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 Portsmouth and Southampton Mini Owners Club went to Brooklands as usual - we've been there every year for as long as I can remember, and this year we took a good number of minis up the A3 - over 30 cars appeared on our club stand at the event.
We were very worried earlier in the week, as the weather had been terrible, but nevertheless we all assembled at the Locks Heath Sports and Social Club, leaving at 8am. Fortunately, no one had forgotten to put their clocks forward! The weather actually seemed to be quite good, no rain which was the real fear. We all had an uneventful drive up to Brooklands, and for once no one broke down! We arrived, and lined up in pride of place next to the entrance. The event itself is a good one. There is a cafe on site, and lots of very old cars and aircraft They even have one of the Concordes, which looks abolutely great. Brooklands is the oldest banked racing circuit in the UK, an the test hill is also I think the oldest in the UK as well, and sometimes they allow cars to drive the hill. In the old days, some cars could not make it to the top, but these days, cars don't have any such problems. A number of us took our cars up the test hill - 18 in total, and we got two goes at it. We all made it up the hill without problem, some cars making the journey a lot quicker than others. A 1960 Woody with a standard 848cc engine made it to the top, to the loudest cheers of the day. Nige made it upquicker in his yellow Clubman, which is a pretty powerful 1275 engined speed machine. I took my yellow clubman up as well, and really enjoyed the drive up. You also get the chance to drive a small part of the original banked circuit, which is a rare priviliege. Unfortunately, the rigours of the test hill had fried the coil in Nige's car, and had gouged a hole in the radiator. Luckily, Nige had a spare coil, and a rad was quickly purchased from one of the traders. There are not a huge number of traders at Brooklands, but fortunately enough, and so I was able to buy a few bits and bobs. <Well, there were a good few traders, o we could buy our bits and pieces, which is just as well really! Greta to meet some old friends, Saw Jeff, who said some nice things about my car, and we had a good chat  Then saw Vinnie, who liked my mini so much she was thinkingof offering money for it! That would not have pleased my daughter Nikita, who thinks she can afford to buy this car, as I told hr it would sell to her for half the real value. She is now complaining that I am imporoving it so it is worth more and then she can't afford it...,sounds like a good plan! The organisers opened up the test hill, and the intrepid Minidirectory members decided to try it our...Nige, me and Andrea in her still German-registered MPi. We all made it up and then along some of the banked circuit, although by the end, Nige had cooked his coil and holed his rad!
 Fortunately he and Mark managed to fix the rad very quickly, as Nige was able to buy a new one from one of the Traders. The weather stayed fine, and it could even have been described as warm-ish. All in all, a fantastic day, and we had an uneventful drive back home. Roll on the next event! For me, that is the IMM, and I will do another write up after that one!
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Well its that time of the year again RIV RUN!
