SHOW REPORT: Minis on the wRECk 2011

Minis on the Rec had been on our schedule of events to attend for a while, but following the poor weather at Bristol and Beaulieu, and considering the 140-mile journey to the showground and £60 budget, it was forgivable that I was having second thoughts about making the effort. However, as Saturday arrived and the sun shone, there was a breeze of optimism in air and my mate, Mike, and I decided to set off early to see if anyone was camping overnight.

With no particular need to rush we cut across Wiltshire towards Andover and then through Petersfield and Petford, stopping at a signposted 12th Century church for a quick break before heading into Shoreham by Sea to the showground.

As it turned 9.30pm the venue was dark and bleak, leaving the camping option looking like a bad idea. Fortunately my dad lives just up the road, so we were hopeful of crashing there if necessary. With dinner and a few beers on our mind we checked out the town and found that Domino's Pizza was offering any size pizza for just £7.99 - result! But by the time we'd negotiated an overnight stay at my dad's the local village pubs had shut so we settled for chilling in the back garden with some beers until the wee hours.

Karting was just one activity to keep the kids entertained.

Morning Blaze

In the morning the blazing sunshine had returned and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. As we arrived at the Rec you could see it was a hive of activity with bouncy castles, Minis and other classic cars visible to passing traffic. As we parked up we were invited to enter the show 'n' shine. Well, we all know my Bruce isn't the shiniest example in the world and his paintwork needs some serious attention, but we said 'what the hell, let's see what happens'. At this point we're told there is an award for the Wreck of the Show - so we felt pretty positive Bruce would be in with a chance of winning it given the quality of the other cars in attendance. The trophies produced by club member Tom Grindall are excellent. They're made from old Mini parts (and sometimes other car's parts) welded together as an artwork and painted gold. I'd love to surprise my wife with one of those, demanding it be placed on the living room mantelpiece - she'd kill me! Haha!

Supercharged sexiness.

Having attended Minis on the Rec in 2007 and 2008, I had a fair idea of what to expect, but this year they had opened the show up to include other classic cars and a selection of high performance modern cars, as well as drop the entry fee. This, coupled with the stunning weather, allowed for curious passers-by to pop in and show their interest.

Fun for all
The bouncy castle and go-karts kept the kids entertained, but disappointed Mike and I as we were too big to have a go, but there was a falconry display where adults, and kids, could see, touch, hold and learn about a variety of birds of prey. Just around the corner we found a r/c car race track which was holding a meet, and we were able to watch some super-fast r/c car racing - which was a first for me and very exciting, especially when the r/c Minis came out!

Back at the show I found some headlight rims in the autojumble and picked them up for £2. I had previously lost one after coming back from Slarks in June. There were a handful of other traders and a selection of food stands including some fresh Thai food. The burger stand had completely sold out of all stock by about 3pm perhaps illustrating how many people turned up. As I saw the show 'n' shine judges start their rounds, I gently nudged them in the direction of Bruce - his first ever assessment under my guardianship.

R/C car racing was taking place just over the hill.

We bumped in the social legend Barry Tilbury at the LSMOC stand, and he'd managed to bring down two of his famous Minis - the NYC Mini taxi and the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine, as well as mercilessly stickering a load of Minis with details of 2012's London to Brighton Run.

Fiat X1/9s were amongst other classics that turned up.

The Matt Black Mini of Martin Power caught our eye and he was more than keen to start it up and flip the sparkplug switch he'd fitted into his exhaust and belt out some flames from the exit. As noisy and impressive as it was, the prolonged heat melted the rubber exhaust bushes leaving a nice mess for him to clear up later.

The West Sussex Mini Club and its chairman Dickie Dowsett was supporting its fellow south coast club, as was the North Sussex Mini Club which also had a good turnout.

Vertical Limit
Giovanni Lavita was back at the Rec with his long-term showstopping Mini which has had another major facelift since last year. This time around he's fitted it with a side-exit exhaust, £700 American wire wheels and new gold colour scheme. The Lambo doors are actually an old feature from four years ago, but he says no one has noticed them really until now. Tucked away behind the leather Cosworth? seats are a pair of 10-inch subs and three sets of 6x9s providing more than enough volume to deafen the hardiest rude boy.

Inside there's custom seat subframes, custom dash and three TV screens and a shift light. The Lambo door brackets cost in the region of £700 too, but looking at the actual conversion it doesn't seem that difficult to do. Now that the original heavy doorskins have been replaced with braced carbon-fibre, to match the bonnet, there is even less effort required for the mechanism to lift up the door. But Giovanni's not finished yet, and tells us he has more ideas planned for the future!

New MINIs showed their support.

Classics & Campers
Elsewhere there was range of other cars to learn about as we discovered when Mike, a Capri enthusiast, came across the Consul Capri. With a distinctively American look and lacking a Ford badge it had us puzzled. However the owner was more than happy to give us a history lesson and tell us about the distinctions between the Consul Capris and Consul Classic. There were also a number of Fiat X1/9s, Anglias, Triumphs, VW campers and Beetles, a Bentley and others.

Me and m' new 'bird'.

By the time of the awards ceremony and raffle the sun had already claimed a number of victims, with my neck being one of them. But I sat and endured it right until the end, hopeful of bagging a trophy for the shittiest car there. As the awards were read out, the winner was... not me. I was a gutted, so took time to remonstrate with the winner, debating whose car was crapper. As it turns out hers was. She had big holes in her A-panels, where as I just had some rust. Pah! Still, I won a prize on the raffle and picked up a set of headlight stoneguards. Amongst the other prizes was a day out at Goodwood racing a Mini, toolkits, money-off vouchers, and even a love:mini cushion that one of the lead organisers, Colm, had made for the raffle the night before.

All in all it was a great success. Attendance was definitely up on when I last attended and there always seems to be a happy positive atmosphere from all the club members. The new approach of making the event more accessible to a broader audience looks to have hit the spot and early signs are that it has raised over £2500 for the Chestnut Tree Hospice, with over 300 cars in attendance. Well done to all involved, certainly our best small show of the year so far.

www.brightonminiclub.co.uk

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