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General Preparation

The team at Mini Sport have over 50 years experience in the servicing, tuning and preparation of Minis for all types of Competition use. There's nothing that they don’t know about how to get the best out of your Mini within the regulations for the Mini Sport Cup. We even design, manufacture and test parts on one of our Team Mini Sport Minis!

By participating in the Mini Sport Cup the team at Mini Sport will be on hand to help you prepare a safe and competitive vehicle.

Get Started

In order to take part in the HRCR Mini Sport Cup Rally championship you will need to take these steps:

Membership of an MSA-registered motor club.
Buy an MSA Starter Pack
Apply for a Competition Licence

Of course, you will also need a Mini and the appropriate equipment such as helmet and overalls.

Both the vehicle and equipment must comply with both the MSA's General Regulations – found in the Competitors’ and Officials’ Yearbook, which comes with your Starter Pack – and these Technical Regulations of the Championship.

Find and Join a Motor Club

One of the best pieces of advice that can be given to anybody looking to become involved in motor sport is "find and join your local motor club."

Have a look at what types of events clubs near you run; many clubs hold social nights or ask if you can go along to an event, to find out more about what they do.

Build Your Rally Mini

For the HRCR Mini Sport Cup Rally Championship you need a Mini that complies with all the current MSA regulations and these technical regulations. The best way to achieve this is to build the car yourself, learning to prepare your Mini will not only give you insight into how thing works, but why they have to be done for safety and reliability. Don’t worry, Mini Sport will be on hand to help and advise you every step of the way.

If you prefer, Mini Sport can also build the complete car, or just certain aspects, depending on how you want to approach the build. Talk to us, discuss what you want, and we will support you on the journey to achieve the car you want.

Remember, building a Classic Mini to these specifications will only add value!

The Importance of Testing

Once you have a prepared Mini, you will then need to learn how to get the best out of your car, enabling you to drive quickly and safely. test days are the best way to learn:

Car setup, change settings to learn how the car handles and feels. evaluate each adjustment, change in ride heights, tyre pressures, camber and castor of the wheels. Learn what happens to your car, what gives you better control , increases confidence and suits your driving style, this will then result in faster times.

Time in the car is the only way to learn, testing is the only way to achieve this. Driving without the pressure of competition, helps you become more familiar with you car and also your co-driver gaining valuable experience. So when you are competing you can concentrate on giving it your best.

Learn the importance of fitness, both mentally and physically, driving a car at speed over a day will increase fatigue. Identify the signs and learn how to control it, fitness is the best way.

Gel as a team, work together on routines, servicing, what needs checking on the car, how to adjust settings, keeping calm and communicate what you need, this is totally invaluable to the get the best out of each event.

Test the car and make sure everything works in a safe environment, public road are full of other road users and not always easy places to check everything.

Meet your fellow competitors, learn from the experiences of others, or maybe give some advice. Camaraderie within rallying is legendary, you never know when you might need help, or need to give help!

Co-Driver

A co-driver is basically the office manager of any rally car and a vitally important member of the team. A co-driver can be anyone who holds a co-drivers licence, issued by the MSA and also a member of an appropriate motor club. You may decide to find a friend who wants to jump in the hot seat with you or to find a more experienced co-driver who can guide you more thoroughly.

Depending on your agreement with your co-driver, some will be willing to contribute financially in terms, in general, a more experienced co-driver will not expect to contribute financially.

Budget

Once you have your car and co-driver in place, you need to set a budget outlining all the running costs for the Championship. You can then look at approaching potential sponsors, to help cover some or all of the costs. You will need to consider:

Rally Driving Licence Application Pack
Rally Driving Licence Test
Rally Driving Licence
Entry fees for at least 5 events
Tyres
Rally Car Fuel
Rally Accommodation
Spares and Repairs
Travelling Costs

How to Find Sponsorship

The answer is three-fold:

Firstly you have to build value into your sponsorship proposal, identify what a company wants and see if what you have to offer can genuinely help them. Ultimately every business wants to drive more clients to their shops, stockists, dealers or websites and therefore increase profits. if you want a sponsorship deal, you have to work out a deal where both you and the sponsor benefit, this means offering something in return for the money... I am afraid you will have to earn it!

Secondly you have to do the work to make it happen, you need to be able to say, "Don't worry, I'll take care of everything". Use yourself and your car as assets, make your car available to your sponsors at shows or exhibitions whilst making yourself a valued marketing and brand ambassador. Produce race reports after every event, invite sponsors to test days, to rally’s to see how it all happens. Take photos of everything they help tell the story, great photos can’t be beaten. Video is a also a bonus, use as much digital media possible, you never know it may go viral!
Create your own website as is serves a number of purposes. It shows potential sponsors what you can do for them, writing race reports, getting photos, creating web content for their websites, newsletters etc. It also serves as a showcase for you and your car, allowing you to present a slick and professional presentation as part of ‘the package’ you are offering.

Thirdly, you have to wrap it all up in an attractive package. Think about how you present yourself and the value you bring to the opportunity - remember it takes investment to find investment. When approaching a company for sponsorship, have some numbers ready. State how much it is costing you for rally entry, transport to events, fuel, and other costs. Don't just put your hand out and hope they will give you a wad of cash, ask them to cover certain costs. Bare in mind that an advert in the yellow pages costs hundreds, not thousands and is more likely to give a return.

Apply the same care and attention to detail you would when building an engine. Spend time and money getting your proposal right, you have to be proud of it, and confident in it, you don’t get a second chance at a first impression. Your proposal demonstrates how you go about the business of motorsport and the importance you place on marketing.

Conclusion

The Mini Sport Cup is not just about driving fast, if you roll up your sleeves and get involved, you will learn car preparation, car control, building a team, business skills and meet some great friends along the way. The more you put in, the more you will gain, as you grow into the sport.