REVIEW: MiniWorld Live 2015

Words and photos Sammieee Watts@Mini Madness

www.minimadnesss.co.uk

Miniworld Live was a brand new event for 2015; organised; obviously, by MiniWorld magazine and located at the famous Rockingham Motor Speedway. Despite being on the same day as the Formula 1 racing at Silverstone and numerous warnings I received from friends about the traffic issues, I went along anyway. Let's face it, nothing stops me going to a Mini show, especially a new one and the chance to go on another track!
 

I'd never been to Rockingham before and so was quite excited to see what it was like and, of course, with this being a new show that promised to be huge, you can't not get excited. I really enjoy travelling to shows even if they are miles away purely because of the new people that you can meet and the different Minis that you'll see.
 
When I arrived at the show, I found the ticketing system could have been much smoother as the marshals didn't seem too sure where to put you if you had an e-ticket. Thankfully, after getting that sorted, there was a pleasant drive through a tunnel which pleased my Mum! After finally getting parked up; in the club stand area which was out on the outer track, I set about checking out this show.

The trade area was mightily impressive in regards to the fact it offered plenty of Modern MINI parts and accessories which is lacking at other shows. Quite surprisingly there was an awful lot of valeting companies there which did not help my pocket!
 

Each of the magazines had an array of cars which had been featured which made for some interesting shots and drew in a huge crowd. Even the general Mini parking had a better spot than the club stands in my opinion! Since the show, I've found at that this is something they want to adjust for the next one as they realised the clubs felt a bit out of place and not a central part of the show as it was a massive trek to get to them.

Around mid-day there was the traditional parade lap opportunity for those in attendance. I was one of the last out onto the track but that served in my favour as there were more gaps and chances to go faster than what those towards the front had. Of course, after being on the track I needed to search for a Rockingham track sticker to place on Stripes' rear window. That seemed like a real mission and I couldn't believe there wasn't a merchandise shop similar to the likes of Brands Hatch or Castle Combe. But thankfully, in the trade area there was a company that printed stickers whilst you waited.

There are a few points which did let the side down for this show and I hope that they can learn from this to improve it second time around, but I understand that it was the first one and setting up a new show can be extremely difficult and some points are just out of their control.

For example there aren't many areas for you to photograph the track action as you miss half of it, the club stands were not in a pride of place area and those parked at the end were often missed. And the overall show was a lot smaller than I had expected. Mind you, that last point goes back to what I said about it being the first one ever so many people perhaps waited to see how it went. I also feel like in order to make this show standout from the others, it needs more in regards to entertainment just to keep people there and coming back year upon year.

Towards the end of the day, I did struggle with things to do as there wasn't much entertainment or much to photograph, although I did manage to capture this amazing photo of Stripes right at the end which is now my favourite one yet!

I really hope there is another MiniWorld Live as it did promise an awful lot and can only grow if people support it. They made a huge success at Castle Combe and it would be fantastic if they could do the same at Rockingham.

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