The famous Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb provided the destination for the Diamond Anniversary Mini Tour organised by club member Jim Partridge on Sunday 25 August, the day before the Mini’s official birthday.
On a gloriously sunny day, the National Motorcycle Museum saw 42 Minis and MINIs arrive to check in and receive instructions and their road book. Whilst a motorcycle venue might seem a strange place to start a car event, drivers weren’t alone as a club from Coleshill were setting up in an adjacent car park.
The motorcycle link continued as the cars set off, with an early part of the route taking them along what is known as The Triumph Mile where bikes from the Meriden Triumph factory were tested between 1932-1945.
After a checkpoint in Knowle, it was off to Longbridge for a break at the new Bournville shopping centre before another passage control in front of the gates of what is now the base of MG Motor UK but, for all Mini enthusiasts, the home of the iconic car.
On again to Shelsley Walsh to join the cars that had been arriving from the beginning of the day, with one of the highlights being interviews with Russell Brookes and ten members of the Abingdon Competition Team.
The event was sponsored by Hagerty Insurance and Rybrook Worcester and held in aid of Acorns Children’s Hospice and Midlands Air Ambulance.
There will be a full report in a future issue of club magazine CooperWorld.
