The Australian Job

In 1969 a heist film by the name of The Italian Job saw a crew of mobsters attempting to swindle Turin-based carmaker Fiat out of a lot of money. To cut a long story short, the mobsters needed compact, agile vehicles to escape the traffic chaos of Turin, so a trio of classic Mini Cooper S were used in several daring stunt scenes. Despite Michael Caine and Co’s efforts, the cars became the real stars of the film.

The 1969 Mk II Mini was driven hard through streets and laneways, down stairs, spun around, sent airborne over jumps and even into storm drains. Sounds fun, right?

In an attempt to relive those halcyon days, your truly enrolled at the Stunt Driving School, which as luck would have it employs the use of MINI Coopers (as opposed to Mini Coopers) to perform a variety of different stunts, including jumps, spins and a handbrake-assisted parallel park that would make Ace Ventura proud. And probably get my car impounded and crushed by the Constabulary if I tried it on a public road...

While the stunts are not quite at the level of those orchestrated by Rémy Julienne in The Italian Job -- how many times have you seen a Mini drive upside down? -- the ‘auto-batic’ endeavours certainly get your adrenaline going...

As the instructors clarify, there is an instriuctor in the car with you at all times to make sure you don't get too out of shape. It's this eye on safety that gives the Stunt Driving School crew the scope to let drivers off the leash.

Kevin Flynn founded the Stunt Driving School and has been an advanced driving instructor for more than two decades. He also runs one of the world's most sought after anti-terrorism driving training courses and regularly teaches military and law enforcement agencies (both domestic and international) how to stay out of trouble.

So how did the Stunt Driving School idea come about?

"The idea for the course was basically just one of those daydreams that people have from time to time," explains Kevin.

"I was doing quite a bit of driving for television commercials and new car launches at the time, as well as conducting driver training courses. I thought it would be a great idea to put the two together and let the general public experience some of the fun things we do with cars, in a safe and controlled environment."

And if the kids ask, don't try this at home...

"Just by the nature of the stunts that we do and the way they are conducted, it would be pretty hard to replicate them in the real world," states Flynn.

"It's much less hassle and more fun to just come and spend the morning with us. Besides, we burn through just over 600 tyres a year... It could get a little expensive at home!"

Once everything is explained at the safety briefing, I sign away my left kidney and head out to the stunt arena, or Stuntodrome as I like to call it.

But as Flynn explained, the rain actually makes things a little easier -- due to the reduced friction between tyre and road surface. Another surprise was the variety of different ages represented at the school, and as Flynn commented, thrillseeking young men are not the core clientele.

"We don’t have many young guys come along, the average age of our drivers is around 45 years old. We also get lots of mums doing the course as well!"

All you need to participate in the course is valid driving license and the ability to drive a manual car.

You also have to be in the zone, mentally, to do some of these tricks (unless you grew up in Frankston, like I did). Most people will need to psyche themselves up for the challenge of operating a motor vehicle in a way that flies in the face what you've been taught and what's legal.

Approaching a large ramp at a decent speed can be a confronting experience, as can spinning a car around at a dizzying rate. And it's not as easy as you'd think to just flick a car around like a toy.

Approaching the ramp jump, the car feels sure-footed and balanced and though the first time you approach the ramp is unsettling (What if I careen over the edge and the car explodes in a fiery morass of molten metal?) everything goes surprisingly smoothly.

There's an initial thump through the front wheels as they connect with the entry ramp followed by a brief moment of weightlessness as the cars gets airborne for a handful of milliseconds, and then it lands smoothly back on terra firma.

Remarkably, the 1.6-litre MINI Coopers used are almost completely standard. There's no structural reinforcements or beefed up suspension.

"The only mods we make are the fitting of a specially boosted hydraulic hand brake, twin digital speedos (one for the driver and one for the instructor) and a speed limiting device for the jumps," says Flynn.

After several runs over the ramp it's time to try my hand at the 180 degree handbrake-assisted parallel parking spin. You know the one: the car park is full; there's one space left and someone else is fast approaching... With this trick you can reverse flick the car into position in under 3.5 seconds, no dramas.

Accelerate to 50km/h, jam on the handbrake and flick the wheel... Job done! Well, not quiet, it's a lot harder to perfect than it sounds. Getting the rear end of the vehicle to spin around isn't too difficult but getting it spin exactly 180 degrees, and not 150 degrees or 220 degrees, takes practice.

It's also a huge amount of fun as you're always in control, unlike the final stunt...

The multiple 360 degree spin stunt takes place on the Stunt Driving School's unique 'split surface' system and is a clever setup that delivers extraordinary results.
With stability control and antilock deactivated on one of the MINI Cooper stunt cars, drivers simply accelerate to a set speed, grit their teeth and then jam on the brakes as they approach the indicated split surface. The consequence of this action is a gentle spin that builds up into a rapid, body wracking, G-force inducing rotation that can end in a full 1080-degree spin if conditions are ripe and the fickle hand of fate is feeling unfussy.

This particular stunt functions when the wheels on right side grip the bitumen while the wheels on the left side lose grip completely on the slick surface. The result is like a very intense theme park ride that throws its occupants around as if they're inside a giant tumble dryer (with air conditioning and a stereo).

And if you’re a bit shy... Don’t be! The classes are not intimidating nor too complex, but they are a shedload of fun. We're not convinced that these bigger, chubbier MINIs would be able to drive upside down and into the back of a moving truck, for instance, but they are predictable, safe and reliable.

"We originally had Toyota Yarises," notes Flynn, "and while they proved to be very durable little cars they lacked appeal. The change to MINI’s increased our customers by around 50 per cent. They are such cool little cars and pretty durable."

What we really want to know is how far a professional stunt driver can push a modern day MINI... Could it be driven on two wheels, or upside down in a storm water drain system?

"I’m not sure," laughs Flynn, "but I’m happy to help you find out if you provide the car!"

Check out stuntdrivingschool.com.au for more details.