Alex Brundle loves nothing more than racing Minis at Goodwood

10th April 2025

Simon Ostler

There are few cars we love watching in action at Goodwood more than a Mini. They regularly star in highlights reels from the Members’ Meeting, and that’s pretty much guaranteed to continue in 2025, with 14 Minis, in Cooper and 1275GT form, expected to be in action over the course of the 82^nd Members’ Meeting presented by Audrain Motorsport.

One of those is being entered by Alex Brundle, a man who has become a world-renowned motorsport personality, and a regular competitor here at Goodwood. He’ll be racing in no fewer than five events at the 82^nd Members’ Meeting, and entering a sixth, the Whitmore Cup, with his own Morris Mini Cooper S.

We caught up with him during testing to find out how his preparations were going ahead of the weekend, before he hands the car over to Aimee Watts, who will be behind the wheel when the flag drops on Sunday.

“This is effectively a BMC heritage shell,” he tells us. “It's not a racing car from the period but it is a Mini shell that we found and prepared totally for racing.”

That preparation work was carried out by Nick Swift’s company Swiftune, who’s famous primarily for his exploits at the wheel of Minis, and his long association with Goodwood that began back in 2003.

“Nick is sort of the Don of the Mini Mafia, he is a total legend. He put this car together for me. It was built side by side with ‘Willow’, his personal Mini.

“I went, ‘I want it like that’, because it's a car I've driven, I drove it last year at the Revival, for example. It’s a car I know a lot about and I want to try and replicate, so here it is.”

2025 Whitmore Cup | 82MM

It’s got some decent pedigree then. Nick Swift’s Minis are often at the sharp end of the field, but Brundle was keen to impress that good preparation is only half of the challenge. There’s a knack to driving these cars quickly, and Goodwood’s high-speed layout simultaneously spotlights all of the Mini’s strengths and weaknesses.

“It's a car you can drive really hard without a lot of risk, you don't have to take a lot of risk to be going quick in the mid corner, so you should steal a lot of time there.

“You don't have the power of the cars around you, so you've got to get pretty brave on the brakes, which is why I think it's a fan favourite here at Goodwood because everybody loves to see a Mini appearing to lose out massively in a straight like what appears to be a massively slower car, but audacious in in the corners.

“They're just mega. I mean, you look at the car and you cannot believe it has as much grip and ability in the corners as it does. Obviously [it’s] front-wheel-drive which means you can effectively just use the rear axle to slow down.

“I've never driven a car where the amount of effort correlates so exactly to speed. The harder you try, the faster you go which is the joy of it.

“The big power cars, you can go in too quick, and then effectively you end up coming out slower. There is no ‘too fast in’ in a Mini. You just get it sideways and put the throttle on the corner which is fab.”

His enthusiasm shines through his words as he describes the thrill of racing one of these at Goodwood, but it’ll be Aimee Watts who’ll be having all the fun at Members’ Meeting. She won the HRDC Championship driving a Mini in 2023, so she ought to be right on the pace come Official Practice on Saturday.

So, the pressure’s on for Brundle to make sure the car is in the best shape possible to give his all-star driver the chance to compete for victory.

“Just because it's a Mini doesn't mean that it's less work. The engines have to work, the brakes have to work. They're quite quirky and weird to set up because obviously everything's done by the front axle. They chew through tyres if you're not careful, so there’s a lot to consider with them.

“It’s only 1.0-litre, a princely litre. But they rev to around 8,000rpm so it's a little buzz box in there. You're endlessly stirring away at the gearbox, it’s a four-speed gearbox. Obviously there are modifications for racing as they did in period, but you can't believe an engine that old can take so much stick. It's just incredible.”

82nd Members' Meeting timetable

Sounds like he’d take the opportunity to drive it himself given half a chance, but Brundle’s happy to hand over the wheel to a bonafide master of Minis.

“I'm just making sure it does the numbers today. You want to make sure that when you hand the car over to somebody it's capable, and it is. That's one of the fastest times we've ever seen around here, so we're happy.

“Aimee's a very capable set of hands, it's great to have her in, and also from the perspective of female inclusion in motorsport. There are loads of great female historic racers, she's one of them and I think it's great to have that opportunity and give her the chance to shine. She's mega behind the wheel of a Mini.”

The 82^nd Members’ Meeting will take place on 12^th and 13^th April 2025 and tickets are now available for Members and Fellows of the GRRC.

If you’re not already a Member or Fellow and you’d like to enjoy all the racing, demos, and other exciting content at the Members’ Meeting, you’ll need to join the GRRC. Click here for more information or to join the club.

Photography by Joe Harding.