What a great day at our British Mini Day at Himley Hall during the celebration weekend for the coronation of King Charles lll. Gorgeous sunny weather on the Sunday even hitting the dizzy heights of 20 degrees, proper Himley weather. Set up day on Saturday was torrential rain for most of the day. A massive shout out to our incredible team as it was very wet, hopefully the boots have dried out now.
The nature of the surface means any water soaks away pretty quick. So the showground recovered very quickly and began to fill up with Mini’s, traders, Jumblers and the biggest number of clubs we have had in a while. It’s always good to see a full and busy Himley after the months of hard work and promotion to put a brilliant show together for everyone.
Premier Concours and Show N Shine sponsored by Autoglym, is the showpiece part of Himley Hall. With 7 classes in Concours and 5 in Show N Shine, all very busy with top quality entrants. Concours is more thorough and pressured than Show N Shine. We had one first time entrant, Chris Pearson, in the Gen 1 class, driving down from the North East in pouring rain then putting his R53 JCW on axle stands in a local car park to give the underneath a clean. That’s commitment to the cause. It’s always good to see the regulars taking part to see how their Mini’s have improved or changed. It’s also great to see new people coming into concours. The 90’s Class included Mini’s we haven’t seen before, some having their very first outing since being completed. The 90’s aLeo included Tom Martin who even managed to enter 2 Mini’s in the same class, something we’ve never known before but certainly increased his chance of a trophy.
Also brilliant to have Sandra Britton returning to Concours after a couple of years away. Sandra brought along her MK2 Mini and a Clubman, both stunning Mini’s. Previous winner Dave `Beckett was again showing his lovely MIni 30. Julia Robinson with her amazing Martini liveried R56 against an incredible flip front classic Mini in the Custom and Modified Class.
The winners are listed below, with the overall Best Mini Of The Day going to a beautiful 1959 Mini owned by Dave Rippard. This Mini hasn’t been out for a few years, and is a past winner at the NEC Classic Motor Show. You might recall an emotional Dave being handed his trophy by Mike Brewer at the NEC. Overall Dave picked up 3 trophies on the day including Mini Of The Day, Classic Mini 1960’s 1st place and Best Engine Bay. A very good day for Dave.
Tom Martin also picked up 3 trophies, 2 in the 90’s class plus the Best Paint. Sandra Britton with 2 as well. Plus Chris Pearson winning the Gen 1 Class at the first attempt.Plus a very happy Julia Robinson finally getting onto the red carpet.
All class winners go forward to the Premier Concours Final at Mini Fair in January. Thank you to everyone for taking part.
Mini Concours Results
Classic Mini 1960’s
1st Place Dave Rippard 518 LBH
2nd Place Sandra Britton PAE 360F
3rd Place Phil Leonard RMS 214G
Classic Mini 1970’s
1st Place Sandra Britton DYC 559J
2nd Place Micheal Brickles BPA 290H
3rd Place Ken Jones UTT 517S
Classic Mini 1980’s
1st Place James Edwards G292 NEA
2nd Place Ian Lewis F120 HUD
3rd Place Dave Beckett G503 GOC
Classic Mini 1990’s
1st Place Tom Martin R601 MAB
2nd Place Terry Turton R235 KWV
3rd Place Tom Martin X161 BCJ
Custom and Modified Mini/MINI
1st Place Julia Robinson JU56 ROB
2nd Place Simon Morris B871 KSF
Modern MINI Gen 1
1st Place Chris Pearson MP05 BEE
2nd Place Sammie Watts M27 JCW
3rd Place Mark Sutton MY53 JCW
Modern MINI Gen 2 and 3
1st Place John Kinman MY55 JON
2nd Place Vincent Wong VW08 ONG
Best Mini In Show
Dave Rippard 518 LBH
Special Awards
Best Paint R601 MAB
Best Interior F120 HUD
Best Engine Bay 518 LBH
Best Presented M27 JCW
The Show N Shine part of our shows continues to grow year by year with 80 plus Mini’s taking part in 5 classes. 4 age related classes for the original Mini and one for the modern MINI. We may have to tweak these in the future. All 80 Mini’s were fantastic with a very nice rebuilt restomod Cooper sporting a 7 port cylinder head. Martin Wixon with his Sportpack Mini, which really should be in concours.
@bestgabbyever posting on Instagram “What a day this has been .. First Show N Shine for the car and to win 1st in Modern MINI category really is insane, especially at a show of this size. Thank you to @britishminiclub for hosting an amazing day”
The 60’s class in Show N Shine always put on a great show with my own favourite the Cafe Racer style Mini on display again, and Geoff and Sue Beckett with their ever lovely Morris Traveller
Make sure you check out over 700, yep 700 images including many from Show N Shine and concours on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/britishminiclub
Show N Shine Results
Mini 1960’s
1st Place HTP 10E 2nd place AGS 445D
Mini 1970’s
1st Place EET 694T 2nd Place KLD 447K
Mini 1980’s
1st Place OGF 587W 2nd Place 9554 YGL
Mini 1990’s
1st Place X174 UFC 2nd Place M2 UCT
Modern MINI
1st Place GN06 GAB 2nd Place RR56 SLO
Show sponsor Rybrook MINI of Wolverhampton also held the Big MINI Love event within the show with a fantastic display. Also during the day raising funds for their partner charity Compton Care for their valued work in the community. Rybrook are offering BMC members 10% off servicing on production of a valid card.
As a footnote did you see Mike Guido over from Mini Sport USA? He is a regular visitor to the UK and currently touring the UK in his classic Mini. Also recording his Mini Life podcast on a table in the middle of Himley with a background of Classic Mini’s and Himley Hall.
A big thank you everyone for taking part in the show also to all the visitors for helping to make Himley a success again. Always a pleasure to see the Mini Community and Mini Family coming together
Finally we have to say a MASSIVE thank you to the British Mini Club Team, some have been with us for 30 years. They endured dire weather conditions on the Saturday to set up the site to make it safe for everyone. So much goes on in the background of our shows, including an incredible amount of stress. We constantly strive for high standards with British Mini Club, not only at our shows but all year round. It’s worth every second to see everyone enjoying the day.
Article posted by Ade Mannion, BMC Web Team