Basil Goes To A Birthday Party

It all started, the Birthday Party that is, when Rick asked for volunteers to help with the Arena Display at Silverstone for the 40th Birthday Party of the Mini. Of course, I had to volunteer (being a Mini person). I was not the only one to volunteer, Dave and Allison Walters, Joe and Russell, Morf, Vanessa and Paul came too, eventually.

Friday morning started with Joe driving to Vanessa, Joe and Vanessa driving to my house, the three of us drove to Russell's and we set off in two cars. We had a leisurely drive through Richmond Park, admired the deer and then hit traffic. Once we hit the M4/M25 and M40 the journey went really smoothly and we made such good time I decided that we could check in at the Hotel before reporting for duty at Silverstone. Mistake. Another traffic jam. We eventually managed to arrive just over half an hour late but it didn't seem to be a problem.

On Friday afternoon we watched a run through of the Saturday afternoon show and found out exactly what we were expected to do. We had a look around the rest of the Show, there were stalls selling everything that anyone could possibly want for their Mini, from customised dashboards, engine bits, Mini fridge magnets, T-shirts, bears, you name it - it was there.

We made our way back to the Hotel via a different route to avoid the road works. Now, the thing with Mini drivers is that when they meet another Mini they flash their lights and wave - it all adds to the camaraderie between drivers. Not a problem unless you happen to be negotiating a bend, changing gear and are then faced with a convey of at least a dozen Minis coming the other way! I didn't have enough hands!

Having had a few drinks, smartened ourselves up we met back in the Bar for pre-dinner drinks. It was then that Paul turned up - just in time for the food! After a delicious meal we had several discussions about the best way to get back to the circuit the next morning and what time we should set off. That decided some of us went to bed while others stayed in the bar.

Our task for the Saturday morning was to collect between 10 and 20 Minis from approximately 12 categories to go over the ramp celebrating the story of the Mini during the 2 1/2 hour Live Show. We only had about 18,000 Minis to choose from - no problem you might think. Mistake. We were divided up into teams and I was put with a guy called John and we were searching for Limited Editions. We found loads and loads of super examples but we couldn't find the drivers to go with them. We eventually managed to find enough for our section and returned to the Cabin. Each driver had been given a time at which to arrive at the Arena Entrance and a card to fill in with their details and why their car was special. These cards were then sorted into the various sections by Vanessa and Chrissie, copies made and given to the commentators Robin Bradford and Steve Slater.

The afternoon was spent trying to get the cars in the right order as split second timing was essential, to fit in with the celebrity interviews, music, films and stunt driving display (I had to hide Basil's eyes when this came on in case he got ideas on the way home!). Allison was at the Paddock Entrance, Joe was Paddock Marshal, Dave was calling them into the Arena and then Paul called them forward onto the ramp. Russell was marshalling the Arena Exit.

Halfway during the afternoon there was a bit of a panic, several TV crews wanted to interview the celebrities back stage and they needed a suitable backdrop. Basil to the rescue. So if you see any TV coverage of Mini @ 40 and you see a celebrity interview, Basil will be there too in all his glory.

The whole Live Show culminated in the first mini ever produced driving up the ramp one way, the very latest John Cooper LE driving up the ramp the other way and the three Mini 40s, red, white and blue to form a fan in front of the ramp. Everyone would sing ‘Happy Birthday' and then finally more stunt driving - the Italian Job display. Problem. Rover could supply a blue Mini 40 and a white Mini 40 but they didn't have a red one. Basil to the rescue again!