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‘ Break With Tradition’
Mini Brittania 2013 Details Revealed
The 2013 Mini Britannia, the one-day classic competition tour modelled on Tour Britannia, will break new ground when it runs on Saturday 7 September from a base in London. Mini Britannia will give regular competitors some late-summer fun and new competitors the chance to sample this type of event. To encourage newcomers, a completely new route will be used, with the start at a landmark venue in London and the finish at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea to tie in with the spectacular new‘ Grand Rendevous’ event. The outline schedule opens on Friday evening, 6 September, for documentation. Mini Britannia will start on Saturday morning for a full day of action. Key attractions will include special stages at Dunsfold Park, the home of BBC Top Gear, and the Mercedes-Benz World track at Brooklands. Late on Saturday afternoon crews will return to London for the finish, prize-giving and supper at The Royal Hospital, Chelsea. The final control will be at the Hospital so that Mini Britannia cars can go on display; not only on Saturday evening but throughout Sunday for the major show of classic road and race cars.“ This is a real break with tradition,” said event director Alec Poole.“ We want to take the event to a new group of competitors and making the route very accessible to London should make it even more attractive. We hope to get people hooked on this fabulous style of event with a one-day taster on Mini Britannia and then encourage them to sample the full Tour Britannia experience next spring. Obviously we also hope to see many of our regular contenders in September.” Like its big brother, Mini Britannia will comprise Competition and Regularity categories and will run on asphalt roads. Following the format of Tour Britannia, crews in the Competition event will tackle a series of asphalt special stages, while the Regularity competitors will follow the same route with straight forward average speed tests on the same stages. The category is simple to follow without tricky navigation or timekeeping. Regularity entrants are fully fledged competitors, but competition licences are not necessary.“ We are really upbeat about the prospect of taking Mini Britannia into London. Access stipulations at some of the venues may limit numbers, but we hope to be able to accommodate everyone who wants to take part,” said Poole. www. tourbritannia. com
Friends Reunited!
Tiff Needell Joins Record Breaking Field
Former F1 driver and now renowned TV personality, Tiff Needell, is gearing up to make history later this month at the 2013 Silverstone Classic( 26-28 July). The 61-year-old will be turning back the clock and joining a capacity 54- car grid in what’ s a record breaking field of Formula Ford single-seaters. Never before in the junior formula’ s 46-year history have more than 50 cars lined up on the same grid.“ It’ s going to be crazy,” said the man who once co-presented BBC Top Gear and today fronts the Fifth Gear motoring programme.“ Naturally I’ m hoping to be out in front at the start and, more importantly, out in front at the finish but with so many cars it’ s going to be busier than the M25 at rush hour. Whatever the result, though, it will be a fantastic experience for all involved whether they’ re racing or spectating.” The two record-breaking races will be all the more special for Needell as he will be back behind the wheel of the very Formula Ford car that launched his racing career. It’ s a profession that took him all the way to the heights of F1 and the podium at Le Mans en route to becoming a familiar face on our TV screens.“ I’ m racing the same Lotus 69F that I won in a competition in Autosport magazine in 1971 – without that I’ d probably never even been a racing driver,” he admitted.“ As a special Christmas present to myself, I bought the car back six months ago; I’ m thrilled to be reunited with the car and racing it again at Silverstone. www. silverstoneclassic. com
10 www. cprmag. co. uk