ABOUT
Classic-Mini :: Racing is a family run team founded in 2003 in Nottingham, England.
The team is made up of drivers and partners David Hale and Caroline Gilbert. With backup and support from Caroline's parents, David and Sandra and uncle Anthony.
Minis have always been a BIG part of Caroline's family. Hence the transition from building them, to showing them to racing them :)
David Hale
MM, SMM and SCC #68
Raced as number #68 from when we shared the original #66 car. It was easy to turn the 66 to 68 with electrical tape. First circuit experience was a hot lap at castle combe being driven by MM racer David Kirkpatrick
Caroline Gilbert
MM, SMM and SCC #66
Inherited the #66 race number from the car we bought from Martin Capps. First circuit experience was the castle combe action day taking her convertible 998cc 1978 mini for a blast, then later paying for hot lap from MM racer Gary Patterson.
Harry # 66
The car that started it all
Named Harry and numbered 66 by Martin Capps. Martin later sprayed Harry blue after a accident @ Mallory Park in 2003. We bought the car later that year after spotting it for sale on Ebay.
Raced by Caroline from 2004 until 2008. In 2010 we was contacted by Tina Hobley (Holby City actress) who wanted to borrow a car to race, the BBC didnt approve of her racing, so her partner PR guru Oli Wheeler raced it. Unfortunately it was the last race for MM66, oli wrote the car of at Castle Combe!
# 68
The first classic-mini race car
Our first MM race car built in 2004, from a stolen and recovered mini dragged out a farmers field.
Built using eBay SPI cooper bits powered by a new MorSpeed engine from Simon Morson.
Sold to Shiela Hassle in 2007, then onto Charlie Brisker who had more smashes than the spice girls, then Steve Rose who kept the car as a spare, then onto Ryan Cowley who sprayed the car white, then Darren Nightingale who had plans for a rental / spare car and now being raced by Matt Baker with a yellow paint scheme 2020.
BERTHA
The first team truck
Our first race van bought in 2005, we measured various vans and found the LDV loading space a perfect fit for the MM race car. We fabricated a ramp and mounted a power winch to drag the car in, under the ramps inside the van we had a full set of spares. We later bought a roof rack that held 12 tyres and a roof box full of more spares. We bought the van cheap with a spare gearbox as the selector fork had worn and wouldnt engage 4th. We never changed the box! We sold the van to MM racer Ryan Cowly in 2013
BIGGER BERTHA
The bigger better team truck
Bought in 2013 to try and reduce our costs, this truck can easily pull a Mini and has loads of room for a mini inside , a kitchen and all the luggage and spares for the whole team for a weekend racing adventure. Classed as a HGV means it has lower tax too. We could now do race wkends with one vehicle, it was much more fun and social. Again we fabricated the ramps and designed the graphics.
AWESOME BITS
Showing off our most proud achievements :)
Corgi LLedo replica model of MM66
Awesome lasting legacy
The only Mighty Mini model car since 2000? Limited to just 1000 makes this one of the most collectable Mini model cars. Commissioned by Stephen Ashbury from CRS Risk Systems in 2005.
Autosport Live Action Arena 2009
Racing to over 60'000 visitors over 4 days
WOW what a weekend!
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© 2019