Mini Sport UK - The Mini Specialists

Our Blog has moved!

2011-03-28T17:11:00.000+01:00

Hi Mini Friends

We have updated and moved our blog now to

blog.minisport.com

Please update your links to follow us over there

Mini Sport

Inter Classics car show, Maastricht - 14/15/16 Jan 2011

2011-01-14T18:00:00.001Z

We are showing Bogus at the Inter Classics car show, Maastricht - 14/15/16 Jan 2011.
Feel free to come and have a chat if you are there this weekend...

Here is a preliminary photo of Bogus, pride of place on the stand.

For more information on the show, visit www.ic-tm.nl

Mini Sport support Cancer Research UK

2011-01-05T16:40:00.000Z

Following the hugely successful Blackpool Mini Run back in June 2010, Mini Sport and the team at Blackpool Mini Run helped raise a staggering £1870 for Cancer Research UK.
This is a huge success for all involved and we hope to raise even more this year.

Mini Sport News Dec 2010

2010-12-02T10:57:00.000Z

If you didn't see our December email newsletter, feel free to check it out here

Mini Sport News December 2010

We have Free Ipod shuffles with orders over £400 and Mini Sport Alloy 4 Pot Calipers from £190 +vat a pair to name a few of this weeks special offers.

Get the deals while they are still hot! We only have limited stocks and are sold on a first come first serve basis.

Merry Christmas from all at Mini Sport

Hankook Winter Icept W605 Winter Tyres

2010-11-26T12:23:00.000Z

Hankook Winter Icept W605 - 145/70 R12 69Q 4PR - Winter Tyre

Winter run safer better.
These tyres offer excellent replacement tyres in both urban and rural conditions on asphalt and dirt roads. Excellent traveling tyre on snow and ice, showed good traction, and braking performance. The rubber composition silica materials Silica gives tyre elasticity even at low temperatures and protects against snow on the slippery bends in the road.

Reasons to consider winter tyres:

1. Winter tyres are NOT SNOW TYRES
One of the most common reasons we hear as to why winter tyres aren't needed in the UK is because we don't get enough snow. Winter tyres are designed to be more effective than regular tyres in any temperature under 7c (44f) on any type of road. Cold weather tyres are designed with a larger percentage of silica in the compound which doesn't harden up as much as synthetic rubber in cold conditions.

2. Winter tyres really do work
Tested in icy conditions, from just 10mph the winter tyre stopped in 6.4 metres, while the summer tyre needed more than twice the distance to stop at over 14 metres. Imagine the difference from 30 mph.

3. Winter tyres are as comfortable as summer tyres
Yet another myth is a loss of ride comfort, or extra noise thanks to winter tyres. The truth is modern winter tyres are as every bit as comfortable as summer tyres, sometimes more so thanks to an increased profile.

4. Avoiding other people on the road
The number of accidents caused by wet conditions increases in winter by 267%. Give yourself a chance of avoiding someone else's incident by fitting winter tyres.

Buy Hankook Winter Tyres from minisport.com today

Dave Drew finishes 3rd overall!

2010-11-08T17:49:00.000Z

A few words from our tame racing driver, Dave Drew;

Just completed the final rounds of the Mini Miglia Championship at Brands Hatch at the weekend, and have pleasure informing you that we started 5^th on the grid in difficult track conditions and after a hectic race, we pulled WIN number 2 of the season in front of the Sky TV cameras and an estimated 20,000 crowd.

Race 2 on Sunday we started 6^th on the grid and by turn 3 we were up to 2^nd position which we held for 13 laps, however had some traction loss out of clearways onto the home straight, and fell down the order to eventually come home in 5^th. This race was also televised on Sky and I will update you when they shall be broadcast.

The Final Championship position for the Mini Sport Miglia was 3^rd Overall, and we are so pleased with the results. We can always look back and say if only we didn’t have an exhaust problem at Pembrey and rear suspension failure at Cadwell Park, we could have possibly taken the Championship, but that’s motor racing!

I have a few bits and pieces that I have collected for you and shall send up next week, along with DVD of the Thruxton TV meeting win and some great posters etc. Finally massive thanks for your help & support in my Miglia campaign this year and hope that I have done Mini Sport proud of our joint achievements and television efforts. I have been the proudest driver in the Club, and thrilled to have Mini Sport advertised all over the car.

Kindest regards and thanks once again for a fantastic year.

Sagepay Secure Online Payments - NOW LIVE

2010-10-15T17:10:00.000+01:00

You may have noticed we have just upgraded the old payment system on the websites to this shiny new Sagepay online payments system.

This new payment function charges your card as you place the order and allows you to use Verified by Visa or Mastercard Securecode and 3rd Man fraud prevention systems.

This is a much more secure way of paying and Sagepay are the leading UK online payments service provider.

When an order is placed on our website and you have entered your address and agreed to our terms and conditions, you are then forwarded to the Sagepay secure online payments page which will take and process your payment immediately.

Sagepay is the UK industry leading online payments company (formerly known as Protx). Our Sagepay payment gateway uses the latest fraud technology and is 100% secure. If you are unsure of the secure URL you should be seeing at checkout, it should start with https://live.sagepay.com/.....

You should see the golden padlock and a valid Verisign security certificate.

Sagepay also uses the Verified by Visa, MasterCard Securecode and The 3rd Man fraud detection system for both your and our security. We recommend you use these technologies when prompted for your own security and piece of mind.

When paying through Sagepay online payment system, your card will be charged immediately for the amount agreed to on the order.

Please note; we do not or cannot see any of your card details as this is all handled by Sagepay on our behalf.

If you have any security questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us

Dave Drew Mini Miglia Thruxton Win!!

2010-09-02T09:58:00.000+01:00

Just competed for Rounds 7 & 8 at Thruxton at the weekend and will prepare full report for you later today, however just to let you know that I qualified 5^th for both races after suffering head gasket problem which is another story…!!

1^st race got under way and managed to get to first corner in 4^th but an accident behind me unfortunately ruined my race by collecting me, however I managed to get it out the gravel and ended up 6^th overall… a few panels damaged and wheel bearing failure due to gravel but all built up for Sundays race in time..!

Sundays Race was televised by Sky Sports and will be broadcasted on the 25^th of next month with repeat shows, and Hayfisher productions are making a CD of the whole weekend for retailing etc. I started again in 5^th place and lap 3 was leading, lots of drafting and titanic battles every lap with lead changes between 6 of us for whole race which made it a mega exciting race, however last lap, last bend at the chicane we were 4 abreast going in and I managed to get the WIN in what has been described as one of the best Miglia races for years… couldn’t have worked out better for us with the TV etc, and I made sure that the TV interview included a massive thanks to Minisport, as with your support this dream was possible….

Thank you so much for your support and hope that this TV show and plug along with a retail CD is away of repayment to you all…

Full race report will follow later Chris and thanks again…

Kind Regards

Your Race Driver

Dave Drew

Mini Sport iPhone/iPad Home Screen Icon

2010-08-03T15:02:00.001+01:00

Always at the forefront of technology, the Mini Sport marketing team have released the latest creation, wait for it....

The Mini Sport High Resolution Icon for iPhone & iPad

If you have one of these Apple devices, then you will know what this is, if you don't let me explain...

If you want to add a Safari bookmark to the homescreen then you are usually presented with a small clipping of the webpage which isn't very attractive. To overcome this problem we have built a high res icon which is compatible with the new iPhone 4 Retina Display.

To use this superb icon, simply browse to www.minisport.com in your iPhone and click "Add to Home Screen" and the icon will get added to your Apple device.

Let's see it in action....

Young Blood

2010-08-03T10:54:00.000+01:00

Here at Mini Sport we are always interested to hear our younger generation joining the Mini clan. We recently heard from Ross in the Isle of Man who started racing Minis when he was 10 (he is only 11 now).

Here is Ross's story;

Ross races in the Isle of Man ministox championship, he is 11 years old, he started racing 7 weeks ago when he was 10.

The car is a 998cc standard engine with a 16mm restrictor and standard exhaust, we run both ways arround the track so no one can set to go in one direction, extra safety bars throuout the car make them about 650 to 700kg in weight, his car was built some 18 years ago and has won both the championship and the Manx sword of state many times, it was the whites and yellows championship winning car last year( no pressure then).

There are 7 races left for this season so his goal is to get used to the track and the car and also take a few hits as this is a contact sport.

Up to July 31st he has won 4 races outrite so a roof upgrade to yellow may not be too far away.

The results and pictures can be found on Onchan Raceway.com

DRIVER PROFILE:

Name: Ross Tunney
Age: 11
Championship: Manx ministox 10 to 16 year olds
Roof Colour: White( beginer)
History: Up to Mon 26th July done 6 meetings in his own car( 12 meetings gone so far in the championship), Hired one last year for his birhday and did one meeting.
26th July.Won the whites and yellows race (1st ever win) 2nd in 1st race(all colours), 1st in 2nd race, 2nd in 3rd race, Won the overall on the night
29th July. Won the whites and yellows again, got fired into fence on 1st all colours race, finished 4th, won the next race, got punted off again and finished 5th, finished joint 3rd on the night.
31st July. Won whites and yellows, got fired into infield again on next race, won the next one, while in the lead on last race, clipped a tractor tyre and damaged steering so pulled in, but still had a good night!!!!

Sudath Mahanama from Sri Lanka

2010-07-21T10:05:00.000+01:00

We heard from one of our great customers, Sudath from Sri Lanka recently. Sudath is a true Mini fan and has owned one for the last 25 years.

You might think it would be hard to source parts and accessories for the Mini over in Sri Lanka, but thanks to the great export team at Mini Sport makes this possible.

Anyway, enough of the chit-chat, let's look at Sudaths Mini;

I had my first Classic Mini in the year 1986.

In 2001, I rebuilt an Austin Moke and awardedas the "Best Moke" for two consecutive years in the Srilankan "Mighty Mini Club" annual show contest. (I will send you a picture of this Moke as well in a seperate mail)

In the year 2003, I bought my second Classic Mini and rebuilt again (after dimentalling all the parts totally), replacing most of the parts and accessories from "Minisport". Ultimately the Mini became the most elegant butterfly on the Srilankan roads. (Color - Tahity Blue with Silver top)

This Mini won the "Best looking Mini" award in Srilanka in the year 2005 and 2007.

In 2002 - 2005 I participated in racing events held in Srilanka in my Moke and in another Mini made for racing only. I am very proud to say that I have won a couple of awards in racing in different tracks (Road and off road as well) in Srilanka. Even my wife won the ladies event once driving my Mini. Due to the busy working pattern nowadays, I had to quit from racing and keeping my hobby as it is, maintaing the Mini up to the toppest condition.

Two months back, I gave my dream car a full check up, removing all the parts in pieces for a perfect rebuilt. Color was changed to BMW Mini - Chilly Red with off white top and the new set of decals. (As you see in the pics)

This Mini specs as below,

1. Engine - 1293 cc with fast road cam + Single SU 1.75 Carb

2. Suspension - Adjusta Ride

3. Wheels - 6 X 13 polished Superlight Alloy wheels

4. Tyres - Yokohama A539 175/50/13

5. Exterior - Fitted the parts and accessories from Minisport

6. Interior - Same as above

7. Extras - Air conditioned, Sun roof fixed

8. Audio - Blaupunkt with JBL surround speakers

Mini Miglia Castle Combe - Round 6

2010-07-21T09:44:00.000+01:00

Another installment from our top racing driver, Dave Drew in the Mini Miglia Championship from Castle Combe last weekend;

We have just completed Round 6 of the championship at Castle Combe, which was a very good weekend..! A very large spectator turnout and many visitors to the Paddock taking photographs, some little leagues getting autographs which made there day and to be honest mine too…! and we also run out of catalogues which can only be good news.

Our qualifying session started with a wet setup and very soon in to it I found the sweet spot and recorded 2nd fastest and only 3 tenths of a second of Pole position. So well happy with that and for the first time this season we are on the front row of the grid and raring to go..! The race got under way and was first off the line but couldn’t take track position by the infamous Quarry turn at the end of the straight, however managed to get a productive tow from race leader and take the lead on lap 2, which I held for the next 3 laps, lots of drafting and tactics going on but all clean and in order but eventually lost the lead and continued the chase, the crowd reacted to what was a superb display and we eventually finished the race with 3rd and a climb on to the rostrum. Commentator interviews were done and Mini Sport got a big mention of grateful thanks etc.

I have some great in car footage which I shall send to you, along with the weekends pictures and podium celebrations.

We're getting there and at the halfway point in the championship were lying 4th place, and in a strong position to win overall. 9 points separate the 1st 5 drivers..!

Best Regards

Dave

Mini Miglia Pembrey - Round 4/5

2010-07-21T09:40:00.001+01:00

The latest installment from our top racing driver Dave Drew from the Mini Miglia Challange at Pembrey;

Pembrey meeting went reasonably well, but lady luck still wasn’t helping Me.! Qualified 8th from 19 starters, and started climbing the order in the race until lap 7 whilst running 5th, got a tap in the rear at the hairpin, that sadly broke the rear exhaust mountings, which allowed the exhaust to drag, with the eventuality of the Black & Orange flag being waved at me by officials to report to pits, as car in dangerous condition. Very annoying as we were in very good position, and would have finished higher than my championship rivals, which would have put me leading the championship..!

The Sunday race was great for the first 6 laps until the tyres went off due to excessive track temperature and couldn’t make any progress so maintained track position and finished 6th from 19 starters.

Currently lying 5th in Championship, but only 9 points off leader, but taking into account the compulsory drop scores tally, we are in 2nd overall at the halfway stage. I’ve just had the car completely refreshed, re-corner weighted and new caster/camber settings applied as we were noticing abnormal tyre wear and heat cycles were all over the place, and I am testing this Thursday at Castle Combe ready for the next round, just to make sure that we are getting the best from the new setting adjustments.

As regards to the shirts, they were all perfect and we wore with pride in the Paddock and Club house. The magazines and stickers were going well and have had a few club members ask if there is any discount for Mini7 club members, of which I couldn’t answer but asked them to give your team a call to discuss etc.

Lots of interest with regards to the Mini Sport Vented Discs and 4 Pot Caliper’s that I am running on my Miglia, and questioned several times on the quality of the steering rack, which I highly rate.

I will be in touch soon, all the best

Dave

Website Stock Status Levels go LIVE!

2010-06-09T16:52:00.000+01:00

We are pleased to announce that Stock Status Levels on www.minisport.com have gone live today!

We have decided upon 4 common status levels on each product which should give an exact status of each product on the website.

Stock Status Levels are as follows:

	This product is in stock at high volume and will be dispatched within one working day.
	This product is in stock at low volume and we cannot guarantee to satisfy large order quantities within our normal delivery timescales. If we are unable to immediately complete your order then we will contact you within one working day.
	This product is currently out of stock but we are expecting a fresh delivery within the next 2-5 days. Ordering this product will place you on a temporary waiting list, which will be fulfilled on a first-come first-served basis when fresh stock arrives. Please note orders that cannot be completed with stock due soon will be shipped as soon as the order is complete.
	This product is a out of stock and will be ordered into stock for you. To Order items usually ship in 7-21 days. Please note that orders with stock to order will be shipped as soon as the order is complete.

All products have been through a thorough programme of testing to ensure the correct status is displayed and this will be tweaked on a daily basis once it has gone live.

We hope this makes your browsing and ordering process more enjoyable.

We are also working on further updates and developments over the coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled :-)

Martin

Web Development Team

Blackpool Mini Run 2010

2010-06-01T15:49:00.001+01:00

Mini Sport are sponsoring the fantastic Blackpool Mini Run on Sunday 27th June.

www.blackpoolminirun.co.uk

This is going to be a superb run as there are 4 individual starting points which all meet in Blackpool. It costs £10 to join the run but this is donated to this years designated charity - Cancer Research UK.
Full information is available on the Blackpool Mini Run website www.blackpoolminirun.co.uk

There are only 150 official places on the Mini run and each will receive an official plaque to display on your Mini. Late entries will be accepted but only the first 150 will receive a plaque. All entries are issued on a first come first serve basis.

There are 4 starting points as follows;

1. Liverpool
Arrive 8.30am depart 9am - Queens Wharf, Liverpool, L3 4BX

2. Penrith
Arrive 8.00am depart 8.45am - MiniMaster, Penrith Ind Est, Haweswater Road, Penrith, CA11 9EU

3. Skipton
Arrive 8.30am depart 9am - Craven Swimming Pool, Gargrave Road, Skipton, BD23 1UD

4. Preston
Arrive 10am depart 10.30am - Odeon Cinema, Navigation Way, Preston Docks, PR2 2YQ

Please check this page for any last minute changes

Mini Miglia Rockingham - Round 1

2010-04-12T12:57:00.001+01:00

The Mini Sport sponsored Miglia, driven by Dave Drew came in with a great finish of 5th overall.

A few words from Dave from the weekend:

"Morning all,

The Mini Sport livered Miglia went down extremely well amongst the Club and Paddock, and attracted the most attention all weekend, so well done on the configuration.

I tested on the Friday so I could get the car set up for the qualifying session, and the only issue we had was a gear selection gremlin where it was hitting the reverse gate when going from 2^nd to 3^rd gear, causing it to bulk, but sadly this only raised attention in the last 4 laps of the final test session, so optimistically we had to make fine adjustments with selector shaft in the paddock, and hope that it was resolved for qualifying.

I ran all day with the Mini Sport alloy 4 pot calipers and found them to be very responsive, even and durable under extreme braking.

I put new tyres on all round for qualifying and it appeared that the gear selection gremlin was cured as we managed to qualify 4^th on row 2 outside. The only disadvantage through qualifying was not being able to get a tow effect from another front runner, which will usually gain vital tenths of a second that can propel you up a row, but overall I was happy with our start position. Come the race I made the best start of all and was along side Kane Astin going into turn 1, which was neck and neck for the lead, but our gear selector gremlin was back again and missed 3^rd gear which nearly buzzed the engine, but thankfully it appears ok. Unfortunately this dropped me down to eleventh, and the safety car was deployed as another Miglia hit the wall at full speed and destroyed itself. The safety car went in after 4-5 laps and I then managed to fight my way through from 11^th to end up finishing 5th overall, which in fairness was a good result considering 3^rd gear couldn’t be selected.

The engine is now going back to Swiftune to check out the box and to make sure the engine didn’t sustain any damage with the over rev. We didn’t sustain any body damage so will rectify the selector issue and try to improve at Snetterton next meeting.

Thank you for the support

Dave"

Minifinity Rolling Road Shootout this Saturday

2010-04-09T14:34:00.000+01:00

Time flies when you're having fun, that's right guys less than a few days to the annual Minifinity Rolling Road shootout at Mini Sport!!!

This promises to be a good day as ever, Mini World is attending (so we get a nice feature in the magasine), we have a top gear style leaderboard for the day, some video to stick up on youtube and maybe even some trophy's!

There's nothing quite like the sound of a mini having the nuts thrashed off it! I can't wait, If you're going i'll see you there, if you're not then you don't know what you're missing! who will be top small bore? who will take the 1275 crown? and who will be the bhp daddy!!!

There will also be an extra 5% discount to club members on top of our already low sale prices. Extra discount only available in person on Saturday 10 April.

See you all tomorrow :-)

Get involved with the Minifinity club

Mini Sport Back Miglia Novice Champ

2010-04-08T16:35:00.001+01:00

2009 Mini Miglia Novice Champion Dave Drew has got his 2010 campaign off to a flying start with backing from Mini Sport. Dave, who took pole position and a podium finish in only his fourth Miglia race, is over the moon to have such a prestigious name on his car in only his second season of the championship.

“Mini Sport is a name that every Mini owner knows and respects and it is my privilege to race with their support in 2010,” he said. “Mini Sport started business in 1967, around the same time as the Mini 7 Racing Club, and today both are held in the highest regard. We have been working hard on the car over the winter and 2010 promises to be a great year for the Dunlop Mini Miglia Challenge as it celebrate 40 years. There are some top notch drivers out there but my goal is to stand on the top step of the podium in this special season and with the help from Mini Sport that goal is certainly one step closer.”

Jonathan Harper from Mini Sport said: “This is a groundbreaking sponsorship deal for us, one that holds great excitement and anticipation for 2010. Mini Sports DNA is in motorsport, and over the years our company colours have adorned many Championship winning Minis. Dave Drew is a top bloke who's professional approach and presentation ticked all the boxes for us, making it a relatively easy decision to give our backing to him and break into Mini Miglia Racing, in which historically Mini Sport have never been involved. This is a fantastic opportunity for us both and we look forward to a successful season working closely with Dave to achieve this.”

With the first date at Rockingham coming up this weekend, Dave's Miglia has just come back from the bodyshop sporting it's new 2010 Mini Sport livery, see pictures below

Rockingham First Round - Saturday 10 April 2010

Scrutineering 09.15 – 10.15

Qualifying 10.30 – 10.45

Race 1 – Quaife Radical Club Cup - 13.10

Race 2 – Mini Se7en Championship – 13.45

Race 3 – Radical

Cup – 14.15

Race 4 – Mini Miglia Championship – 15.10

Race 5 – Dunlop Sport Maxx Cup – 15.40

Race 6 – Mini Challenge – 16.15

Race 7 – Radical Club Cup – 16.50

We wish Dave the best of luck this weekend.

FOR SALE - 1971 Mini Mk3 Cooper S 1275cc

2010-03-25T11:38:00.000Z

A beautiful example of one of the last Cooper 'S's. Restored 20 years ago to a very high standard, using only the best quality parts.

Fantastic to drive, bringing back fabulous memories and the true spirit of what driving a Cooper 'S' was all about in the 60's and 70's. A true sports classic in every respect.

The condition is exceptional and hence is reflected in the price of £11995 ono

Come and look for yourself and buy a wonderful piece of motoring History.

Registration No - XOP 69J

Chassis No - XAD1334257A

Engine No - 12H398FH1024

Colour - Old English White with Black Roof

Mileage - 44000 miles

Extras - RH Fuel Tank, Boot Board, Wood Rim Steering Wheel, Leather Trimmed Original Seats

Mini Sport Cars for Sale

Mini World & Mini Mag on sale!

2010-03-22T17:41:00.000Z

Get the latest copy of Mini World and Mini Mag from Mini Sport!

We have the latest copies in listed on the website, instock and also have a number of back issues going back to November 2009

Buy your copies now

http://www.minisport.com/mini-spare-parts/Mini_World_and_Mini_Magazines.html

Congratulations to Jim!

2010-03-03T11:34:00.000Z

A big congratulation to Jim Wirtz for finishing 44th overall in his Mini Sport sponsored 1985 Mini at the Legend Boucles de Spa Rally in Belgium.

Jim sent us these action shots for you all to enjoy

For full information on this superb rally, visit the website www.race-rally.be

2010 Jaks Isle of Man Rally Report

2010-03-01T09:55:00.000Z

The Mini Sport Rally Team were in rallying action again last weekend with three of the teams Cooper 'S' BMW Minis over on the Isle of Man for the first round of the Manx Rally Championship.

Daniel Harper, this time partnered by co-driver Paula Swinscoe, John Cressey with co-driver Stan Quirk and Martin Page and Martin Cressey.

This year there were 9 night time stages on the Friday night followed by a further 6 daylight stages on the Saturday. The stages are all held on closed public roads and are a rally enthusiasts dream taking in classic stages such as Druidale and parts of the famous TT Mountain Course.

The crews were going to have to be quick from the outset as they were surrounded by a quality entry of local drivers and others campaigning fourwheel drive turbo and World Rally Cars. A tall order in the 1600cc Cooper S's but the crews are used to mixing it with the 'big lads!'.

Conditions remained dry on the night stages but with temperatures below zero, ice had formed on some surfaces making driving a little tricky in places. The two Martins overshot a hairpin at speed on Special Stage 5 giving the marshalls there an opportunity to take to their heels....which they did!

Daniel and Paula were unfortunate early on when having taken time out of one of the World Rally Cars...and just about everyone else, they suffered engine damage which disapointingly put them out of the event.

John and Stan were working well and were 4th overall after stage 3. They continued this storming drive in the dark and with no damage caused, routine maintainance was carried out at second service to both remaining cars by the frozen but extremely dedicated Mini Sport mechanics.

All was prounounced well with just one damaged tyre for the Martins to be wary of on the next stages.

Stage 7 was cancelled due to an off by another competitor and both crews went straight on to Special Stage 8.

The two Martins had a great run through without problems and were really getting into their new pace note system and revelling in some minor changes to the handling of their Mini.

John and Stan however had to stop mid stage when their lamp pod came loose. Stopping to secure it again cost them 30 seconds.

By the end of the last stage, the two Martins had climbed to 16th overall, putting them in a good position for an attack the following day, while John and Stan had gone on a charge of their own and set 3rd fastest time overall.

The crew of the Hyundai World Rally Car who followed them through the stage were quoted as saying "we were then entertained by Mr Cressy who pulled back onto the stage after a lamp pod problem, we followed him for 4 miles at a distance of about 1 metre and from our view he does very well to keep it on the road !!"

A fitting compliment to John and Stan who were really giving it some on the raggedy edge !

At the start of Saturdays stages, the organisers warned all competitors that the first few stages were effected by ice. Low sun was also a problem making it difficult to spot where the ice was lying and a few cars were caught out, crashing out under braking.

The first stage of the day was the very slippery Curraghs stage. A strip of very narrow, broken and very bumpy tarmac leading to an offset crossroads and then a more smoother second half.

John and Stan were well up for it from the word go and set 4th fastest time through here and through Druidale which no doubt left many of the four wheel drive turbo crews scratching their heads.

The Martins had a just one minor scare on the black ice on the first run through the famous Druidale stage with driver Martin admitting to being probably a little too cautious in this stage. So following final service, the intention was to step up the speed on the remaining stages which were mostly free of ice .

Back into Special Stage 12, a repeat of Curraghs and John and Stans' Cooper S split its exhaust manifold which meant the car was almost unbearably noisy but more crucially John could only use half throttle and only 3500 rpm to avoid engine damage. This cost them a good 30 seconds but the car had to be looked after to get repairs made at service after the second run through Druidale.

The Mini Sport mechanics did a great job of the repair at service and sent John and Stan back out penalty free and to hopefully make up some time having now dropped to 6th place overall.

The last stages were dispatched in good form with both cars running well through the narrow twisty lanes with the Martins 19th overall , 1minute 38 seconds ahead of the next car, a chasing Subaru crew. John and Stan came home a superb 6th overall and 2nd in class, also claiming the best 'overseas' crew award.

In a class which comprises all the fourwheel drive turbo cars the Mini Sport Rally Team did an excellent job and the crews would like to thank all the mechanics and supporters for their unwavering enthusiasm and commitment.

Its sometimes said that those in the mechanics overalls have to be at their best when things are at their worst. They are a superb bunch and do a superb job.

a Mini wedding Down Under

2010-02-23T17:06:00.000Z

We have just received this superb picture from our good friend Neil Crawford Down Under;

a true Mini wedding convoy

enjoy :-)

Mini on the Monte - Day 4/5

2010-02-08T10:30:00.000Z

Here are some really bad photos of the last day and night : the stage from Valence to Monaco (day) and Monaco to Monaco (night).

A long long stage again, everyone was exhausted but really happy to cross the finish line and even more happy when we knew that our Cooper S was the only Mini on the 12 engaged to get throught every stage of this Monte Carlo Rally !!! What a victory for us.

So you got now all the "backstage photos". We will send you very soon "in action" pictures.

Thank you very much to Minisport for support and quality parts. Thank you to all the team for keeping smile and good mind even on bad moments. Thank you to everyone who enjoyed our adventure.

See you soon on French Tour Auto 2010 with 3 (yes three !!!) Cooper S in our team.

Very best regards.

Vince.

WG British Racing

Mini on the Monte - Day 3

2010-02-04T15:16:00.002Z

For the 3rd day, the stage were from Valence to Valence.

Because of snow, it has been difficult for us to follow the race with the van. Because of the snow again, many accidents as well : a Mustang rolled, a Porsche 911 hited an MGB.

Anyway, our Mini went through and the driver is really satisfied, except for the bucket seat whitch has been "refurbished" with a Minisport sweatshirt to make it comfy !!!

Tomorrow, we're going back to Monaco from about 9am to about 5am next night. It's gonna be a long day.

Very best regards.

Vince.

WG British Racing

A couple of pictures from the Monte...

2010-02-03T16:41:00.000Z

Another 2 superb pictures have just surfaced from the depths of the Monte Carlo Historic Rallye from Alex at almondgreen.net showing the Mk1 Cooper S sponsored by Mini Sport.

We haven't had an update on todays activities, but as soon as we hear anything this blog will be updated

Mini on the Monte - Day 2

2010-02-02T10:30:00.001Z

Here are few photos of the 2nd stage from Monaco to Valence, still through the Alps.

All the team did enjoy the night cause of the first stage that was really exhausting.

Nice weather today but cold anyway : around 0°C. It was lot of snow and ice on the road so we decided to fit spiked tyres on front. Brillant idea according to today's accidents ...

We also changed front pads because originals were like polished (I don't knonw the exact word for that !).

So finally, a good day for us, specially when you know that 5 Minis already left the race ...

For more information on the full rally, check out the Rallye Monte Carlo Official Website

Mini on the 2010 Monte - Day 1

2010-02-02T10:25:00.001Z

We left Reims to reach Monaco trough the Alps. As you can believe, it was very long and all the team is really tired. Today's race was about 20 hours from 9am!!

According to specialists, this year is a very special edition cause of the weather : lots and lots of snow.
A few photos of the '66 mk1 'S', pilots, and others ...

For more information on the full rally, check out the Rallye Monte Carlo Official Website

Mini on the 2010 Monte....

2010-02-02T10:14:00.000Z

The Monte Carlo Historic Rally is one of the most famous rallies in the world.

Mini Sport are sponsoring Guillaume and Vincent of the French WG British Racing Team with their 1966 Mk1 Cooper S.

Under the bonnet there is a WG 1380 engine with Omega pistons, Arrow "H" conrod, 81.3 forged crank, 300° camshaft, stage 5 head. The gearbox is a KAD five speed dog box.
Inside there is 2 Cobra Monaco Pro seats, TRS safety harnesses, "Works dash board"...

First Show of the Year - Bingley Hall Mini Fair 31st Jan

2010-01-07T09:51:00.002Z

Mini Sport are one of the official sponsors of this super show. Lets keep the Mini Birthday party going at British Mini Fair 2010 at the Staffordshire County Showground on January 31st 2010. What a fantastic way to start the new year with a visit to the British Mini Clubs number 1 indoor Mini Show.

With so many indoor events around at the moment Mini Fair is a without a doubt the best indoor event in the calendar. Remember British Mini Club events are organised by mini enthusiasts helping to keep the classic mini alive.

Over 100 Trade Stands including the UK's top Mini / MINI traders, Massive Mini Jumbler, Pride of Ownership, Mini Clubs....

Mini Fair is the only indoor show that attracts all the major mini specialists, so it's well worth the wait to get all your mini spares under one roof.

Massive SALE Now On

2009-12-23T13:32:00.000Z

The Mini Sport Huge New Year Sale is now on!

With discounts of upto 25% on all products you cannot afford to miss these bargains.

Browse the Mini Sport website to see the full range of special offers

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from everybody at Mini Sport !

Mini Sport Alloy Handbrake Quadrants now available

2009-12-18T17:36:00.001Z

Beautifully CNCmachined from lightweight alloy and then finished in bright anodisedred and finished with the Mini Sport logo laser etched on the lowercorner.

Designed and developed in house by Mini Sport.

Pair, fits all minis with dry type rubber suspension

Introductory price only £25.56 +VAT

Buy yours now from the Mini Sport website

Team Mini Sport at 2009 Tour of Mull Rally

2009-10-15T09:17:00.005+01:00

Team Minisport.com were again on the Isle of Mull this October for the annual closed public road tarmac rally. This year was the 40th running of the event and featured two special stages along the harbour front and through the town of Tobermory. The remaining 15 stages were held over Friday night, Saturday daytime and into the wee small hours of Sunday before all the crews would get some well earned rest.

Team Minisport.com entered their four BMW Mini Cooper 'S' cars, which featured the Framor Garage supported car of Finzean based Martin Page and Dundee based co-driver Martin Cressey.

The first seven wet and slippery stages saw the teams lead car of Daniel Harper and Chris Campbell storm into 4th place ahead of a number of four wheel drive and World Rally Cars, while the number two car of John Cressey and Stan Quirk were unfortunate to lose their gearbox on stage two. Meanwhile, Page and Cressey stuck their Cooper 'S' right on its nose over one of Mulls many humpback bridges but made it to main service with a very ill handling car. The Mini Sport mechanics repaired the loose supension and the crew continued free of time penalties.

With only a few hours sleep, Team Minisport.com took to the stages again, this time during daylight on the second leg of the rally. Harper and Campbell maintained their 4th spot over the next 5 stages and set 3rd fastest times on stages 8 and 10.

An overnight change of gearbox saw Cressey and Quirk return to the Trophy Rally, running alongside the main event and they quickly stormed into an early lead, over 3 minutes ahead of the next car.

Page and Cressey were meantime involved in a tight duel with team mates Ian and Gary Dawes, moving ahead of them by 15 seconds at the end of the daylight stages.

The final leg began again in the dark late on Staurday night and took the crews through the remaining five special stages starting with the 22 mile long Tuath/Calgary Stage. Page and Cressey went into the stage on a charge and were intent on making up more places in the dark.

A '4 left over crest' had Page and Cressey in an unplanned sideways slide down the stage for a brief moment but they got away with it. Harper and Campbell, meanwhile continued to show ferociously determined driving, with a 2nd fastest time on Stage 15. The Mini Sport detemination featured throughout the teams crews with Page and Cressey coming out of stage 14 just 10 seconds slower that that of the Dawes' and having to swerve to miss some loose cattle on another stage.

Final service at Craignure saw all four cars through with only routine checks and re-fueling carried out by the mechanics. With the Dawes' having now swapped the lead over Page and Cressey by 26 seconds, a focused and determined drive over the final Hill Road Stage was called for if Page and Cressay were to retake their lead in only one stage.

At the top of the Hill Road itself the weather turned nasty and a downpour of biblical proportions ensued. With visibility down to a matter of feet Page and Cressey plunged down the hairpins and along Glen Aros to the finish line, stopping the clocks 1 minute and 53 seconds faster than the Dawes' and securing the 2nd placed Mini Sport car home.

Harper and Campbell went on to finish 3rd overall with an incredible display of speed and car control and John Cressey and Stan Quirk won the Trophy Rally with Page and Dawes completing the four car finish with 16th and 17th in class respectively.

A fantastic result for Team Minisport.com with the whole team crowding onto the finish ramp to assist Harper and Campbell with the Champagne!

Mini Sport on Mull 2009

2009-10-13T17:32:00.001+01:00

Congratulations to the Mini Sport Rally Team on the World Famous Tour of Mull 2009!

3rd - Car 8 - Daniel Harper/Chris Campbell

46th - Car 104 - Martin Page/Martin Cressey

48th - Car 88 - Ian Dawes/Gary Dawes

Trophy Rally - Car 19 - John Cressey/Stan Quirk

Mini Sport at Tour of Mull 2009!

2009-10-08T09:40:00.002+01:00

The 40th Anniversary of the Tour of Mull - Mini Sport has had a long association with the Tour of Mull, in fact throughout most of those 40 years, we have either competed or sponsored it, and often both.

This year is no exception with 4 cars competing again in 250bhp Mini Cooper S's

Look out for:

Daniel Harper (Mini Sport Engineering Director) & Chris Campbell in Car No 8
John Cressey & Stan Quirk - Car 19
Ian & Gary Dawes - Car 88
Martin Page & Martin Cressey - Car 104

Additional late news - due to a shortage of funds, last years winner Paul Mackinnon, was facing the prospect of not being able to defend his crown, however Mini Sport have stepped and found the additional support needed for him to lead the 40th Tour of Mull rally away in Car No1.

Chris Harper (Mini Sport Sales Director) said
"With the long association that Mini Sport has had with the Tour of Mull, we didn't feel it was right that the 40th Tour of Mull should take place without last years winner and car No1. This is after all the No1 event in the rally calendar, is it not!"

"Additionally, we are pleased to help Paul as he is an outstanding talent and one of Mull's own, and as Mull has always given Mini Sport & the Harper family a very warm welcome with open arms, it is nice to be able to give something back"

Good luck to all the Mini Sport team.

Follow the event live this weekend (9-10 October 2009) at www.2300club.org/results/index.html

Mini 50th Hoodies Now Available!

2009-10-07T13:17:00.000+01:00

The latest Mini Sport designed Mini 50th Hooded Tops are now available from the Mini Sport website. Available in Black, Stone or Pink and a range of sizes from Small to XXL.

Mini 50th Black Jack Black Hooded Top only £17.46 inc VAT

Mini 50th Black Jack Stone Hooded Top only £17.46 inc VAT

Mini 50th Black Jack Pink Hooded Top only £17.46 inc VAT

BMW MINI 5mm Wheel Spacer Kit now available!

2009-10-02T14:46:00.000+01:00

Hot off the production line at Mini Sport is this superb new Hub Centric alloy wheel spacer kit complete with black extended wheel bolts.

A superb new product designed and developed by the Mini Sport Rally Team which specifically allows the fitment of 18" JCW and aftermarket wheels over the JCW Brembo big brake and other large caliper conversions.

Kit includes;

* 2 x 5mm black annodised aluminium hub centric wheels spacers - laser etched with Mini Sport logo and these are Made in the UK at our base in Padiham, UK.

* 8 x 33mm black M14 wheel bolts with 1.25 thread pitch (std length is 27mm) 17mm Hex bolt head and 60 degree taper.

This kit has been developed as a matched kit which extends the track by 5mm but also gives the safety of 5mm extended wheels bolts.

Each wheel bolt is manufactured and strength tested in Germany to TUV standards and made from 10.9 rolled steel.

This kit will fit all R55/R56/R57 MINIs from 2007 on.

Each kit will fit one pair of axles, eg front.

5mm wheel spacer and M14 33mm bolt kit available from Mini Sport

Diddy Dave Leaving Vancouver & on to Russia!

2009-09-21T10:07:00.000+01:00

VANCOUVER FRI 18th SEP.

Hi All,
Homer Alaska is behind me, its 4pm and have got away heading for Anchorage 3hours plus drive……on my journey I can decide were I want to stop and how far I go in any one day…….I am set up for that with the vehicle, today is Saturday so a beer in town would be good and I could bump into some friends there. The drive is easy and I make the city for 7.30ish and camp again in the R/V park in the centre….set up my tent to clip on the back of the van and make up my bed……I don’t have a watch I don’t need one and I don’t miss one…I have the time, its on my cell phone should it be wanted. There again I have gone through so many time zones up to 9hrs in Alaska to the UK you sometimes get fooled anyway, its later than I think as darkness is on me, I’d almost forgotten about that stuff and walk the short distance to the pub and just stay for the one before heading back. I find I don’t stay to long in places of population, I have I think been like that most of my life and living on the ISLE OF MULL is good for me, whenever I go back there it is the best place to be……..I do try to plan when to go to a populated place just to top up (my need to get out of there gene) it works for me.

Sunday and I am up early into the laundry room to get my smalls done and to make usage of the wi-fi to catch up on friends……there’s one there from Rick Higgs of the Vancouver Mini Club…..Rick’s been great and was the first to make contact with me when I put some e-mails out to CANADA MINI CLUBS before leaving the UK……and if I recall his e-mail basically said if I get down to him, the club would like to meet up, they have things planned they would like me to join in with………so if I get to him for the 12th then we would as they say in Canada (be good to go)……and with that in the back of my mind I set of for the the Canadian border which I will get to tomorrow.

The drive now is a lot easier and a real joy as the countryside is going through its transition to autumn……this is the part of the world, you should be in at this time of the year…….the same should be said when I started on the Atlantic side of this trip……out of spring into summer, but this is the Pacific side and there is much change to the countryside, the colours are out of this world……..take…..green, yellow, brown and red, hen take all the shades of each colour…….you then add the blue sky the white clouds, the odd black mountain that shades the sun also throw in the odd glacier……..I could go on…….like the many rivers, it was so good to be alive and all day I had to put up with this. That night I stopped just outside TOK and for some reason was feeling a bit under the weather…….bed came early that night. Today unbeknown to me was a Labour Day holiday in both Canada and U S A, great I had the road to myself and I felt a lot better after cooking breakfast on my MATTY stove (it’s a Coleman petrol one) so named after a friend I get to see usually when he takes time out to come and service our TOUR OF MULL car rally, he does a lot of work for M-SPORT the FORD backed WORLD rally TEAM…..he is a whizz for them on his laptop……as the drivers don’t drive them anymore the laptop man does,…..anyway dishes washed and tent packed up I head out for the border that’s 90miles down the road. I pass the U S Border post and travel a further 20 miles to the Canadian Border post thinking who owns this bit in the middle and should I put an offer in for it……..trust me it’s quiet and as I pull up to the box I can see that there is no barrier down…should I make a run for it….do they leave it down on purpose to test you…… I hope I have all the paperwork and all the answers to the questions that I get asked……you have to enter your brain into a different node when you get to a border……good afternoon sir……now they like sinple answers back, but if you take a chance and slip two in then you could gain some high ground……Vancouver…..and onto Russia……this way if I am a terrorsist then I am leaving the country…….any guns…….only a flare gun (that you would use if you had a hole in your boat at sea) it was given to me by Bill de Crefft back in Homer….it’s a handy thing to have and is legal…….any beer……tobacco….no mam……what’s in the alluminium box…my tools………ok have a good day and off I go noticing that I had left my camcorder on…must play it back and see what it sounds like.

I must have covered a few miles today, sorry kilometres in Canada as I filled up twice today….I have had 700KMs on a good day out of the gas tank on the main highway,…. but I can not give spot on figures guys, as the Odometer has not worked since stopping at13,000KMs……talking of…that reminds me.

Back in Homer at the airfield hanger do you remember me telling you about my check over of the vehicle and sorting out the inboard drive pods, cleaning and adusting the brakes etc., also refitting the front shockers after taking them off 25,000miles ago……… having taken all that time to figure out why they kept breaking the top bolt off….well I don’t wish to name, names and I won’t but let me say that I had a couple of young apprentices helping out on some of the build (bless them, they were just trying to help). One of them, the younger of the two, offered to fit the front upper shock mounting brackets that are held on with four short bolts, this he did….the items are competition ones so these were welded in place (we do this on our rally cars) what the stupid tall, spotty faced young brainless, thumb in his mouth clown forgot to check was that they are handed…….thus fitting them on the wrong sides upside down…….but not to worry I have removed the two items and rebolted them back on and refitted the shocks………..I of course will be talking to the main culprit and he will be supplying my BEER needs for the rest of my life, no matter where in the world that I maybe.

So back to the plot…..as I say I am heading south and I am in the Yukon the road is clear of traffic for most of this holiday……..but you are never alone, trust me somewhere in hiding is a large animal in one shape or another…….car killing animals big or small things that come out from nowhere and in a in a flash you are history, concentration is a must…….well here goes, first you focus on the road what type of road is it? Lets say its paved, if it is then you tend to push on and up goes your speed thus giving a greater impact if the beast walks, runs or falls onto the road…….when it appears do I hit it and avoid weaving and rolling down an endless embankment or just pray the beast goes into reverse but by then you have made your move…..so now you get the picture. So with two of your many eyes you look at the road,….your right eye looks ahead your left eye looks over the bonnet….yet both feeding back to the control centre the road conditions. Don’t forget this is a paved road, all sorts get thrown at you……some times its pot holes that will wipe out your suspension (as I now), then there is the launch pad, the one that puts you into orbit. This one you train your right eye to watch for…..the tell tale trick is to look at the verge and see if the edge is flat or it has dropped away……..so how about the dirt road, well the same applies but build into that the size of the stones,….is it dry or wet, then add the dust the stones from a vehicle that you may be following or the oncoming traffic…..let me tell you, if you are doing say, as I was at the time, 100km an hour down hill, with drops both sides when a big truck came round the corner doing the same speed on a dirt road and you’re both travelling in the centre of the road (its safer if you do, more time to make a decision) with a half mile dust trail behind you it’s frightening for a while, but having said that most days I ask myself were is the rest of the people, you can have days that you only see a couple of vehicles.

I am now out of the Yukon and into British Columba all the time the landscape is changing and the weather was getting hotter. On this part of the drive it was to me to have the greatest amount of changes to the landscape….simply one minute, it was as I had said before colour, mountains and trees….now it was dry like cowboy country but with pastures then desert and dry barren mountains, followed by narrow gorges with deep rivers and lots of Canadian Pacific Rail long, long trains, the landslides that come with the area,……the traffic was getting more and could feel that city feeling (the fast lane) city’s are not top of my list to get to……….but I am getting excited to be getting near to the finish of my first leg…30,000 miles is quite a lot in 5months….I would be meeting Rick Higgs and the guys from the Vancouver Mini Club, who I will be staying with for a while. Also they are having a run up to Whistler with a stop over and I am to join them with my vehicle. I have been to Whistler in a former life before and look forward to going back. l have to say the thought of getting back to see my grandchildren and to hook up with my daughter Louise is good ….. She, I think, is more excited than me…..why…..well the two of us get together for the 2009 TOUR OF MULL CAR RALLY. It’s forty years this October since the first one, so it’s a bit special since I was there for the first, I packed it in a couple of years ago and left Louise to keep up the family name…….then just as I was about to leave on my journey JIM from R.A.C.E Motorsport……(not a bad apprentice) his business is building all forms of Mini. He’s been there and done it all……… said to me…..well Diddy if I were to put together this 1275GT Clubman and make it a Historic build, would you drive it on the 40th?…….Jim no matter were I am in the world, I would love to come back and drive it…so the seed was sown and this car is ready. It’s 40 years old to the month of October, but the best bit is Louise is to navigate for me. She is a good navigator and can handle her own rally Mini when she drives it and is navigated by another girl and has done that for a few years…..they have the best of time together amongst the guys on the rally that lasts for 3days and 2nights.

So I am on my last day of driving and its not long before I get on the final highway into Vancouver or Pitt Meadows which is 25 miles due East of Vancouver.
So as most of you know if I have a plan, which I don’t, the next big move is to Russia. I might just put that on hold…and I am awaiting some input back to me that I have put out and will make the decision on what route I will take over the winter back in the U K.
Well these blogs have got longer……maybe I have got a hidden talent and I do have lots to share with you all……l have kept a log for each day so maybe I can put together some more stuff.

Any way I am about to sign of for this part of the trip and of course met SO, SO many people on this trip to date and do want to thank you all…….on this journey across CANADA and ALASKA. As I have said to a few of you on the way…you guys could teach the world a thing or two…….not the government but you guys as people….there is something that is special with you,….don’t let the world change you…….so I will, if you don’t mind mention a few manes……starting back in Halifax with Chris Reid at the Border/Customs Agency……Peter & Anne Freeman that looked after me and drove me round to sort things out in Halifax………..Mike & Sharon & all my friends on P.E.I….be back…….to Gerard, Dave and there Mum Theresa up by Meat Cove, Cape Breton……..to so many people on the ROCK ….Newfoundland, there were so many including all the LIONS guys, the cellphone pioneers at the Lion Max Simms camp and to Paul Malone and his mini in St Johns……….to that very nice Trooper that told me about the BEAR that was busey in Churchill Falls were I was camping…..to the 10 girls that fed me food and beer on their ‘hen night‘……..to Jack, Karen and Lisa in Lab City……….then there was Kieth, Deb and Cathrine of the Mainly Minis Montreal (an Oasis in the desert)…………to so many more I met as I drove across that I will e-mail back home ………to Robert Rogers who I met in Inuvik and he did a drawing on the rear of the van of a polar bear….fantastic…also to the Ice Road Truckers getting ready for the next filming……then there was Alaska…so many great people…….again to the Lions Club and the whole of the Village of Anderson/Clear…for that great WEEK and the Blue Grass Festival we all worked at, and to Mary Jane great, great time………and to Homer it’s the end of the road west…Russia would come next if there was a road,…….there is so many names to thank here…..but have to limit it…..Bill and Barbara De Crefft, Bill is 77 and should be 40...a fab guy…we have unfinished work to do……..and I just can not and will not leave out Mike McCann….he has Irish in him should I say more,..he is lots of things, float plane pilot, writer of just the best short stores, so funny and most of them true……..and finally to Vancouver and Rick & Elaine Higgs, Larry Sutton for storing the mini over the winter and to all the Vancouver Mini Club people……to you ALL and with a TEAR in my eye I say THANK YOU.
Dave Thomas…..Diddy Dave……Diddy……or the Polar Bear…how ever you remember me.

Mini Sport at Stanford Hall National Mini Show this weekend!

2009-09-11T12:19:00.000+01:00

Mini Sport are the Official Show Sponsors at this weekends National Mini Show at Stanford Hall.

If you have never been to our show before, we think you will find it a lovely place to spend a late summers day, the whole atmosphere is one of welcome and friendliness.

As well as the attractive hall, the lawns and show area, although wide reaching, make you feel quite at home in the surroundings. Stanford Hall itself is open to visitors on the day.

Concours - big prize on offer this year to celebrate Mini 50! £1000 for Overall Car of the Day.

For full show information see miniownersclub.co.uk

Diddy Dave to the end of the road

2009-09-10T09:44:00.001+01:00

where is that.......Homer, Alaska guys.....what a place......

anyway up date for you from leaving the blue grass festival and heading for anchorage....the drive is easy now but i still take a few days to get to anchorage stopping of at Mt Mckinley, I stayed in Anchorage over the weekend to see what a large town is like and also to meet up with some people i'd met at blue grass and to have a few drinks and eat a real site down meal with a table cloth.

The drive down to Homer can be done in about 4hrs but I would take about 4 days to get there by turning of the main highway and calling into places like Girdwood and then the Keni Peninsula......and places like Hope, Soldotna and Anchor Point before Homer. Those are four places to date that I will I hope one day go back to......

Homer has gone to the top of the list.... just by a short lead..... I know I will be back as I have unfinished work to do........

so what happened here, not long after I arrived the local paper tracked me down..... can we do an article on your trip..... "I don't do that type of stuff" I said, I have been asked a few times on my journey but have said no.......but this time it felt ok so i said yes and as it turned out it was a nice short article........trouble was it made me headline news in Homer,so as I drove round people would wave.......the lady at the gas station would come out and serve me and I got invites all over.....

Not only that while i was getting interviewed at the book shop a guy stopped when he saw the mini.....his name was Bill de Creeft and he has a collection of cars, Jags and others plus a 1962 997cc Austin Cooper... and the deal turned out to me stripping the mini and he will get the shell sorted and I will be back to put it together in the future, Bill is 77 and is a Bush Pilot, he has a float plane and took me up over the glaciers here....but that's only the start of so many good things to happen here in Homer......

I went on to meet Mike Mccann also a flyer and a writer of two fantastic books that I am bringing back with me.... I had so many laughter tears in my eyes, when I took to reading them, we have become great friends..... Mike is half Irish and he gets to Ireland once or twice a year and he is hoping to fly over to my home on mull and land on are grass airstrip some time........

Talking of flying I have been so lucky and have been up and over so many mountains, lakes and glaciers......and have had chance to fly one of the planes myself its so hard to leave here......but i know I can and will be back, one last thing for the guys back home, the time bandit is in port before she sets of for the bearing sea again......and bill is friends with the captain so i got a tie shirt that i get to keep for myself, signed.

well folks i head for Vancouver and will be there for the 12th Sep as Rick Higgs and the Vancouver Mini Club are expecting me for a bit of a get together....so I will only have a small report next time from Vancouver and will be back in the uk for the 2nd Oct...........and back on Mull Scotland for the 40th year of the 3 day and 2 night tour of mull car rally......

Jim from r.a.c.e has put together his 40year old Mini Clubman for me to drive and my daughter to navigate on this very special year of the rally.......i cant wait for that first stage and that 5 4 3 2 1 go........fantastic....should be dead easy after this tour of duty......time to sign of folks...have lots of thoughts about you all.......diddy dave

Russ Swift pays a flying visit!

2009-09-09T12:23:00.005+01:00

What a fantastic British Mini Day last Sunday at Uttoxeter and big thanks to the by British Mini Club for making it happen!

The weather held up and all in all was a great show with great people!

Russ Swift also made a flying visit to the Mini Sport stand for a couple of parts just before his stunt action driving display.

We are already preparing for the next big show this weekend at Stanford Hall, see you all there :-)

This Weeks Special Offers

2009-09-04T16:11:00.000+01:00

We have a great selection of mini parts on special offer at the moment.

Feel free to browse our Special Offer Section on the website for details of all the products on offer and the huge savings to be had!

Here is a brief list of some of the products you can find on offer;

Genuine Mini Carpet mats - now £42.55 save £14.85
Genuine Mini Mudflaps - now £26.11 save £13.47
Inner Pot Joint - now £18.40 save £7.47
Suspension Top Arms - now £37.95 save £19.55
Alloy Door Handle Set - now £27.37 save £11.73

Plus many more.....

Visit the Mini Sport Special Offer Section for full product listings and savings

Where is Diddy Dave?

2009-09-04T09:23:00.000+01:00

Where is Dave?

Well we don't exactly know either, we haven't heard from him for a while but we stumbled upon some pictures from a Montreal minis website, enjoy....

Original link www.mainlyminismontreal.com

Mini Sport at British Mini Day 6 Sep 09

2009-09-03T11:47:00.000+01:00

Mini Sport are proud to be the Official Show Sponsors of the British Mini Day at Uttoxeter Racecourse on 6th September 2009.

Brought to you by the British Mini Club, an all new Experience of Mini Show.. British Mini Show at Uttoxeter Racecourse 6th September 2009. Just £7 per person on the day and under 12's get in for free.. Plus one free raffle ticket for the driver of every single Mini/MINI

The British Mini Clubs fanatastic new Mini Show at Uttoxeter Racecourse on September 6th is getting ever closer. With the finals of the Premier Class concours. An amazing raffle Mini, Trade stands, and Now Russ Swift!!! This is one show not to miss.

For full details see www.britishminiclub.co.uk

Mini Cooper S 3.5" Steel Wheels

2009-09-03T10:58:00.000+01:00

Genuine specification 3.5" Mini Cooper S Steel Wheels are now available from Mini Sport!

When the Mini Cooper S first came off the production line, they were fitted with 3.5J x 10" wheels as standard, the 4.5J x 10" wheels were a factory fitted option.

Mini Sport have now painstakingly reproduced the 3.5J x 10" to original specifications, perfecting the characteristics even down to the unique Old English White colour.
These wheels are NOT cheap copies, they are exact replicas of the original design and would be perfect for any restoration project.

The Cooper S 3.5" steel wheels are available in Silver or Old English White on the minisport website

MINI Yokohama Track Day Tyres

2009-09-02T10:52:00.000+01:00

Yokohama Advan A048 and Yokohama A006T Track Day and Competition Tyres are now available to buy on www.minisport.com/bmw-mini

We offer a good range of sizes for your BMW MINI and all available within a few days;

Please feel free to get in touch if you have any specific requirements and we will do our best to help and advise.

Mini Sport relaunch BMW MINI website!

2009-09-01T15:52:00.003+01:00

www.minisport.com/bmw-mini/

Mini Sport are proud to relaunch the complete range of BMW MINI parts and accessories on their all new website. With over 1200 new parts and accessories listed from Genuine MINI parts to performance aftermarket parts and servicing parts, they are all available to buy online and over the phone. All products have pictures and full descriptions making it even easier to buy online.

We have also introduced new ranges of products from a huge variety of manufacturers, to give you an idea;

We have also created a page giving you some background to MINI and what MINI R Numbers mean, making it easier to decode some of these specialist terms and phrases.

Happy browsing :-)

WOW - IMM/Mini 50 - what a weekend!

2009-08-13T09:07:00.009+01:00

What a fantastic weekend we all had at the IMM/Mini 50!

With the downpours on Wednesday and Thursday it wasn't looking too promising for the weather, but it had a change of heart and by Friday morning was nice and sunny. Fortunately the weather held up all weekend and everybody enjoyed a fantastic show with fantastic people.

Mini Sport want to thank the Birmingham Mini Owners Club (especially Mike Price) for putting on such a great event and making sure everything that was supposed to happen actually happened. Also we want to thank everybody who attended the event because without you we wouldn't have an event!

We are currently working on a full photo album of the IMM/Mini 50 which will be uploaded soon for you all to see how good it was!

We are already looking forward to the IMM 2010 at Bavaria, Germany!

Diddy Dave Update from Coldfoot, Alaska

2009-08-04T11:20:00.001+01:00

Sorry to you all on taking so long to get a report out were ever you are in the world..........its one hell of a big place out here and you have to drive at least a full day to make any sort of contact with people or property, let alone cellphone or e-mail, its been over two weeks since i had a signal for anything.

My last report was from Chicken just over the border into Alaska i stayed there an extra night as it was a RV/CAMPSITE and a good one that i liked, nothing there but a few people panning for gold and four wooden cowboy type buildings in a line that looks like DODGE CITY....l,a cafe type place 2,a small stores 3/4 saloons, with lots of gold mining equipment and one of the biggest old gold dredgers in the world(try and google it guys).

Next day i was back in the saddle and the big big push to to Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay a long way up the trail and into the Arctic Circle again, its as high as you can go as you drop into the Arctic Ocean after that, i drove all day and passed Fairbanks (big base for US army....close to Russia) I would return there in about 8/9 days time.......today i had my first all day drive on a paved road it was to be my last for some time as i am about to hit the dirt again as i go true north for a while, my plan was to make it to Coldfoot an old work camp from the time they built the Alaskan pipe line (you follow big chucks of it as you travel)

Coldfoot is now a truck stop for truckers, mini drivers and idiots, named Coldfoot after a trapper went north to Deadhorse but returned before he got there. before i got to Coldfoot i will cross the Arctic Circle,but as i turn of the dirt road into the Arctic circle parking spot while not focusing i dropped into a huge pot hole and BANG the ball joint on the n/s front (old driver side) cone lets go....... so with a party of people around me i set about to empty the van and fit a new joint to the end of the ADJUSTA RIDES now set at there highest as my rubber suspension units are now weak and the tyres are about one and a half inches from the bodywork.....its not the hardest of jobs to do once you get the plastic cup out of the top arm, i take that arm of to do the job and replace it all back together and reset the ride height,all this can take up to three hours with all the repacking on the van......the crowd of onlookers had well gone by then....

All this made it late getting into Coldfoot but you cant relate time here as it is light 24hrs a day,the truck drivers are a great bunch of guys and always have time for me and talk, also this part of the journey is a UP and back DOWN trip so i get to meet or see them a couple of times.........i sleep till about 8ish and have a shower before 10bucks buys me a truckers big meal.....and all you can eat,so its close to 10.30 before i am on the road again and head for the Brookes Range of mountains and a climb of 2400ft seeing only the odd truck or motor cycle... and as i get close to the mountains on a clear day like today i can see there is a big white cloud that is hanging half way up the mountain with the top showing.......i turn my cam corder on as me and my trustee van start are half hour climb to the top, i record the climb up to and through the cloud and then my decent to the flat tundra the other side and the BIG change in the temperature.....this is ARCTIC weather without the snow.......

There is only a small window in the year when there is no snow....i know things are changing as the engine/carb are telling me things and i still have about 200km to go.....ye ...ha.. so onward and up we go, i have to get to the Arctic Ocean at all cost and we make it to Prudhoe Bay,thinking its about five only to find out its 9pm..... its that sun again fooling me.

So what about Prudhoe......well all you have here is oil men and what they need as they say(TO GET THE JOB DONE)its a BIG boys toys place and i was to spend some time here looking at as many things as they would let me......try first then ask, if i can.....the place is one big camp that has been trucked in by road...its like living on the moon, almost all of the time i camp but tonight i will stay in a HOTEL its not really a hotel they are PODS put together to form a hotel but it IS a hotel when you get inside.....so out of the wind and cold into reception......can i have a bed for the night not asking the price first....let me look SIR.....whoops this is going to cost i fear......yes sir we have.....that will be 170dollars SIR....there he goes again (DON'T CALL ME THAT)for that you get your evening meal,your breakfast and your take out meal in a big US style bag (let me tell you i did three trips to the food parcel shelve before leaving) yes sir all you can eat for that price......i'll take it.....so i headed to my room it had all you wanted other than something extra to keep you warm at night if you get my drift....i took a shower for an hour before going to the dinning room and a steak that filled one plate and another plate was for all the other stuff......followed by desert,the size of a shoe box and a chat with some of the workers that had seen my MR BEAN car.....its thumbs up wherever i go with the MINI.

I returned to my room and sent a few texts back home to tell friends i had made it to the Arctic ocean,sleep for me did not happen to quickly as its midnight plus and the sun is still shinning, and will be in the morning when i wake up.....i have to say as i was laying in my bed it was nice to get some texts back from friends......back home it was about 8.00am in the UK.....just as i was about to drop off the phone rang (oil company has its own satellite up there to keep an eye on things down on the floor thus the phone signal that i have not had for weeks)it was TUGS a friend for many years(he is about 20 odd years younger than me and still growing up) HE...HE........got your text had to phone and say well done....thank you i said....don't stay on to long it will cost you....he is a great friend.........i sleep and take my breakfast before doing one more visit to the food counter and another meal to take out with me,all my clothes are clean and i take a last look round the arctic buildings and workshops before setting of south at about 1pm and the Brooks Mountains.

With the drive across the Tundra,one thing i forgot to tell you they have a busy airport here as BP have two 747 and Chevron have one 747 plane flying in and out with Alaska Airways also bringing in people .........the motorbike and cycle guys only do a one-way drive on this road........so i get under way and am about half an hour south of Deadhorse and i pass two pushbike guys.....toot and wave only to drive 10miles more on the Dalton highway before i here a BANG from the front......yes another ball joint has gone,so i unpack and set about the repair only to have the cycle guys stop,say hello and wash there pushbikes in one of the many Tundra lakes.....we talk a little and they head out again, I finish the repair and repast them.....over the mountain i go and after a couple of hours the engine/carb return to near perfect....again it is late when i get back to Coldfoot and sleep for the night.

Next day i am still heading south to Fairbanks but it will be a few days before i get there......i an to break another cone joint today, on this road......it don't like me....its not going to get me.....i am for the real first time concerned as i have used both my two spare joints,but i check my spares list and have a spare ADJUSTA RIDE kit.....does it have joints in i ask my self.....yes it has......thank GOD....this was a rear one, this time..a lot easy to do,but i am getting good at it anyway.....cant wait to get of this road and when i do late at night i stop on the paved part and give my van a big hug and thank her.....

I drive for about one hour and stop for the next two days in a quarry i stopped at on my way up, just to relax and top up my suntan.....so two days latter i drive into Fairbanks and spend the next two hours power washing and cleaning the van as it had gone from RED/WHITE to brown........i was in need of an RV/CAMPSITE to shower,do laundry etc so the first i see i will stop at i tell my self,i leave Fairbanks which did not impress me,i drive south this is the road that will take me to Anchorage, i hit on a campsite three hours down the road,and as i turn in there is a sign that said BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL but that's on friday,sat and sunday but this monday so as i turn onto the site i see a LIONS sign and guys setting things up.....i offer to help and stay for 8days from start to finish (i had just a FAB time)made many friends and as i left this small town called Anderson a huge forest fire was only FIVE miles away from this very small town.........it has been so dry in Alaska this year fires are burning all over,so i say goodbye and head for Anchorage were at last i get a signal on my phone to text back to the UK.......i spend a few days there before heading towards Homer......and maybe Dutch Harbour........and the Deadly Catch guys......we will see........hope this LOG makes up for the lack of contact.......next big city is Vancouver and that's at least a month away........take care and start saving your money to travel across to CANADA AND ALASKA...........I'M COMING BACK.........Dave.

Diddy Dave in Chicken, Alaska

2009-07-20T10:22:00.001+01:00

Saturday 18th july 4pm approx.....in a Alaska at a place called Chicken.

Just a short update, I left Inuvik on Thursday and started to head back down the Dempster Highway its about 900km to the T Junction at the bottom. I drove half way to Eagle Plains that day and the rest on Friday to mile 0 at Klondik junction.

A stopover on Friday night....... the plan if I have a plan was to stop in Dawson City for a few days as there is a music festival on the go. After spending half a day I decided to move on...... my reason.... well think of the old cowboy films and Dodge City... well it’s still a bit like that with a touch of the modern world...... so I drove out of town and hit that dust trail again this time i was going to check the border out and see if the Americarmoes would let me in ........ there would not be a problem, but till your in your not in, mind you I was going in on the dirt road and not the main south to north road.......

I arrived at the border and filled in a form..... I even got them to stamp my scottish passport for me...... o they don't like photos taken.......nearly locked me up for that one..... I jumped in the van and hit the dirt again....... this road is called the the Highway in the Sky....... it sure is and at about 3pm local I decided to park my saddle at a small place called Chicken....... tell you what guys the beer is cheaper and more meaty than i've had to date....

ok friends time to sign of and to say thanks to one and all of you I have meet on my travels...you are part of the dream and I thank you......

will try and keep you all up to date.........Diddy Dave

Genuine Mini Mats now available!

2009-07-17T16:42:00.005+01:00

Brand new genuine Mini floor mats are now available from Mini Sport!

These are available in black with the Mini wings logo on the right hand mat and come complete with mat fixings on the front right hand mat. They also come complete with an anti-slip backing.

These have been unavailable for many years and have only just become available again.

We have these in stock now, but hurry they will be popular!

They are available to buy later today on the Mini Sport website and will be introduced at an introductory price of £47.42 plus VAT (£54.53 inc VAT).

Genuine Rover Mini Floor Mats

Mini 50th T-Shirts now available!

2009-07-15T17:55:00.003+01:00

Mini Sport are proud to launch their latest Mini 50th Anniversary T Shirts.

The white T shirts are available to ship now and are in stock, the black are due in the next few days.

There a 4 designs in total and all are strictly Limited Edition

They are priced at a very reasonable £9.99 (inc VAT) each and available in Mens/Ladies and a choice of sizes.

These will sell very quickly, so if you want yours, please buy now to avoid disappointment!

These are available on the Mini Sport website

Mini Sport design the Official IMM 2009 T Shirt

2009-07-14T17:59:00.000+01:00

The Mini Sport Advertising Department are proud to have designed the Official IMM 2009 T-Shirt.

5000 t-shirts are being printed and given away free with every IMM ticket sold in the goodie bag given at sign in at the event.

I'm sure you will all agree, it is a fantastic design and one which we are very proud to have been involved in.

We are looking forward to seeing everybody wearing their T Shirt over the IMM weekend 7-9 August 2009, Birmingham UK.

Diddy Dave - Heading for the Arctic

2009-07-14T09:55:00.008+01:00

Follow Diddy Dave's progress on Google Maps

Update on things after leaving Jasper and starting at mile zero of the Alaskan Highway that starts at Dawson Creek, the road is paved to Fort Nelson and onto Watson Lake on the way I camped at a place called liard hot springs and yes I tested the water there it was fantastic even with those damn mozzies about.

After a good sleep I headed for Watson Creek, this place I believe has the biggest collection of signs in the world I then set about driving along the Robert Campbell Highway this was the start of the gravel that I would be on for the next 10 days and all that dust again..... believe me it gets in everywhere.... my new sleeping bag is full of it and my clothes don't last long they to are black........

The weather is good to great most days and seeing I am talking to friends I know, I will let you all in to a little secret and as there are few people on the road I usually don't bother to wear any clothes any way as its to hot and the aircon is not working at this moment as the roof vent is blocked with bugs plus its cheaper to have a shower or jump in the lake.

Next stopover was in a place called Ross River I am now in the Yukon and would soon be on the Dempster Highway so i spent half a day sorting things out on the van.

The drive pods on the gear box do play a little bit on my mind but with some positive ways they will be fine, so it would seen that the araldite on one boot is working on one side the other with cling film seen to be doing its job but decided to repack that one and replace the cling film before refitting the full sump guard and checking all four corners.

Before heading for the start of the dempster and the 900kms drive to Inuvik (ice road truckers country) its a dead end when i get there so i have to come back down if all works out I hope to be in Dawson City for the weekend of the 18/19th for a music festival.

But before that I will cross into the Arctic on the 14th were i will celebrate my birthday in proper billy connelly style... the proof will be on the DVD.....

I then will be in another provence this it will be the Northwest Territory....... I am still 8 hours behind you all back home, but go back to 7hrs while in the n w t...... then it goes back to 8 when i get to Alaska......so guys i will sign of for now.

Just a final note....... cell phone does not exist here and will not for some time to come, my only chance is e-mail and that is also sometime a problem...... there is nothing up here but dust, Bison, Moose, Caribou, Lynx, Puma, black Bear, wild dogs and that's another story about them....

it's about 10pm on monday night as i sit in a small bar and steal their internet to let you all know that i am fine, I am so lucky to be here it is one hell of a place to be.... you cant describe it, you have to sample it...it blows you away...

that's it guys, Diddy

Follow Diddy Dave's progress on Google Maps

Glamis Transport Extravaganza Weekend

2009-07-14T09:46:00.002+01:00

Wow! What a superb weekend!

Mini Sport would like to thank the event organisers and more importantly the huge turnout of Mini friends and supporters.

We hope you like the above picture which we feel sums up the weekend and we are already looking forward to next years event!

Mini Sport 2009 Catalogue - FREE DOWNLOAD

2009-07-13T15:39:00.004+01:00

The latest and greatest edition of the Mini Sport Parts and Accessories Catalogue is now available to download on the Mini Sport website.

Or you can download the pdf catalogue here

The Mini Sport Catalogue can also be purchased online, but please note that the printed copy will be available from 7 August 2009.

The image quality has been reduced to get the pdf down from 43mb to a reasonable 15.2mb download size, so don't be put off if the images look a little low quality!

The price list to accompany the 2009 Catalogue will be available as a download either today or tomorrow.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we have had putting it together for you...

the Mini Sport Advertising Team

Mini Sport 2009 Catalogue Cover

2009-07-13T12:37:00.003+01:00

The Mini Sport advertising department have only just finalised the latest 2009 Parts and Accessories Catalogue and are proud to show you all a sneak preview of the front cover.

The catalogue is now in print and will be launched at the IMM/Mini 50 weekend on 7-9 August 2009.

For those of you who can't wait for the printed version, a compressed pdf download will be available later today on the Free Download area of the Mini Sport website

Diddy Daves Update

2009-07-09T09:28:00.004+01:00

Tue 7th June 6pm

Keith and Deb are great mini fans.....Debs is nuts about them....she told me to say hello to Chris back at Mini Sport....she even gave me a free-phone no to ring to contact them should i need any help.....all this came about from Paul Malone in St Johns in Newfoundland to whom I am grateful.

So I am now back on the road and good to go.... and go it is. It took me four and a half days to get through Ontario doing six to seven hundred km a day to get into the next Provence of Manitoba then Saskatchewan. That only took two days in each an easy one before Alberta. All of these provences are flat as glass but as I got close to Calgary I could start to see the Rockies.

I stopped off in Calgary at the stampede before heading south to almost the USA and to a place called Trail before turning north into the real Rockies and Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper. I took time out to visit the Icefields in the National Park, while I was there I replaced a rear wheel bearing and headed north and to the Alaskan Highway...........

I have worked out that I have done approximately 19000km to date that is just a guess as the odometer failed at 13000..........is that a good omen i hope it is....

so folks that’s it for now......

Diddy Dave

Mini Sport at Glamis Castle, Scotland this weekend

2009-07-07T11:48:00.008+01:00

The 35th Scottish Transport Extravaganza, Glamis, United Kingdom

11-12 July 2009

Proudly supported by Mini Sport

The Strathmore Vintage Vehicle Society's Scottish Transport Extravaganza is held in the spectacular landscaped grounds of Glamis Castle. Over 800 vintage cars and other vehicles are on display along with many more attractions.

Numerous stalls, a craft tent, marching pipe bands and a children's area make for an all-round family day out, especially for motor enthusiasts. The sales area is huge, with many toy dealers, art, craft, jumble and antiques stands.

Glamis Castle was the childhood home of the Queen Mother and parts of the building date back to the 11th century; Glamis Castle's Duncan's Hall is the legendary setting for Shakespeare's Macbeth.

The Scottish Vintage Vehicle Federation was established in November 1973 with the aims of publishing an events programme each year and maintaining a register of competitors. The architect of the SVVF was Tom Sked of Aberdeen and appropriately he was elected its first Chairman.

www.svvc.co.uk

Mini Sport at Gaydon Mini Festival - 4-5 July

2009-07-02T10:36:00.005+01:00

The annual weekend celebration of all things Mini in association with Mini Sport and MiniWorld Magazine takes place this year on the 4 & 5 July 2009.

Hundreds of Minis!
All Mini owners are very welcome to display their car, even if you aren't part of a club you can still participate. Simply purchase your admission in advance at a discounted rate (deadline for advance bookings is Monday 29 June 4pm), or turn up on the day. All Minis that arrive on the day will receive VIP parking at the show.

Win Win Win...
Any Mini on display at the show will automatically be considered for the Mini of the Year award which is being judged on the Saturday and prize awarded on the Sunday.

If you are feeling creative then why not enter the Dress up your Mini competition? All you need to do is turn your Mini into something weird and wonderful! To enter email
events@heritage-motor-centre.co.uk

The event will be jam packed with Mini activities, highlights include:

Mini Owner Club displays - click here for booking form
Music by Ross and the Wrongens & Krisis
Mini trade village
Dalek Invasion including Audience with a Dalek
Mini World's Mini of the Year competition
Dress up your Mini
Russ Swift precision driving
Limited Edition Heritage Run
Sell your Mini corner

...........and much more!

For more details visit the Gaydon Mini website

Fastest Mini in the World race 2009

2009-06-24T10:58:00.004+01:00

The BARC is hosting a special Mini 50 weekend of track fun at Lydden Hill circuit in Kent on 27-28 June 2009.

The weekend will include five dedicated Mini races, plus Mini displays, parade laps and a free Saturday evening barbeque.

There are two classes that can be entered each with four sub classes, ensuring every type of Mini is catered for whether it is a historic racer, or space-framed Mini.

The fastest competitors from each class will be put forward for Sunday's Fastest Mini in the World race which will see the winner take home a very respectable achievement.

Richard Casey will be running his Mini Sport/M.A.D. sponsored 300bhp turbo BMW MINI Cooper S in a hope to win the challenge!

For an entry form visit the website at www.barc.net/regional_centres/south_east/regulations.php

For further info or details about tickets, contact Rob Morris on 07771 902456.

minisport.com has PageRank 5!

2009-06-24T10:31:00.004+01:00

WOW! What an achievement, www.minisport.com has just received a Page Rank of 5 by Google this morning...

After over 2 years of design, development, building and testing our current ecommerce website we have achieved a superb milestone this morning, with a Google Page Rank of 5.

Google page rank is Googles own numeric way of representing how important a website is on the world wide web. The higher the number, the more important and each website is given a number out of 10.

It is very very hard to get a good page rank, as an example ebay.co.uk has a Page Rank of 7, bbc.co.uk has a Page Rank of 9, even google.co.uk only has a Page Rank of 8!

Google Page Rank is explained in detail on WikiPedia for any of you that are interested.

We are now working hard to achieve our next milestone, a Google Page Rank of 6!

Diddy Dave in Cartwright, Canada

2009-06-22T10:36:00.003+01:00

SAT 20TH JUNE 8.00PM APPROX

Hi all

Am all at sea as I e-mail you all, am sitting in the lounge of Sir Robert Bond having a beer, I have just set sail from Cartwright in Labrador on a 12hr passage to Happy Valley-Goose Bay as we have run out of road..... I have already had a sample of things to come when it comes to dirt roads.......have clocked up about 900km(600mls) straight run on gravel, as of this moment some of these gravel roads are better than the trans canadian highway having already bust two top shocker bolts on the front on the tarmac roads....... I think i've sorted that problem out otherwise the Mr Bean van is doing ok and have cloaked up about 7500km to date, my biggest problem is dust from the gravel roads its got into everywhere........when I open the rear door about 2 kilos of dust falls out and you can see it being sucked in through what was the drivers door (the mini was built that way to let the water out,but i don't care as i am having a great drive, these have to be the best rally stages in the world, they are endless and so wide you just switch the autopilot on and use one hand to drive, I came of the Island of Newfoundland by ferry to Labrador about 5 days ago and was escorted by two big rigs all day to my destination for the night, we kept about a mile apart and you could judge your speed by how much dust you made we ran at about 80km hour you should be doing 70km........anyway were were pasted by another big rig with two trailer doing 100plus.......what a sight as it wiped me out in the dust and into the future as past on bye, you could see it or the dust for the next 6km.

Two days later I did the last 260km and only saw one vehicle on that day..........can't what for the Yukon and Alaska part of the journey.

I am now starting to travel west proper and in about two weeks time I should hit the flat land were they tell me that you can see your dog running for three days...... I can also make up some time as it is very difficult to leave this eastern or atlantic side as they call it, the people have to be the most friendly and helpful in the world.

Once I get to goose bay most of the road is gravel for the next 1500km and I keep hearing stores about the road, I don't have any contact by now that has well gone........ I am told they like you to hire a satellite phone and hand it in at the end of the road.....we will see..... I will also try keeping in touch by e-mail it should get better once I get into middle canada.......... I don't mind you sending me e-mails.....if you get the chance,

Regards to you all, Diddy

Mini Sport Design IMM 2009 Carrier

2009-06-18T17:04:00.003+01:00

The Mini Sport Advertising Department are proud to have had the opportunity to design the Official Carrier Bag for the IMM/Mini 50.

This is currently being printed onto an environmentally friendly Biothene biodegradeable plastic which degrades naturally with sunlight over only 18 months.

Keep your eyes peeled for our Special Edition Mini 50th Birthday range of T Shirts which are due to be launched in the next 3-4 weeks. These have all been uniquely designed and we hope to see you all wearing yours on the special weekend at Cofton Park, Birmingham 7/8/9 August 2009.

Mini Cooper Mk1 - FOR SALE

2009-06-18T15:32:00.003+01:00

FOR SALE - Mini Cooper Mk1 - 1966

Mini Cooper MK1 1966 (Island Blue). Historic rally car originally built by Bill Richards. 1380cc engine close ratio box 2 pin diff, adjustable suspension, Gaz adj shocks. adjustable bottom arms, competition tie bars, sump guard, 4 pot brakes, maniflow exhaust system. Safety devices cage, Cobra seats, Luke harnesses.

This Mini has only competed in the last two years and has had top 5 results and class wins and won last years championship, it is on fantastic order with a build cost of £18,000. Mini sport have run the car and it’s done 3 events since engine, gear box and diff were all renewed.

Price: £7995.00 ono

Please call Ian on 07765513412 / 015395 36316 / 015395 38913 for more details

Jim Clark Rally Vid

2009-06-17T12:05:00.000+01:00

JIM CLARK RALLY 2009 - MINISPORT BMW MINI COOPER S - HARPER / CAMPBELL - CRESSEY / QUIRK

Jack Neal Rally Vid 4

2009-06-17T12:04:00.000+01:00

Jack Neal Memorial Rally 09 - Page / Easton - Minisport / Framor garage BMW MINI Cooper S 1

Jack Neal Rally Vid 3

2009-06-17T12:03:00.002+01:00

Jack Neal Memorial Rally 09 - Page / Easton - Minisport / Framor garage BMW MINI Cooper S 2

Jack Neal Rally Vid 2

2009-06-17T12:03:00.001+01:00

Jack Neal Memorial Rally 09 - Cressey / Constantine - Minisport BMW MINI Cooper S 2

Jack Neal Rally Vid 1

2009-06-17T12:01:00.002+01:00

Jack Neal Memorial Rally 09 - Cressey / Constantine - Minisport BMW MINI Cooper S 1

Jim Clark Rally Vid - SS7 Fogo

2009-06-17T12:01:00.001+01:00

JIM CLARK 09 - SS7 FOGO - MINISPORT.COM BMW MINI COOPER S - HARPER / CAMPBELL

Jim Clark Rally Vid - SS5 Edrom

2009-06-17T11:57:00.000+01:00

JIM CLARK 09 - SS5 EDROM - MINISPORT.COM BMW MINI COOPER S - HARPER / CAMPBELL

Mini Sport visits Stone Henge

2009-06-17T10:57:00.003+01:00

Mini Sport pays a flying visit to the pre-historic monument of Stone Henge.

Stonehenge is probably the most important prehistoric monument in the
whole of Britain and has attracted visitors from earliest times. It stands as a timeless monument to the people who built it.

The stonehenge that we see today is the final stage that was completed about 3500 years ago, but first let us look back 5000 years.

For more information on this fascinating landmark take a look at www.stonehenge.co.uk

Mini Sport at Bealieau

2009-06-17T10:00:00.003+01:00

Mini Sport would like to thank the Mini Cooper Register for organising such a superb day at Beaulieu this year.

The Beaulieu Show is without doubt one of the best shows in the Mini Calendar and is set in a lovely part of the New Forest in Southampton.

The weather was superb all day and the turnout and selection of Minis on display was fantastic.

We are already looking forward to next years event which will, no doubt be even bigger and better!

Diddy Daves Update

2009-06-12T09:36:00.003+01:00

MON 8th JUNE 8.00pm

Just got internet access; arrived n.f.land Wed 27th May by ferry 6hrs crossing and was warned not to drive at night by most people on the boat as the moose here are the size of elephants,they put are deer to shame the size of them, the problem is there antlers act as tin openers and will cut the roof of your vehicle.

Port-aux-basques to st johns is a 900km straight drive I will go there some time in the coming week as I promised to call on the Mini guys there but till then i will be going of the main trans canada highway (tch) no1 and calling into some other places such as gros morne nat park west of the island and into twillingate to see the ice burgs have a look on Google Earth (I think ) there is so much to see and made friends wherever i go, the people are just the best.

I landed at St Johns on Friday afternoon and camped in pippa park in the centre of the city, on my journey from the ferry to St Johns i past some guys and girls from the canadian navy they have for the last 14 years run this 900km to raise money for kids. I passed them about 3 times on the tch and made friends with them, i told them i would be in st johns on sat, so they asked me to come to the ship when they finish on sat.

I also hooked up with mini guys and was given the tour of all the best places.......cape spear the most eastley point of North America ( as close to the uk as you can get) cabot tower were the first transatlantic wireless message by Marconi was sent 12 Dec 1901. Also where Alcot and Brown made that first transaltantic air flight in 1919 in 16hrs - so much history here with world war 2 also these guys fought on our side and lost so many.

On sunday I start at zero of the tch and head west and double back on myself for the first time(and only once I hope) I have a call to make at a place called bishops fall its a camp for mentally and physically challenged individuals, I came by this place by going to a lions meeting in twillingate last monday night and was told you must call on this place and see it for your self. I landed here on sunday night and looks like i will be here for a week as i have been adopted by five guys called pioneers' and they like the lions do good work for people,we are building a small unit on site for the people.....all these guys are in there 70/80s and they do it for the love of it and for nothing.......anyway folks that's it for now.....ps lou i should be ok to keep contact this week as they have asked me to stay and help......

lots of love to you all d.d

Exclusive Mini Shopper Bags

2009-06-10T14:13:00.002+01:00

Brand new 50th Anniversary Mini Shopper Bags are now available and in stock with a choice of 3 designs from Mini Sport.

You can choose from a Blue, "Swinging London" Shopper with a picture of the Mini in London against Big Ben. There is also a Red, "The Costa Azzurra" Shopper with JBL 495D set in the French Riviera. Finally there is the White, "Monte Carlo or Bust" Shopper, set in Monte Carlo with the Casino as a back drop.

Each is priced at a reasonable £83.20 each (inc VAT) and are available now.

These are a Limited Edition run and are set to sell very quickly.

50th Anniversary Shopper Bags available to buy here

CNC Machines on the move!

2009-06-10T11:27:00.005+01:00

(This is what a 5 tonne machine looks like at head height!)

The Mini Sport CNC Machine Centre is now on the move!

Don't worry it isn't moving too far, over the road to be exact. The reason for the move is simple, to expand and increase the amount of machining capabilities we have here at Mini Sport in Lancashire, England.

The new CNC Machine Centre is currently being refitted from the ground up giving us a supreme working base which will in turn allow us to expand the range of CNC engineered products offered for sale.

I will keep you all updated over the next few weeks with more pictures of the new CNC centre as it takes shape and comes online and hopefully have some short video clips available too.

Mini Sport at Beaulieu!

2009-06-09T10:14:00.002+01:00

The Mini Cooper Register is pleased to be running this annual event, which is now in it's 23rd year.

The annual Beaulieu event has always been one of the significant events on the mini / MINI calendar.

There will be a large display of Coopers from each of the marques, ranging from 1961 Coopers up to the latest New MINI Cooper Works. The registrars of each of the marques will be available at the show to discuss any enquiries you may have.

Mini Sport will of course be in attendance as one of the Official Show Sponsors, feel free to come over for a chat or to browse through the parts on our stand.

MINIWORLD Magazine will be giving out trophies for the best standard and modified car of the day.

The National Mini Cooper Day is renowned for the quality of its concours competition. The Beaulieu Cup being one the most prestigious awards of the day. The standard of the cars is always something to see and be amazed by. National Mini Cooper DayNot forgetting of course, the honorary members of the Mini Cooper Register who normally attend, such as Lady Watson (Christabel Carlisle),Bill Price, Stuart Turner, Paddy Hopkirk just to name a few.

www.minicooper.org

www.beaulieu.co.uk

Diddy Dave's latest - 2 June

2009-06-02T11:19:00.005+01:00

This picture shows "Diddy" Dave and his van at Mini Sport before he set off on his World Adventure - "The Wrong Way Round"

Dave has just updated us with his adventure;

Hi Lou and all my friends back home,
Its my first e-mail since my journey started in Halifax back on the 1st may.....today is Monday 25th may and its 9.30 eastern seaboard time add 4 hours onto that i think,all is great with me am loving it so much so i keep stopping 7days here 4days there and have not got two Newfoundland yet,tomorrow i may get to the boat or i may not......what the heck that takes me there.

All started back in Halifax when the van arrived....customs and border guys were great i did not have to pay a bond on the vehicle(smooth talker me) i even got them out of the office in downtown Halifax for a photo,we cant do that(come on i said i wont tell anyone) once clear of Halifax i headed towards New Brunswick and Prince Edward island and along the 12km 8miles CONFEDERATION BRIDGE over the sea,WOW,WOW i spent 7/8 days there working on a house 3days welding about trailer(paying job) i left the island by ferry at woods island to Caribou Nova Scotia,then onto Cape Breton Island and the cape Breton highlands national park,WOW,WOW,WOW,WOW,WOW its a big version of Scotland,no deer but the moose tastes good,very body stops and talks to me and wants to look at my MR BEAN car as they call it,I've been living of lobster and crab (its a tuff live on the road) had about 10 days of rain at the start,the sun has been with me for the last 7days but looks like rain for N.F.LAND,suntan is coming on OK all over.

Looking forward to N.F.LAND and a visit to a camp site there that was given to me back in Halifax by CHRIS at the customs place,well what are friends for(its his sister).

Will try and keep contact by text.........lost the signal on cape Breton for 5days it may be the same on N.F.LAND but more so when i go to LABRADOR its a lot more north.

AM MISSING YOU ALL,no I'm not.....well a little bit..........

P.S had the BANJO out......it seems to keep the BEARS AWAY.

LOTS OF SLOPPY STUFF TO YOU ALL......till next time........DIDDY,DAVE, DAD,and GRANDAD.

Mini Sport Blog has a PR 3!

2009-05-29T09:30:00.002+01:00

For all you web geeks out there,

The Mini Sport Official Blog has just received a Google Page Rank of 3 today! This is a great achievement and we are very pleased it has been so succesful over the last few months!

So what is Google Page Rank?

Google Page Rank can be basically explained as a numeric value between 0-10 that represents how important a page is on the web. Google counts on many factors to assign Page Rank and we have been working very hard behind the scenes to be able to promote the blog so effectively.

Mini Sport Rally vid - Jim Clark 09 part 4

2009-05-26T12:11:00.002+01:00

Jim Clark 09 - ss3 Part 2 - Minisport BMW Mini Cooper S - Harper / Campbell

Mini Sport Rally vid - Jim Clark 09 part 3

2009-05-26T12:10:00.002+01:00

Jim Clark 2009 - ss3 Ab'y st Bathans part 1 - Minisport BMW Mini Cooper S - Harper / Campbell

Mini Sport Rally vid - Jim Clark 09 part 2

2009-05-26T11:58:00.001+01:00

Jim Clark 2009 - ss2 Bothwell - Minisport BMW Mini Cooper S - Harper / Campbell

Mini Sport Rally vid - Jim Clark 09 part 1

2009-05-26T11:21:00.003+01:00

Jim Clark 09 - SS1 Duns - Mini Sport BMW Cooper S - HARPER / CAMPBELL

Mini Sport design Mini 50 logo

2009-05-21T14:54:00.004+01:00

Mini Sport are proud to be the Title Sponsors of both the IMM2009 and Mini 50 which is being held on August 7/8/9 2009 at Cofton Park in Birmingham.

The Mini Sport advertising department were approached to adapt their own superb 50th logo to incorporate the Birmingham Mini Owners Club logo (BMOC). Of course we jumped at the chance to be involved with such a huge milestone event and the result is the fantastic logo above, which we hope does the Mini 50 and the event proud!

As Title Sponsors of both the IMM2009 and Mini 50, Mini Sport are currently producing many different items of merchandise which will be available at the show and we are sure will turn into sure collectors items in years to come!

Keep your eyes peeled over the next few months for updates on this very special event!

www.mini50.com

www.imm2009.com

Mini Sport at London to Brighton 2009

2009-05-19T12:35:00.004+01:00

The London to Brighton was the first major show of what will be a very special and very busy year, the Mini’s 50th Anniversary.

The London to Brighton Mini Run is arguably the largest one make car show in the world. 2100 official Mini tickets, and the event is further attended by around 400-500 additional Minis who use the many public car parks in and around Brighton.

Improving on what is already the biggest show in the show calendar is a tricky business, this event is not just a static show, it is a lots of people and a lot of cars having fun on the Saturday in Crystal Palace, making a historic run at an ungodly hour, and only then do we take over the whole seafront for a great show.

Mini Sport arrived first on Madeira Drive in Brighton at 5am on Sunday morning in order to set up the 16m long stand full of hundreds of parts and accessories. Despite the early morning torential downpour which created havoc with the stock and tent, the day was hugely successful and we wish to thank all the Mini owners and customers who made the day such a great event!

See you all there next year!

www.london-to-brighton.co.uk

JACK NEAL 2009 Memorial Rally Report

2009-05-18T15:46:00.001+01:00

FRAMOR's "FIRST LADY !"

The first running of the Jack Neal Memorial Rally held at Blyton in Lincolnshire was the latest venue for the Mini Sport Rally Team to compete again recently with the Aberdeenshire crew of Martin Page and "The Missus" Claire making the 900 mile round trip to compete to help raise funds for the Pendleside Hospice.

On this occassion, the four car Mini Sport Team had a change from the normal running with Mini Sports mechanic Mick Anderson driving Daniels Cooper 'S' and co-driven by his 15 year old son Ben. The Dawes brothers Ian and Gary swapped driving and co-driving roles for the day while John Cressey was co-driven by his mechanic Jim Constantine. Martin also had a first timer alongside as Claire vacated her usual role driving the Management car to make her co-driving debut in the rally car with him.

Here, Claire reports on her own experience of how it all went in the lesser known side of a rally car - the co-drivers seat.

With 12 tarmac stages to get through and a new mix of crews in the rally cars it was possibly going to be an eventful day.

Having sorted all the paper work for the rally I was a little nervous going into the first stage with the responsibility of calculating times and reading the route through the intercom. I have been involved with the team for a few years now and have seen all the in-car camera footage from each rally but nothing prepares you for the assault on the senses that being in a rally car at full speed gives you. Its very noisy and the car is sliding sideways at ridiculous speeds. Its amazing.

I had a real insight into the job of the co-driver and saw just how important they are in the car. I nearly missed a time control coming out of one of the stages but realised in time and got us back there without any time penalty.

By the second special stage I was a little more confident at calling bends and surface changes but had Martin laughing as for some reason I was compelled to tell him when I thought he should use the handbrake by shouting "handbrake, handbrake" about six times on the rather fast approach to a hairpin.

Back in Service the car was given a good check over and I consulted Davie Stuart our brilliant mechanic on how much fuel to put in the car for the next few stages. The co-driver is also responsible for overseeing each service as the mechanics have to do any repairs within a specified time, calculated by me! If I had got the sums wrong we could have incurred time penalties. The responsibility is huge and so are the consequences if a co-driver gets it wrong.

Back out on the stages all was going well when Martin suddenly reported that the car had lost power. It was noticably misfiring. This is a real distraction for 'your' driver as I found out when Martin questioned the route. In these situations I had been told that the co-driver is the boss as he or she should know exactly what the route and timings are and should stick to their guns. At this point the co-driver would also be radio'ing the mechanics to give them advanced warning that something is up and to be ready for us in Service.

Thankfully I did stick to my guns and much to my own relief kept us on track. Unfortunately we had to suffer the misfire for three stages but Martin made the best of it and cracked on until we could make repairs.

Back at Service, Davie did a brilliant job of diagnosing and replacing split injector seals.....whatever they are! He was also kept busy when The Brother's Dawes came into service with a snapped drive shaft. Incredibly he singlehandedly removed the old broken one and replaced it in a matter of a few minutes.

With my new found confidence and the cars performance improved we went into the final stages. With practice from the previous special stages, I was now calling all the bends fluently and even throwing in my own made up calls of "handbrake at will !" I think I was starting to put "my driver" off a little as he kept laughing at this for some reason!

The feeling of crossing the flying finish on the last stage was absolutely amazing. I have looked at the in-car camera film and all you can hear is me cheering and clapping! I had finished my first ever rally as a co-driver and we came in 5th in class and 20th overall which I'm really chuffed about.

The co-drivers role is often overlooked by the motorsport media but I have now doubt that its a full team effort in and out of the rally car. I had a fantastic day and a great insight into the job. The rally also raised £2000 for the hospice.

A huge thanks to Martin Cressey and all the other co-drivers for their patience while I badgered them with questions and to the lads at Framor Garage and Mini Sport.

Claire.

Mini Sport new CNC Centre

2009-05-15T15:23:00.002+01:00

Here is a quick snap to give you all a taster of our new CNC facility.

The concrete floor has just been laid and we are in the process of installing 2 new machines shown above and also the new laser etcher CAD machine.

The other 3 CNC machines currently in use are being moved over in the next 3-4 weeks giving us a total 6 CNC machines and a huge capacity for the design, development and production of a huge rage of products and components.

Due to fully open by the end of June, I'm sure you will agree this is an exciting time for Mini Sport!

JIM CLARK NATIONAL RALLY 2009

2009-05-15T14:40:00.003+01:00

The National Jim Clark 2009 rally will start from Duns and complete one circuit of the day one Lammermuir stages in the half light of a Scottish summer’s evening before returning to its Kelso base for the night. On Day two the rally will following the International competitors for most of the route before finishing a little earlier again back in Kelso.

The rally takes place over 2 days, starting on Friday 22nd May.

In preparation for the rally, both the Harper and Cressey MINIs are being checked over and rebuilt at the moment so they are ready for the competiton.

Good luck to the Mini Sport Rally Team who have two MINIs entered, #131 Daniel Harper/Chris Campbell and #138 John Cressey/Stan Quirk.

www.jimclarkrally.com

4 Pin Diffs on the Machine!

2009-05-15T14:36:00.002+01:00

The Mini Sport 4 Pin Differential is also on the CNC machine this week. The picture above shows the diff casing being machined at Mini Sport Head Quarters in Padiham, Lancashire.

Product Description:

Available as Pot joint, Rubber coupling or Hardy spicer types.

Re-occurring problems with the standard differential especially under competition circumstances prompted us to design and develop the 4 pinion differential. Engineered and crafted from an innovative design in high specification materials to give a very tough and hard wearing component.
Highly recommended for all disciplines of motorsport and modified cars.

buy Mini Sport 4 Pin Diff

Mini Sport Rally vid - Mull 2008 Scridain

2009-05-15T14:35:00.001+01:00

Mini Sport Rally vid - Jack Frost 09

2009-05-15T14:34:00.001+01:00

Mini Sport Rally vid - Mull 08 Gribun

2009-05-15T14:32:00.002+01:00

A new batch of alloy swivel hubs

2009-05-15T14:22:00.002+01:00

This week sees the latest batch of Alloy Swivel Hubs hit the CNC machines at Mini Sport in England.

Here you see the part machined swivel hubs stacked ready for the next stage of machining which will be completed by early next week. Later in the week will see them going for hard anodising and then at the end of the week they will be shipped out to waiting customers.

Product Information:

Only 0.71kg per hub. Suitable for all disc brake Mini's, come as a complete kit with uprated ball joints, Specially modified Cooper S steering arms, locating dowels and mounting bolts

Mini Sport Alloy Swivel Hub Kit

New CNC Laser Etching

2009-05-15T14:12:00.003+01:00

Mini Sport are due to launch their very latest CNC machines which will revolutionise the machining processes already in place.

The new Laser Etching machine allows text, images, logos, graphics and even photos to be machined onto nearly every product Mini Sport produces in house.

This picture above shows the Mini Sport 1.5:1 roller tip rockers wearing their new laser etched Mini Sport logo.

Laser etching allows much smaller logos and information to be machined into products like rocker arms whereas previously this would have had to be machined in to the face, much the same as the face of the 4 pot caliper. To give you an idea of speed, the laser etcher can etch in the Mini Sport logo on a batch of 5 rockers arms in 5 seconds!

Keep you eyes peeled over the next few weeks for more exclusive Mini Sport products sporting the new laser etching logo!

Mini Sport Roller Tip Rockers

Mini Sport at Brighton!

2009-05-15T13:41:00.005+01:00

Mini Sport are preparing thousands of parts and accessories to make the 5 hour trip to Brighton this weekend.

As one of the official London to Brighton 2009 Show supporters, Mini Sport will be proudly making an appearance this Sunday on the front at Brighton.

The London to Brighton Mini run is one of the biggest convoys of minis worldwide and begins at Crystal Palace Park in London and makes its way down to Brighton some 55 miles away. Departing early Sunday morning and due into Brighton late morning/early afternoon depending on traffic of course!

The L2B run is a firm favourite of many mini enthusiasts and Mini Sport will be there to celebrate with the thousands of mini owners in this superb event.

London & Surrey Mini Owners Club’s London to Brighton Mini Run is the biggest and best Mini event in the show calendar. Taking place each May it attracts entrants from all over the world, and it is a fantastic opportunity for owners to show off their pride and joy, and the public to take in the spectacle of around 2,500 Minis as they make the 55 mile pilgrimage from Crystal Palace Park, London to Madeira Drive on Brighton’s seafront.

Once in Brighton the event takes over the whole seafront and has many attractions including Autotest demonstrations, Show ‘n’ Shine, Traders and lots more.

This year we will be celebrating the Minis 50th Anniversary in style and making the London to Brighton bigger and better than ever! On this website you will find news and updates, galleries from previous events and a plethora of information to help you enjoy the event. Ensure you visit on a regular basis to be kept up to date on the latest event news.

For further information see the official website here

1.5:1 Roller Tip Rockers Instock!

2009-03-09T14:01:00.003Z

Hot off the production line at Mini Sport is this brand new batch of Mini Sport 1.5:1 Roller Tip Rockers. Now instock and ready to ship.

The Mini Sport Roller tip rockers can be installed in minutes and give the same performance increase as if using a high lift camshaft. This means that you can have all the advantages of changing the camshaft, without having to remove the engine.
The Roller tips on the rocker assembly help to eliminate friction, and also stops the side loading of valve stem that the standard rockers create, which allows quieter and smoother running.
Accurate modern CNC manufacturing techniques ensure the correct rocker ratio is achieved and quality control is assured.

1.3:1 is a standard ratio and is designed as a direct replacement to the original rocker assembly.
The Roller tips on the rocker assembly help to eliminate friction, and also stops the side loading of valve stem that the standard rockers create, which allows quieter and smoother running.
Accurate modern CNC manufacturing techniques ensure the correct rocker ratio is achieved and quality control is assured.

1.5:1 ratio gives higher lift, therefore increasing performance and is designed to directly replace to the original rocker assembly.
The Mini Sport Roller tip rockers can be installed in minutes and gives the same performance increase as using a higher lift camshaft. This means that without having to remove the engine, to change the camshaft, you can have all the advantages. Not recommended for 850cc engines.
The Roller tips on the rocker assembly help to eliminate friction, and also stops the side loading of valve stem that the standard rockers create, which allows quieter and smoother running.
Accurate modern CNC manufacturing techniques ensure the correct rocker ratio is achieved and quality control is assured.

1.7:1 ratio creates much higher lift, therefore giving much more performance and is designed specifically for highly modified engines.
For more information on suitable application, please contact our sales department sales@minisport.com.
The Roller tips on the rocker assembly help to eliminate friction, and also stops the side loading of valve stem that the standard rockers create, which allows quieter and smoother running.
Accurate modern CNC manufacturing techniques ensure the correct rocker ratio is achieved and quality control is assured.

A new batch of Mini Sport 4 Pots!

2009-03-06T17:40:00.003Z

The latest batch of Mini Sport 4 Pot Calipers to come off the production line at Mini Sport Headquarters in Padiham, Lancashire, UK.

Due to go for annodising in a whole range of colours next week, the calipers will then be built up, checked and packed ready to ship to waiting customers in the following days.

Click here for more information and to purchase Mini Sport 4 Pot Alloy Calipers

Haynes Mini Merchandise

2009-03-06T11:35:00.003Z

A full range of top quality Haynes branded Mini Merchandise is available to buy directly from Mini Sport and is listed on the Mini Sport website

We have listed everything from wallets and drinks bottles to pencil cases, mugs and rucksacks - this is the stuff to be seen at this years shows, the Minis 50th year!

All Haynes branded Mini merchandise is currently in stock and ready to ship, but hurry this is going to be very popular and will sell fast!

Silver Fox!

2009-03-05T17:45:00.002Z

Mini Sport look to the future and celebrate 50 Years of Mini with their latest purchase of a Brand New 2009 silver 3.2l 200bhp Ford Transit Van.

This ideal work horse will compliment the existing two Mini Sport Ford Transit vans and ensure Mini Sport have enough travelling capacity for the multitude of shows and events they are attending this year for the Minis 50th year celebrations.

For a full list of shows and events that Mini Sport are sponsoring and attending in 2009, please look at the website

Mini Sport also make monthly european van deliveries to a whole host of customers on the continent. If you are interested in this special service, please contact Mick Holt by email: mick@minisport.com or by telephone +44 (0)1282 778731