Innehållsförteckning för December 2018 från Mini Magazine

Who would have thought a 2000 Solar Red Cooper Sports could cause such controversy? But that’s what happened at the end of 2011, after the Top Gear India Special. It all started off innocently enough, the episode being jokingly branded as a trade mission and even featuring Prime Minister of the time David Cameron supposedly giving his endorsement. But after the show aired on BBC2, this all changed. Not only was the Indian High Commission unimpressed, the louder cry of dissatisfaction came from Classic Mini owners, after the face of this almost immaculate late Mini was ripped off when presenter Richard Hammond tried to winch James May’s Rolls-Royce up a steep incline! But what happened to this Mini, after its brief appearance in the Top Gear display at the National…

After many scorching and wet weekends at Santa Pod in Bedfordshire, Mini Magazine is excited to announce that the premier Mini event of the summer show season, Mini In The Park (MITP), will be moving to a new venue for 2019 – Mallory Park race circuit – on 18 August 2019. Situated in the heart of the Leicestershire countryside, details of this exciting MINI event are still being finalised. But we will bring you more as soon as we have it, or you can check out the website (minishow.co.uk). One thing is for sure – as MITP is going to be based at a race circuit, track action will be involved and Mini Magazine will be there, too!…

The Mini Cooper Register arranged a trip to the Alps for its annual ‘Minis to…’ event, which this year was sponsored by Mini Sport and Carole Nash Insurance. Thirty-eight cars, a lead car of legendary rally navigator Paul Easter and his son William, a service van and sweeper car (course close) took part. The cars all started from Chatham, Kent on Saturday 15 September, and after a hop across the channel on the Sunday the first destination was Reims, a visit past the grandstand of the old circuit missed this year by a celebration of the life of racing driver Juan Manuel Fangio. The next leg of the event took the team firstly through the vineyards of the champagne region on to Colmar, mainly on the ‘A’ equivalent roads taking…

January 6 2019 Wirral to Liandudno Run Popular annual run from Bromborough on the Wirral to LIandudno in North Wales, including a stop in Rhos-On-Sea and the spectacular climb up the Great Orme headland. Booking is essential as there’s limited space on the top of the Orme mountain above Llandudno. Go to the website to book a place and order a run plaque. wirralminis.com January 27 Mini Fair 2019 Held again at Bingley Hall, Staffordshire County Showground Stafford, organised by the British Mini Club and celebrating the start of the Mini’s 60th year. Expect over 100 trade and autojumble stands, a Pride of Ownership display, Premier Concours finals and club stands. This is a great event to buy those parts to finish winter Mini projects! https://britishminiclub.co.uk/events/mini-fair May 3-6 CMC Riviera…

Whether it’s the cute styling, that ultra-direct driving experience, or the quirks of the engineering that make it as unique today as it was in 1959, that inimitable Mini character has worked its way into the hearts of countless owners the world over. It’s an allure that keeps people coming back, holds cars in families for generations, and often results in fast-growing collections. Not all of which are expected, as Bill Bevan knows only too well. We planned some this car, then sell it on as we had the new business on the horizon,” he tells us, the Surf Blue paintwork of the ’66 Countryman cutting through the pre-autumnal Somerset drizzle. “And it nearly left us. The sale had completed on eBay but the gearbox failed when we took it…

Think Classic Mini special editions and you probably think of popular ones across the marque’s 42-year history, such as the Designer, Thirty, British Open Classic, Italian Job, Tahiti, Sidewalk, Equinox, Paul Smith, Forty and the Cooper Sport 500. But if you thought the first Classic Mini special edition was the 1979 1100 Special, you’d be wrong! Why? Well, three-years before it, in January 1976, Classic Mini special edition DNA was cast, with the launch of the first limited build Classic Mini based on the standard 1000 – called the Mini Limited Edition 1000. , , was tell the difference between the Limited Edition and a standard 1000. The only colour choices were Brooklands Green (actually an MG colour!) and white. In fact, Brooklands Green was used on the 1999 John…

Rebecca East, better known as Becky or Bex, as on her website (artbybex.co.uk) studied art for years before going on to perfect her own style and embarking on her passion - the Mini! She always had an enthusiasm for Minis, as she thinks they’re just so much fun and unique. And it has always been her dream to own one too. Anyway, it was her love of Minis that led to her to begin painting them, first as a hobby then as a business. Bex is now a commission artist, and she specialises in Mini art. Mini Magazine caught up with her to find out more... So you’ve always been a Classic Mini fan — have you ever owned one? Yes, who couldn’t love Minis? I want to own a…

Minilite-like alloys, bonnet stripes, stickers, a contrasting roof, chrome grille and spotlights, that’s what it took for me to transform my 1977 Mini 1000 into what I thought was a convincing Cooper replica. Looking back at pictures now, I’m less convinced, and so were other Cooper owners at the time, with plenty of sniggers, sneers and unflattering comments at shows… Convincing other owners that his Mini is the real rallying deal is not going to be a problem for Anthony Ryan though, the owner of this Almond Green, MkII rally replica. “When it was time to start driving, a Classic Mini had to be my first car” Anthony admits he’s been into cars since a very young age, having spent a lot of time visiting car shows and museums with…

Rain washed out much of the opening day of the National Challenges close, with the huge 51-car entry given three familiarisation laps behind the safety car, and the Race One grids formed on championship points after Brands Hatch. All four races were re-scheduled into Sunday, and thankfully the conditions were drier. The opening Miglia race saw up to eight cars vying for the lead, with Aaron Smith in the right spot when it mattered, to mathematically wrap up the title. Nick Padmore worked his way through to second from well down the grid with Kane Astin edging out Rupert Deeth, Dave Drew, Charlie Budd and Alfie Brown for the final podium position. An equally intense Libre battle went the way of David Franks once title hopeful Ian Fraser dropped out…

The 26th annual Mini Action Day took place in September, once again at the Castle Combe Circuit. And all varieties of Mini could be seen in the vast static display areas of the circuit, with 97 clubs exhibiting. A particular highlight was Mini Sport’s stand featuring a Top 25 cars, including Rhos Jenkins’ 1000 Limited Edition (full feature starting on P50), plus Mini rally legend Paddy Hopkirk was on the stand to sign autographs and chat. Given the venue, it would almost have been rude not to get on the circuit! And as usual, many owners took advantage of the frequent Mini-only public track sessions throughout the day. The track action was broken up with the free club cruise at lunchtime, inviting all Minis out for the mother of all…

Think back to Christmas 2011, in between turkey and trimmings, did you watch the Top Gear India Special? It attracted quite a bit of flak from, amongst others, Prime Minster at the time David Cameron, who even featured in the filming, and more seriously the Indian High Commission in London who formally complained to the BBC, accusing its producers of deceiving them over the nature of the programme, which was jokingly billed as a “trade mission”. Still, complaints or not, 4.4 million viewers tuned in. I remember that most criticism of the show came from Classic Mini owners, with many saying they would never watch the motoring show again after what happened to presenter Richard Hammond’s Cooper Sports. “Known as Wilf, a website and Facebook page were set up to…

The MkII Cooper S has three locks. One for the ignition, one for the door and one for the boot. The passenger door is locked using a switch on the inside, there is no key lock for that door. Over the years the locks on this ‘S’ had diverged, leaving three keys. The ignition key was a different shape but given a 50/50 chance of getting the right door or boot key, of course the chosen key was usually the wrong one. Forty-nine years of use has also worn the mechanisms on these Minis, so the requirement to use the right key is reduced. A trip to Mini Spares and a pair of matching barrels was procured. The design is that of the later Minis, so while they may not…

ELECTRICAL ISSUES Q I’ve just bought a 1989 Mini 1000 with the two-clock binnacle in front of the steering wheel. On the first day the rear lights and reversing lights both failed. The front side lights and headlights are working fine, as well as all indicators and brake lights. As the brake lights are working it suggests that it’s not the bulbs. All lights were working when I took delivery of the Mini. My thinking is that it could be a connector somewhere? There’s no obvious link electrically between the rear lights and reversing lights, I don’t think. Maybe it’s a fuse? I could re-wire both circuits, but any clues before I do this it would be greatly appreciated. Steven A This could well be age-old corroded fuse box issue.…

• Terry Baker, the mastermind behind the team from the North Devon Mini Register that runs the Legendary Grand Tour in Devon every August bank holiday weekend, has been nominated as a Regional Finalist for the West Country in the Pride of Britain awards. Terry, who has been recognised for tireless work in raising funds for the Children’s Hospice South West, has since gone through to the final, which will have happened by the time you read this. Mini Magazine wishes Terry well in the awards.…

The Bakelse Mini Club and Mini Club Brabant were responsible for this great event, with the help of Mini Seven Club Nederland, which organised the first ever Dutch rocker cover race! Some great looking Minis arrived from early morning, with some travelling all the way from Groningen to attend —just a three-hour drive! As this is family event, there were no high-octane races or slalom activities, just the chance to chat with fellow Mini enthusiasts and admire the Minis on show. Mini fans made the trip from Belgium and Germany as well. An ABS Freestyle Mini-based buggy-type kit car was a particularly rare sight. And Owner Ivo Krul brought his rare Jiffy truck workhorse, which he’d just used for a holiday! There were plenty of trade stands with books, models…

“We started to take a better look and found rot everywhere, so we decided to fully restore it” Cumbria-Based Gary Carr blames his dad and grandad for his interest in Classic Minis — as they both owned them. Then, when he was 17, he was lucky enough to take over ownership of his grandad’s black 1098cc Clubman estate. By this time, he had the taste for Classic Minis, as this Clubman was sold to fund a Mini Chelsea project. A couple of Mini Clubman Estate projects followed, but Gary never seemed to have the time to do them, so sadly they were sold on. A limited edition Mini Sidewalk came next, but still a Clubman fan at heart, he found a Clubman saloon, which he had for years and was…

Being located in Scotland has its advantages and disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage is the distance you have to travel to get anywhere for some of the great shows down south. On the flip side, however, Scotland offers wide open roads, stunning scenery that goes on for miles and all without the traffic. Perfect for when it’s time to put some miles on your Minis! Gathering together from the farthest corners of the UK – London, North Wales, Somerset and Wick – to those in the central belt of Scotland, seven crews armed with seven Cooper Ss came together for The Mini Works Autumn Run 2018. A few noteworthy number plates were in attendance with CRX 90B, Rauno Aaltonen’s ex-Works car; SOH 956H, ex-Special Tuning GT; and, DKG 2C, the 2010…

COOPER VENTED BRAKE KIT £799 Want to upgrade your Mini disc brake assembly? Well, Mini Sport’s Cooper four-pot alloy calliper brake kit has been specially developed to maximise your Mini’s braking performance. Easy to fit, this kit can be used under any 12- or 13-inch wheels. The kit contains a pair of Cooper 8.4-inch four-pot alloy brake callipers in Brilliant Red, a pair of 8.4-inch vented grooved brake discs, a pair of EBC GreenStuff brake pads, four calliper mounting bolts, four flat washers for the calliper bolts, four spring washers for the calliper bolts and eight drive flange bolts. Part number MCPBRK.8.4VENT. • 01282 778731 • www.minisport.com MKI/II COOPER S BRAKE SERVOS £216 (servos), £16.92 (servo brackets) Lockheed MkI/MkII brake servos have not been available new for decades, but those…

Mini brakes – indeed all modern brakes – are a hydraulic system. They use the fact that you can’t compress a liquid to transfer force from your pedal operating the master cylinder to the braking surfaces via the slave cylinder. “The problem with a hygroscopic fluid is that it absorbs water from the atmosphere” Braking fluid comes in four common types, DOT 3, DOT 4, DOT 5 and DOT 5.1. Most are a glycol-ether formulation. This is the traditional type of fluid and is commonly available but has drawbacks, firstly it is hygroscopic and secondly it is corrosive. DOT 5 is a silicone-based formula and 5.1 is again glycol-ether. DOT 3 has a boiling point lower than DOT 4. DOT 4, lower than DOT 5.1 and the highest is DOT…