HRDC racing welcomes Mini variants

In the ever increasing popularity of Mini based cars, the UK's Historic Racing Drivers Club (HRDC) has now decided to broaden its accessibility to all pre-1966 sports-, GT- and touring cars using the A-series engine. That's great news for Mini derivatives owners wanting to race their cars. The first race will take place at Donington on 7 november this year.

HRDC Race Director Julius Thurgood states in a press release: "I have been working on this for some time now. The ubiquitous BMC 'A-Series' powerplant has been with us in motorsport for decades and has spawned so many interesting variants. However, most categories seem to run in separate classes and categories. But why should they? Why not bring all the pre-'66 BMC 'A-Series' powered cars to race together under one format? I am sure that it will provide spectacular racing and will be of great interest to both competitors and spectators alike."

I asked him why the race is not made eligible for pre-'70 or pre-'72 cars as this would make it accessible for many more variants. Julius said: "The reason for the '66 cut-off is that this is the natural date cut-off between 'historic' and 'post-historic' in the racing community. Generally the rules are tighter pre-'66 and this gives a more equal field. Later specification would then mean different tyres, wilder engines and different suspension set-ups."

And has he already had an interest from owners of Mini variants wanting to enter their cars? He said: "The entry for this race was only opened this week. We will have to wait and see what the response/which cars get entered. We know of a couple of Ogles, a DART, 2 x Deep Sandersons and Rae Davis' Jem. It will take time to coax these rarer cars out but we will do our best to do so!"

I am definitely looking forwards to seeing some more of them on the racing track. The HRDC's race format is for 30-minute events, with 15-minute qualifying. All cars must run on Dunlop CR65 historic tyres and HTP forms will not be required for this event. More information here, entry form, ready for downloading here.