For the first time in nearly fifty years an official Mini team will once again be competing in the World Rally Championship this year.
The new BMW Prodrive Mini
Kris Meeke, the former 2009 IRC Champion, will be stepping up to WRC status and driving for Mini in 2011. Yesterday, Kris joined fellow Irishman, Paddy Hopkirk, for a BBC national news feature. The original Mini was driven to its famous win in Monte Carlo by Paddy Hopkirk in 1964. It was great to see this car reunited with its former driver and then to see the two drivers testing out out the new 2011 Mini around Prodrive's test track near Coventry. If you missed it, don't worry as you can still see it on the BBC website. Click
here to read the full story!
Check out these books about Kris Meeke and the Mini rally car that Paddy Hopkirk drove to victory in Monte Carlo!
Kris Meeke - Intercontinental Rally Challenge Champion
By Simon McBride
Kris Meeke – protégé of rally legend Colin McRae – and Peugeot UK won the Intercontinental Rally Championship in their rookie year. From the disastrous opening round in Monte Carlo, to the ecstasy of winning the San Remo Rally and the championship in the same weekend, this is the chronicle of a driver destined for greatness.
More info.
Mini Cooper/Mini Cooper S (Rally Giants Series)
By Graham Robson
This book describes the birth, development, and rallying career of the BMC Mini-Cooper/Mini-Cooper in the 1960s, providing a compact and authoritative history of where, when and how it became so important to the sport.
More info.