Since I last wrote my blog for you all I have not stopped for 5 mins to get my breath so please bear with my fading memory as I write about all that's gone on since the Silverstone race weekend in June.

After Silverstone, Justin Cooper asked me if we could go to Brands in his car with two seats so I could teach him the fast way around the track! A decision he and I both regret very much now.

I asked Little Ted, as he is now fully Christened, to get Justin's 4 car ready to test at Brands, and, as Snetterton Speed Shop - my little tuning and used caravan shop at Norfolk's Snetterton circuit - is in full swing we gave the car a good prep, fitting new wheel bearings and a seat from Mini Spares centre. Once the car was ready I gave it a tune on our in-house rolling road and the car, as always, gave great numbers on the BHP. The Paul Inch motor is one of the best in the series and Justin's is possibly one of the very best.

Once we were loaded, Justin came round and we loaded the car into the Transit that it fits into the back of, hitched up the Bailey Madrid caravan and off to Brands we went.

We had our usual silly night of late Indian meal followed by jokes, farting and laughter as all Mini racing is, The next day dawned and it was damp but not wet, quite cold for June but normal for the UK nowadays.  We went to the briefing, as this was a track day, and then went out in the car. The car was on new, scrubbed, machined tyres. By machined in our formula, you have to use a Yokohama Road tyre and we are allowed to get the top few mill machined off the tread so the tyre works better.  We went out onto the fantastic Brands hatch circuit one, of my all time favourite tracks, and away we went.   I was only just beginning to build up speed when we went into the famous Paddock Hill bend when, as we turned in, sliding quite a lot due to low track temperature and the only slightly scrubbed new tyres, I saw a BMW M3 right on the apex of the corner, I had to give that car about 5 feet of the track that I really needed.

This BMW had put me into a position that any time over the last forty odd years of Mini racing I can get out of, only this time my and unfortunately Justin's number was up!!

We were sliding at about 60 mph towards the gravel and, while most times the car will just dig in and stop,  this time it was like a movie crash, as the little Mini shot up into the air and we rolled 13 times, landing with the car against the barriers, facing up the hill.  One of the most haunting things is, I had no control whatsoever on what was happening and to hear Justin shout 'Fucking Hell Jonny' will remain in my head for years.

 As all the dust and crap settled Justin said 'are you OK Jonny' I said 'yes fine but the cars Fucked' not once thinking that Justin was hurt!  He said 'I am not -  my neck hurts'.  People who know me, know  I am your typical Northern Bloke and I said 'Don't be soft; say nothing to the marshals or we will be the bluddy hospital for hours'.

Poor Poor Justin went as white as snow then yellow as the rescue, who were brilliant, got him strapped to a body board. After a few hours at the Brands medical centre, it was obvious we had been very lucky, as we were both alive and Justin was not paralysed.  In the shunt he must have hit his head on the roof as his c1 vertebra was broken.  He was taken to a big hospital in London, while tiny Ted and I got what was left of the 4 car into the truck. I had to tell his dad what had happened and we had to arrange to get him home the next day.  I am happy to report that he will make a full recovery and he is home on rest for 12 weeks in a big neck brace.

I have stripped the car to a bare shell and when Justin is ready I will have him a car ready to continue his racing in.  I doubt very much he will want to sit beside me ever again and to be honest I don't blame him.

A few days later I went off on a planned family holiday to Cornwall with my wife Sam and our girls Morgan and Atlanta.  We stayed in a fabulous site on the beach in Pentewan and were very lucky as that week was fantastic weather. The break felt even better when we arrived and there on the same site was Neil Slark with his brother Ian and their families -  so a blast was had by all.

After my holiday it was time to get ready for the Brands hatch Mini festival -  one of the biggest events of the season for Mini racers, organised by Nick and Ally Swift of Swiftune fame.

We knew we were not taking Justin's car but we were taking the McCain 1275 Gt we have built and my Mighty, as well as Chris Slades Super.  I had decided not to try and race the Mighty and the Super at Brands as I had been asked by Paul Inch to drive his brand new Historic Cooper S.  It is without doubt one of the prettiest cars I have ever set eyes on and it was an honour to be asked, especially after what I had done at the track a few weeks before.

The plan was for me to share the car with Paul's daughter and also multi Mighty Mini Champion Louise Inch, and Paul would do the other Historic race - the Anglo French.

In between all of the getting ready for Brands we still had customers cars to prepare and we had done a full suspension rebuild on Ella Blue Markham's car.  At Brands Hatch she was flying so we knew we had done a good job there.

Once we arrived at Brands Hatch we set up the Team with the large awnings all together, so we had young Zack Booth on one side and Paul Inch racing on the other.  Ella's car was to live under our awning so we could help her dad run the car as it was Ella's first visit to Brands.

i was helping Paul Inch on the Friday setting up his historic Mini. I went out first in the car and it was a big handful, not the type of car I like and Louise felt the same.  Luckily, as it was such a big meeting Lee Dale, my old mate who built most of my very successful Miglia Minis, was there with his dad Gerald and his brother Phil -  all good mates.  After a bit of begging Lee gave me a set up to try on Paul's Mini.  To say it transformed the car is an understatement it flew next time out and we were one of the quickest cars out there.   Paul's first ever go at an FIA Mini engine was unbelievable as it was so good straight out of the box, yes, we had new car niggles but the motor was and is a monster.

 I let Louise do most of the running as she wanted to get used to the power as well as CR65 Dunlop tyres, which are the old style of tyre and take some getting used to.

The Saturday dawned and it was dry but with light showers and the Mightys were first out.  I went out mid pack and could see young Zack at the front.  He looked fast and I knew from his testing on the Friday he was on a mission at Brands, as Mini Spares were there in full force with Keith Dodd the big boss -  and Zack was going to beat me here!!  I of course had other ideas and was determined not to just roll over so I was pushing the little Mighty as hard as I could.  Our team manager at Team Bailey is Westley Barber, one of my old ex works van Diemen drivers who never made it, but was faster than most of the people who made Formula One. That's life I suppose, the good thing is we are good mates and he is helping me nowadays.
Wez was giving me my pit board and I new I was faster then Zack in the damp, but he was closer than I expected and I knew in the dry he was going to be fast, I was on Pole from Zack.

The first race of the weekend was the Mighty's and we set off into the lead with Zack and I trading places and paint all the way for 20 mins of flat out racing.  It was anybody's race and as we crossed the line our door mirrors were touching. I won by 8 thousands of a second from Zack in his first ever race at Brands. I have to say it was one of my most favourite races in many years, as we raced very hard but fair. the crowd loved what we had done, and, according to my wife (who has watched me race for years) it was the best she had ever seen which meant a lot to me.  The best thing was, I had overtaken Zack around the outside of Paddock Hill bend and put to bed any fears that people had that I had lost my nerve.

After that we sent the cars up to the Mini Spares  stand to be on show, while I caught up with Keith after a lot of years and was introduced to his son in law Justin.

Then I had to qualify the historic Mini for the Sanwa Trading race.  I got into the car expecting to be able to get her onto the first two row at least, but as soon as I left the pits I knew there was a problem.  Tthe car was much slower and the engine felt down to what it was like the day before.  We knew the wind was stronger and against us and we did not have a shorter drop gear which most of the other teams had fitted but it was not that.   A few laps in and I knew it was not going to be fast so I gave it over to Lou Lou to get her 3 laps in, but she was slow as well and then the car just stopped, so at least we would have to fix it.

It turned out that the alternator, which was brand new, had just stopped working, and also a manifold problem. Paul and his crew set to and sorted the car out for the race the next day, while Lou Lou and I were doom and gloom starting in 17th on the grid when we knew the car was better than that.

But before that race on the Sunday, we had round two of the Zack and Jonny show and it was to be even harder than round one.   The game has changed now and Zack is getting impatient for his first win , but I am going to make him earn it, like I had to 30 odd years ago.

We raced even closer to each other with Zack doing a lot of the leading this time while I was driving him at Paddock. This corner is now back as my favourite in the UK so I attacked Zack there every time -  also its great for all the fans as they can see you are on the maximum limit into Paddock. This race was going to be a tuff one as Zack had most of my moves covered as well as being faster than me out of Druids bend, so. on the last lap but one, as we hit a group of back markers I went low and Zack went high.   It was to be the end of his challenge for the lead and my lucky break as the people at the bottom saw me in their mirrors and moved up right to where Zack was, and allowing me a tiny break. I needed to run home to the flag and another win for Team Bailey racing.  Zack finished a very disappointed second again and was quite low as we were taken by car to the winners rostrum.  I had a few words with him and as we were presented with champagne, something Zack ironically is not old enough to drink, haha, I made a point of helping him open the bottle as at 16 he did not know how.  Then we sprayed each other in true F 1 style with Damien Harrington who had made it up to third place -  we had been so busy in our battle we had not seen any others.   All in all a great pair of races and I am looking forward to Snetterton very much as the fight of young against old continues.

Much later in the day and after I had changed my overalls was the SanWa Trading race in the Historic.  Lou Lou and I had decided that I was to start and we would swap once I got the in board from Wez.   The start was something very special as we had a packed grid of 40 odd classic Cooper S.  Minis all worth up to 50 Grand each!! I gave the car plenty of revs at the start and made a peach of a get away and by going low into Paddock made up about 5 places on the first lap, there was car all over the track you would have thought they were not worth that much. I was on a mission as the little red S was back on top form and I did not want to let Paul Inch down as he had trusted me with his pension, I attacked any car in my path and after on safety car period I was up to 7th from 17th and right on the tail of the leaders the lights went green again and I dive bombed the French car in front of me and was up to 6th I was now on the leading pack and could see my old race buddy Endaf Owens I like Endaf very much and he is a mate but sod that I also wanted to beat him so attacked him into paddock and got past him, as i passed i gave Endaf a traditional Yorkshire wave and he also gave me the V’s lol we were racing and having fun like it should be, just as I had done that move and was onto the top group the dam safety came out again so foolishly I took it onto my self to pit as all the cars in front did, why I don't know it seemed a good idea at the time, I should have lead for a bit but I came in and handed over to Louis she went out and we had a slow stop so she was 13 the on the track, I felt quite a few of the others were not stopping as long as they should have and jumped us in the pit stops but never mind we went on to finish a great 13th and the car was undamaged and bang on the pace.

All in all a great weekend and some of the best Mini racing for a long time was had by all who took part, can't wait for next year.

As for Chris in the Super races we had a miserable weekend with the car refusing to be fast after about 7 laps of the races and something I am working hard on identifying as we need him to be punching at the front as I am sure he can.
See you all at Snetterton in July.

Jonathan Lewis