Blyton Park 2017: the best of the rest

When you've read Maximum Mini 1 you may recall mention of the 4th and last of the Coldwell GTs, which is under restoration. I have asked the owner every year to bring it over… and finally there it was!

Owner Mark Needham, seen here with a bright smile, is the son of Coldwell instigator Bill Needham, who was also present at Blyton - mostly on the track

That's Bill Needham's Mini he's owned since Human memory. It is famously fitted with the twin cam cylinder head of his own design, dating back to 1967

Robert Scott is the new and very enthusiastic owner of this Mk2 Biota, which looked superb

Kevin Murray came all the way from the Scottish highlands, and treated himself to a new project on his way down south. It's a fully space framed sprinter built by Philip Oram in the 1980s

The car's body resembled a Riley Elf, but not as you know it. The race engine plus the moulds for the car's body came with the sale, too, and Kevin managed to fit them into his van. More to follow soon

There's my own little pride and joy: the Le Mans Mini Marcos, next to two siblings: the Mk1 street car of Peter Skitt on its left and the Mk1 racer of Gary Marlow on its right

What was the last time you saw three Mk1 Mini Marcoses in a row? Peter's white car has ben beautifully restored by himself over a period of time

Gary's car is quite special, too. It is completely as it was raced back in 1966 and has never been on the road. Gary told me it is one of supposedly six competition shells, of which mine has to be another. His car's roll bar and floors formed excellent reference to my car and I took a multitude of detail shots of it for that reason. I'll post some of them here, with explanations, in the near future

And… it won the Maximum Mini Award for the best Mini derivative of the day! That's Gary on the left, handed over the award by Mini racer extraordinaire Gordon Spice

Another winner: the Maguire Mini of Barry Long which won the title of Best Track Car of the day. It was indeed beautifully prepared and could be seen/heard screaming on they track for much of the day!

The flying Dutchmen who have been supporting me since the first Blyton Park Action Day back in 2014. Thanks for coming over once again chaps!

And we had a great contingent coming over from Ireland, too. Here inspecting the 

engine bay of Goff Allen's Mk2 Mini Jem. Great to see you too, guys!

That's Goff. He gave me a short lecture on how to tackle the gell cracks on my Mini Marcos' body. 

He restored his Jem beautifully, and is currently working on another, a Mk1

Steve Burkinshaw brought over one of his Radford Minis and not the least: this is a rare Radford Traveller. He told me there may have been up to 12 built. A bit more info here

Like all of Steve's cars this one is absolutely beautifully restored with all he right bits and details

And it wasn't on its own. Unipower GT-man and Blyton's co-organizer Pete Flanagan took another Radford to the event. One he recently found in the US

It's a 1965 car that was converted by Radford in '66 into a hatchback. It comes with lovely patina and spent most of its life in sunny California. Pete is still looking for more info on its past

Tim Carpenter drove his gorgeous Unipower GT - chassis number 1 - over from London to Lincolnshire and eagerly campaigned it on the track, too. That's the spirit!

And that's my old friend Geoffrey Hunter and the Ogle SX1000 he owns since 1963!

He used it as a daily driver for many years and drove it to the event, too. Thanks Geoff

Parting shot. See you there next year!