As usual it was a tough choice, carry on working and save my holidays or frantically panicking to get the Mini ready for another amazing run to the ring. Yes it was once more time to take on the mighty Nürburgring with The Mini Forum’s Brands Hatch to Nürburgring run.

An early morning start saw us at the Brands Hatch race circuit, where a gathering of Minis and strangely dressed folk had massed. Run stickers were fixed, a quick group photo taken and we were off on the first leg of the journey, Dover ferry port. The next leg saw us heading through France to Belgium in small convoys, with an advance party heading straight for the ring.

 

The lovely F1 hotel in Belgium soon came into sight and the night’s festivities started with a trip to the local Italian restaurant. A certain amount of drinking took place and conversations continued back at the hotel well into the night. The next day saw an early start and the final section of driving to the ‘Ring.

The drive to get into Germany took a slight detour when our convoy received a call for help from one of the advance group Minis that had broken down the previous day. So off set our convoy on a rescue mission into the depths of an unnamed Belgium town (mainly because I forgot the name of the town). After a fair amount of weaving through small cobbled streets we found ourselves two very relieved Minis and their drivers. We were ushered into an archway that opened up into what I can only describe as a huge garage where the Mini had been kept safe overnight (and they had company in the form of a slightly battered Belgium Mini).

The problem turned out to be a broken coil and after some rummaging a spare appeared and the tech experts set to work. The Mini was fixed in a jiffy and off we set to Germany with some of the locals in the town – delighted by the arrival of so many Minis – out on the street to wave us off.

We arrived at the campsite and our resident Mini chum Mr Barnett (inspiration for the run) had already pitched his tent and landscaped a personal garden! Another interesting sight was a Mini in the corner of the field stripped of its head; it turned out to be this year’s first poorly Mini to be sent home. An evening of tent pitching, bbqing and drinking awaited us. The night ended in an interesting episode when a member of the team dressed for everyone’s pleasure (you’ll just have to go on the forum to see those photos! – if you have a strong stomach).