Allardette to challenge Cooper-Minis?

According to the Daily Mail Sydney Allard “arrived at the final stages of the R.A.C. Rally in a prototype ‘hot rod’ Ford Anglia which he is to market at £760 as a rival to the 90-m.p.h. B.M.C. Cooper-Mini car.” The report went on to explain that the Allardette will be a supercharged Anglia with disc front brakes and suspension modifications. How Allard contrived to use it for the final stages of the Rally in which he had started in a more normal Anglia and from which supercharged cars were barred, we do not understand. But we look forward in due course to driving this Allardette although we do not expect to be able to discover its exact power output by doing so, as Denis Holmes of the Daily Mail did—”I tried it out and found it has a 56% power increase….”

This implies a gross output of 64 b.h.p., which is seven more than the Cooper-Minis have and should provide excellent performance although whether the road-holding can possibly rival that of a Cooper-Mini’s remains to be seen. The price represents an increase of only £132 over that of a standard de luxe Anglia but is £80 above that of a Cooper-Mini; the only objection we have to supercharging is that it usually results in a furious increase in fuel consumption. We shall look forward to trying the Allardette with interest.

Meanwhile, John Surtees, whom we congratulate on his engagement to Patricia Burke, has taken delivery of a Cooper-Mini from John Cooper.