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Second best
Aimee Holliday is only 18 but she’s already on her second Mini and says she can’t ever see herself owning anything different as she loves them so much. And despite her young age she’s gone straight into some extra tuning which includes a full Miltek stainless exhaust with h-flow sports cat, Pipercross panel filter and a MS Tuning re-map. To improve the handling she’s fitted Eibach anti-roll bars, poly bushes and a KW 1 coilover kit. Sweet. But it’s not just tuning Aimee has carried out on the car, she’s also made improvements to the looks as well. The Mini is fitted with the full JCW bodykit, 17 in Ace alloys, Halo spotlights, Cooper S spoiler and filler cap, HID headlights and white indicators. Plans for the future include colour coding the wheel arches and adding Angel Eye headlights.

Mini legend
A Lancashire Mini enthusiast’s homage to a rally driving legend has received the ultimate seal of approval. Bowker Mini customer Austin Mortimer from Chorley has dedicated his Mini Cooper to Paddy Hopkirk - winner of the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, in a Mini Cooper S - car number 37. Austin’s authentic red paint work features race logos and a chequered-flag roof. Austin said, “I love Minis. But Paddy is the guy who really put Minis on the map. Everyone wanted a Mini Cooper after his victory. I recently requested his permission to add his name to the car. And he graciously granted it. So it makes it very unique. I sent him photos of the car and he said: ‘that Mini can carry my name only - no others!’ I’m very honoured. I’ve been driving Minis since 1966. I’ve owned classics through the years. And now I’ve moved on to the next generation. I love the fun look of them. The really put a smile on your face there’s no other car that gives you that fun feel.”

Health and safety
Steve Liquorish races his Cooper S in the Mini Challenge. He by-passed racing in the bottom Cooper class and went straight into the action in the middle class a couple of years ago. Prior to racing this car was used as the safety car for the series so at least the car know its way around the tracks, even if Steve doesn’t. Inteceptor Racing stripped the car down to the bare shell and cage and rebuilt it for racing and Steve entered his first race at the end of 2007. “It proved to me that it was a big leap of faith going from track days to actually racing,” he admitted. “You have to be very aggressive driving into corners - it’s all about carrying good speed into the bends and then getting on the brakes to get the back to break away.” Steve is still waiting for his first victory in the series although this year he’s been on the rostrum 6 times - just not on the middle step so far!  Unfortunately the car no longer looks as perfect as the photograph: just hours later it was damaged (see link to in-car video) during the race; we wish Steve and his Mini a speedy recovery!
Watch Steve's video on YouTube

Rare breed
Hannah Peaston is the lucky owner of one of only 457 Cooper S John Cooper Works Gp Minis in the Uk. “I first saw one of these at Mini United in 2009 and I really liked it,” she said. “ I’d had two Cooper S’ before the GP and I bought it in  August 2009 for £15,000.”
With what many regard as the ultimate Mini, it’s no great surprise that modifications have  been limited. “It’s still pretty much standard,” she confirmed. “I’ve only done a few cosmetic changes at the moment such as change the steering wheel and the boot handle, but I’ve bought a strut brace today which will be going straight on.”
That handling improvement is done with a good reason in mind: “I would like to get the car on track as you cant’ really get the full performance out of it on the road.”

Black beauty
“This car owes me £33,000,” explains Mark Rickelton, pointing to his immaculate Cooper S. He bought it just over 4 years ago when it was totally standard apart from the extra spotlights. It was always going to be his project car. A new set of wheels came first, followed by a chip / supercharger pulley and then the interior. Then came a new set of rear lights, then another set of wheels - you get the idea. And despite that huge price tag he says it’s still not finished - next item on his shopping list is a carbon fibre dashboard, followed by a de-cat exhaust and 4-branch manifold. Ok, it’s not his everyday car, but it still gets regular use and recently completed  a 700 mile trip to Jersey and back. All this and not even garaged at night, which explains why it takes a lot of spit and polish to be looking this good for the judges at Himley Hall.

Going for gold
David Wilkins swapped his Jag for this gold (2003) Cooper two years and the modifications have never stopped since. “I believe that 275 were made in gold since 2001 and they stopped using this colour in 2006,” he pointed out. David uses the car on a daily basis and says his favourite parts are the wheels and the graphics/logos which are on the wheels, bodykit, interior and dash. But he does add that they can easily be removed if he ever sold the car. He toyed with the idea of fitting Lambo doors but just wasn’t convinced that the quality would be as good as he wanted. Apart from an exhaust the car has received no performance modifications. Don’t be fooled by that display of spot lights on the front - they are not even wired up!

Award winning Clubman
Kevin Smith only bought this 2008 R55 Clubman Cooper S last year but he’s already collected several awards at shows around the country - and he’s not stopping yet. He got this car to replace his original R50 Cooper, which was also Silver. Under the bonnet he’s fitted a ITG panel filter and GTT strut brace and under the arches he’s upgraded to Eibach Pro springs and 18 in Breyton alloys covered in Falken rubber. The Mini’s stopping potential has been upgraded to JCW drilled discs with EBC Greenstuff brake pads.
Inside he’s gone for Chilli Lime and on the outside it’s mainly a combination of JCW front bumper /side skirts/front splitter, graphics, xenon headlights, white and blue side lights, heated mirrors and an exterior chrome pack.

Ice ice baby
Several years ago Pioneer put together 3 Minis to showcase their huge product range - these demo cars were called:  Sound, Vision and Soul. Daniel Brown bought Soul in 2008 for £8,500. Not a bad deal when you consider the car is stuffed with £6000 of ICE to start with. It’s based on a 2003 Mini One and fitted with what is thought to be a one-off bodykit, graphics and a set of 19 in alloys. It’s fitted with a Bluefin and exhaust and produces 123 bhp. Inside there’s a full black and white leather re-trim. The car has a total of 13 speakers, 3 in each front door , 5 cm speakers in each A-pillar at the front, 5 cm speakers in the rear A-pillars and a tweeter next to the 5 cm speakers in the rear pillars. In the boot there's a 5000 watt 12" subwoofer. Under the subwoofer are 4 amplifiers to power the sub. In the rear of the car there is an amplifier each side of the rear seats built in to custom leather moulds, on both passenger and driver side floor wells there are amplifiers to power the speakers in the doors. The rearview mirror has been replaced with a 6.5" touch screen TV, this is hooked up to a satnav system in the passenger glove box and also to a rear view camera which is in the roof lining in the back of the car.

Every second counts
Nige AKA Brownpants - is running his Cooper S in this year’s Time Attack. Compared to the strict regulations of the Mini Challenge, pretty much anything goes in Time Attack as drivers try to set the fastest lap. Under the bonnet the car is fitted with 550 cc injectors, a Newman cam, Mynes remap, KMT supercharger pulleys, GTTT 63 mm throttle body and a Janspeed manifold combined with a Milltek exhaust system. Before the next round of the series the car will be drinking Ethanol rather than petrol,  and been fitted with a Thumper 3 Big Valve head and a GRS front mounted intercooler.
To improve the handling the car runs KW Clubsport coilovers, Eibach control arms, an Ireland Engineering anti roll bar, adjustable drop links and it totally polybushed from end to end. It’s also fitted with a GTT top strut brace and an OMP lower version. Naturally it’s fitted with all the competition safety equipment you’d expect such as a roll cage and fire extinguisher. However Nige’s debut in the series at Oulton Park didn’t go exactly to plan as the photo confirms. Ouch!
www.timeattack.co.uk

Ready to Rumble
Coastal Racing in Morecombe have been involved in motorsport since 1990 and have been a main player in the Mini Challenge since 2006;  they have recently finished building their car for the 2010 series. It’s a Cooper S which should be producing around 220 bhp. Under the bonnet the standard engine had been fitted with a Forge intercooler and air intake, a Piper exhaust and has been re-mapped. It runs on KW Competition 2-Way suspension - which costs around £2000 for the set, plus some uprated Powerflex bushes. When it comes to stopping there are 6-pot calipers on the front and the standard Cooper calipers on the rear - all working with Mintex 1155 brake pads.
On the exterior the car is fitted with the JCW Aerokit - because they like the look of it - together with the Challenge rear diffusers, rear wings and front splitter, for the same reason!
The car will race on 17-inch Team Dynamics Pro Race alloys sitting on Dunlop rubber.
And of course it’s fitted will all the safety gear you’d expect such as a full weld-in roll cage, fire extinguisher and Corbeau race seat.  The team’s busy race season kicks off on April 10th/11th at Rockingham.

First love
This is Nigel Green’s first Mini; it cost him £6000 and he’s owned it for just over 6 months. It’s a Cooper and came with the factory fitted alloys and 38,000 miles on the clock. Since buying the car Nigel has spent a further £2000 on improvements which include the full chrome interior kit, blue LED in the footwells and boot, Union Jack decals on the roof and bonnet, a set of 18 in alloys and new uprated bulbs all-round. He’s also invested in some Wipac front spots which will be fitted soon. Under the bonnet he’s treated the engine to a K&N performance filter, NGK Iridium spark plugs and most recently some Performance Nology hotwires from the USA. It may well be his first Mini but he’s got off to a flying start and says there are loads more plans in the pipeline.

Dressed to thrill
“I love my Mr Mini,” says Sophie Babbage from Gloucester. And who can blame her when the car in question is a 54 plate Mini Cooper. Sophie bought the car in March 2009 and paid £7000. “I’ve never had a Mini before but you can make so many modifications to them to make them look different,” she said. “I went to look at quite a few but I wanted a black and white one with chequered mirrors and I went all the way to Derby to get this one.”
The Cooper came with a full Mini service history and she added a further 5000 miles on the clocks in the first 6 months she owned the car - it’s now covered 39,000 miles.
“I want to get the windows tinted to get it looking a bit more funky,” explained Sophie. “Ideally I also want a black roof instead of the white and to fit some nice big black alloys as well.” And so the changes begin.

GP stripper
Viewed by most as the ultimate Mini, only 2000 of the JCW GP cars were ever built and there are only 457 in the UK. And Mick Walsh (AKA GP Mick) is one of the lucky owners - his car is totally standard apart from a strut brace and spotlights and is used on a daily basis. We spotted him at Mini Showdown where he’d just taken part in his first ever 1/4 mile sprint on the drag strip. “It was excellent, I really enjoyed it,” he confirmed. “ It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for some time. I’ve had a busy weekend - I was driving on the Top Gear track yesterday and I’ve finished the weekend with a run down the drag strip.” He set a time in the 16s and says that despite all his practice at traffic lights he lost a lot of  time at the start when he got a bit over enthusiastic and sat there with his wheels spinning when the lights turned green.

Mine's a winner!
Lee Allen from Kent is competing in the 2009 Mini Challenge, after a ten year gap in his racing career, and he’s already won two races this year - including this one at Castle Combe (19th July) where we spotted him. His car is a JCW which is prepared to Mini Challenge spec which basically means a standard 215 bhp JCW Cooper S with a stripped interior, adjustable suspension, and safety additions such as a roll cage. With identical cars the winning is all down to driver ability. Its the first time Lee's participated in a one make championship. "I am really enjoying it, we have had a very steep learning curve as the competition is very quick, but that only makes it more fun because even newbies can get a win if you prepare yourself properly," admitted Lee. And he’s certainly got back into the winning groove straight away. He’s currently lying 4th in class with races at Croft (22/23 August) and Snetterton (26/27th September) still to run.

Licence 2 Thrill
Stephen Essex from the Midlands owns 10 Minis - a mixture of Coopers, Cooper Diesels and Ones, which might seem a bit greedy until you know they are for his company - A Licence 2 Drive. “It’s a very good car to learn to drive in,” said Stephen. “ There’s good all-round visibility and it’s very easy to manoeuvre. It’s an iconic car and it stands out from the crowd and attracts a lot of business for the company.”  Despite a long line of learner drivers he says that he can still record 40 mph. He did experience some clutch problems on his earlier Coopers but the later cars are good for 50,000 miles before they usually need replacing - and amazingly all the work is cover by the warranty - without question. In fact his biggest problem is curbed wheels - an occupational hazard. He runs the cars for about two and a half years until they have clocked up 100,000 miles. When he set up the company he tested a wide range of cars before picking Minis and it’s a choice which seems to have gone down well with customers because business is booming.

Everyday racer
Sue Ememy from the Birmingham Mini owners Club has owned her John Cooper Works for just over a year and had the body kit and graphics fitted before she took delivery of the car. Before that she’d owned two Mini Ones. “The One was fast enough for me until I tried a JCW and then I wanted one,” she explained. “I use the car everyday - it’s amazing, totally fantastic. It’s the best car we have ever had and we've had loads including Mercedes and BMWs.” Sue admits that she does like to drive the car fast when she gets the chance and especially likes to be first away from the traffic lights when they turn green.

Wow factor
When Daniel Sturgess from Basingstoke saw his first Clubman he thought ‘wow’. At the time he already owned a Cooper but it wasn’t long before this Pepper White Cooper Clubman was parked on his drive instead. He’s left it pretty much standard aside from adding some graphics. Plans in the pipeline include tinted windows, spotlights and a graphic on the roof. Daniel says that although the extra space is handy for his kids, it’s certainly not the  reason he bought the car in the first place - that was purely on looks. He drives his Mini at least 30 miles a day and says it’s fantastic.

On two wheels
World famous and world record holding stunt man Russ Swift likes nothing better than to jump into his Cooper S, launch it off a ramp and then drive down the road on two wheels. Apart from his obvious skill and years of experience there are no mechanical tricks involved - it’s basically a standard car, albeit with the diff locked and the tyres pumped up to 90 psi. “A few years ago I did a rough count of how many times I’ve driven a car on just two wheels and I reckoned I’d done more than 8000 displays in over 50 countries,” said Russ. And he’s done many more since that last count. Thanks to power steering he says the Cooper S is a lot easier to drive than his classic Mini Minor and he quite often takes people along for the ride during his two-wheeling adventures - three passengers and event a fourth stuffed in the boot!

Ever changing
Joe Klenk’s 221bhp Mini Cooper S never stays looking the same for long. Today (Easter 2009) it features a BMW Aero bodykit and a M7 front splitter and has been totally de-chromed. Inside it currently features Bentley red leather, although Joe’s in the process of changing the whole interior into something more sporty - at the moment there is a lot of missing trim such as the door cards; it’s very much a work in progress.
Joe doesn’t know how much he’s spent on the car, just that it’s too much and says he’s wasted a lot of money by constantly changing his mind. For example he used to have Porsche brakes under his 20 in alloys, but when he changed to 17 in rims they no longer fitted so he had to sell them.

Super Cooper
Barry Jones
Barry's owned what he calls his 'Sooper Cooper' since late 2004 and it hasn't stopped putting a smile on his face since. He travels in it a lot and can't believe it's still running so well after the mileage he's clocked up. The graphics were designed by SignRiteGraphix.com in Aylesbury and you can also see his Mini on its website. Barry's son has just bought a yellow Mini One and has installed an Aero kit on it, which looks so good Barry's tempted to do the same. He's also thinking of modifying the air intake system and getting the wheels done in black. Yet no matter what he does, he's adamant he could never own any other car ever again!