Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2026 i MiniWorld

It’s something that’s been very much a feature of MiniWorld’s content in recent months – and rightly so – that we have a keen focus on the stories behind the cars. Not simply showcasing machines as cold, functional entities, not just looking at them as clusters of steel and rubber and glass as a means of perambulation, but warmly embracing their character and exploring the nuances of their human interaction – because it’s these idiosyncrasies and intricacies that mean these cars become something beyond a means of transportation; they become one of the family. And the more we dig into this kind of thing, the more intriguing and beguiling stories emerge. This month’s issue is a case in point. Take the race Mini on p.32. This hasn’t simply been put…

Last year’s display to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the setting up of the BMC/BL Competitions Department at Abingdon-on-Thames brought together what was arguably the biggest and best collection of ex-Works cars from across Europe at the BMC and Leyland Show at the British Motor Museum. The display was conceived and organised by the Abingdon Works Motorsport Celebration, which was set up in 2019 supported by Mini Cooper Register and the Historic Marathon Rally Group. Half of the ex-Works cars were Minis, but there were also representatives across the full range of Abingdon-prepared rally and sports cars that competed so successfully across three decades. The next large-scale display is planned for the 75th anniversary in 2030, but there will be a scaled-back one at this year’s show at Gaydon on…

MINI SPORT COOPER 4-POTS The Cooper Car Company calipers are precision CNC manufactured in the UK from aircraft grade solid aluminium billets, and anodised to a special metallic satin finish with the Cooper logo on the diamond-finished front face. They are then treated with a special protective ceramic coating and hand-built with stainless steel bolts and high-temperature piston seals. Supplied with Mintex brake pads and mounting bolts, these calipers are a direct replacement for the standard 8.4” Mini caliper and will give your Mini superb stopping power. £471.79 www.minisport.com MINI SPARES COOPER S 1275 BLOCK Mini Spares’ latest introduction is a complete redevelopment of the original Cooper S block. Over seven years of research and development has gone into this; blocks are blueprinted with areas being strengthened and approximately 20% better cooling…

We first met Paul Kitson around five years ago in his natural weekend habitat of a car show. At the time he was driving an immaculate Mk2 Ford Fiesta XR2 in Rosso Red, fully restored to concours standard, a car that usually finds itself constantly surrounded by admirers and impressed judges alike. Consequently, Paul and his XR2 would collect silverware at seemingly every event, but until recently we never knew his focus on such days had often been distracted elsewhere. “At each car show I attended in the Fiesta, every time a classic Mini turned up I just couldn’t help but take a closer look,” he smiles. Despite our wayward assumptions that Paul must surely have been a diehard blue oval man through and through to own and look after…

STEVECROOK MINI MARCOS The Mini Marcos Mk1 was launched in 1965, so 2025 is the 60th anniversary of the marque. This is a Mk6 model and is fitted with a reconditioned classic Mini engine and all-new Mini subframes and running gear. I built a Mk4 Marcos from a new fibreglass bodyshell back in 1981. I drove that as a daily driver for a few years before the arrival of a young family forced its sale! 40 years on I decided to build another Mini Marcos, so I placed an order for a Mk6 shell in a blue gel coat. I hired a large panel van and drove the 200 miles down to the Marcos Heritage Spares Ltd factory in Trowbridge, Wiltshire to collect my new shell in October 2020. The…

Part 1: Originality, what’s the true definition? For me, a true original car is a pure, unaltered and intact survivor that has retained as much of its original parts, features and components as it could after leaving the production line. You can strive to rebuild, replicate and follow every rule and forum post to achieve a pure restoration and that’s cool too. Originality for me is also about self-expression, personal taste and tailoring your car to fit your dream, your vision and your passion. Pink metallic paint, wide arches, booming system or an ultra engine replacement, that’s cool for some, each to their own, but not for me. My car may not agree with some purists, some might even be intrigued to see something different but in tune with the…

We were immensely saddened to hear that one of the UK’s most esteemed motoring journalists, Quentin Willson, passed away on Saturday 8th November at the age of 68, after a short battle with lung cancer. Born in Leicester in 1957 as a twin and one of four children, Willson’s parents were both academics. His father, Professor Harold Bernard Willson, was a linguist who became the first to decode the Italian Navy Hagelin C-36 code machine, regarded as highly significant in the outcome of the war. Quentin’s love for cars was cemented when he rebuilt a Ford Anglia engine at the age of 11; he became a car dealer in his 20s, then Deputy Editor at Buying Cars magazine. In 1991 he became a small screen star when he was approached…

This 1964 Cooper S had been heavily modified when it came to the attention of professional Mini restorer, Scott Turner. “It was painted brown round the bottom and gold round the top. It was very like Steve McQueen’s Mini but had gone rusty. It had loads of bits fitted to it like spotlights and Restall seats,” he recalls. The car was registered in Devon, where the original owner had stored it in a barn from 1978 to 2003, which was presumably when he passed away. Scott bought the car from another restorer in more recent years. Although many parts had been replaced, it came with a lot of the original parts, and more. “We got about seven engines with it – gearboxes, loads of stuff. A correct 1275 engine and…

Something we hear so often from feature car owners is how their passion for motoring can be blamed squarely on their parents, and that’s very much the case for Alex Eyles. “For as long as I can remember my dad has been doing autocross events, and that’s where it all started for me,” he explains. “I started driving around the age of 8, and as soon as I was old enough to compete I was double-driving with him. His car is quite heavily modified, it’s a Ford Escort RS2000 that’s been gutted, caged and had a Vauxhall red-top dumped up the front, and for me this was a normal car to work on and drive! His day-to-day car at the time was a Honda Accord Type R and we would…

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In the early ’70s, Harvey Death spent his weekends immersed in Mini racing. “Peter Baldwin used to work with my father at Marshall Motor Group in Cambridge, so we often used to go and watch him race at Snetterton and Silverstone,” he recalls. “I got to know Peter and the appeal of racing was always there for me, really it had to be a Mini.” After saving enough money from his paper round and Saturday job on a farm, at 15 years old Harvey was the proud owner of his first car, a 1963 Mini 850. “It belonged to a friend of my father’s who wanted shot of it because he’d pulled it apart in a moment of madness thinking he would rebuild it and never did. I bought the…

Dean Bateman’s Clubman is the product of inevitability, of the universe deciding that something should happen and, sooner or later, it becoming so. “I first got into Minis at the age of 12, and that’s when I started racing Mini stocks,” he recalls. “So when I turned 17 and passed my driving test, I purchased a 1972 Clubman as my first car; I had that car for a few years, but by the end it was unroadworthy and I needed something more reliable for work so I had to let it go. Anyway, moving on 32 years, after finishing racing stock cars, I needed something to do. And I’d always wanted to get another Clubman and do to it what my 17-year-old self couldn’t afford…” You see, it’s all about…