Category: News

GOODYEAR MINI CHALLENGES supported by MINI SPARES

This weekend’s treble-header heralds the mid-season point in the 2025 M7RC calendar, with all four Mini classes lining up to do battle around the classic coastal Dutch GP venue.

Provisionally heading the top-tier Miglia category coming to Holland is Ian Curley, twice champion back in the late-90s, and in his second season since returning showing the ‘newcomers’ he still has the knack to get the job done. Right in his wheeltracks, however, will be fellow ex-champions Rupert Deeth, Kane Astin and Aaron Smith, with the likes of Phil Bullen-Brown and Colin Peacock looking to share in the glory too.

Running just behind the Miglias will be the Libre contenders, a ‘free formula’ with Julian Proctor, Phil Harvey and Huw Turner all vying for Dutch glory.

The ‘heritage’ formula Mini Se7ens line up next with Ross Billison the man on form after four victories from six starts so far, but he will likely have seasoned rivals Spencer Wanstall, Damien Harrington, Darren Thomas and Glen Woodbridge all doing their best to halt that run. Look out Billison’s teammate, newcomer Daniel Munro who has impressed in his debut Mini season.

Completing a hugely competitive grid is the S-Class for limited-tuning cars, headed by Joel Wren in his first full season. A double win last time out on the Silverstone Historic circuit has propelled him ahead of reigning champion Matt Ayres, with Ollie Birkett and Jack Vanner leading the chase.

With practice on Friday, followed by qualifying and the opening race on Saturday, then two further contests on Sunday, it’s guaranteed to be an action-packed Mini marvel for three days solid. Don’t miss it!

LAP RECORDS (2.646-mile GP circuit)

Miglia:             Aaron Smith                        1:57.899            80.81 mph            16 July 2023

Libre:                        Richard Colburn            2:01.706            78.27 mph            16 July 2023           

Se7en:                        Mike Jordan                        2:07.537            74.70 mph            16 July 2023           

S-Class:            Frazer Hack                        2:10.624            72.94 mph            16 July 2023

PREVIOUS WINNERS           

(Zandvoort                        15-16 July 2023)

Miglia                        r1 – Kane Astin                        r2 – Aaron Smith                        r3 – Aaron Smith

Libre                        r1 – Julian Proctor            r2 – Huw Turner                        r3 – Richard Colburn

Se7en                        r1 -Mike Jordan            r2 – Spencer Wanstall                        r3 – Connor O’Brien

S-Class                        r1 – Frazer Hack            r2 – Jonathon Page                        r3 – Frazer Hack

CHALLENGE SPONSORS

Goodyear

Title sponsor of the Mini Challenges –

all cars run on regulation Goodyear (or Dunlop equivalent) racing tyres.

www.goodyear.eu           

Mini Spares

Title co-sponsor of the Mini Challenges – a leading Mini aftermarket specialist.

www.minispares.com

Spax

Sponsor of the Improver awards –

for most places made up by a driver in the race from their starting grid position.

www.spaxperformance.com

Piper Cams

Sponsor of the Fastest Lap awards.

www.pipercams.co.uk

2025 CALENDAR

GOODYEAR MINI CHALLENGES supported by Mini Spares

Round                                    Date                                    Circuit                                   

1 + 2                                    5-6 April                        Snetterton 300

3 + 4                                    3-4 May                        Brands Hatch GP

5 + 6                                    7-8 June                        Silverstone GP

7 + 8 + 9                        11-13 July                        Zandvoort GP, NL

10 + 11 + 12                        2-3 August                        Brands Hatch Indy

13 + 14                                    6-7 September            Croft

15 + 16                                    20-21 September            Castle Combe

17 + 18                                    11-12 October                        Silverstone Int.

Words by: Richard Williamson

With three rounds to go in the Dunlop Mini 7 Racing Club championships, supported by Mini Spares, there’s still three titles to be decided this weekend at Silverstone, 12-13th October.

In the Mini Miglia Challenge, packed grids and headline-grabbing coverage have been a highlight over recent seasons, and a quick glance down the entry list reveals a galaxy of not only former Mini champions but also drivers who have excelled in the upper echelons of touring cars.

Former BTCC frontrunner Jeff Smith heads the standings and looks favourite to take the 1.3-litre Miglia main prize having secured the 1-litre Se7en crown twice before, although four-time class champ’ Aaron Smith in 2nd spot will be aiming for a fifth title, likewise 3rd-placed Kane Astin who has won both Miglia and Se7en formulae in the past.

However, all three will face Andrew Jordan, and despite not being in overall contention the former BTCC titleist and 2021 Mig champ’ has won five out of his six starts in the category this season. The back-to-back 1998/99 champ’ Ian Curley (not to mention the Se7en crown too some 30 years ago!) has made a strong return this season and lies 4th in the standings, whilst Rupert Deeth and Endaf Owens are two further title winners who are sure to be in the mix as well.

Look out too for Phil Bullen-Brown, Ben Colburn, Martin Wager and Colin Peacock who have all run regularly among the leading pack.

A run of strong performances and points-on-the-board have elevated Josh Evans to the head of the Libre class in his 8-port car, as longtime series leader Peter Hills suffered a major mechanical gremlin in his 16v example when leading last time out at Combe, and which may preclude an entry this weekend.

Last season’s runner-up Julian Proctor has steadily racked up the finishes to now lie 2nd in the standings but may find his 5-porter less suited around Silverstone to out-pace Evans’ machine, although the similar set-up of reigning class champion Richard Colburn has won here before. Huw Turner’s 8-port/16v went well here last season so could be an outside bet for victory too.

MINI SE7EN & S-CLASS

Whoever triumphs overall in this season’s Mini Se7en title chase will have earned it the hard way. A waterlogged Cadwell Park circuit back in April precluded any racing for the lesser powered classes, only one of the two postponed races then being run a month later at what then became a Snetterton treble-header to leave the other ‘paused’ race being shoehorned into this weekend’s timetable.

As it stands, Ross Billison tops the charts with a solid campaign of two wins and regular podiums elsewhere, and although his main rival Joe Thompson lies 10 points adrift has come into form at the right time with five wins to date, which may become a crucial tie-breaker.

On paper the latter currently has less points to drop too which will see calculators on overtime as the permutations unravel after each leg, although don’t rule out twice-winner Damien Harrington who could surpass the both of them if results go his way.

These three may be the main focus but look out too for the likes of Darren Thomas who ran strongly last month at Combe, whilst reigning class champion Mike Jordan has won three times in only four starts, and Kane Astin is having a guest appearance having won the title back in 2009.

Half-a-dozen victories and only one score outside the top three enabled Matt Ayres to finally wrap up the milder-tuned 1275cc category a meeting early, his provisional tally of 266 points unassailable on paper.

That said, the battle to claim the overall runner-up spot will be no less competitive, as former class champion Michael Winkworth will be a strong contender, along with newcomer Callum Perfect and drivers’ rep Arnold Duncan, whilst although further down the table ‘old hand’ Andy Hack could well upset the form book in son Frazer’s car.

The Page brothers, Jonathon and Matthew, are likely to be up front too, the former having won last season’s title, with Phil Anning and Joel Wren looking to repeat their impressive debut performances in the category at Brands Hatch in August.

LAP RECORDS (1.8508-mile International circuit)

Miglia:  Andrew Jordan                 1:16.374             87.24 mph         27 March 2022

Libre:                    Dan Lewis                                          1:16.506             87.09 mph         16 October 2022

Se7en:                 Mike Jordan                                       1:24.063             79.26 mph         15 October 2022

S-Class:              Michael Winkworth                        1:25.009             78.38 mph         16 October 2022

We head to Donington Park this weekend (9-10 July) for Rounds 9-10 of the 2022 championship. We’re in high spirits, with almost 60 cars booked in, hugely competitive grids and all championship titles still very much up for grabs.

Mini Miglia

Having twice taken the Miglia title, Cambridgeshire-based Rupert Deeth holds a slim margin in the 2022 points race in his quest for a third and has so far recorded a trio of victories from the eight races so far. Running him close are Aaron Smith and Jeff Smith from Kent and Bedfordshire respectively, and although not related, they share the honour of a win apiece this season.

The former scooped a hat-track of Miglia titles between 2018-2020, while the latter is a former BTCC winner and is the reigning National and Winter Mini Se7en title holder.

Former BTCC champion and the current reigning class champion Andrew Jordan has been first past the chequer three times but having missed a couple of meetings is further down the standings, along with Welsh fabrication expert Endaf Owens who won last time out at Castle Combe on his seasonal debut.

Among the rest of the super competitive field, the likes of Kane Astin, Ben Colburn and Ashley Davies have been knocking on the door for maximum points too.

Mini Libre

Bolstering the Miglia grids is the eclectic mix of Mini Libres, with variations on engine set-ups based on A-Series blocks.

Leading the way is veteran campaigner Richard Colburn who after a couple of early DNFs has since scored consistently in his 5-port, including a trio of class victories.

Phil Harvey has twice won the class title with a similar approach but needs some top results from here-on-in to be in with a chance of a third, while the 8-ports of Dan Lewis and Craig Cox have been rapid winning combinations on occasion but reliability can be their Achilles heel.

Mini Se7en

With three wins further boosted by extra points for fastest laps, plus four more runner-up finishes, Connor O’Brien could easily be considered as a firm favourite to take the 1.0-litre crown.

However, last time out at Combe his campaign hit a figurative bump in the road, with last-lap knocks in both races, the first earning him a grid penalty, the second a DNF on the result sheet.

This allowed former British GT champion (and father of Miglia frontrunner Andrew) to bridge the points gap despite having missed the Cadwell double-header in May, and take his race win total to four.

Similarly, Thompson picked up his first victory of the season as his main rivals clashed, adding to several other podiums but with a pair of DNFs already will need to bank on further top scores to keep up the pressure.

A trio of podium finishes sees Jo Polley currently lying second overall in arguably her best season to date, but she will no doubt be pushing to go one or two steps better if the leading trio slip up. Of the rest, Glen Woodbridge has produced frontrunning pace, while Ross Billison has been a winner in recent seasons.

Mini-7 S-Class

Reigning class champion Michael Winkworth is set to return to the milder-tuned 1275cc ‘Scholarship’ category having been absent last time out owing to the birth of his child, and no doubt will be aiming to regain his series lead.

Matt Ayres and Jonathan Page benefited from Winkworth’s absence at Combe to notch up a victory apiece, while Damien Harrington and Frazer Hack continued to rack up high points in the aim of keeping Winkworth behind them in the points standings.

Also on the pace is Ryan Taylor, the former Under-17 champion having though suffered a few DNFs, however he did score his debut class victory at Donington last season so will be worth watching out for.

LAP RECORDS (1.9790-mile National circuit)

Miglia:                 Rupert Deeth                     1:20.514              88.48 mph           11 July 2020

Libre:                    Rob Davis                           1:22.041              86.84 mph           11 July 2020

Se7en:                  Jeff Smith                           1:29.141              79.92 mph           11 July 2020      

S-Class:                Zack Booth                         1:30.174              79.00 mph           18 June 2016

Congratulations to Michael Winkworth, Andrew Jordan and Endaf Owens for making the top 50 in Autosport’s 2021 National Driver Rankings.

The rankings are based upon the number of wins a driver has taken during the season with each victory treated equally, regardless of the category.

Michael took 12 S-Class wins to finish 21st in the UK, Andrew 26th and Endaf in 48th, both of whom also compete in historic classes.

Click here to see the full list.

Congratulations to our confirmed 2021 Mini 7 Racing Club Winter Champions – Endaf Owens, Peter Hills, Jeff Smith and Ryan Taylor. The Mini Miglia and Mini Se7en winners are eligible to run the ‘0’ plate in 2022, putting them top of all entry lists.

For 2022 we are expanding our Winter series to seven rounds, where points gained in the first four races of the National Championship (Silverstone and Snetterton) will also count towards the Winter points. The final showdown will take place at Brands Hatch in November.

On January 22nd we will have our annual technical meeting / annual general meeting at the Annual Trophy Awards. The ATD / AGM will start at 1pm and close at 4pm without fail. The venue – Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel.

This is the annual opportunity for all members to put forward any proposals for changes, be they sporting or technical regulation changes. Sporting regulation changes, for example, reversing the reverse grid regulation (sorry, could not resist the punnery), if approved, can be implemented and be effective for the 2022 season.

For the technical regulation changes, unless there are force majeure reasons, these will not be introduced until the following year, so for example, if there was a change to [say] the wheel regulations, this would only be effective for the 2023 season.

If you do have a change to propose, and as a democratically run club, we warmly encourage you to propose anyone to propose any set of ideas to make this club more successful, then please follow this five-step process:

1. Identify the regulation # you want to change…or if a new one, call out where it needs to be in the regulations.
2. Put together THE EXACT set of words that you would want to see published in the future set of regulations. Members can only vote on the words you submit.
3. Find someone to second the proposal, and ideally, please share with your class drivers rep (Mark, Phil, Ben or Darren)
4. Beneath your proposal provide some brief commentary, context and the problem you believe your proposal will “fix”
5. Finally, think about your regulation change from the viewpoint of the MuK eligibility officer, how can / will they be able to enforce the regulation, and what can be the possible sanctions if found to be non-compliant.

Your proposal/proposals needs to be with Phil Harvey by one minute to midnight on Friday December 10th. His email is: motley.mini@virgin.net

The agenda and full set of proposals can then be issued to club members well in advance of the January 22nd meeting. Thank you, Colin