The ERA Mini Turbo is a modified

Mini The Mini is a very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally ...

city car The A-segment is the first category in the passenger car classification system defined by the European Commission. It is used for city cars, the smallest category of passenger cars defined. A-segment sales represented approximately 4.2% of the ...

that was produced by

English Racing Automobiles English Racing Automobiles (ERA) was a British racing car manufacturer active from 1933 to 1954. Prewar history ERA was founded by Humphrey Cook, Raymond Mays, and Peter Berthon in November 1933 and established in Bourne, Lincolnshire, next t ...

under the ERA brand name from 1989 to 1991 at

Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north. Dunstable is the fou ...

in Bedfordshire, England. The fastest-ever version of the original Mini to be sold through official dealers, it has been described as "the spiritual successor to the Cooper and the 1275 GT". ERA Mini Turbo rear

To create the car, ERA installed a

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into the ...

Austin Rover A-Series 1300

MG Metro MG, Mg, or mg and variants may refer to: Arts Entertainment * MG, a character in ''The Perhapanauts'' comics * Magilla Gorilla, a cartoon character * ''Match Game'', a television game show Music * '' Main gauche'', "left hand" in piano playi ...

engine, which produces at 6200 rpm and gave the car a claimed top speed of , in a standard Mini and modified the body, suspension, brakes, water and oil cooling systems, and interior. The

body kit A body kit or bodykit is a set of modified body parts or additional components that are installed on a car. They are typically composed of front and rear bumper (automobile), bumpers, side skirts, spoiler (automotive), spoilers, bonnets (bonne ...

was styled by Dennis Adams, who also designed the

Marcos Marcos may refer to: People with the given name ''Marcos'' *Marcos (given name) * Marcos family Sports ;Surnamed * Dayton Marcos, Negro league baseball team from Dayton, Ohio (early twentieth-century) * Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer * Né ...

sports cars and the Probe 16 (the car used in 'A Clockwork Orange'). The car, which uses mostly

Austin Rover The Austin Rover Group (abbreviated ARG) was a British motor manufacturer. It was created in 1982 as the mass-market car manufacturing subsidiary of British Leyland (BL). Previously, this entity had been known as BL Cars Ltd (formerly Leyland ...

components, was marketed through Austin Rover dealers. The interior has specially narrowed MG Metro front seats trimmed in

Connolly Leather Connolly Leather Limited was a British supplier of highly finished leather primarily to car manufacturers. Founded in 1878, it went out of business in that form in 2002. A successor firm, Connolly Brothers, UK, has resumed producing tradition ...

hide or a mix of grey tweed and leather, VDO instruments in an ERA-designed dash panel, pile carpeting, and a sunroof.

Torque steer Torque steer is the unintended influence of Torque#Machine torque, engine torque on the steering, especially in front-wheel drive, front-wheel-drive vehicles. For example, during heavy acceleration, the steering may pull to one side, which may be ...

, common in a

front-wheel drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of internal combustion engine, engine and transmission (mechanics), transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel-drive vehicles feature ...

layout, is mitigated by greater front-wheel toe-out and specially-made lower front suspension arms that provide 1.5 degrees of negative camber. The 6" x 13" aluminium alloy wheels are intended for either Goodyear or Dunlop 165/60HR13 low-profile tyres. The servo-assisted braking system has Metro ventilated discs and four-pot calipers at the front, with modified drums at the rear. The car has adjustable

shock absorber A shock absorber or damper is a mechanical or hydraulics, hydraulic device designed to absorb and Damping ratio, damp shock (mechanics), shock impulses. It does this by converting the kinetic energy of the shock into another form of energy (typic ...

s all round, and the

ride height Ride height or ground clearance is the amount of space between the base of an automobile tire and the lowest point of the automobile, typically the bottom exterior of the differential housing (even though the lower shock mounting point may be l ...

is lowered. A total of 436 ERA Mini Turbos were produced.

References

{{Reflist

External links

ERA Mini Turbo web site
Cars of England Mini vehicles Cars introduced in 1989 1990s cars Cars discontinued in 1991