We were delighted to be asked by Mini Sport to come along to their BMC Abingdon Reunion at the 2019 IMM at Bristol. Chris Harper of Mini Sport had organised the event to bring together as many surviving members of BMC’s Competition and Special Tuning Departments and as many surviving Work’s Mini’s as he could. He asked us to attend with the John Rhodes Mini and also the FIA Appendix K Mini race car we built with Mini Sport for our book ‘How to Prepare a Historic Racing Mini’.
We are very pleased to receive an invitation to this years Chateau Impney Hill Climb event for John Rhodes Mini Cooper S. A superb event with an MSA sanctioned competitive hill climb on the grounds of the stunning 19th century house. In the drivers seat will, once again, be Charles Rainford, following from his aggressive attack of the Goodwood Festival of Speed course in 2018. The event is being held on July 13th and 14th 2019. Hope to see you there.
This weekend was the busiest one so far. First of all we had John Rhodes Mini Cooper at the Goodwood Festival of Speed with our Charles Rainford driving. Then we had David Griffiths at the Equipe GTS race at Donington Park in the Triumph TR4 and lastly David Moran was out at Brands Hatch with the CSCC in his Mk1 Lotus Cortina. Festival of Speed was massive and a lot of fun. Charles chipped away at his times going faster with every run. We opted to be in the timed competition so Charles could take part in the final shoot out on Sunday. He posted his quickest time of the weekend beating the Alan Mann Escort with a 62.3 seconds.
Dave Griffiths qualified well in the TR4 and with the new spec engine he knocked 2 seconds off of last years lap time. He was running 7th in the race and getting blocked for 6th. He made a dramatic move at the chicane but spun and dropped back down the order. David Moran entered both the Classic K and Swinging 60’s races in his Lotus Cortina. David and driving partner, John Hutchinson, qualified well for both but suffered some axle damage on track. They had to sit out the Swinging 60’s race to repair the axle but starting from 4th for the Classic K race they managed to finish 2nd overall and first in class.
Despite the torrential down pour that lasted most of Saturday Goodwood Revival once again proved itself to be the premier historic motorsport event. This year we were invited to bring John Rhodes Mini Cooper S for the ‘Life at Goodwood’ track moment and parade laps. Over the course of the weekend we managed to catch a lot of the races, drink lots of tea and meet up with some old friends.
Had a great day Saturday at Prescott Hill for the 70th Anniversary of Cooper Car Company. The sun was out for the huge collection of Cooper racing cars from all formulas including Formula Junior, F3, F2, F1 and the old 500’s. Plenty of action on the hill too with most of the 500cc cars running along with a selection of others including a handful of Minis, Cooper’s T23, T39, T43, T59, T82 and a monstrous Cooper Daimler V8. John Rhodes, Paddy Hopkirk and Mike Cooper were present and all on good form. For display we took with us the Jim Russell Cooper MkX and the Mini Cooper S ‘GPH 1C’.
The ex-Cooper Works racing mini GPH1C is in the workshop this week in preparation for some serious track use this season. We have fitted a dashbar to the roll cage and replaced the aluminium panels with steel. The car has now been fitted with a extinguisher system from Lifeline, and will receive a new gearbox and limited slip differential from Swiftune. Watch this space for upcoming events.
