The WRC's Biggest Underdog: Mildred the Mini

Cast you minds back 20 years, to Wales Rally GB 2003. Petter Solberg's Subaru wasn't the only blue car in the headlines that weekend. The Mini was bowing out of the WRC (for now) and it got the send off it deserved courtesy of Neil Burgess and Jim Holder. But it wasn't plain sailing...
20 years on, hear the incredible story of how Mildred the Mini took victory and stole the hearts of a nation.
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[@cogboy302]

Myself and mates were marshalling on Rally GB in 2003 and we cheered Mildred on every time we saw her come past.

[@SmallBlogV8]

This is a pure distillation of the spirit of rally! It reminds me of the Dacia in the Nürburgring 24h. Everyone loves a plucky underdog.

[@hughcdavies]

I learnt to drive in one of those Proper Mini's, so imagine how pleased I was to see Harry Hockley rallying one on my first RAC in 1980. Nice post guys.

[@HomesteadingUncontained]

That was quite emotional - very nice story and hits us hard as we enter our little Renault 4CV in the Rally Monte Carlo Historique 2024 - the smallest under powered car in the event...... we too just want to cross that finish line. Great stuff and very inspiring...thank you Julie & Ian.

[@NeilBurgess]

Good luck! I'll be watching the results ☺️

[@thekeegster6278]

I’m new to watching this sport and just watching rally footage is really fun and exhilarating! The driving is insane, the jumps are really fun, the crashes are nail-biting… it’s such a unique motorsport and it’s definitely the most fun! I can’t wait to learn more about it!

[@UniversalChallenge4454]

for big soundand power 1980s for rally attitude, cool sounds and the greatest drivers 1990s and 2000s

[@TheDarrenJones]

This is looking familiar.... did a similar thing in a self-funded and built Skoda in Rally GB - four times in total, all for less than the price of the tyres on most people's cars! Best thing I ever did despite being insanely hard work.

[@GFY127]

Big respect for this channel. RANO AALTONEN, TIMO MÄKINEN AND PADDY HORPKIRK all drove minis. On "rally master" dvd. AALTONEN explains he used left foot braking for front wheel 🛞 drive mini to create that rear wheel drive feel but "if there's any doubt use right foot as u often ruin your gearbox".... Didier auriol only ever braked with right foot [fact] no matter what car or surface and multiple winner and 94 champ🏆. 80s & 90s best era

[@aussietruckphotosandmodels8510]

I like the way you did it, Even if it was just to up set the key board warriors.... I just so happy there are so many wise people on You Tube.....

[@christopherc7075]

Lol, that's amazing they played "Self Preservation Society" at the end- Love the tribute to The Italian Job

[@nicopatrizi1953]

And It Is nice to see the blue mini still straight and shiny. 😊

[@leonismyname6573]

Terrific storytelling guys :)

[@DirtFish]

🙌

[@paullengi5018]

My first car ever and I learned how to drive with in it was a Mini cooper 1978 in Kenya i taught myself from learning and seeing how my dad peddle shift when I was like 10 11 years old. he made us sit on his lap strearing wheen when I was 8-9 coz count reach the trearing peddles but the taller i grew i figured it out and dad gave us the keys to was the car while he went to work , I leanrnt how to do donughts ina mini this are the 90s in kenya africa when we had safari rally i watched all the safari races this is why this car is a dear in my heart am in USA now owned a honda prelude, mitsubishi eclipse (closest AWD to tommi makinnen late 90s winning car same engine available in america other than the lancer evo coz its too expensive even to date.I like colin mcrae subaru impreza my best car ever but try changing the spark plugs on an any subaru in less than 20 minutes. (Hint: its a Boxer Engine, gotta go underneath the car).

[@p24hrsmith]

The thing I always loved about driving a Mini fast was it gave you the feeling it wanted you to drive it to the max and beyond it was enjoying it just as much as you. I've driven many much more exotic and faster cars but the Mini was the most fun

[@dhardingham]

Such a fantastic adventure!

[@NeilBurgess]

Thanks for being one of the team 😀

[@kbdiesel]

In ref to the podcast Colin You are absolutely right about kids getting into something outside of screens There is hardly anything as engaging as rally, especially compared to the addictive social media algorithms these days It takes one event and you are hooked for life The Audi Lancia movie this year will make the sport visible to so many people we need to be ready to welcome a new generation immediately I know dirtfish will be on the forefront keep up the good work!!

[@Etreintero]

Feliz 🎉 2024 DirtFish✌🏻🎅🏁🇪🇦🤟

[@adamsfamilydottwo]

I don't like it I love it! I think Mildred is one of the best cars you have shown on DirtFish.

[@paulsumner8797]

Remember us waiting for you on each stage to cheer you on!

[@nickraschke4737]

Wonderful.

[@minibus9]

awesome video, great story

[@drwedders]

Shame we didn't get any footage of them actually on the stage

[@themusers03]

I want to drive a classic mini so bad.

[@AstonsVintageTechnologyWorkshp]

Real race drivers love Mini's. If you've never driven a classic Mini, then you are reeaaallly missing out. 😛

[@F1Guy-Guy]

Anywhere where there is an original old mini in the mix of an event everyone around cheers and usually stands up to spear it on.

[@64fairlane305]

The car that was given the vicory in Monte Carlo in 1964 after beeing beaten in all speed-stages by the Holman-Moody Ford Falcon

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

18:00 - reinforce the area around the rear suspension arms mounting area with double seam welds and fillets, to stop rear subframe warping around there.

[@NeilBurgess]

All reinforced, it was the radius arm that bent.

[@nicopatrizi1953]

​​@@NeilBurgess Neil, i assume you did other Races with the blue Mini ... Also Roger Albert Clark? However It Is GREAT to see the Mini still standing and proud. I loved It Just like Pinto Dos Santos and jacky Cesbron Renault 4s

[@NeilBurgess]

@@nicopatrizi1953 yes - a couple of years in the British Rally Championship and a national championship plus various other events :)

[@DiegoRuiz1991]

It was only a 3-4 day rally, not that big of a deal The true epics were back in the days of 5-day WRC events and many many old shitboxes finished rallies where the victory was fought among the best of the mid-1990s group A machines. · The 1995 Rally Monte-Carlo was finished by the following subpar N cars: Citroen ZX, Citroen AX, FIAT Coupe, Volkswagen Polo and Renault 5 GT Turbo... and like 6 different A-group Cinquecentos · 1995 Rally New Zealand had a unique finisher: a group N Suzuki Swift GTi · 1995 Rally Australia also included some plain bad group N cars as finishers including a Hyundai Lantra, a Toyota Corolla Seca RV (never heard of that version), a Daihatsu Charade GTi, a Corolla AE92 and non-GTi Charade too · And in the 1995 RAC Rally there were also some awful group N cars including a Rover Mini Cooper (best finished in 7h26', over 2h slower than Colin), a Swift GTi, a goddamn Trabant, a Vauxhall Nova and a couple of Civic VTis (best was driven by some nobody called "David Higgins", poor lad must've emptied his piggybank for nothing...)

[@TheGentlemensMotorRacingTeam]

Fantastic - we campaign a classic mini and this was genuinely inspirational - Thank you - this was our last event at goodwood kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWSUdqWEfNyspLc

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

This vid should be renamed - Two Englishmen in a Welsh Forest Get Me Out of Here. Did they have even a basic compass?

[@Chris-sm2uj]

What a badass you must be

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

Those silly brittle 1979 Mini Special plastic wheel spats/arches - should have used original Special Tuning Group 2 GRP ones. They last much much longer.

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

Right hand braking, prodigious use of the handbrake, and change rear brake shoes or just adjust them, every service halt. This is not a jolly.

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

Wheels are all wrong - should have used Dunlop Weathermasters SP44 145 x 10, on 4½J rims. Perfect for gravel with say 105 bhp. And get a small thin nav, 10 stone at the very max..

[@63MIJ63]

10 inch on rutted Welsh forests? It wouldn’t have been homologated with 10 inch wheels

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

​​@@63MIJ63 I know, those silly 12 inch wheels and 8.4 inch diameter disc brakes. Any re-homologation should have included ten inch wheel bits in the appendix. By the way, few washers at end of front trumpets would have sorted ground clearances, plus skid guard - and I know. 👍

[@gothicpagan.666]

Odd requirements for this sort of event. Normally 10" are a must for handling and if the diff. is going to last. That GR A car was no more than 80hp and not especially light. All the old works kit was long out of homologation. This was a pr exercise with no intention or expectation of ever being competitive in class. On the monty even the little Fiats were setting faster stage times and they were giving away nearly 200cc