MiniSpace Home -> The Mini -> Mini Heroes

- Sir Alec Issigonis - Jack Daniels - John Cooper - Leonard Lord

Alex Moulton - Stuart Turner - Paddy Hopkirk - Remy Julienne -

Sir Alec Issigonis Despite failing his maths exams three times at Battersea Technical College, the tall Issigonis became an engineer, joining Morris in 1936. Feeling that his successful Morris Minor design was too much of a compromise (Issigonis had intended it to have front-wheel drive and a flat four engine) het enthousiastically embraced Leonard Lord's commision to design the Mini, working almost alone on the design. The Mini was designed in just 2 years, when most cars were on the drawing board for at least seven. Sir Alec remained a consultant for Austin Rover into the 1980s, and died in 1988 at the age of 82.

Jack Daniels More than anyone else, BMC's Chief development Engineer Jack Daniels is probably the unsung hero of the Mini story. He admitted once to being "The perspiration behind the Inspiration" when it came to his working relationship with Issigonis. It was his job to turn Issigonis' pencil-sketches into reality; Daniels would often ahve been found charging around the Oxfordshire countryside testing prototype Minis until the small hours of the morning.

John Cooper The amazing thing about John Cooper is that he's probably more active within the Mini world now that he's ever been. Cooper's links with BMC chairman Sir George harriman was the key to the sporting Minis, but Cooper still had to persuade the BMC board and do the hard work. Without him, there'd be no Mini Cooper, no 'S' and none of the race and and rally victories that made the Mini the legend it is. Cooper's son is still tuning Minis today, recently in his newly opened Mini Cooper Centre, with Rovers approval.

Leonard Lord Lord was the Chairman of BMC, a bluff Yorkshireman with a talent for production engineering and a fondness for bad language. He was the one who instructed Issigonis to 'design a small car to get rid of the bubble-cars'. Lord had worked his way to the top of BMC via spells at Daimler, Hotchkiss and Morris, despite often not seeing eye to eye with William Morris. The Mini was his last big project and he retired in 1961, but remained honorary President of British Leyland until his death in 1967.

Alex Moulton Moulton had worked with Issigonis in the 1950s designing a prototype car with a hydraulic link between the front and rear suspension. Although this never left the drawing board, Moulton's links to Issigonis meant he was closely involved with the Mini's development from the start. He designed and developed the car's original rubber-cone suspension and also the fluid filled Hydrolastic suspension it was intended to have from the start. Hydrolastic was developed into Hydragas, and revised versions were adopted on the Metro and the current MGF-sportscar.

Stuart Turner A near-legend in motorsport circles, Stuart Turner made the works rally team the success it was. Working closely with Jon Cooper, the Abingdon-based team moved up a gear when Turner took over in 1961 and he modernised the sport, introducing both pace and ice notes, that were to prove so successful on endurance events such as the RAC and Monte Carlo Rally. Turner created one of the most successful rally teams in the hirtory of the sport.

Paddy Hopkirk The genial Irishman joined BMC to rally a big Healey, but ended up as the Mini man instead, famously winning the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally in a 1071S. He flourished under Stuart Turner and went onto take many international rally and race wins, latterly enjoying a second career as a historic rally driver, including victories on the 1990 Pirelli Classic Marathon in a Cooper S. In 1994 he drove a current Cooper on the Monte Carlo Rally, but retired after electrical problems.

And Ofcourse:


Remy Julienne !! The stunt driver from the Italian Job.

All the above biographies were taken from the January 1999 Issue of "Classics"