Innehållsförteckning för March 2025 från MiniWorld

Spring is just over the horizon, and we find ourselves in that weird time of year when the weather feels a bit confused – alternately hot and cold days, never knowing whether it’ll be wet or dry. A lot of Mini owners like to tuck their cars away for the winter; some of you will have pulled them out already to blow the cobwebs away, while others might be waiting a few more weeks at least… We’re not helping with the confusion here, this issue ofMiniWorld bringing you a mixture of British snow and Jamaican sunshine. But hey, diversity is the watchword, and we’ve got a piquant and tasty bill of fare for you this month, starting with a trio of high-spec rally Minis owned by a grandfather/grandson team, followed…

Mini Cooper Register (MCR) will be involved in organising two big events this year, starting with National Mini Day on June 8th at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu. The theme will be the 60th Anniversary of the Monte Carlo Rally win by Timo Makinen in the ‘AJB 44B’ Cooper S; there will also be trade stands and the ever-expanding concours competition, as well as interviews with Mini legends by club chair Peter Barker. July 13th will see the BMC & Leyland Show at the British Motor Museum, with MCR’s display celebrating the 70th anniversary of the BMC Competitions Department at Abingdon – comprising ex-Works cars, faithful Works replicas, support vehicles and period rally cars. minicooper.org/mcr-events Photo: Robert Clayson…

Even before the launch of the Mini there was a passion for motorsport in the UK. Privateer drivers commuted to work throughout the week and took their cars on the track at the weekend, with very few, if any, modifications being made. They would then drive home for the start of the following working week. A young man named Anthony (aka Tony) Rutt, was such a driver. The launch of the Mini in 1959 made motorsport even more accessible to all, and Tony was keen to buy one. In 1956 Tony started rally driving in his mother’s Morris Minor. An Austin A35 followed, and by 1959 he was taking part in saloon car races. He tried a Cooper single-seater but preferred saloon car racing, and in 1960 he bought an…

I am about to rebuild the suspension on my Mini and at the same time would like to improve the handling without compromising the ride too much. I am planning on fitting some uprated adjustable shock absorbers plus adjustable suspension trumpets with new knuckles. Do you think I should lower the car or would it be better to keep it at standard height? I have Cooper S disc brakes and 5x10” alloys with 165/70 tyres. Scott Hawes If you would like your Mini to corner better and look a bit racier, then I would certainly recommend that you lower it. Fitting uprated and adjustable shock absorbers and Hi-Lo type trumpets will stiffen the ride somewhat. Lowering about an inch does not make a huge difference to the ride comfort overall…

Passion. Know-how. Experience. Commitment. That’s what it takes to make a success of a small business, and in the case of WiredbyWilson there may be more emphasis on ‘small’ than you might imagine. After all, you’ve no doubt heard the name coming up time and time again in MiniWorld magazine features and across the wider Mini scene – WiredbyWilson has earned a reputation for quality among enthusiasts who know their stuff… but did you know that this company is actually just one man, operating in his spare time as a side hustle alongside an entirely unrelated day job? David Wilson runs this all from his house in three dedicated areas: the home office, the garage, and the dining room table. (He promised he’d stop using the latter once the garage…

Have you ever visited a race circuit and wished you could be racing the iconic classic Mini? Well, the Mighty Minis Championship could be for you. Turn your road-going car into a fully-fledged racing car on your driveway at home, for little expense… My name is James Jenkins, and I will be writing some articles for the magazine detailing the race preparation and race reports from the coming 2025 season. The Mighty Minis Championship was set up by Rodger Tello in 1995 to offer affordable motorsport to those who would have never thought they could race before. The original cars were based on the Rover Mini variant utilising the SPi architecture created by Rover. The cars raced across the UK for many years and developed into three classes: Super Mighty…

One day I was on the phone with a great Mini friend, Errol Reid, in Jamaica. We were going over his Mini Sport USA order when I mentioned that my birthday was the following day. He said his birthday was the same day and that we’re just a couple of years apart. I replied that Rhonnie and I need to go to Jamaica the next year to celebrate our birthdays together. Fast forward 51 weeks and we were landing in Jamaica to meet Mini friends around the island and have the best birthday ever! When we arrived in Montego Bay (MoBay) we got a rental car and headed south over the mountains to Treasure Beach on the south coast. What looked like a simple 1½-hour drive on the GPS turned…

My involvement with Minis goes back to 1961. I was an Engineering Apprentice with the old de Havilland Aircraft Company; my great friend Bill Rogers was, like me, a qualified light aircraft pilot and our friendship developed into our becoming a rally team, with Bill driving and me taking care of navigation. For his 21st birthday Bill was given a brand new 850 Mini, thus we had a modern rally car. As engineering students, we prepared the car (9 NKP) ourselves and quickly became a competitive crew, always finishing in the top 3 or 4 on regional championship rallies. In fact, 9 NKP was the very first red Mini with a white roof to take part in any rally, having had its roof painted white to match the Comet airliners…

You might have seen Sam Battle, aka LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER, on YouTube – the British musician and inventor has had a number of viral hits, including his Furby organ, and his synthesizer fused with a Raleigh Chopper. Well, now he’s turning his creative hand to restoring a green Mini Traveller (nicknamed ‘the Big Bogey’), with regular updates appearing on his channel: youtube.com/@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER It’s very entertaining to watch, we’re looking forward to seeing the end result!…

2025 MARCH 9 Old School Re:Fuel Five Bridges, Cullompton www.takona.co.uk/pages/coffees-and-cars 18 Modified Car Meet Squires Café, Leeds www.squires-cafe.co.uk/whats-on APRIL 6 Cars & Coffee on the Prom Rhos-on-Sea, Colwyn Bay www.carevents.com/uk/events/cars-and-coffee-on-the-prom-north-wales-12/ 12-13 Goodwood Members’ Meeting Goodwood Motor Circuit www.goodwood.com/motorsport/members-meeting MAY 3-4 Speed into Spring Shelsley Walsh www.shelsleywalsh.com/events-1/speed-into-spring-2025 3-5 CMC Riviera Run Pentewan Sands cmcrivierarun.co.uk 10-11 Retro Rides Weekender Goodwood Motor Circuit retroridesevents.com/weekender 11 British Mini Day Himley Hall britishminiclub.co.uk/events/himley-hall 18 Chiltern Hills Rally & Car Show Weedon, Aylesbury chilternhillsrally.org.uk JUNE 1 Staffordshire Motorsport Show Uttoxeter Racecourse www.powerofmotorsport.co.uk 7-8 Players Classic Goodwood Motor Circuit www.players-show.com/players-classic 7 Nottingham Motor Show Wollatan Hall www.crowdpullersevents.com/nottingham-motor-show 27 Modified Nationals Lincolnshire Showground www.modifiednationals.co.uk JULY 6 The Ultimate Show Liverpool Exhibition Centre www.ultimate-show.co.uk 10-13 Goodwood Festival of Speed Goodwood House www.goodwood.com/motorsport/festival-of-speed 27 Hartlepool Motor Show Hartlepool Rugby Club…

If we look back to the late-1960s and throughout the ‘70s, one name that frequently cropped up in Mini tuning circles was John Chappel. A successful Mini racer himself, John set up Howley Racing in 1964 in Winwick Road, Warrington, Cheshire. Although started in the ‘60s, Howley Racing were best known through the 1970s but were still going strong in the early ‘80s. Howley first came to my notice in 1976 when David Vizard ‘brewed’ a 1430cc ‘Monster Mini Mill’ with Howley. It was an engine conversion which always fascinated me – and still does. Today, reading through the feature on that build which appeared in the October 1976 issue of Hot Car magazine really does bring back happy memories of the time. The engine, unlike many ‘1430’ Mini engines…

It was only last year when we got to see Andy’s most recent creation, a superbly restored 1963 Morris Mini-Minor in the ever-attractive shade of Surf Blue. Along with the intensive resto, the ’63 saloon was also treated to a Speedwell twist which included a lairy 1100cc powerplant, trick suspension and a feast of other mouthwatering goodies. Yet the ’63 Morris happens to be just one of Andy’s many completed Mini-based projects – how he finds time to fit it all in among partnering a business totally unrelated to cars, we can only guess! Andy’s connection to all things Mini stems back to his youth: “My parents owned a Mini when I was young,” he remembers, “that car must have had a lasting impact on me." Predictably, he chose a…

If there’s one modifying trend that defines the modern age, it’s the premium restomod. The term itself is a bit of a moving target, and it’s one that’s come to particular prominence in recent years with the advent of high-end modernisations of classics by boutique specialists. A lot of people like the idea of retro looks with modern performance; indeed, you’ll have undoubtedly spotted a growing fondness for sought-after classics that have been reimagined this way. The fusion of the old and the new has never before been manifested with such sumptuous attention to detail. If you've got an eye on such things, you'll no doubt have heard of Tolman, an imaginative engineering outfit perhaps best known for their restomod Peugeot 205 GTIs. They're marque agnostic and happy to turn…

Minisbythe Sea raises £2000 Did you see our report on 2024’s Minis by the Sea show in the December issue? Well, the takings have been totted up, and the West Sussex Mini Owners Club raised an impressive £2000 on the day, which you can see here being presented to St. Barnabas Hospice and Chestnut Tree House Children’s Hospice. The Club would like to thank all their Mini friends for helping to raise this sum, and hope to do it all again this year. Contact us Send club, trade, motorsport and all other Mini news to: Email: mw.ed@kelsey.co.uk Post: Mini Scene, MiniWorld, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6AL UK…

If you enjoyed Mini Fair at Bingley Hall in January (and if you were there, you undoubtedly did), you’ll be pleased to note that the British Mini Club run two other headline events, both of which are set to be bigger and better than ever in 2025. The next one to put on your calendar is the Himley Hall show on May 11th. Set in the hallowed environs of the 18th-century hall amongst 180 acres of parkland landscaped by Capability Brown, the show features a show-and-shine and a ‘Minis for sale’ area, and is a huge event with a welcoming atmosphere that really needs to be on every Mini fan’s to-do list. And then, of course, there’s Stanford Hall. The final BMC event of the season, it’s most likely the…

When carrying out a restoration, one of the major milestones in the story is getting the car or bodyshell back from the paint shop. It is something to be celebrated as the reassembly work can then begin in earnest. Reassembly is likely to take many weeks or months, and sometimes even years. One thing most of us tend to overlook is that during that time the shell will attract a lot of dust – even in a well-sealed garage where no rubbing down or messier resto work is taking place, and this obviously continues thereafter. Dust, and worse still grit, are highly undesirable on any paint finish, especially on new paintwork. The best preventative measure that can be taken is to fit an indoor car cover. Said cover should be…

In last month’s issue of MiniWorld we looked at replacement engine choices with an emphasis on choosing 998 or 1275. Hand-in hand with the engine choice is the cylinder head; which head to go for and what head fits which engine. This is particularly important whether you are buying components separately or replacing a problem head – and also, if you are just upgrading the head on your existing engine. The first point to consider is whether you are looking to modify the head. If the budget is tight, a standard head can be fitted to begin with and a modified head later – it is far better to delay the perfect head and concentrate first on the bottom end of the engine. Head identification A-Series heads are identified by…

When Italian cars of the early 1980s are discussed, the typical poster cars are never far away. Lamborghini’s outrageous Countach, the Ferrari 308 GTS immortalised by Hawaiian private investigator Magnum, or the slightly later Testarossa of Sonny Crockett perhaps. But the Italian motor manufacturers had much more on offer at the time, from the Maserati Biturbo, launched in 1981, to the svelte Alfa Romeo GTV, and from the Lancia Beta in several shapes and guises to the sharply styled Fiat X1/9. There were several small cars too, with the position of the Mini filled in by the Milanese-built Innocenti Mini 90 and 120, and by cars such as the Autobianchi A112, the Fiat 127 and the boxy Fiat Panda, also brand new at the time. But while there was plenty…

When: 5th January Where: Bicester Heritage When the weather takes a dramatic turn, there can come a point on the way to a show when it’s alternating between snow, heavy rain and thick fog, and you think: what am I doing? Surely noone’s going to bother? Will anyone actually be there when I turn up? Thankfully, however, the Scramblers are an intrepid bunch. And despite the UK being subject to widespread weather warnings across the first weekend of the year, the turnout at Bicester was just as busy and vibrant as it would have been on a hot summer’s day. Among the highlights – and feeling eminently appropriate given the conditions – were a plethora of classic tractors and farm machinery, something that’s gaining increasing traction in the collector market.…