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Few people visiting this site will need reminding of the MINI’s successful history in motorsport and, in paticular, rallying.  During the sixties the BMC team (under the impeccable leadership of Stuart Turner) took the MINI to twenty-five first class rally victories.  This included four straight victories in the Monte Carlo Rally with legendary drivers Paddy Hopkirk, Timo Mäkinen and Rauno Aaltonen at the wheels of four equally legendary S-class Coopers developed by BMC’s competions team.

Ever since BMW brought the MINI into the twenty-first century, many fans have wondered if a return to first class competition rallying could ever happen.

The answer is yes…and in March we will see the new MINI rally car unveiled.

Based on the new AWD Countryman platform, the MINI will be developed jointly with Prodrive and Mads Østberg is believed to have won the coveted driver’s seat.

You can read RallyBuzz article here.
You can read the MotoringFile article here.

On a cold and wet Sunday morning in February there is only one sane place to be and that is tucked up warm in bed.  However, nobody ever accused MINI fans of being sane and so this past weekend saw fifteen MINI’s (of all vintages) board the ferry from Southampton to Cowes for an all-day run around the Isle of Wight.

It’s safe to say that the event was a spectacular success for organiser Nick Bark and the Portsmouth and Southampton MINI Club.  Not only did we manage to coax fifteen MINI’s (and their occupants) out into the cold rain but an additional twenty MINI’s from the local Isle of Wight MINI Club met us as we arrived and accompanied us up to the Needles.

The whole day was topped off by an absolutely wonderful meal at the The Fighting Cocks in Arreton.  I cannot recommend the food in this pub highly enough.

You can view a gallery of photographs from the event here.

You may recall an earlier article in which my MINI and I participated in a photoshoot and interview for Modern MINI magazine.  Well, the latest issue of the magazine has just been published and we take pride of place alongside Richard Weare’s amazing carbon-fibre Cooper and the magazine’s new project car.  Pick yourself up a copy!

If the magazine has prompted you to pop along to our site for the first time, then please take time to have a look around.  Collin and myself are both members of local MINI clubs and have adored the cheeky little car (in all it’s guises) since we were children.  You might be paticularly interested in some of the shows and events we have attended!

You can download some goodies and remember to head on over to Modern MINI.

MINI have officially unveiled the new MINI Countryman accompanied by the usual press release.  There’s no doubt about it, the new MINI Countryman is a hot topic. A MINI with four doors and with all wheel drive!  This is a real change from previous MINI models and, despite the name, there isn’t a similar model from the distant past of the MINI with which to compare it.  MINI are promoting the new MINI Countryman along the lines of a ‘mini SUV’; freedom, versatility, and fun.

The MINI Countryman will initially be offered in all MINI model specifications, apart from John Cooper Works. This means that there will be Countryman versions of the MINI One, MINI One D, MINI Cooper, MINI Cooper D and range topping Cooper S form. The MINI Cooper D Countryman and MINI Cooper S Countryman will also have the option of an all wheel drive system branded ALL4.  The ALL4 all wheel drive system features an electrohydraulic differential positioned directly on the final drive, which varies the distribution from front to rear in an infinite process. Under regular driving conditions up to 50 percent of the engine’s power is directed to the rear wheels, while under more “extreme conditions” this can increase all the way to 100 percent rear wheel drive, which is certainly something never seen before on a production model MINI of any variety.

Luggage capacity is 350 litres as standard, which is 90 more than the Clubman and more than double that of the MINI. The rear seats move forward and back individually for the four seat model or in a 60:40 split on the five seat version. The backrests can also be tilted forward to increase capacity, for the three seat bench this is in a 40:20:40 split. With seats tilted forward, capacity increases to 440 litres. The maximum stated luggage capacity is 1,170 litres.  The MINI Countryman comes equipped with front, side and curtain airbags, inertia reel seat belts all round, and ISOFIX child seat fastenings.

Ambient lighting is fitted in abundance, and a unique MINI Center Rail comes as standard. This is a central mounting point where various accessories, such as cup holders, ipod docs and such, can be mounted and shared between front and rear occupants. The aftermarket possibilities for this rather quirky feature would appear to be almost limitless.  In terms of the exterior, the MINI Countryman roof features practical roof rails in place of the Clubman’s style focused “dunes”. A roof carrier system will also be offered as a cost option from MINI, and no doubt aftermarket suppliers soon after launch.

The MINI Cooper S Countryman with ALL4 will feature runflat tyres as standard, a technology which MINI have recently appeared to be moving away from, and they will remain optional across the rest of the range.  The MINI Countryman will be offered in a range of eleven colour options, with customers of the Cooper Countryman, Cooper D Countryman and Cooper S Countryman having the ability to select a black or white contrasting roof.  All petrol variants feature a 1.6 litre (1,598 cc) four-cylinder petrol engine with twin-scroll turbocharger, direct fuel injection and fully variable valve management based on the BMW Group’s VALVETRONIC technology.

You can read the original switchback.com article here.

MINI Plant Oxford, manufacturing and spiritual home of the MINI, temporarily halted production as factory workers felt the force of the UK’s current cold snap.  While some workers did manage to show on 6th January, the decision was made to halt production as the chilly temperatures showed no signs of letting up and staff struggled to arrive on site.  Production resumed the evening of 7th January.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Good news came this morning courtesy of the SMMT, who have reported their December 2009 monthly, as well as 2009 yearly sales figures for the UK motor industry.  MINI UK notched up an impressive 3,859 sales in December 2009, representing an increase of over 1,500 vehicles (66.6%) on December 2008’s 2,317 MINIs sold. This figure represented a UK vehicle market share of 2.56 percent.  Recent strong sales have helped MINI claim seventh place in new car sales for the 2009 calendar year in the UK, with about 840 more vehicles sold than the eighth placed BMW 3 Series range.  For the full year MINI has achieved a UK new car market share of two percent, with just shy of 40,000 new MINIs sold. This figure represents a fall of a shade over two percent compared to 2008 MINI sales in the UK. Overall UK new vehicle registrations fell 6.4%, however private registrations were up 13.7% compared like for like with 2008s figures, and the lion’s share of MINIs sales are to private buyers.  MINIs bounce-back and relatively minor yearly sales decrease, not to mention charting at number seven in the UK for new car sales for the year, will certainly lead to more joy than gloom for the bosses at BMW, and should provide a sunny antidote the the gloomy British weather currently affecting MINI production.  Production has resumed as of Thursday evening, due to a huge effort from workers at the plant. Hats off also to those who had trouble getting to the plant, many on foot over several miles. Good ol’ Dunkirk Spirit.

You can read the original switchback.com article here.

Christmas is over and the streets are filling up with empty bottles, rubbish, even perhaps the occasional dishevelled partygoer. But the pavements of Amsterdam have been littered with some rather more unique litter.  MINI Netherlands and their ad agency came up with a pretty quirky piece of guerilla marketing to see in the New Year, littering the busy streets with oversized MINI boxes.

Nestled among the usual festive trash, the enormous cardboard MINI packaging certainly stands out and demands attention. The boxes, which are empty, are covered with MINI line drawings on each side, along with marketing material promoting the affordability of the new MINI in the Netherlands.  This is just the latest in a long standing tradition of off the wall promotion of the MINI brand around the globe. Previous stunts have seen the car take to driving up buildings, set sail at sea, and pass itself off as a subway entrance.

You can read the original switchback.com article here.

On a day when all sane people are tucked up warm at home with a pile of turkey sandwiches, the hardier members of P&SMOC traditionally gather on the seafront at Lee-on-Solent.  Seveal members of SCNM also popped along to shiver and sneeze in the company of lots of pristine MINI’s of all vintages.

There is a small gallery of photos from this year’s gathering here.

Earlier this week we mentioned that MotoringFile had news that MINI was working on a new version of the Moke.  Well, here it is – the MINI Beachcomer Concept!

According to MINI, the new Moke Beachcomer is aimed at introducing new markets to the kind of driving pleasure familier to existing MINI owners of all generations.   Getting more people to buy MINI’s seems a laudable aim, but what do you think?  Let us know!

You can read the MotoringFile article here.

The always excellent, and always knowledgeable, site MotoringFile have got wind of a new concept car being developed for the MINI brand.  Stripped-out, open-topped, sporting a rugged  design and tbe new MINI AWD system it looks destined to be a modern interpretation of the classic Moke.

Designed by MINI creator Sir Alec Issigonis, the Moke debuted in 1964.  Envisaged as a light military vehicle, it’s lack of ground clearance meant it never found favour with the armed forces.  Undaunted, the immortal Sir Alec repackaged it as a leisure vehicle.  Quickly finding it’s niche as a ‘beach buggy’, the Moke stayed in production until 1993.  In all, over 500,000 Mokes rolled off production lines in the UK, Portugal and Australia.

You can read the MotoringFile report here.

What better way to explore the great city of London than in a Classic MINI? A fledgling company called smallcarBIGCITY provides sightseeing tours of our great capital city in a MINI.  The cars are also available for weddings and private hire.

Formed in December 2008 by three eager young entrepreneurs, the company is not just surviving but thriving.  We wish them all the best and would urge visitors to London to take advantage of this unique service.

You can visit the company’s website here.