed I’m doing. For example, and because the speedo in the yellow Van is in mph, if it says I’m doing 55mph, then I’m really doing 100km/h. Simply put, if I deduct 5mph then double it I get about the right speed in km/h.

So, I have a digital speedo app on my phone, which is an essential tool when driving the Thunderbird. I’m sure Gerry Anderson never had to worry about such things!

Meanwhile, getting back to the red Mini, a 1976 Leyland Australia square-nose Van (yes, we really did manufacture such things Down Under), the trip to Sydney was going very well, until we reached Rylstone.