Mini Magazine

As this magazine drops onto your doormat, or slides into the shelves of your local newsagent, we’ll be deep in the heart of the festive season. The merryneum, if you will, between Christmas (or your own particular celebration of choice) and New Year as we struggle to wade through the leftover mince pies and all the random festive telly we’ve recorded. And if you find yourself weighed down by a surfeit of sprouts and gravy, fear not – your favourite Mini-centric mag is here, so there’s no need to get up. Just cast your eyes across the board of fare, you’ll see that we’ve lined up a truly delicious platter of treats to ease you into 2023. Sometimes it can be hard to narrow down which car to give the…

Variety, as they say, is the spice of life. It would be a very dull world if we all liked the same things and were suspicious of change; nobody would modify their cars for a start, and this colourful showcase of show-stopping motors that you hold in your hands would instead be filled with British Leyland paint code colour charts and differences in seat cloth weave, for want of more disparate subject matter. The fact that individuality shines brightly at the centre of the motoring galaxy is something we should all be very happy about. Of course, individuality is a doubleedged sword: what’s cool and interesting to one person may well stick in the craw of another. And that, for some, is exactly the reason that they do what they…

There have been electric conversions of classic cars before, but not like what’s being engineered by the team at Recharged Heritage. From the start, an enormous effort has been made to ensure that the conversion can easily be reversed, with the body remaining as original with no new holes – so the petrol engine can be put back in, no problem. The car has also been engineered so that it weighs no more than the original; the fun factor in driving a classic Mini has been preserved intact, and you don’t in fact need to buy the whole car. Customers can either have their own classic Mini converted, or purchase a model from Recharged Heritage and then have it electrified. Built entirely in the UK from its Padiham, Burnley and…

■ With great sadness we mourn the loss of a good friend and stalwart of the Mini scene, usually seen in his ‘double denim’ and brown cowboy hat! Alan Howell was born and lived most of his life in the Bristol area. For around 20 years from the mid-’70s he was a successful grasstrack racer in his Clubman Estate bearing the number BS37. It was here that he met his late wife Heather, who also won trophies in the racer he built. Testament to this, a plethora of silverware adorns his workshop. A lift engineer by trade, Alan was an extremely competent mechanic; one of his fortes was installing power steering into his classics. Alan was a member of Bristol Mini Club and latterly Brunel Mini Club; pictured here we…

■ It's been a strong year for Minis on the Car & Classic Auctions site, with some very interesting highlights. The 1976 Leyland Mini van pictured was almost like a Speedwell-style modified car thanks to some Mk1 Cooper elements like a 12G295 head and twin carbs. Its only ‘sin’ being a Leyland and not an Austin, it sold for £22,750 - the third-most expensive van in the last five years. Had it been an Austin, that price would have been a record. A 1997 Cooper Si sold last month for £15,750: it is a John Cooper Garages conversion, but without the John Cooper Works package. In fact, this one is a Cooper Si, a model that is far less common, especially as this is a narrow-arched car with 12" wheels.…

The Racing Lines interviews have had a common theme – alot of the drivers started their racing in a Mini and went on to achieve success as professional racers. We reached out to see if this approach is still alive with the MINI... I caught up with Lydia Walmsley, who chose to start her career in the MINI Challenge series. She’s got big ambitions, and it’s encouraging to see a female racer eager to climb the racing career ladder in a very competitive environment. What was the first MINI you raced? The first was a MINI Cooper in the MINI Challenge championship. It had 130bhp and a 1.6-litre engine with single-way adjustable dampers - and slick tyres with so much grip, it behaved like a big go-kart. What made you…