News & Meeting Reports
Latest Updates
Week Commencing 22nd June - Retropower
Once again, many, many thanks to Retropower for the opportunities you've given me so far. Hopefully with many more to come, and who knows what the future brings, but I am very proud to have been able to prove myself within your amazing facility.
Thanks to all for your support and feedback, and for the very kind words from Nat in this weeks vlog. Full video here:
https://youtu.be/LZLUz0cJb38?si=zQY1diktpLWv2YCd
with my little cameo broken out in my gallery again.
Thanks!
Week Commencing 22nd June - Retropower
This week was official work experience week through school, and I was very fortunate that my favourite local company agreed to take me on for another week.
So, for a whole week I have been onsite at Retropower continuing my learning journey, and working alongside some amazing people whilst they worked on some absolute works of art.
A massive thank you to them for their continued support. Hopefully with more to come!
I also made it onto their weekly Youtube vlog again. The full video is at:
https://youtu.be/UZg-A8VriwQ?si=xLnMC3SLWTN_kpdV
with my camoe being at around the 43min mark. Working on a bright orange Austin Allegro, running a Honda Integra engine, wide arch carbon fibre body kit and fully bespoke pretty much everything else too!
Many thanks to an amazing company.
Week Commencing 22nd June - Retropower - continued
For those of you who are interested, this is actually what I got up to during my week with Retropower.
Monday:
8am-10am = Working on 1960/70s Fiat Dino. In the metalshop with Scott. Currently the car is having some major metal removal due to structural rot/damage. I made a support bar for the outside rear corner by cutting down a piece of metal bar to the right length using an angle grinder, and then MIG welded it on. Then we made a new little part of the outside wheel arch panel using similar methods, shaping it using a variety of metal shaping jigs to achieve the desired shape
10am-1pm = In the engine room with Nat where we put many nuts and bolts into an aluminium engine block that is one of two in the country and is consequently worth around £20,000, and torqued them up to the correct settings. We then had to make some custom spacers for the block using the Lathe.
1pm-1:30pm = Lunchtime
1:30pm-3:30pm = In the engine room with Nat again torquing more bolts to the correct settings.
3:30pm-4:30pm = In the metalshop with Scott where I helped him make a new panel by cutting a few bits with tin snips, grinding them to the correct shape, and forming it over jigs to get the required shape.
4:30pm-5pm = In the engine room with Nat measuring the engine block to ensure correct dimensions and shape of the crakshaft hole. Sadly it’s oval, so will need remedial work (not our fault, but a machining error).
Tuesday:
8am-1pm = In the assembly shop with Gibbo and Adam where we had a big car move around to get the two Austin Allegro’s (both wearing wide carbon fibre bodies and running Honda Integra VTech engines), one Beige, the other Orange, on the lifts in order for me to begin removing things like the exhaust system, oil and fuel lines etc from the Orange Allegro to prep it for engine removal. This is because there are two of the same car, and when on the dyno for the first time, the Beige Allegro’s engine blew up due to the pistons and rods being out of tolerance. Because they are the same car, the Orange Allegro was then built to the same spec as the Beige one, but prior to the dyno run, meaning the pistons may do the same, which is less than ideal. In order to move the cars around, I had to put the wheels onto a very special car (one of four valued at £400,000+, but not allowed to be known about by the general public) and torque them to the correct settings.
1pm-1:30pm = Lunchtime
1:30pm-4:30 = In the assembly shop with Gibbo and Adam where I continued to take things off/out of the Allegro to get it close to engine removal.
4:30pm-5pm = In the metalshop with George S where we made and then fitted some brace panels for behind the dashboard in the Aston Martin DBS V8 project they currently have.
Wednesday:
8am-11am = In the assembly shop with Gibbo and Adam removing engine mounts from the Allegro and the taking the engine out of the car, before having another move around of cars.
1am-1pm = Sorting out Allegro car parts and bolts.
1pm-1:30pm = Lunchtime
1:30pm-4pm = In the assembly shop unbolting the gearbox and other components from the Allegro engine in order for it to be stripped down to the bare engine block and sump.
4pm-4:30pm = General tidy up of tools and car parts in the assembly shop
4:30pm-5pm = In the machine shop with George S making new fittings for a car.
Thursday:
8am-10am = In the assembly shop taking the remaining bits off the Allegro engine and then transferring it into the engine room.
10am-1pm = In the assembly shop with Joe putting glass into the windows on the Jaguar XJC and motorising them to go up and down. Then cut down the hose that connects the air intake to the newly finished plenum chanber to the right size with George S.
1pm-1:30pm = Lunchtime
1:30pm-2:30pm = In the metalshop and machine shop making an accelerator stop for the Allegro and TIG welding the mount for the stop onto the accelerator pedal with George S.
2:30pm-3:30pm = General tidy and clean up of the assembly shop.
3:30pm-4:30pm = In the assembly shop with Joe attempting to fit the rear window glass in the Jaguar XJC.
4:30pm-5pm = In metalshop with George S attempting tig welding on aluminium.
Friday:
8am-8:30am = In the work van with Gibbo driving down to The Den (a secondary company ownded by Retropower) to pick up an AC gassing machine.
8:30am-10:30am = In the assembly shop with Gibbo removing AC compressor from the Beige Allegro to try and work out where the leak was coming from.
10:30am-12pm = With Joe fitting waterproof seal around the door edges on the Jaguar XJC and cleaning down chrome trim parts and bonding them to metal finished parts.
12pm-1pm = With Gibbo still trying to find leak from the Allegro’s AC.
1pm-1:30pm = Lunchtime
1:30pm- 3pm = In assembly shop doing small jobs for various people (polishing finished bolts etc).
3pm-3:45pm = Fitting bonnet catch release mechanism in Orange Allegro.
3:45pm-4pm = Tidy up and sort out of cars in assembly shop.
4pm-5pm = In assembly shop with Nat solving leaky AC off the Allegro.
20th June - Retropower
Hi all.
As you know I have a relationship with a local company who design and produce restomods, restorations and general cool things to do with cars.
So, on the 20th they had their Summer Party. Originally just for club members, but then opened up to the wider world of cool car things. This then became a rather large event with about 150 cars turning up and they took on the carpark at another little vehicle manufacturing company - Triumph Motorcycles, just down the round from the Retropower HQ.
The aim was to help boost awareness of printed media, as Retropower has an affinity with Copactic magazine, and their print house. It was also to raise money for the National Association of Blood Bikes, so all round a good idea!
I decided I wanted to take my Ministox, and Dad's V8 XC90, so we got there for about 11am and we were amazed at the array of different cars, from a monster Chevrolet pickup, to the whole alphabet from Aston Martins, to Volvos and everything inbetween.
We decided to do some promo work for the Ministox, so many thanks to Dimension for printing up the flyers, fixture lists and stickers, and many thanks to all of those that came over to say hi and took the freebies off our hands :-)
A great day, the weather was with us, loads of like minded folk with some good stories and anecdotes.
Many thanks to Retropower for having the event, and many thanks to Triumph for accomodating us. See you again next year with a bit of luck.
Scunthorpe - 30th May
After the first meeting of the year that was Kings Lynn, with a good set of results and three race finishes, we were out at a completely new track for the minis (well, since 2009 I think), one that I have only been to once for spectating. Scunthorpe. A great little facility, with decent pits and a really good shale track.33 of us turned up.
We arrived about 2 hours early, as is normally the standard with us, and went to sign in before coming back, and unloading the car. Then the scrutineers came round and did their thing, making sure nothing was against the rules of the racing, and then it was off to the drivers briefing, before quickly returning to the car, as the minis were the first race of the evening, and I was in heat 1.
After suiting up and being very tightly belted in courtesy of my father, I realised just how hot it was, TOO hot, and the car would only get hotter with heat-soak from the engine, and I practically sit on the exhaust! Dad said get out there and sort yourself out as the faster you go the cooler it’ll be – thanks for the support! Going out on the track and we were told to do a full lap to connect our transponders, which tells race control what position we’re in, what lap times we’re doing, etc, before we were on the rolling lap and green, green, green, set us off.
I made a pretty decent start, if I do say so myself, however the track was slippy as they had just watered it, and I didn’t feel like spinning out on the first corner, so I was overtaken by one driver, who I then attempted to follow, and I was doing fairly well, apart from entering the corners a little too wide, but for a new track and no practice, I was impressed. One end is considerably tighter than the other too, or so it felt. Soon enough, as is always the way with the minis, a caution was called, and it was back to single file restarts, where I realised I was running 9th and currently qualifying for the meeting final., however, seeing as nobody seemed capable of a sensible speed for a restart, we were at full racing speed before we’d even made it past the back straight! This inevitably caused carnage up front, which I thought I’d avoided, and I had, until I side slapped someone who was already against the fence and had nowhere to go, which slowed me down enough for somebody else to kindly rear end me, at what I’m assuming was about 20mph faster than me. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, it did hurt, but the car only popped out of gear, so whilst I wrestled with that, the rear-ender continued pushing (as we do) and found my nerfrail, which spun me onto the infield. So much for a good restart 🙁. I thought the car was fine, it still started, still drove, it just felt a bit wonky, so assumed something was out of alignment, but hey, let’s get going. Plus the infield is made up of grass, so it could have been that. But then the voice came over the raceceiver telling me to stop, as I had a wheel off. Oh goodie. That's my race done then.
Trying to drive off at the end I realised I also had no brakes, so I had a delicate journey back to the pits, on the front of a forklift – that was fun, especially when they had to lift me high enough to get over the barriers in the pits! Dad inspected the damage and gently informed me that my car was somewhat a tad bit broken. Not to worry, the wheel only came off right? Probably just needs a new brake drum, right? No. Turns out that somewhere along the lines, the cast steel radius arm had been literally sheared in half and was now residing on the backside of the wheel, which was in the boot of the car. Everything had been ripped off with it, so brake drum, hub and brake pipe. Oh, and guess what, we didn't have the spare rear corner with us. Fantastic. Dad quickly ran around to other teams to see if anyone had an entire rear corner available, but whilst some had some spares, no-one had the whole thing. My head hurt, the car hurt, we are all way too hot, and now you want to tell me the box with the entire spare rear corner we have is just sat at home. Being useless. Oh and I did 8 laps of a 12 lap race before it abruptly came to an end and I was oh so delicately carried off track.
The car couldn’t get grip on the front tyres and metal ramps to load it on the trailer, so Dad trusted me enough, whilst I was in a foul mood, to sit on the front corner to counterbalance, and we loaded the car on the back of the trailer before setting off home, where we slung it into the garage to let it think about its wrongdoings.
With there being about just over a month before my next meeting, back at Scunthorpe on the 8th August, we’ll get it sorted and back out to try again!
Laters,
Sarah #18
26th - 28th May - J Swingler
Hi all.
So, during half term while everyone else was sweating their whatsits off cus it was a bit warm, I had the opportunity to go and work with a friend of mine again, as I did last year (and the year before), Richard, one of my sponsors, at the company he works for - J Swinglers, a specialist heavy haulage company.
Day 1 started off early as Dad dropped me off at 6:30am at Richard's and we then went off to find out if the days plans had changed. They hadn't, so off we went down to Southampton Docks to drop off a rather large piece of machinery for export. One hooked up, and all paperwork sorted out, a lovely start to the day in a comfortable air conditioned HGV :-)
Once down at the docks we realised just how hot it was outside the cab, and due to the efficiencies of our bureaucrats it took far longer than it should have done to offload and be ready to return. Not exactly a 'turn & burn' trip!
Anyhoo, back on the road home, and other than a brief meeting (IYKYK) at the services due to driver breaks required we got home a little later than anticipated, but a good day.
Day 2 was manual labour day in the yard, so along with the usual we had a massive container size generator to paint white. However, many thanks to those involved in me getting my first driving lesson in an artic! Yep, they were brave enough to let me have a go at shunting around, and hooking up to a trailer within the confines of their works yard. An amazing experience. Thanks!
Day 3 was more manual labour, with repairs on some kit, and then building a specialised piece of kit for the boss - Ben. Sadly we finished for the day before seeing it in action, but I believe it all worked as planned.
A thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a few days. I appreciate when it's your actual job it's not quite as enjoyable, but as a 15yr old girl working in a mainly male environment I am loving the experiences offered to me.
Thanks again to all!
Kings Lynn - 11th April
It’s been a while since you’ve heard about my racing! We started off strong this year with a
meeting at Lynn, my all time, most favourite EVER racetrack. We loaded up the mini on the
trailer and then loaded the back of the tow car with the tools, before heading off to a slightly warmer and sunnier Kings Lynn than was expected!
We got there the standard two hours early ready for scrutineering, but we had to say a few
hello’s and catch up with certain people before anything more exciting could happen. It’s
been a while, and it was lovely to see people and to hear how they had been. All that said
and done, we heard the F1’s going out for their first heat, and as the minis were the next
race on, it was time to suit up and belt up for my first race since October.
After several cautions (the F1’s like tangling each other up almost as much as us mini
Drivers), we were on track and waiting for the drop of the yellow flag before our rolling lap
commenced. I am still a yellow top, but am further up the points scoring than others, so I was on outside row one of the yellows, not bad, but the inside line is far superior. Going down into turns three and four, the anticipation was killing me, but we had to wait for the white tops to go, before it was green, green, green and we were off. This year we have to use the tarmac Yokohama tyres on all tracks and surfaces as the Hakka’s have been outlawed, and this was my first time out, as no practice on shale, so I didn’t quite know what to expect from the car handling wise, but I knew I had a decent amount of tread on the outside front, so I wasn’t too worried. Going into the first corner and the car seemed to grip well under braking, but then understeered to the outside line. Nothing I can’t handle, possibly braking slightly harder to get the back turned with the weight load shifting. Soon enough people were sneaking up the inside of my understeering car and I had fallen back a few places, but I was still holding my own, and was coping well with any knocks. I remember why I missed this! I will admit I did turn in as one of the cautions was called, and braked a little too hard, too late, ending up spinning, being collected as I rolled backwards across the track bending my nice new straight nerf rail in the process, but hey, that's what it's there for! As is always the way with a ministox race, there was a caution called, and we all had to pull into a single file restart. I managed an okay start, but with the reds and supers now at my rear bumper, they all shoved past me and I was down to about 15th, bummer. I kept going and testing the car to feel for a reaction before finding a decent line of grip to bring the car home in 12th place. Not bad going and still a point.
Back in the pits and Dad seemed to be impressed, but told me I needed to stop going so
wide. We tried to sort the car in a way that would stop the understeer as I went back out for
heat two. This time I made a better start, in my opinion, and was keeping up more with the
traffic ahead. But obviously everyone decided to destroy each other so a caution was called, this time me in 6th, as we filed into a line ready to restart. Another decent start, and I was keeping up, taking hits, giving hits, and having a really good time. Eventually coming home in 16th. Again, not where I wanted to be, but not bad for someone who hasn’t raced since October!
Back in the pits and everyone was just happy that I had survived the carnage that was heat 2, and was hoping that I’d qualified for the final, which low and behold, I had! Fourth row, back of the yellows, inside line, closed grid. Not where a girl wants to be, but I’d qualified, so I can’t complain.
This time I made a very rapid start, courtesy of the lads behind who were shoving, but then they hit the marker tyres, giving everyone up front some breathing room as we raced to get away from the chaos, before eventually being closed in on as funnily enough a caution was called. The car’s also now picked up an annoying trait, in that whilst I can ride hits and be involved, occasionally if I hit the car in front in a certain way the car bounces out of gear and then refuses to go back in without me having to ram it into 1st, then back into 2nd, slowing me enough that everyone else had driven off into the distance and I’m left to play catch up. Thanks car! Despite me now being somewhat peeved, and having my accelerator pedal to the metal, I was once again caught up due to the understeer in the corners. About halfway through the race as I was entering turn 3, trying to keep up with another yellow roof in front who’d snuck through coming out of turn 2, I was shoved onto the very outside of a three wide train going round the corner, with another car immediately behind in the same position, I then ran out of track very rapidly as two other cars who’d been having a minor disagreement about track space had ended up stationary and stuck right where I was heading! Unfortunately the gap left wasn’t exactly big enough for me to get through, despite riding the fence. I guess you can see where this is going. I could, and I knew it was about to hurt, so I tried anchoring up, braced for impact, and hoped that it wouldn’t do too much damage to anything, me or the car, but finding the two cars and hitting them at rather high speeds considering I’d just tried hauling up on the brakes. I managed to get the car refired, after a few attempts, and got going before they called a caution. Dad ran round in the spectator area to make sure I was ok and to see if he could spot any damage, which we gave each other a thumbs up for. I was then sent round to the back of the grid, and continued racing after all was clear on track, bringing the car home in another point scoring place of 15th.
After getting the car home and inspecting, we realised that I’ve split the front and rear
corners on the inside of the car, sorry Dad, but if that’s all I sustained, then I’m not mad.
As usual images will be uploaded on the gallery, and until next time!
Laters,
Sarah #18
31st March 2026
How time flies when you're having fun. I can't believe it's 5 months since my last update!
However, plenty's been going on behind the scenes.
So:
The car's been fully refurbed, with all new bumpers and nerfs thanks to Dad and the steel from SMP.
The extinguishers have been serviced, or replaced due to dates, thanks to Blaby Electrical & Blaby Alarms.
The stickers have been replaced where required due to accident damage thanks to Dimension.
And then I've been busy continuing my learning. So for my 15th birthday I had a MIG welding course, and I have a further TIG welding course booked for later in the year just before I return to Retropower for my proper school work experience, before hopefully returning during the summer holidays. However, they also launched a members club, which my parents kindly signed me up for for Christmas, so that's me set for life :-)
I had the launch of my 2026 car there last weekend (pics in the gallery). My thought process was it's for members to show off their cars, and since we'd gone in my Dad's new ride last time I wanted to take mine this time. It's safe to say it surprised a few people when I drove up onto their driveway in my Ministox, but all taken in good spirits and it was great to talk cars with all the like minded people again.
I also made it as the thumbnail on their Instagram post, with the car making a cameo on both the Instagram post and their weekly YouTube vlog. See links below:
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWcV4ktCBaa/?igsh=MTVpc21xNDEzYXQzcQ==
YouTube - starts at about the 55sec mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i23A_0mkz84&t=495s
Anyway, soon be back to racing, and although the Ministox have already had two outings we're running a limited schedule this year for various reasons.
My first outing will be at Kings Lynn on 11th April, which should be interesting as one of the rules for 2026 is we all have to run the tarmac Yokohama A539s on shale and tarmac this year as the Hakka's have been voted out. Hopefully the track will be up to the usual high spec and we'll make a good start to the year again.
Laters,
Sarah #18