Mini Festivals 2015

[Dean]

we went along today ( sunday ) first time driving my mk1 to a show, i took it to beaulieu but it was a trailer queen.
so today was its first big drive and it went fault less, which was good, meet a few members , i meet someone opposite my mk1 with a very nice red mk1, sorry we did not exchange names, it was good to talk and thanks for the nice comments about my car,
also had a good chat to stuart , can't wait to see your photos as i did not take any.

did not really look through the cars in the car park, we headed and sat in the paddock grandstand and watched the racing which got really interesting once it started to spit with rain,
had a good walk around the paddock, some very nice cars down there, i really like this show, just over an hour from home, i normally pre book my tickets but this year forgot , so got robbed with the high ticket price. i swear you paid by car and your passenger was free if arrived in a mini??? not this year.

really enjoyed driving the mk1 to the show tho, another big milestone ,i took it via the country roads than getting on the A21 and M25, and boy the road surfaces around here are crap, you don't realise when you drive modern cars, but you do in a mini, its been many many year since i had one on the road, and you feel big differences in road surfaces, pole holes etc,
got stuck behind a stupid sidecar motorbike that would sit just under the speed limit and takes ages to speed up , then got caught by a old dear in a micra on the way back, after 5-10 miles we had a 30 car tail back, 40 mph all the way and slowed down before every hill, glad i stopped for fuel so she disappeared
its also amazing the people you meet, even at a petrol station, a bloke next to me in a 3 series black BMW, started talking to me and he has a green 63 super deluxe,

same the other mini festival is a bit to far, like it is for the brands show for others, but a good idea to split it between to venues,

oh and i did not win the swiftness engine. !!!!!! so lucky bugger did tho.

[mab01uk]

Some photos from today.

[mab01uk]

[mab01uk]

[mab01uk]

[Flygirl]

Mab, fantastic pictures! Thank you for posting.

[foxy52]

So say I to mab,.. great pics some thunderous kit there in the form of mk 1 racing cars very nice ......foxy52

[surfblue63]

It was a good day yesterday, lots of action on the track from all the races. Unfortunately for Rich his race didn't last long, I'm sure he will let us all know what happened.

I have a load of pictures which I will upload during the week.

Just for now he is the first lap of the Sanwa at Graham Hill bend, were we have lift off!!

IMG_2900.JPG

[mk1]

He fell off!

I spoke to him last night & he thinks that he slipped on his own oil, but no doubt he will be able to give us all the full SP when he is back to normal tomorrow.

M

[Pete]

when he is back to normal tomorrow.

He was normal??

[Pete]

IMG_2900.JPG

That's a rare sight, a car in front of Swifty's! (can't be getting lapped that early on? )

Can't remember who drove the Swifty works car but he took the car from the back of the grid to the front and also took some very original lines in the first race when it started raining on Sunday which proved very entertaining if anyone watched it. I also thought Milicevic did really well in that first race considering he's only just started racing a car that he built himself!

Where was Mr YMJ?

[rich@minispares.com]

i managed six or so laps and slithered off paddock hill bend into the gravel trap

it was just about flat in forth and the car dug in pretty hard - I was just lucky that I kept it straight and it stopped about two feet off the tyres...

it stopped that fast that I broke the steering wheel (which im gutted about - ive had it years and it meant a lot to me!) and its shoved the floor up on the drivers side.

its going to need taking to bits really, as the rear subframe didn't really survived been dragged backwards (twice) by the telehandler as the marshalls got it out the way - but that's something or nothing.

the rest of the weekend was great, some excellent racing

[InimiaD]

[/quote]Where was Mr YMJ?[/quote]

Tim's car was in the "Tidy boys" garage. Dan Wheeler took it out for qualifying on the Saturday and despite some good times the car, sadly, suffered with what was thought to be a pinched valve.
Tim repaired the head on Sunday morning, but Minis being Minis it still didn't want to play.

Shame about your race Rich. I didn't see the "falling off" bit as the "Tidy Boys" had left the circuit due to having a turgid weekend and no Minis actually working.

[YMJ]

Where was Mr YMJ?[/quote]

Tim's car was in the "Tidy boys" garage. Dan Wheeler took it out for qualifying on the Saturday and despite some good times the car, sadly, suffered with what was thought to be a pinched valve.
Tim repaired the head on Sunday morning, but Minis being Minis it still didn't want to play.

Shame about your race Rich. I didn't see the "falling off" bit as the "Tidy Boys" had left the circuit due to having a turgid weekend and no Minis actually working. [/quote]

I'm never doing that again........honouring a family commitment on the Saturday whilst my car gets ragged 86 miles away.

Dan was just winding himself up to put the car on the front row (No, we, really believed it was on) when the car suddenly developed a misfire. Having replaced the valves and guides after Donington, my first thought was I hadn't honed out the guides enough. The old valves go back in - there was nothing wrong with them, just a bit worn but the misfire still pervaded. Turned out the head had suddenly gone porous - I didn't know they could do that after 5 years use - and was letting water into chambers 3 and 4.

BUT......... 24 hours later and I have a new/old 940 casting cut (bugger the day job!) - new valve seats arriving tomorrow!

Big thanks to Endaf and Dai for looking after the car - I owe them a head gasket and many many beers - I won't forget it!

[InimiaD]

We were only too happy to help in some way. It's just a pity, collectively, we couldn't get the motor fixed and back out racing.
Good news with the new head and good luck for your future outings.

[LuisM]

Can't remember who drove the Swifty works car but he took the car from the back of the grid to the front and also took some very original lines in the first race when it started raining on Sunday which proved very entertaining if anyone watched it.

Swiftune car was driven by Ellis Bradley, a young racer driving in some modern GT/Endurance series... seen it here in Portugal driving Swiftune's car, he is fast... had a great battle with Peter Baldwin/Graham Churchill....and it was his first race with the minis!

[YMJ]

Can't remember who drove the Swifty works car but he took the car from the back of the grid to the front and also took some very original lines in the first race when it started raining on Sunday which proved very entertaining if anyone watched it.

Swiftune car was driven by Ellis Bradley, a young racer driving in some modern GT/Endurance series... seen it here in Portugal driving Swiftune's car, he is fast... had a great battle with Peter Baldwin/Graham Churchill....and it was his first race with the minis!

Cannot remember this young man (Ellis) starting from any further back than the front row. He's quick, but not that quick!

[Pete]

Pretty sure on the Sunday App K race he was way down the back at the start.

[rich@minispares.com]

Pretty sure on the Sunday App K race he was way down the back at the start.

he started 22nd, finished 3rd

[surfblue63]

We are gathered hear today to moan the loss of Syd the Steering Wheel