The opening round of this year’s HRCR Mini Sport Cup will take place on Saturday 14th March at the ever-popular venue at Weston Park in Shropshire. The event is part of the ‘Japers Bakeries David Owen Historic Stages Rally’, featuring several other classic cars traversing the 30-mile asphalt course – so it promises to be a great racing spectacle for anyone with a passing interest in vintage rallying.
Our Mini specialists will naturally be on hand at the event to compete, but also to provide a wide range of products and services to fellow Mini enthusiasts – so why not come along?
Mini Specialists At Weston Park For Round One of The Mini Sport Cup.
Weston Park is the historic grounds of the country house, given to the nation by Richard Bridgeman, 7th Earl of Bradford, with support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. Aside from the 1000-acre grounds that have held large-scale events (music festivals, as well as rallying over the years), the 17-century, Grade I listed Hall hosts a range of events throughout the year. Much of the grounds offer a great opportunity for all of the family to enjoy nature and the historic significance of the area – Weston Park is home to one of few identifiable Medieval Deer Parks in Britain.
The park is no stranger to hosting rallying events for us Mini specialists – the starting flag on the annual Mini Sport Cup has been waved at Weston for several years now. Last year, John and Martin Cressey finished on top of the podium, in what was a great event for those piloting Austin Cooper S’s – the model making up 4 of the top 5 places.
As always, the event was a great example of the diverse nature of the Mini community; with female participation as strong as ever, fathers competing against their sons and participants in general aged from 16-70, showing that rallying is indeed for everyone. All done in wet, tumultuous weather too, by the way (which to be fair, makes the spectacle somewhat more entertaining for those of us watching from the sidelines!)
The Weston event is just the beginning of a great calendar of rally events in the Mini Sport Cup – so what lies ahead?
The Mini Sport Cup 2020.
The 2020 HRCR Mini Sport is open to all Mini (and Mini derivatives) that were built up to the end of 1990. The competition is a closed-to-club championship for HRCR members and has a 9-round format over eight events (with September’s Tour of Flanders consisting of 2 rounds).
Taking place throughout the UK (as well the 2-round event in Belgium), each course has been selected based on their value for money, location, variety and of course, their ability to provide Mini specialists with a real challenge of their driving, navigational and mechanical skills, within a reasonable budget.
The calendar (subject to change) for this year is:
- Round 1 – 14th March, The Jaspers Bakeries David Owen Historic Stages Rally, Weston.
- Round 2 – 3rd May, Dixies Historic Challenge, Epynt.
- Round 3 – 14th June, Flying Fortress Stages, Grafton.
- Round 4 – 5th July, Brawdy Stages, Haverfordwest.
- Round 5 – 25th July, Harry Flatters, Epynt.
- Rounds 6/7 – 4th-6th September, The Tour of Flanders.
- Round 8 – 27th September, Cheviot Stages Rally, Otterburn.
Entering The Mini Rally Competition.
To enter, drivers will need a minimum of a Motorsport UK SR Interclub Stage Rally Competition License (an RS National is required for the Tour of Flanders). Competing cars will also need to comply with Motorsport UK historic rally vehicle categories 1-4, as well as stage rally regulations. HRCR also have an open class for classic Minis that do not fully meet historic requirements – these cars will compete only for their class award and are not eligible for the overall competition.
To learn more about this year’s events, visit our dedicated Mini Sport Cup page and stay tuned to our Facebook page for live updates.
Need Online Mini Servicing Advice?
If you’re unable to make the event, but still need advice on improving your own Mini, whether to competition standards or just as a regular runner or display model, then our online team will be happy to help. Aside from our sales of the highest quality replacement parts for all aspects of the classic Mini, we also create our own – offering a full Mini servicing and restoration service for good measure. Why not browse our website to learn more about us and the many services we have available?
If you would like to speak to our team directly, please feel free to give them a call today on 01282 778731 or send an e-mail sales@minisport.com.
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