This is not just a gentle drive in the country. Your mini must be in tip-top condition to undertake this event. Having said this, almost any mini cold make this trip. We do not recommend taking an automatic mini on this event, so if you have an auto, you will not be allowed on the event. Why not? Our experience as organisers is that autos cannot reliably sustain motorway speeds over long distances, nor can they tackle the Alps without suffering overheating and braking problems. Because it is not possible to use the engine for extra braking, the brakes themselves will become overheated, and therefore we cannot allow autos to take part.

On the subject of brakes, your brakes have to be in top condition. The Alps will place heavy demands on them, so if you have drum brakes, we recommend that you consider upgrading your brakes to discs before you make the journey.  If your mini has 12 inch wheels, this is generally quite reasonable in price to achieve, and quite easy to do. Disc brakes should be fitted with uprated pads, and these again are not expensive, but will greatly improve the braking of your car.

The cooling system should be in good condition. Climbing the Alps will be quite demanding, but not unreasonably so. All minis should be capable of this, but it is important that there are not leaks in your system, and that your hoses are replaced before you undertake the event. These are inexpensive and quite easy to fit, and often neglected.

Common failure points from long distance motorway driving are points, condenser and coil. We would advise everyone to take a spare coil, points, condenser distributor cap and rotor arm with them. These parts are cheap and will avoid a long wait at the side of the road if one of them should fail. Our experience is that in a group of 20 or so cars, one will have a coil failure within a six day journey.

Your mini should have been properly serviced before the event. If it has been properly prepared as outlined in these simple steps above, your mini will take you there and back without any problem.

Having said all of that, if you should break down, you will want your pride and joy to come back to the UK, so European breakdown cover is mandatory. You cover will be inspected by the organisers before we leave the UK.

So, to summarise, with some fairly basic preparation, all minis except autos are capable of undertaking this event successfully. We will carry some basic spares, and would advise all of you to do the same.

Chief mechanic

Minidirectory