At last, work has properly started on the build of the Freestyle and with any luck and the wind behind us, it should turn a wheel at an autotest during the summer. I have decided to do a "dirty build" first, it feels wrong bolting on parts in need of a refurbish, but the idea is to find out what fits and what doesn't, what extra brackets are required and what bits are missing.

 The Freestyle is designed to take standard Mini rear shock absorbers at the front with the upper arms modified to form rockers. With the standard spring platforms cut off, the Gaz coil-over shock-absorbers fit a treat. These are the off-set type that allow the coil springs to fit in a Minis rear wheel arch.

The rear suspension also has Gaz coil-overs, this time Mini front units, here though a problem arose, as can be seen below, the top mounts are further forward to make sure that the coil spring clears the sub-frame tower. This means that the standard pin in the upper arm is too short and will have to be replaced

Still at the rear, with the a front subframe and hubs but no steering rack, the hubs must be prevented from swinging around. The standard arrangement is for a rod that attaches to the sub-frame at one end with a bush and uses a standard track-rod end at the other. With the constant rapid switching from accelerating to braking in autotesting, the bush will be replaced with a rose joint so a couple of new rods are being turned up.

The lowered suspension arms both front and rear are also rose-jointed and fully adjustable.

After the suspension, attention turned to the petrol tank, as luck would have it, not long after seeing Dave Smart's tank made from an adapted fire extinguisher, I acquired a suitable unit that had been discharged and then thrown away. It will be mounted as low as possible at the back of the chassis.

The next area for attention will be the ergonomics, there are considerable forces involved as you hand-brake turn, reverse-flick and hit the brake and accelerator pedal in turn, it is vital that all the controls are easy to use and that the driver does not have to hang on to the steering wheel or gear lever to brace against the forces.

I once drove a Mini special in Dublin autotest and it was a revelation, the fit of the seat and the location of the controls were spot-on, making it much easier to control the car. The starting point will therefore be the seat, I have bought a Kart seat and the position of this will be established first with attention to the ease of looking forward and back. Next the new pedal box (along with balance bar brake pedal) will be made such that the pedals are in just the right place. After that, new brackets will be fabricated to position the steering wheel so that it can be turned from lock to lock as easily as possible without having to stretch - or risking contact between elbow and the chassis side rail. Finally the position of the gear lever and fiddle brakes will be determined.