Sending A Mini With Tracks To Antartica Sure Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time

Of all of the goofy and delightful vehicles to ever wander the of Antarctica and the Arctic, I never thought I’d come across a vehicle seemingly less-suited to the icy wastes than Australia’s Volkswagen Beetle. But the Australians who brought the Bug to the continent really out did themselves with a Morris Mini Minor—on tracks, in fact.

It’s a rainy gross Friday here in Detroit, and on days like these, I wish to scroll around on my favorite YouTube channels to see what I’ve missed, if anything. Of course, I needed to revisit our major man Calum Giles, who appears to be making content explicitly for me.

Weird vehicles, Antarctic research stories, history; he’s very much price that like and subscribe.

Anyway, the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition needed a small, low-cost vehicle with more all-terrain capability, as their Beetles were limited to driving just a couple of miles around base camp.

Enter Teddy O’Hare, who was each an engineer and ran the business that brought Canadian heavy duty trucks all of the strategy to the Australian researchers within the Antarctic. O’Hare deserves a post all his own, as he was a completely incredible guy. His workshop was accountable for constructing the primary jet-powered truck, which became the primary truck to interrupt 200 mph. It was from his workshop the Mini-Trac was born.

O’Hare knew from his import business that the majority tracked vehicles were front-wheel drive, in order that’s what he went in search of. Add the Expedition’s requirements of low-cost and small and really just one vehicle on the time fit the bill—the Mini, or Morris Minor Mini because it was known back then. After testing and a couple of modifications—truthfully, lower than you may think—the Mini-Trac made its debut ice-side in 1965.

I’ll save the remaining of the story for Calum to inform, however it’s absolutely fascinating from start to complete. It took loads of experimentation and, ultimately, the Mini-Trac fell to that fatal flaw of most tiny British cars of the era; reliability. Still, it’s an enchanting slice of automotive and Antarctic history and well price a 20 minute mental break to observe.