24/08/2026
Brands Hatch Mini Festival was a busy but thoroughly enjoyable weekend as we celebrated the Mini 7 Racing Club’s 60th anniversary! 🎉🏁
We spent Friday testing, where Mark and I found some promising lap times. Saturday saw me qualify 5th, which I was really happy with, although I was still chasing those 58-second laps! I finished 5th in Race 1 after some incredibly close racing throughout.
Starting 5th again for Race 2, I unfortunately suffered an engine issue on Lap 12. The positive was that I finally broke into the 58s! That put me 4th on the grid for Race 3 after a very quick engine swap. A huge thank you to SMMC and my mechanic Kyre for getting the engine changed during the Miglia & Libre race! 🔧
I finished 5th again in Race 3, so overall I’m really happy with the weekend and the points we came away with. 👌
Mark Sims had a strong weekend in an incredibly competitive Miglia grid. He qualified 19th, with just 1.59 seconds separating him from pole! Mark finished 14th in both Race 1 and Race 2, before starting 16th for Race 3. He made a great start, but unfortunately the car overheated after two laps, forcing him to retire to the pit lane.
Julian Proctor had a brilliant weekend at Brands Hatch! After qualifying 6th, Julian had issues in Race 1 which forced him into the pits. Despite being a couple of laps down, he fought back to finish 6th. He then went on to finish 3rd in Race 2 before an even better result in Race 3, taking 2nd! 🥈 Great to see Julian back on the podium!
Steve Trench also had a much better weekend at Brands Hatch than at Thruxton. Steve qualified 7th and finished 5th in Race 1. Unfortunately, he had issues in Race 2 and retired on Lap 12, but he was back out for Race 3, starting 5th and crossing the line in 4th 👏
Next stop… Castle Combe 🏁
Mini 7 Racing Club Kent Auto Developments - KAD Nitron Suspension C. R. Marks Swiftune Engineering
