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Well this was it. The last day of the season for the Mighties, the outcome of the Championship was still open, though Nigel Pike would have to completely lose the plot to lose the Championship. In the Supers, it was a done deal and Neven Kirkpatrick was Champion, however no-one was going to let this last chance to be a hero pass un-tried.

The entry for the Mighty Minis looked impressive. There were 25 cars locked, loaded and ready to rumble. This included new entries from Matthew Flemming in car 12, Jonathan Harker in car 41 and Nikki Welsby in car 8. Nikki was fresh from her triumph in the Formula Woman series. A determined effort at Snetterton two weeks ago had netted her the title in the second running of this series. The question was would she make the transition from rear wheel drive Caterham to front wheel drive Mini? Would partner Dave Rees maintain the upper hand (whatever that means)? Who shot JR? These and many other questions remained to be answered.

Mighty Minis were in the height of luxury. Three garages were allocated for their use. Pity we did not have this at Anglesey! The day dawned cool, windy but dry and the forecast was for more of the same. Organisation was as efficient as normal for Silverstone but with signing on at one end of the Paddock and scrutineering at the other, we were going to stay fit. BR Minis passed through the scrutineering process without major problems. A cheerful and enthusiastic official made the process a pleasure, a friendly ‘good luck’ was much appreciated.

The Standard Mighty Minis had drawn the short straw with first signing on at 07.30 and qualifying as first out at 09.00. The sunny start made it just bearable. Qualifying was a relatively uneventful process with Steve Miles dropping out briefly at Copse Corner with a cut-out switch not completely engaged. Emma Blaken stopped towards the end of the session with what was later diagnosed as a broken piston. She was unable to make the grid for the race, bad luck Emma.

The front row for the race was again the usual suspects with Neil Slark on pole and Nigel Pike alongside. The second row had Nikki Welsby in third place with Richard Lockwood fourth. The third row was made up by Adrian Tuckley and Dave Rees.

The Standard Mighties were first race after lunch so not a lot of time to relax. The grid lined up in good order after the Green Flag lap. At the start the sun was to be a factor. The front row of Neil Slark and Nigel Pike found it hard to see the lights and were in consequence slow away from the line and both were demoted rapidly be the fast starting second row. This meant that in her first race Nikki lead into Copse.

Nigel in car 90 was engulfed with his slow start and was in 8th place by the end of the first lap. He would then battle back up through the next few laps. It was a close battle between the first half dozen cars with the lead changing at some point every lap. Adrian Tuckley led briefly on laps 2 and 3, but then rapidly fell down the field with car 55 sounding worse and worse. A lead on the coil had come loose and was making only intermittent contact. The end of an encouraging start. Steve Miles in car 73 had made a good start from 10th on the grid and was soon into the leading group. His car was handling well and he could take a lot more speed into Copse than those cars in front of him. A few demon overtaking manoeuvres had him leading the field on lap 7. By lap 10 Nigel Pike was back with the leading group. The first four cars being covered by about one second. This group stayed together until the chequered flag. Neil Slark took the win with Nigel Pike right behind. An ecstatic Steve Miles in car 73 took third place - his first podium, with Nikki Welsby car 81 fourth.

Retirees in the race were Caroline Gilbert in car 66 which had an engine that would only run on left hand corners. The consequence of work on the exhaust manifold before lunch. Chris Morgan retired on lap 8 with a recurrence of the problem that stopped the engine in the Paddock before the race.

The Super Mighty Minis and Xtreme Mighty Minis were combined for this event. With only four entries for the Xtremes the field was a little bit thin, but the additional ten Supers made for a respectable grid. The performance differences between the two classes would make for some interesting lappery given the wide open spaces of the Silverstone Circuit. Maria Brown made a welcome return to the Super Mighty Minis in car 61. She was hoping to be able to do a season in 2007. James Young in car 12 was making an appearance at this end of season event.

Qualifying passed without any marked incidents and the grid was made up in much the normal order. It was clear that the Xtremes had such a performance differential that the Supers would be lapped at least once in the 20 minute race to follow. Pole position was taken up by Julian Howell in his beautifully prepared Xtreme No, 79, with Peter Crewes alongside with the BR Minis look-alike Britax Cooper S No. 77. The second row was Mike Edgell in car 98 and Howard Affleck in car 26; more about this car later.

For the Supers Neven Kirkpatrick in car 11 was on pole with Alex ‘Teenwolf’ Comis in car 41 alongside in second. It must have been the new helmet design celebrating both the British and Greek elements of his team that gave him the extra edge. David Kirkpatrick in car 10 and James Young in car 12 were on the next row.

BR Minis were on the last row, but not too disappointed being only 2.5 seconds off the fastest time. Mike Tarr in car 88 was alongside.

Race conditions were dry and sunny, but with a stiff wind. This would speed us up, down the pit straight, but slow us down along Brooklands. The grid formed up in good order after the green flag lap and everyone made a good start, well almost everyone. Howard Affleck caused a flurry of yellow flags with a moment off the line causing some horrified avoidance by the following Supers. The first lap being completed without incident and Howard bringing up the rear. ‘It was cold tyres’ he said later.

With the remaining Xtremes disappearing over the horizon a single body of Super Mighty Minis swept round Copse and up to Beckets. This stayed like this until lap 2 when the recovering Xtreme 26 split it up into two groups. There was a lead group of six cars then a second group of four. BR Minis car 57 was in this second group along with Tim Harber car 71, Maria Brown car 61 and Mike Tarr car 88. This group was having a great dice with positions changing several times per lap. It was all good clean racing, but no-one was given a moment’s peace. This continued until lap 7 when car 57, BR Minis, had a half spin in Copse dropping it to the back of the field, Tim and Maria broke away from Mike. BR Minis was able to catch and pass Mike on lap 10 but was not able to make any impression on Tim or Maria’s lead. At the front of the field the Xtremes were in a world of their own with Pete Crewes in car 77 taking the lead on lap 3 and holding this easily to the chequered flag on lap 17. Julian Howell took second. This meant that at the end of the season Pete Crewes was the Xtremes champion with Mike Edgell in second place . The early series leader Barry Murphy fell to third due to his absence from this last race. Or so I thought. However I had forgotton that one score had to be dropped in the final count. When this was taken into account Barry retained the championship with Pete and Julian equal on points for second with Mike fourth.

The lead battle in the Supers was a closer affair. Neven in car 11 took the lead on the first lap and was never headed from that point. James Young in car 12 was not very far behind for most of the race with David Kirkpatrick in car 10 close behind for most of the race. Until the last lap though when the relay box started to play up and he dropped down the field. Craig Rogers in car 30 was having a good race. A demon start kept him up with the lead group. A third position at the end left Craig with a high point for the end of the season.

For the full details of the Mighty Minis Championship placings go to the Results Table.

This was a fine day’s racing from all competitors and a magnificent demonstration of close, fair racing for the spectators.

Well that is the end for 2006, but next year promises to be better with many new members joining the Standard Mighty Minis and some existing competitors being promoted to the Super Mighty Mini category. The big question is will everyone survive until April next year without the regular dose of adrenaline administered at the weekends racing in one of the best series in the UK?]]> 1161085714 Tue, 17 Oct 2006 12:48:34 +0100