Welcome to the latest issue of Mini Driver. It was a pleasure to see so many of you at MiniFair, where the Mini world came alive for one extraordinary day, enjoying the cars we cherish. Our first feature Mini was on display (on the red carpet) at MiniFair - Tom Martin’s 1997 Nightfire Red Mini, after 22 years the family were reunited. The Paul Smith LE, launched in 1998 with only 300 produced, Ciaran Gaynor is determined to create unforgettable memories in his PS. Read all about Chris Moss’s bespoke RAF tribute Mini, featuring stunning and unique artwork.
There is no set route to modifying a MINI, which truly allows owners to express their individuality and personality. This freedom is reflected in our next two feature cars: Harry Jarrett’s MINI Cooper and Elouise Wisdom’s Barbie pink R50. Both cars are so different yet loved by their owners. We would like to express our gratitude to Steve Moore and Keith Calver for their ongoing support with regular articles.
Do not miss our Himley and Stanford Hall events - discounted advance tickets, show n shine, and concours are available now. Please mark your calendars: Himley May 11th and Stanford September 14th. Hope to see you there. Dave & Nicky Hollis
BMC Events 2025
Special places to visit with
Why not visit our National Mini events held each year at some of the best venues around.
British Mini Day
Sunday 11th May
Himley Hall - DY3 4DF
British Mini Day is set in a stunning location. Trade, auto-jumble, show n shine and concours
14th September 2025
Stanford Hall - LE17 6DH
The Nations favourite Mini show with concours, live arena and plenty of trade and jumble stands.
MiniFair 2026 - 25th January
Staffordshire County Showground, Stafford.
The Ultimate indoor Mini show- Pride of OwnershipBest Trade Stands - Mega Mini-Jumble.
Top of the Class
In July 1997 my Nan purchased a brand new classic Mini from Droitwich Garage. When she was handed the key on the 1st of August, she wasted no time in using her new long awaited for purchase as it was intended for. The Mini regularly made trips into Worcester town centre on many shopping sprees, accompanied by my mum and my brother. Unfortunately in January 1998 a new face appeared in the form of me, Tom. Now with two adults and two small children both with push chairs the little Mini was a little over crowded. Just over a year later she decided to move on to a bigger car and sold the Mini, much to my dad’s disgrace she replaced the Mini
with a Vauxhall Corsa. For an unknown reason my dad kept the original Tax disc and service reminder window sticker along with the purchase invoice. Nan passed away in 2007 just as I was starting to become interested in cars and particularly classic Minis. Before I was able to drive I brought my first original Mini in 2013, which was when my dad made me aware of nans Mini. He then set me the challenge of trying to locate the cars whereabouts. The car was last MOT’d and known to be on the road at the beginning of 2014 but after this the trail then went cold. Fast forward to lockdown, when scrolling through market place in December 2020 I came across a
Tom Martin’s Mini Saloon
Mini in need of a ‘small restoration’ located in Warrington. To my surprise this was my nans Mini, I messaged the seller and told him of my connection and history to the car. Dodging the Covid lockdown tier system we all had in place I managed to arrange a time to go and view the car. Upon viewing the car it was clear it had encountered a hard life and was in desperate need of some tlc. Having done nothing like it before I nervously purchased the car and started straight away to get it back to how it was when my Nan had brought it. Just over a year later nans Mini was back up and running. We never restored the car to be a show car but surprisingly when we joined the British Mini Club in 2022/23 it finished well, we also had the privilege to be part
of the club stand at the 2023 NEC classic motor show. It’s been a steep learning curve, but Olly (a long time BMC member) has guided us along the way. November this year saw us have the opportunity to be part of the Meguiars Showcase stand finals at the Classic Motor Show at the NEC in Birmingham. The Mini was along side some of the best 14 cars in the country. This was thanks to Dave and BMC for putting the car forward.
My dad set me the challenge to find my Nans Mini - little did I know that I would find it and restore it to concours condition.
This is my 1999 Paul Smith mini, ‘Smithy’. I’ve owned him since 2012, and he’s been my only car. I planned to keep him for a few years and buy something newer, but I fell in love with this British classic icon and never regretted my decision.
The driving experience cannot be beaten. He is fun to drive and handles like an Go-kart. Once I started attending different shows and events you realise you become part of the classic car community. I knew very quickly I would be keeping him for as long as I can. Attending these various events over the years you get to meet up with other mini enthusiasts, hearing their stories of their cars and what it takes to keep them on the road. Members of the public often make comments to me about how they learnt to drive in a mini or they can’t believe how small they are compared to modern small cars. Obviously owning a classic mini inevitably means having to spend a lot of time and money keeping him on the road. I have had the underside and the
P.S. I Love you…
front wings replaced, a full body respray, new exhaust , spot-lamps and grill replaced with new factory fit ones.
Over the years I have travelled to various places in the UK to take part in different events these include the London to Brighton mini run on two occasions and the Isle of Wight mini festival in 2023. I have taken him on holiday to North Wales with my friends. I was also asked by my friend if Smithy could be used as the bridal car for his wedding which shows how much room there is in a mini. I also took him to Brands Hatch to
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complete a number of fast(ish) laps around the circuit.
Undoubtedly the event that was the greatest experience was using my mini as part of the opening ceremony of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Myself and 72 other drivers getting to drive their cars of all different makes and models into the middle of Alexander Stadium, packed full of onlookers and broadcast around the world to millions of people to form the Union Flag as the Red Arrows flew over head. This was an immense privilege, something that will stay with me for many years to come. Since then we have all kept in touch with each other and regularly meet up and have now formed our own club called the Commonwealth Car Club. We meet up every few months and return back to the stadium from time to time as a group.
There are still many events I want to attend all being well with Smithy. These include driving the entire Wild Atlantic Way in
Ireland, driving up to John O’Groats in Scotland and hopefully one year taking part in the Italian Job, driving down to Turin in Italy. This year plans so far going to the Isle of Man for their Mini Fest and then also attending the International Mini Meet in in East Sussex.
The driving experience cannot be beaten. He is fun to drive and handles like an Go-kart.
Ciaran Gaynor’s Mini Paul Smith
Expert Advice by Keith Calver
Power and transmission build cost comparison, October 2003 to January 2025.
Apologies for not starting either the new year, or my first for yonks article with what seems to be bad news. My only offering as an up-side to this is it will save those looking to do their own builds a heap of time, frustration and ultimately money by knowing and understanding the following. And looking to paint the professional automotive engineer in a better light.
I have finally had to become somewhat mercenary with customer build labour charges now. I have been just dealing with the parts that don’t fit and work as they should when delivered. But the prolific number of these, and in some cases the crazy amount of time invested in making everything fit and work as it should, has become untenable. There was a time when you could buy parts and just fit them following a cursory inspection, trusting in the vendor to supply components of quality and fit. No longer. We all know of the invasion and infestation of cheap parts from foreign shores. So the up-front message here is – check absolutely everything before you attempt fitting it.
That is what professional automotive engineers do. It is why their labour charges may seem a bit steep. I’d like a pound coin for every time I have heard ‘it only takes me 20 minutes to do that’ by an enthusiast DIYer. And, ‘why do the build twice?’ when explaining the need for a trail build. Professionals check everything before they fit it. That anything supplied as an assembly functions properly on it’s own, and then fits and works with the rest of the assembly it is applied to. Clearances, tolerances, finished product anomalies (mostly de-burring parts that were not dealt with on factory assembly) and fit.
I thought it would be interesting to see what cost increases were like between then and now so I created the accompanying listings based on an article I originally did in Mini magazine back in October 2009 and January 2025. The prices are based on generally advertised prices from the various specialist parts vendors, choosing the essentially cheapest options not necessarily the best options. For example the Simplex and Duplex chains. Those quoted are unlikely to last long before they have stretched enough to tie a knot in them. Going for the now available superbly manufactured IWIS bigpin variants (as opposed to their also decent quality OE replacement options) costs £46.50 for the Simplex and £33.90 for Duplex. Significantly more costly, but significantly better quality and suffer absolutely minimal stretch in use. This is actually seriously worth considering investing in. Not only are they a pain to change with the engine in the car (rad out and all the grazed knuckles and frustrations that usually accompanies that endeavour) but dramatically affects ignition and cam timing. As the chain stretches it retards the cam timing, and causes serious ignition timing scatter. Both severely reduce engine performance. So the initial higher investment is truly worth it. I have also included the alternative costs of complete chain and gear sets depicted in red in the lists, should that be a consideration. Though the comments re chain quality are the same.
Pistons are an interesting thing now. There are precious few, if really only one source of
Keith Calver shares his Mini experience and knowledge providing the correct information on maintaining your Classic Mini.
good quality pistons for the small-bore engines. Those quoted here are from me as they represent the very best quality but still at a sensible price. For the 1275 pistons I have quoted the cheapest generally used pistons now made by Nural. Though I find them hugely inconsistent in performance, particularly ring land resilience. As in they often do not have any. Likewise con rod bolts are the cheapest available, but not necessarily the best option.
The scores on the doors then are some 73%+ increase in the cost of re-building a `1275 unit, some 81%+ on re-building a small-bore unit, engineering costs increase of some 83%, and a whopping 119.5% increase on the costs of the sundries. And that does not include the cost of paint. Even taking in to account that the VAT in October 2009 was 15%, and it is now 20% (so some 33% increase), the cost has gone up quite a chunk. But, it is, as they say, as it is. I was just curious.
Tribute Royal Air Force
Shammy Reborn
Following an accident in 2017 while attempting to drive my classic Mini around the North Coast 500, regrettably resulted in the car being declared a write-off. Subsequently, I acquired this Mini, both Minis arrived at my residence at the same time on the same recovery truck. Subsequently, I embarked on a project to recreate the vehicle I had lost. The initial design concept was inspired by the Battle of Britain 70th Anniversary, commemorating the RAF Mini Club’s charitable event in London, which visited various notable locations associated with the Battle of Britain.
Moving on, the idea stuck, I loved the connection to the RAF after all I’ve currently served nearly 26 years myself. After driving the mini for 7 years in all weather and numerous mini events this car was also my
daily driver for 4 years. The bodywork was starting to look a little sorry for itself. So I made the decision to get the body work sorted out at Sleaford Mini Centre (SMC). I did a lot of the prep-work myself stripping the car down, removing all the stickers (which were hiding a lot) then transported the car in October 24 to SMC, whist the car was there I made the decision that id been thinking about for the past year and that was to get the artwork painted onto the car instead off stickers. I’d spoke to a few people and whittled it down to two Matt Danger Signs for the sign writing and Paul Przybyl find him on Instagram under the name of Przym for all the airbrushing.
The body work ended up being a much bigger job than expected, ended up with two new wings, front panel, both A panels, both rear quarters, rear valance, door skins and half of the floor. The car retuned home on the 8th Nov as a solid car ready for the sign writing. Matt arrived the very next morning to start work, I stayed with the original idea of
CM RAF Roundel S effectively saying CMOS and the black and white invasion stripes that were painted on to aircraft for the Battle of Britain allowing to identify friend or foe aircraft. Matt painted these in a distress look so they looked weathered. Regarding the airbrushing this took a bit more thought, From me knowing what I wanted and what could actually be done, I knew I was after a Spitfire Merlin engine exhaust painted on each wing, a few bullet holes and some rivets. When Paul was sending me through ideas I was getting excited and knew he had the same vision as me. When he arrived at my house and started to layup the paint I was absolutely amazed in what he could do, giving you visual impression of what wasn’t there. We talked about any extra stuff he could do, we agreed to the fake panels and shamrock logo which was actually from a real Spitfire aircraft with a slight personalisation - originally it said BF in the middle I changed it to CJ which is mine and my wife’s initials, he also added 2017 which was when we got the car. At this stage the car was finished it just needed the topcoat of lacquer applied to the entire car before I could start the rebuild. I then had a idea about the bonnet, I said to Paul
“I don’t suppose he could do a mural on the bonnet?” I’m after a Lancaster flying over Lincoln Cathedral with some RAF men looking up. Whilst he was half way through doing it I asked for a small change to make is more personal? I live on a former RAF Base in Lincoln called RAF Skellingthorpe, when it was operational both Avro Manchester’s and Lancaster’s operated from it, which ironically me being from Manchester originally made it even more personal. The design idea was complete. The Mini was finally finished on a chilly Sunday night, just 7 days before MiniFair. To say I was amazed by the workmanship was an understatement.
Now, I had just a few days to get it lacquered and finish the rebuild before a special private event at RAF Cranwell. The Station Commander was leaving, and it was going to be a great opportunity to showcase the Mini.
After that, it would make its first public appearance at the British Mini Clubs MiniFair 2025.
I’m 100% happy with how it turned out and listening to the feedback at the show I think it went down well. Per Ardua ad Astra
Chris Moss’s
RAF Tribute Mini
I’ve had my Mini for four years now. I got it from a seller in London. It was already pretty modified with Axe deep dish alloys, lowered on BC Racing coil-overs, and some forged carbon stripes on the hood.
I’ve taken the car to the next level in terms of looks. I replaced the alloys with new ones, and the Japan Racing JR9s are now in silver. I kept the original black centre and replaced the rivets with red ones. I also added custom white silver side skirts and a front splitter. I changed the roof spoiler, front bumper vents, and petrol cap from red to a custom iridescent wine red. I also added a custom colour-changing sun strip. And I changed the bonnet and boot stripes to red. The car has cool LED Union Jack smoked rear lights.
Generation Cool
Interior
I’ve kept the red and black interior, but I’ve added a boot build in the back. It’s got a vibe 900w sub enclosure and a vibe amp to match. I built it myself, and I also added a rear brace. The boot build is covered in red diamond stitched faux leather, which my friend and I made. There’s also LED lighting that plays along with the sound. It’s a pretty cool setup, if I do say so myself!
Engine
Stage 2 remap Lohen produces around 270bhp with an Airtec intercooler, uprated spark plugs, Neo Brothers Ltd turbo, and better short shifter. AEM induction kit also improves performance.
Exhaust
Exhaust-wise, it has Miltek Sports Cat and no resonator, resulting in a very sporty sound.
This fully machined, polished ceramic-coated interior and exterior is truly exceptional. It achieved second place in the Concours at Mini in the Park and the Show and Shine competition for the Best Modified and Custom MINI.
I love the car’s appearance and the smile it gives me every time I drive it. I’ve taken it to various mini events, such as Brands Hatch and Brooklands, as well as non-mini events like Retroix, Tucked, and others.
Harry Jarrett’s Modified MINI
Elouise Wisdom’s Modified MINI
Barbie Obsession
Hi, my name is Elouise, and I’m the proud owner of the iconic pink sparkly R50, affectionately known as Barbie. Let me share my mini adventure with you. It’s been four years since I passed my driving test and my boyfriend Richard brought me my 1st mini, a R52 convertible about a year into driving. I named her Connie, but my true love for Minis was only ignited the day I saw Barbie up for sale. I knew instantly that she was meant to be mine. Without hesitation, I rushed to my boyfriend’s workplace and asked him to drop everything. We were off to Bristol, and I couldn’t wait to bring Barbie home. She was sparkly pink but very run down, her wrap was badly faded and she'd had a fire under the bonnet. But despite her flaws, I couldn’t resist her charm. With a determined spirit, I brought Barbie back home and started the process of making her my own with new wheels and tinted windows. My boyfriend the amazing mechanic, repaired her damage and she was
starting to look good. A few months into owning her I came across Mini Girls UK and it changed everything in the world of minis for me, after going to their 1st birthday meet and my 1st ever mini meet, it was amazing! The girls were great and I knew from then that I was a true Mini Girl. My boyfriend, Richard, has been amazing. He rebuilt Barbie, customised her, and made her look incredible. He painted her interior a pearlescent hot pink, fitted full suspension air ride, a glow kit, pink halos, and made her lights up pink at night. He also customised the bumper with pink halos, added a fresh pink sparkly wrap, a black sparkly holographic roof wrap, a sparkly sprayed Gwing, pink pinstripe side wings, and a front splitter. She has air horns, sirens, and a microphone, and her love heart exhaust lights up, custom vented wings, custom indicator scuttles, custom sugar skull clocks, a love heart steering wheel and her newest mod is she blows bubbles out of the front and back
bumpers, All from my amazing boyfriend
Richard Turner’s hard work.
She’s a head turner who attracts attention. We try to use it for good by taking her to charity events for various causes. We’ve met amazing people along the way.
Linz Mitchell owner of MiniGirls and Mark Hinchliffe have been a massive part in my mini journey because without the group and the friendliness, love and support they show, I wouldn't be as confident around meets as I am, we have been to some amazing mini shows and been lucky enough to win a few little trophies, We Dress Barbie up at Christmas and Halloween, any opportunity to do anything special with her as she puts a smile on so many people's faces which for me makes it all worth while. I could talk about her and all the places we’ve been for hours. She’s my everything, and I’m so passionate about her. My pride and joy and my 2nd happy place along side my amazing boyfriend who has made everything about her possible � you could say I'm a little obsessed with her and mini-life lol
We Dress Barbie up at Christmas and Halloween, any opportunity to do anything special with her, we do this as she puts a smile on so many people's faces which for me makes it all worth while!
The ultimate First generation shoot out: what’s hot, what’s not and what could be?…
So pretty soon we have had a quarter of a century of the Modern Mini, Love it or hate it the brand is here to stay and going from strength to strength let’s turn back the clock to the first few years of the release!
With a 6 to 8 month waiting time on orders back in the early years getting your hands on any Mini was a challenge either a high spec Cooper or a standard Cooper S it was difficult, even a decent Mini One was tricky because they just couldn’t make them fast enough. I personally remember a time if you managed to get a Mini you could sell it a year later for close to the price you bought it for new! By the time the car had its first facelift in 2004 production was up at the Oxford plant with massive amounts going over seas making waiting times long. By the end of the first generation over 800 thousand Minis had been sold worldwide with the R52 convertible still going strong until 2007, it was a pretty amazing start to the Modern Mini story.
With the thousands of combinations there was nothing like it on the market, it definitely made it the most unique of all the generations so far. Fast forward a decade after the model was finished and prices started to creep up. Over the last few years they have been strong and have only just levelled out with collectors grabbing the best examples they can find!
MOORES MINI’s
So what’s Hot? King of the hill the legendary GP1 sits at the top. The fastest, most powerful production MINI ever, at the time it reached 62mph in under 6.5 seconds and achieved a top speed of 146mph - the GP has a power output of 218bhp and a maximum torque of 245Nm and has a unique look. Prices on these are strong and following the trends of the last few years it’s
set to be a hot hatch legend buy. Any high or low mileage example - look after it, enjoy it and you will be rewarded.
Next on the ‘Hot’ list is pretty much any JCW whether it’s a Cooper or an S Works, buy one to tuck away. Yes, they have become expensive to tax but even if you just run it in the summer months they are a safe bet for your money. A great find would be a low mileage Convertible JCW as there is definitely less of these around. Don’t be scared to invest in premium genuine JCW
What’s the best early MINI to buy as an investment!
accessories as enthusiasts always hunt for these to make their car even more unique.
What could be ‘Hot’, early Ones, Coopers and S models have become highly collectible but nearly all the best ones have been scooped up, the odd unicorn is still out there so don’t give up the search, these cars move hands easily in die hard collectors groups that have been started over the years. But my prediction is vehicles converted at the John Cooper Works garage main workshop could just be the hottest finds if you have or can find an original condition, low mileage Mini JCW with receipts, these will be like gold dust just for the heritage factor alone. At the same time but super rare to find are genuine JCW challenge cars, these are ones that were built for the track as part of the Mini challenge race series - highly modified with full roll cages and are race ready. These are a holy grail find.
What’s not ‘Hot’ ? The Mini One D, it never really took off. The engine was a 1.4 Toyota unit but at only 75 bhp it wasn’t loved and sales were low. As always avoid anything rusty, bills can mount up fast putting it right! Unfortunately I’ve seen a trend with the special edition Cooper S Checkmate it suffers in particular from rust around the back lights just be careful if hunting for one of these.
But if you are on the hunt for a small fun unique car look no further than the First Generation Mini it just might surprise you.
Steve Moore
MINI JCW
The maximally sporty driving behaviour of the MINI John Cooper Works also delights with an extra portion of driving fun. The high-performance model impressively demonstrates the brandtypical agility, and the individual character of the powerful model can now be enhanced through exclusive equipment components.
The new equipment components for the powerful three-door MINI in high-gloss Black and Chili Red set particularly striking accents and aerodynamically optimised details and racing-inspired design draw attention to themselves.
The distinctly sporty MINI John Cooper Works impresses with a four-cylinder TwinPower Turbo petrol engine and 170 kW/231 hp. The chassis technology developed with racing expertise conveys the legendary go-kart feeling and at the same time ensures safe driving fun. The maximum torque of 380 Nm accelerates the MINI John Cooper Works from a standstill to 100 km/h in 6.1 seconds.
High-quality winglets for the front and rear bumpers as well as the side skirts strengthen the character of the vehicle. The shape and design of the air guidance elements were developed specifically for the MINI John Cooper Works. In high-gloss Black and Chili Red and together with the JCW roof spoiler and the JCW rear diffusor, they set contrasting motorsport accents. The newly designed JCW element for the C-pillar makes the vehicle appear more powerful. The new JCW-specific foiling underlines the unparalleled performance of the model. Asymmetrical stripes in Chili Red on the bonnet, the body side and the rear of the vehicle give the MINI John Cooper Works an individual character.
On the black front grille, the red MINI JCW tow strap with a black JCW logo can make a decorative statement. The design of the high-quality accessory comes from rally sport. Black and red JCW exterior mirror caps with a chequered flag design reference the motorsport history and round off the exclusive look of the MINI John Cooper Works.
The 17-inch JCW Star Spoke wheel with a fixed JCW hub cover keeps the JCW logo horizontal in the centre of the rim during driving, providing a visual highlight. In addition, red MINI valve caps with the JCW logo offer secure protection.
The diverse accessory programme for the MINI John Cooper Works offers exclusive equipment options with which motorsport enthusiasts can enjoy maximum sporty driving fun with individual accents.
