UNFOUNDED RUMOR - Mini Magazine to close?

[mab01uk]

I'm not surprised but it looks like Mini Magazine may be closing soon?
https://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/t ... -magazine/

[rolesyboy]

All the major retailers like Tesco and Smiths seem to have drastically reduced the raft of car magazines on sale in the last 6 months. Magazine space at these places looks to have reduced to about 10% of what it was 3 years ago. Sign of the times
To be fair the content nowadays is thin on the ground and so much of it is repeated that its hardly worth parting with £6 anyway.
The writing has been on the wall for 10 years now. Magazines are going the way petrol and diesel cars will ....Doh what have i started
Come in Costafortune. Where are you??? x

PS Now that's going how am I going to fill my time when I'm waiting at Liverpool Street station and my phone battery dies???

A shame but nowts as certain as change...

[mk1]

Can't say it's a terrific surprise. With fewer & fewer people buying any Mags & relying on the interweb.

Still, a sad day.

M

[InnoCooperExport]

Mini-Mag is never one I really read, but I thought as it catered to the New Mini crowd as well it would actually have broader appeal. It's also not one that was ever easily available over here, so that doesn't help. Even MiniWorld is getting hard to find now, I wanted to get a copy of the recent edition with Doc Mabo's wonderful Broadspeed in it but no luck. None of my usual stockists had it anymore...

[UHR850]

I was a member of the magazine some years ago but did not like the articles
with classic Mini's with strage engines in it.
So for now only Mini Magazine to read and happy with that.

Kees.

[Costafortune]

The last time I read it, it was very poor. Extremely thin with the usual stuff therein plus cringeworthy expressions like 'CE' standing for Clubman Estate during a 'cut and paste' buyers guide with all the usual 'check the sills' advice that applies to every sodding Mini ever built.

Or was that Mini World? I can't really distinguish between the two having read (but not bought) copies in the last couple of years.

I give car magazine publishing ten years at most. Perhaps Motor Sport will keep going as well as quality magazines like Classic Retro Modern (to which I have a sub) but the regular WH Smiths fodder has had its day.

[coopertim]

I’ve not bothered with either offerings MW or MM now for a couple of years due to the lack of interesting cars and articles but agree with other comments, their future appears bleak! I only buy Classic & Sportscar and Octane now for pure variety of interesting stuff.

Tim

[Costafortune]

The main issue is that everything that needed to be said has been said already many, many times. Also, the Mini 'scene' (shudder) has been 92% weirdos for 20-30 years, the misfits turning up at Mini shows with 80's and 90's heaps with teddy bears cable tied to the grille, chrome shite, Union Jacks and Italian Job theme tat.

I'm 55 and am thus of the age where I can recall Minis as cheap everyday cars as well as a rite of passage for just about every teenager. When I think back to how I used to drive mine....Jesus.

[coopertim]

Yep absolutely spot on there Costa! Just my thruppance worth but the whole mini show thing has been done and redone to death many times over resulting in the same cars and owners going to the same shows year on year. I can’t be bothered with walking round looking at the same shiny blingy tat etc but if that floats people’s boats then crack on I say. Most of us on here have been around for a good few years and I for one need a different direction now like decent road tours like Al puts on with interesting cars and owners to meet up with and have a beer and decent food. Blyton for me is the best event in the calendar but it gets very little in-depth coverage sadly.

Ooops, I’ve gone on a bit there!

Tim

[Costafortune]

I haven't owned a Mini for well over 20 years but get a buzz from this site and Blyton.

For me it's nostalgia. Could we ever see Dave Vizard at Blyton? That for me would be a crowning achievement - the equivalent of meeting the Pope.

[Herbert]

I thought David Vizard was the Pope !

[Costafortune]

Well, more a God really.

How to modify your Mini was the bible.

[mab01uk]

For me it's nostalgia. Could we ever see Dave Vizard at Blyton? That for me would be a crowning achievement - the equivalent of meeting the Pope.

I am sure Dave Vizard would come to Blyton if able and invited plus give a talk....unfortunately having been USA based for many years I guess it would be unlikely the date would coincide with his few visits to the UK, plus he has had some major health issues in the past couple of years. (see below).
A few years ago he was at the Autosport Racing Car Show at the NEC (2012) and offered to write some articles for the 'Mini Cooper Register' magazine if they were interested. In return all he asked was for the MCR to add him to their Honorary Member list and include an ad for his upcoming UK A-Series Seminar....to my amazement the club Chairman showed little interest and said their Honorary Membership was restricted in numbers and that they currently had no vacancies! In more recent years I notice they have added a long list of Honorary members of less significance in Mini history, with it appears no restrictions on numbers....

"DV posted online on his facebook page in 2020 that he had undergone emergency brain surgery and that since then he has had various issues getting things done and forgetting things, so he changed to doing more video production and less writing. Back in the 1980’s when DV was publishing his monthly 'Mini Tech News' he started spending the winter months in the USA and summer in the UK as doctors advised him that he needed to escape the damp UK winter climate to improve respiratory problems caused by grinding cylinder heads over many years."
https://en-gb.facebook.com/DavidVizardAuto/

David Vizard's - Silverstone track record set with his 1293cc Mini:-
viewtopic.php?p=305636

[Pete]

Yep absolutely spot on there Costa! Just my thruppance worth but the whole mini show thing has been done and redone to death many times over resulting in the same cars and owners going to the same shows year on year.

I think it’s because these shows and organisers are reluctant to change, they rarely try anything different and easily become a clique. I always used to say that Bulee was the one that stood out but it’s absolutely nowhere near central to the U.K. so it’s bound to attract the same crowd it’s always done chiefly based in the south. The British Mini Club ( is it actually a club or a business?) ditto, same events year in year out but by all accounts the recent Bingley bash was the best attended for years so I’m not quite convinced that the closure of Mini Mag is an indication of the reduction of the Mini scene, more a change in the way we get our Mini fix. Not that I’d know because I rarely attend Mini shows but the Mini scene sounds pretty healthy to me.
I even think we should switch things up and move the Action Day from Blyton now and again, try a new venue but I know it’s not something many want to do so I accept that.

[111Robin]

Yep absolutely spot on there Costa! Just my thruppance worth but the whole mini show thing has been done and redone to death many times over resulting in the same cars and owners going to the same shows year on year.

I think it’s because these shows and organisers are reluctant to change, they rarely try anything different and easily become a clique. I always used to say that Bulee was the one that stood out but it’s absolutely nowhere near central to the U.K. so it’s bound to attract the same crowd it’s always done chiefly based in the south. The British Mini Club ( is it actually a club or a business?) ditto, same events year in year out but by all accounts the recent Bingley bash was the best attended for years so I’m not quite convinced that the closure of Mini Mag is an indication of the reduction of the Mini scene, more a change in the way we get our Mini fix. Not that I’d know because I rarely attend Mini shows but the Mini scene sounds pretty healthy to me.
I even think we should switch things up and move the Action Day from Blyton now and again, try a new venue but I know it’s not something many want to do so I accept that.

Knockhill .............. Al ?.

[OzOAP]

Knockhill .............. Al ?.

The morning clockwise, afternoon anticlockwise. I'll be there!!

[Exminiman]

The main issue is that everything that needed to be said has been said already many, many times.

So true, read any mag (not just a mini mag) for a period of time and the articles get recycled again and again. If the culture is not evolving neither will the mag...

[Exminiman]

Also, the Mini 'scene' (shudder) has been 92% weirdos for 20-30 years, the misfits turning up at Mini shows with 80's and 90's heaps with teddy bears cable tied to the grille, chrome shite, Union Jacks and Italian Job theme tat.

[mk1]

Also, the Mini 'scene' (shudder) has been 92% weirdos for 20-30 years, the misfits turning up at Mini shows with 80's and 90's heaps with teddy bears cable tied to the grille, chrome shite, Union Jacks and Italian Job theme tat.

I'm 55 and am thus of the age where I can recall Minis as cheap everyday cars as well as a rite of passage for just about every teenager. When I think back to how I used to drive mine....Jesus.

Couldn't have put it better myself!

[mk1]

I even think we should switch things up and move the Action Day from Blyton now and again, try a new venue but I know it’s not something many want to do so I accept that.

I don't think it has ever really been discussed apart from between you & me Pete. I have always thought that it is worth looking at, but moving date & venue does come with associated risks.

I'd certainly be up for having a chat though.

M