CMR at the Brands Hatch Mini Festival 2026
Two races. One birthday. A massive weekend for CMR.
Brands Hatch was where Classic Mini Racing held its debut race in 2025. One year later, we were back at the Mini Festival as a championship, celebrating our first birthday with the Mini community – and fitting two races into the weekend too.
Qualifying took place on Saturday, before an action-packed Sunday of racing on the Indy circuit.
The Brands Hatch Mini Festival brought together racing, club displays, traders and Minis of every description around one of Britain’s best-known circuits.
For CMR, it was also a chance to spend a weekend with the wider Mini community and celebrate how far the championship had come in its first year.
qualifying
Saturday afternoon saw 17 Minis head onto the Indy circuit for 15 minutes of qualifying as we welcomed two new guest drivers for the weekend.
Tim Seaford joined us with previous racing experience in BMWs, while Tom O’Farrell had travelled south from Scotland for his first ever race weekend in a Mini.
At the front, David Kirkpatrick put the number 10 Mini on pole with a 59.392, just 0.231 seconds ahead of brother Neven.
Behind them it was incredibly close. Ben Seyfried, Dave Burns and Dave Rees filled third to fifth, with all three separated by just 0.062 seconds.
Pole: David Kirkpatrick – 59.392
RACE ONE
Race one had a difficult opening, with first-lap contact bringing out the red flag and James Bryan unable to take the restart. Once the field was back underway the focus shifted to an incredibly close fight at the front.
Neven Kirkpatrick, David Kirkpatrick and Steven Rideout ran together for virtually the entire race, the lead changed hands several times, and just 0.632 seconds covered all three at the finish. There was plenty happening throughout the field too. If you love Mini racing you’ll want to watch this one back!
1st – Neven Kirkpatrick | 2nd – David Kirkpatrick | 3rd – Steve Rideout
Fastest Lap – Tom O’Farrell
race two
The reverse grid mixed things up for Race two, but another first-lap incident at Graham Hill Bend brought out the red flags, with Ben Seyfried, Suzy Inch and Tim Seaford unable to take the restart.
When racing resumed, David Kirkpatrick made an incredible drive from ninth to take the lead within two corners, while Neven Kirkpatrick and Steven Rideout worked their way through behind him.
Further back, Will Burnham and Tao Butler were among those fighting hard for position. Catch the full race on our You Tube channel.
1st – David Kirkpatrick | 2nd – Neven Kirkpatrick | 3rd – Steve Rideout
Fastest Lap – Tom O’Farrell
birthday celebrations
ONE YEAR OF CMR
Brands Hatch was where CMR held its first ever race in 2025, so coming back a year later felt like the right place to celebrate our first birthday.
Once Saturday’s qualifying was done, the race cars were parked up and the paddock became a place to celebrate. Drivers, families, friends and supporters got together for a hog roast, birthday cake and a chance to enjoy the evening, and look back at how far we’ve come.
Later, bikes replaced Minis as we headed out onto the Brands Hatch circuit for a lap at sunset. The kids merrily cycled the ups and downs Brands had to offer. The adults were reminded just how steep the walk down Paddock Hill Bend back up to Druids really is – especially after Suzy’s amazing cake!
A year of racing has gone incredibly quickly, and evenings like this add to the amazing memories we’ve made. as a group of like minded people coming together to have a fun weekend of motorsport.
CELEBRATING AT THE MINI FESTIVAL
The Mini Festival gave us the perfect opportunity to celebrate our birthday with the wider Mini community too.
Steve’s #7 race car spent the weekend gathering birthday messages and signatures, while visitors could come into the paddock, get close to the cars, meet the drivers and find out more about CMR.
The sim rig was busy as well, giving plenty of people the chance to tackle Brands Hatch themselves in a virtual version of our CMR car.
We loved meeting people who had followed CMR online and were finally able to come and say hello in person, as well as plenty who were discovering the championship for the first time.
A huge thank you to Danny Dee and the Mini Owners Club team for welcoming us onto their stand and helping spread the word about CMR, to Witham for supporting our birthday goody bags, and to SH3DART for the brilliant first-birthday postcard design.
NEXT STOP: TRAC MÔN
OUR GRAND FINALE
With Brands Hatch behind us, there is just one meeting left in our inaugural championship season – Trac Môn, Anglesey.
Set right on the North Wales coast with the Irish Sea on one side and the mountains of Snowdonia in the distance. It’s fast, flowing and technical, with elevation changes, blind crests and plenty of corners that should suit a grid of closely matched Minis rather well.
And we’re finishing the season with a triple-header, giving you three races of Mini racing action before the chequered flag falls on CMR’s first championship season.
If you’re not travelling to Wales, you can watch the live stream, (links to follow).
want to race a classic mini?
You’ve watched them. Now you’re thinking about driving one.
That happens!
CMR is built around fun, close and fair Classic Mini racing, with tightly controlled technical regulations designed to keep the cars closely matched and straightforward to run.
You don’t need to already own a finished race car – and you definitely don’t need to know all the answers before you speak to us.
If you’re curious, come and find us in the paddock or take a look at our Race with CMR page to see how it all works.
Classic Mini Racing 