General Mike spence motorsport

[Scoupe tom]

What do people know about the UNOs done by mike spence motorsport as I have 1 but know little about it?

 

[farmer.palmer]

A friend of mine had an early white mk2 turbo that had been developed by Mike Spence. It was considerably quicker than standard. That's all I really know... I can remember the reg though, it was J251.

 

[Scoupe tom]

That's all I can really find out about those UNOs developed by mike spence, I've got a magazine pullout from 1987 on a test on 1 but not mine. It came with the car in the box of history

 

[oldskoolmk1unoturbo]

prob nothing more than a k&n filter, stainless exhaust and a bleed valve

 

[Scoupe tom]

Got stainless exhaust, k&n, don't know about bleed valve, got koni suspension all round, updated brakes (I think), water injection, strut brace (really oldskool) I'm just unsure about what else engine wise inside :-s

 

[daveg53]

I worked at the Mike Spence dealership in Shinfield near Reading in the late eighties. It's long since gone and is an Esso petrol station now.They sold and serviced Lancia and Lotus. I also remember on the forecourt for sale were two Fiat Uno's with massive flared arches and wide wheels. One was bright red and the other a metallic green colour. They both had a "Uno 55" badge on the boot but were allegedly good for 160 mph! Unfortunately I never got to drive either of them.

 

[10navigator]

I owned a de-badged Mike Spence modified Uno Turbo around 1988. A motoring mag' had produced a feature entitled "Midget Gem", extolling the virtues of the car and in particular, the transformation brought about in performance by the addition of water-injection, uprated suspension and brakes. It was the ultimate 'wolf in sheep's clothing' at the time. It'd eat Escort Turbo's for breakfast. I bought the car with 6,000 miles on the clock from an engineer based in Buxton, (I was in Doncaster at the time). The owner frightened me to death taking me out for a test drive to demonstrate the car's capabilities. When I sold the car to 'upgrade' to a new Renault Turbo Coupe, (hand- assembled in Dieppe), it was quite frankly a disappointment. It wasn't until 2000, when I bought a Lotus 340-R (no 315 of 340 built) that I got the same buzz. The Mike Spence Uno Turbo was by far the biggest 'grin per buck' I ever experienced.
As a post script, the owner of the Turbo, around 2010, tracked me down here in Spain to ask some long forgotten specs for the car. I replied with as much as I could recall, and pointed him in the direction of "Midget Gem", the feature in the car magazine that had first sparked my interest. Happy days!

 

[10navigator]

I worked at the Mike Spence dealership in Shinfield near Reading in the late eighties. It's long since gone and is an Esso petrol station now.They sold and serviced Lancia and Lotus. I also remember on the forecourt for sale were two Fiat Uno's with massive flared arches and wide wheels. One was bright red and the other a metallic green colour. They both had a "Uno 55" badge on the boot but were allegedly good for 160 mph! Unfortunately I never got to drive either of them.

Dave, I can attest to very marked 'torque-steer' in the Mike Spence Turbo if you were 'giving it beans' off the line. Top whack as I recall was around 140mph with a following breeze. My post below outlines my very fond memories of ownership of the ultimate 'wolf in sheep's clothing'.

 

[10navigator]

prob nothing more than a k&n filter, stainless exhaust and a bleed valve

Brembo brakes, koni shocks and dampers allied to water injection made a significant upgrade to performance to include power, handling and stopping.
Mine had 6000 miles on it when I bought it. Mike Spence took the stock item and the conversion was around 1,700 pounds from memory. A fair chunk in 1987.