Belying its small size and apparent fragility, the Mini Cooper developed into the most successful works rally car of the 1960s.

In actual fact, the works had started campaigning the Mini in rallies before the advent of the Cooper version, though with a mere 850cc to play with, the car’s agility could not make up for its lack of power.

The Cooper’s arrival changed all that, and Pat Moss gave the car a dream international debut by winning the Ladies’ Prize in the 1962 Monte Carlo Rally.

Favourable handicapping enabled Moss to win the Tulip and German rallies outright, while ‘Flying Finns’ Rauno Aaltonen and Timo Makinen finished 3rd and 5th in that year’s RAC event to cap a brilliant year.

Driven by Aaltonen, Hopkirk and Makinen, the Mini Cooper achieved a number of prominent leaderboard finishes the following year, while the Monte’s Ladies’ Prize was secured once again, this time by Pauline Mayman.

By this time the first of the famous Cooper ‘S’ models - the 1,071cc ‘S’ - had arriv...