The Funbuggies Freestyle is designed for off-roading, with the Mini engine at the back it gets good traction and with large diameter wheels, it has go anywhere capabilities in spades. However mine will only visit the rough stuff by accident as its intended purpose is autotesting. With that in mind the chassis arrived without the roofbars - not only reduces weight but also lowers the centre of gravity - and is being subject to a number of modifications to make it more suitable. Mini Register member Duncan Wild's Freestyle is proving very competitive, challenging for outright honours in national championship events, and a number of the modifications I am making have been inspired by his car.

At present the car is undergoing a "dirty build" with the mechanicals from the lightweight saloon exactly as they were removed. When all the components have been located and the necessary brackets welded in place, they will all be removed again, reconditioned and then refitted to the re-painted chassis. But first, to make life easier in the garage, a pair or trolleys were fabricated, one that will support the engine and box in the sub-frame, the other that will support the front of the chassis, with the subframe bolted in the back of the chassis, the two trollies make it easy to work on the chassis and move it about as required.

The first area is the suspension; the standard car has a clever rocker arm arrangement for the front suspension that uses Mini rear shock absorbers with a set of coil springs, while the rear uses the standard cones with Mini front shock absorbers. In order to be able to adjust the ride height and run the car lower than normal, the standard shocks and springs are being replaced by adjustable GAZ coil-over units, these are being supplemented by adjustable lower arms and tie rods.

Next up is the brakes, with all the weight at the rear, a pedalbox with a balance bar is being fabricated to enable adjustment to the front to rear pressures.

A plywood mock-up was made first to trial the fit and position of the pedals and then the dimensions transferred to some 6mm aluminium.

 The output from the master cylinder for the rear brakes will be routed via a Tee piece to the input of two more master cylinders; one for each rear wheel. A pair of fiddle brake levers will then operate these cylinders, allowing individual rear wheels to be locked to assist with tight turns.

As with the pedal box, scrap timber was used to mock up some brackets for the seat. In autotesting, with forward and rearward spin turns, the G forces can be quite high and being securely held in the seat is important to enable maximum control. A kart seat is being used, these are normally attached directly to the kart frame and need to be braced to replace the support, more 6mm aluminium sheet was bent to shape

And with the height and position of the seat worked out with the aid of the timber brackets, a pair of cross members were welded into the chassis and a pair of brackets fabricated to take the seat runners.