Brands Hatch Mini Festival
This weekend saw the coming together of hundreds of Minis and Mini fans at Brands Hatch to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Mini. There were Minis from all eras lined up on display from Mini clubs around the country. I particularly liked a stretch Mini and a patriotic looking red, white, and blue one.On the track there was Mini racing to watch. I spent the morning in the grandstand and watched the racing from there. The view was very good as you can see the cars coming off the start/finish line and diving into the steep Paddock Hill bend where they had a few wheel lockups.
After lunch we watched a few races from the bottom of Paddock Hill bend giving me a different view of the circuit.
During a break in the racing the cars were lined up on the grid for a Grid Walk to allow the spectators the chance to mingle between the cars and talk to the drivers. Scalextric was sponsoring the racing and the two Scalextric Club Minis were there on the grid.
After the grid walk we walked through the trade stalls and on one I purchased a Mini pin badge for my collection. This badge was originally given to staff at Longbridge when the Mini car production was there.
The viewing areas are reasonably accessible for wheelchair users and there are plenty of disabled loo’s, although some of them are a bit small.
We watched the last race from the start/finish line where we could see all the cars getting ready to race. This was a 40min endurance race with a compulsory pit stop for a driver change. There was a crash which caused the safety car to come out just as the pit stop window opened, so all the cars streamed into the pits all at once. After the safety car pulled in there was a very exciting restart, and the racing for the rest of the race was very close.There are more photographs to look at if you click the picture.
