IS MINI STILL COOL?

In 2000 when the world woke up to the fact that the Germans owned a very-British icon, we waited to see what BMW did with ‘The Mini’.

What they did was something very un-German. BMW appointed a switched on agency that positioned Mini with a carefree, cheeky anti-establishment image that poked fun at conventional marketing, and the result was that the brand took off, like no-one expected – even BMW!

They made Mini ‘cool’.

It has been a wildly successful ride, and Mini today has repaid BMW’s investment many times over!

In prosecuting the franchise so successfully, BMW has stretched the original concept in ways impossible to imagine 17 years ago.

From hatchbacks to cabriolets, and even a station wagon.

The innovative inventor of the first Mini, Alec Issigonis, would never recognize his original idea today! By the time the first Mini was launched, in 1959, Issigonis still had plenty of revolutionary ideas up his sleeve to expand on his first car. However the suits at British Leyland prostituted Alec’s invention and instead launched a succession of very ordinary cars that exploited the original concept.

BMW has been up to the same tricks, but its efforts have brought more profits and created a devoted fan club that laps up new models, whilst helping to cultivate even more new buyers. It’s become a license to print money.

The latest model to carry the Mini badge is the Countryman, which is nothing like the original Countryman, because it’s bigger and more powerful, but unfortunately is not the most attractive model in the range.

The 2017 FWD Countryman Cooper D, has a 110kW/330Nm 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engine that uses a claimed 4.4L/100km of fuel, with a 0-100km/h time of 8.8sec. It offers identical specs as the base Cooper, but adds an eight-speed auto from the Clubman. The price is AUD$43,900.

However, I think it's more likely you'll see it outside The Coffee Club, than outside a country town feed store.

Whilst it’s no swan, it’s practical, rides well, handles confidently and this diesel version returns fuel economy that Alec would approve of.

It’s capacious, but it ought to be, because for a Mini it looks to me like it’s been on a diet of pork pies and kranskis. It’s BIG. In market terms it has a wide variety of competitors, like compact SUVs and bigger hatchbacks, so it’s hard to nail its most significant competition. In a way I guess it’s a pretty unique offering, which should assure its commercial success.

I’ve had a look at the ‘extensive’ options list and quite frankly if I was buying one, I’d just settle for the basic car – it has everything you need, and nothing you don’t.

But, it’s from the BMW stable, so the slick, smooth-talking sales suits can always find ways to ‘soak the customers’ by dangling shiny bright options with obscene pricetags.

Is the Countryman ‘cool’? Nah, I don’t think so. It’s certainly not cute, it’s too big for that; but it definately delivers on its promise, so you either ‘desire’ to join the Mini fan club, or you’re looking at the wrong badge.

The finish is exemplary, and the doo-dads on the dashboard are weird, wonderful and way-out, design-wise; so, yeah, maybe it’s ‘cool’ after all.

I’d love to hear Alec’s response.

AMICI AMERICANA DELLA MILLE MIGLIA

As I arrived in the land of the Mille Miglia, I recall a good friend from California who brought the essence and the spirit of the famous Italian endurance race to the USA, with an event known as the ‘California Mille’.

Martin Swig was one of those guys who gave back more than he took out of life.

The complete car enthusiast, he began selling European cars in San Francisco in1969.

In 1989 he began ‘collecting’ cars, but not just cars, they were classics: 1925 Lancia Lambda, a 1928 Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 and a Tatra T87.

 

Martin Swig with his Alfa Romeo 6C at Pebble Beach

A few years later he said: “When I found I had about forty [vintage cars] I made a deal with my wife.”  Each time I bought a ‘new old’ car, I agreed to sell one. I’m running slightly behind on my half of the bargain.”

Love of cars and car history turned Martin into a guy who found his mojo putting together events which ‘car guys’ loved. He kidded sedentary TV-sofa sports types with his annual January 1st Anti-Football Drive; and with his Double 500 (five hundred kilometres in a car not worth more than $500).

Then, after participating in the historic 1982 Mille Miglia, he got the idea of creating the ‘California Mille’ in 1991– 1000 kilometres along back roads in California.

I talked with him often, and he enjoyed the fact that he could chat to an Australian about old cars, and I knew what he was talking about. Martin and I were kindred spirits, but as I worked in the East, and he lived in the West, we only actually met once face-to-face. We greeted each other like long-lost brothers.

I used to loan him a Bentley occasionally for the use of the ‘Clerk of the Course’ (the manager of the event during its running). As fellow Alfa Romeo enthusiasts we had a lot to talk about, and Martin ‘enjoyed a chat’, which is code for; calls that rarely lasted less than 45 minutes.

Many of the participants in the annual California Mille were friends of mine, and they all agreed that Martin’s event offered a number of things very different to the historic Italian re-creation.

Martin’s event was well-organised; with excellent organiser-to-competitor communications; very clear route directions; and permission to have fun and enjoy without a care!

Martin Swig (Photo: Zach Hammer)

Martin passed away in 2012, but the event is carried on by his family and is still very much worth considering – for the fun of it.

MILLE MIGLIA - IL EVENTO STORICO

As I arrived in Brescia, it's clear the Mille Miglia is only a week away, as the city workers begin preparing an ancient city, built in 753AD, for the onslaught of cars, competitors, crews and spectators.

Jay Leno driving for Jaguar

It is an event many enthusiasts have on their bucket lists, but these days entry is limited to those with cash; the right cars; the clout and preferably a celebrity crew-member as driver or navigator.

My good friend Richard Charlesworth, recently retired from Bentley Motors, has participated many times, so I asked him for a brief description of his memories ......

Depending on your starting number, the cars begin leaving at about 2.30 pm Friday. In the early days, your car number denoted your Start Time; so #722 left at 07:22h.

The first leg is from Brescia to Padova, and that’s the time when the driver and the navigator begin to work out if they can stand each other for three days, and will finish the event with a friendship intact!

If the weather is fine, there can be no better site for a car aficionado than the competing vehicles lined up in Brescia’s Piazza Della Loggia.

Of course if it’s wet it can be miserable, especially if you’re in a grand old Bentley minus a roof! I’ve been in a few events when it has rained for the whole rally.

The halfway point is Rome, and time to re-assess the rally so far. The Mille Miglia Storico is called a ‘Regularity Trial’ with special timed stages, but the navigation can be tricky. I’m not sure if that’s because of the well-known Italian brand of organized chaos; the intentional traps the organisers build in to the route instructions; or the fact that some of the navigators have no previous experience, so for them it’s a baptism of fire.

The return leg to Brescia is where everyone seems to get serious, because they’ve all assessed their position in the field in Rome, so they all seem to say ‘now, let’s get down to business’ and often you will see some pretty hairy driving. Even in very dangerous places like the Futa Pass.

Richard driving the 'Blower' through Sienna

My favourite section of the rally is when we drive through the walled city of Siena, but really, the big thrill is driving the Bentleys from our historic collection in Crewe.

I have driven all of our preserved and famous cars, the 1920 3 Litre ‘EXP2’, the 1930 4 ½ Litre ‘Blower’ and the beautiful 1954 R Type Continental, and I think I can say that my favourite is the 1929 4 ½ Litre Supercharged ‘Blower’ Team Car (UU5872).

This is the car that raced at Le Mans in 1930, and was entered for the Mille Miglia that year, but ultimately did not participate.

My good friend Emanuele Bedetti provides us with excellent preparation for the Mille. He is not only an enthusiast, especially for Bentley, but he is widely experienced at the event, and we rely on him for helping us through the complex registration process. In addition we get a lot of help preparing the cars from our team at Crewe.

Even as an ‘Evento Storico’ and no longer run as a race, a lot of entrants get very intense about participation, and some of the high performance cars provide the chance to drive on fantastic Italian roads at some very high speeds.

You cannot enter just ‘any’ car in the Mille Miglia, the event is limited to cars built between 1927 and 1957 and are only accepted by the organisers because they are ‘of the type’ which would have taken part during the glory years. In Bentley’s case, only the 4 ½ Litre Supercharged ‘Blower’ from 1929-30 and the Derby-built 3 ½ Litre from 1933-38 are eligible.

The regularity stages, where the whole convoy stops and has to drive for specific distances at pre-agreed - and very specific - speeds (say 480 metres at 43.5kph).

Get it wrong and you’re deducted points, and it’s these points combined with signing in at each of the pre-assigned control points at the allotted time that define your position in the event. So being able to operate a stopwatch, or more accurately 4 or 5 stopwatches at the same time, is something of a pre-requisite for Mille Miglia success.

After you’ve completed the four days of frustration, confusion, Italian bureaucracy, speed, tiredness, joy and exhilaration it’s time to reflect on an event which could only happen in Italy.

The Italians, for all their so-called ‘cultural idiosyncrasies’ are passionate, warm, friendly, welcoming, and supportive of anything which involves a ‘Bella Machina’; or in the case of the Mille Miglia around 400 cars.

Richard Charlesworth

EUROPE CALLING, WITH A JAZZ FLAVOUR

What a combination - Europe, Italy, and Jazz!

DRIVING & LIFE has answered the call, and we'll be winging our way to Italy to join one of the latest sensations in cruising - the DAVE KOZ JAZZ CRUISE. These cruises have become so popular that they sell out within hours of going on sale. 

This one sold out in early 2016, meaning faithful fans of jazz are champing at the bit to arrive in Venice and get things swinging.

The cruise last just seven days, and visits Dubrovnik in Croatia; Kotor in Montenegro; the Greek island of Santorini; and finally Ravenna in north-eastern Italy, before ending in Venice.

Along the way DRIVING & LIFE will visit Brescia, in the lead-up to this year's staging of the Mille Miglia rally.

You cannot visit Italy without a driving tour, short or long, and this time it will be a route from Milano, taking in Como, Bellagio and a pit stop in Bergamo.

That should allow enough time for some fabulous meals and miles, in my favourite part of the world.