What date is it taking place?
The IMM 2017 Ireland is taking place from Thursday May 25th – Monday May 29th 2017.

Venue :

The camping and show will be held in Westport House, Westport, Co. Mayo.

What is an IMM?
For many Mini drivers an “International Mini Meeting”, or IMM, is a well known phenomenon, but for some it’s not clear what it’s all about. IMM is short for International Mini Meeting. It originated in 1978 in Germany when it started as a small 3 day camp event at Whitsun weekend. After several years its popularity had grown, even over the German borders and this resulted in an International event which takes place every year in a different country. Every 5 years we celebrate the Mini in England where the IMM takes place around the Minis birthday in August.

An IMM is a 3 day event for young and old. Besides the classic Mini, all derivatives and yes…even New Mini’s are welcome! The event starts on Friday afternoon when most of the participants arrive. After signing in, they find a good spot or go to the appointed place of their Mini club. The latter can vary at each event. The best thing to do is to place the Mini in such a way that everybody can have a good look at it. The tent is just a minor detail. On Friday evening the event is officially opened. Different activities will be organized for Mini drivers and Mini Clubs during the rest of the weekend. Recurring features are the Concourse d’Elegance, boot sale, traders area, dinner on Saturday, party on Saturday night, breakfast on Sunday and a closing party on Sunday night.

Even the Club competitions are a recurring feature. A new activity for the last few years is the Mini Parade. Lots of Minis queuing on local roads, sometimes causing a traffic jam, but always escorted by the police. Basically an IMM is all about socialising, meeting lots of other enthusiasts, relaxing and just having fun. After you’ve met and spoken with lots of others, bought all the parts your precious vehicle needs to become even more beautiful and had some fun, the IMM closes with a ceremony on Sunday night. During this event the awards are presented and the IMM key is handed over to the club which organises the event the following year. Of course you can leave your tent up for another night because you can stay until Monday morning. Then the event is really over and everybody leaves for home, dreaming of the next IMM!

For more information call Caroline or Aisling on 052-7441122

The new MINI offers instant appeal, but it is also excellently equipped to provide long-term fascination, too. As far as readers of the automobile magazine “Auto Bild Klassik” are concerned, the latest generation of the premium small car already has what it takes to become a lasting classic. They voted the new MINI “Classic of the Future” in the category of small and compact cars. This has led to the new edition of the British original now being awarded the “Golden Classic Steering Wheel”.

Very few cars can be said to have the kind of properties which set them clearly apart from their current competitive environment while also demonstrating classic potential at an early stage. The new MINI has it all: a unique brand tradition, its current status as the original in the small car premium segment and also pioneering technology. Even 55 years after the launch of the classic Mini, the brand’s hallmark principle of the intelligent use of space and its agile handling properties known as the go-kart feeling have lost nothing of their attraction. Authentic design, unique style and characteristic driving fun are timeless quality features which give the new MINI lasting appeal, too.

This is now the fifth year in which the “Golden Classic Steering Wheel” has been awarded. The prize is based on the results of a vote in which readers of “Auto Bild Klassik” were asked to name their favourites in a number of categories, including “Classics of the Year”, “Find of the Year”, “Restoration of the Year” and “Classic of the Future”. So the prizewinners not only include highly coveted milestones of automobile history, spectacular rarities and exotic specimens painstakingly saved from disrepair but also current models whose particular appeal for later generations of motorists is already obvious here and now.

The “Golden Classic Steering Wheel” is the second award of its kind the new MINI has received in the space of just a few months, having already won the “Motor Klassik” readers’ vote last spring. Here the new MINI came first in the small car rating and was likewise voted “Classic of the Future”.

Official Release Small car, huge win: it is now 50 years since one of the most spectacular victories in the history of international motor sport. On 21 January 1964, the Mini Cooper S won the Monte Carlo Rally for the first time. It was the pairing of Northern Ireland’s Patrick (“Paddy”) Hopkirk and his co-driver Henry Liddon that pulled off the big surprise, resisting the supposed superiority of significantly more powerful rivals in their small British car. Its faultless run over country roads and mountain passes, ice and snow, tight corners and steep gradients laid the foundations for the underdog-turned-giant-slayer to cement itself in both the hearts of the public and the annals of motor sport legend. Indeed, the classic Mini’s dominance of the Monte Carlo Rally continued over the years that followed, Hopkirk’s Finnish team-mates Timo Mäkinen and Rauno Aaltonen adding two further overall victories – in 1965 and 1967 – to the British manufacturer’s collection.

Now 80 years old, Paddy Hopkirk’s eyes still light up when he recalls the driving qualities of his winning car: “Although the Mini was only a little family saloon, technically it had a lot of advantages. Its front-wheel drive and front-mounted transverse engine were a great advantage, and the fact the car was smaller and the roads were ploughed, they were quite narrow, so I suppose that was an advantage. We were very lucky – the car was right, everything happened at the right time and came together at the right moment.”

It was the legendary “Night of the Long Knives”, the penultimate stage of the Monte, which put the Mini Cooper S with car number 37 and the now famous licence plate 33 EJB on course for victory that winter of 1964. Hopkirk crossed the finish line just 17 seconds off the pace set by his chief adversary Bo Ljungfeldt in the far more powerful V8-powered Ford Falcon. The handicap formula at the time – designed to even out the weight and power differences between the various cars – meant the classic Mini actually led the way in the overall standings. And Hopkirk defended his advantage in the sprint through the streets of Monte Carlo that rounded off the rally. At the winner’s ceremony he shared the cheers of the crowed with his team-mates. Timo Mäkinen’s fourth-place finish and Rauno Aaltonen’s seventh overall set the seal on the success of the Mini Cooper S and ushered in the era of the “Three Musketeers” in the Monte Carlo Rally.

The classic Mini’s victory was celebrated with particular excitement in its native Britain. Hopkirk received a congratulatory telegram from the British government and the Beatles were also among those leading the applause. “I got a telegram from the Beatles,” remembers Hopkirk. “That was followed by a photograph of the four of them autographed to me saying: ‘You’re one of us now, Paddy.’ And it’s very nice to have that nowadays.”

The triumph of the classic Mini in the Monte was lauded as a sensation by motor sport fans around the world. But this wasn’t a success that came entirely out of the blue: the small car developed by Alec Issigonis, then Deputy Technical Director at the British Motor Corporation, possessed an inherent sporting talent from birth. The first person to spot this potential was John Cooper. The sports car designer was the driving force behind construction of a more powerful version of the car. The Mini produced only 34 hp at launch, but its front-wheel drive, low weight, wide track and comparatively long wheelbase made it an extremely agile four-seater and paved the way for its forays onto race circuits and rally courses.

As early as 1960, big-name racing drivers like Graham Hill, Jack Brabham and Jim Clark were spotted testing the cornering flair of the John Cooper-tuned small car on the Silverstone Formula One track. However, the classic Mini was most at home in rally racing. Patt Moss, sister of grand prix driver Stirling Moss, piloted it to wins in the Tulip Rally and Baden-Baden Rally in 1962. And by the following year, the diminutive British car was ready to burst into the public consciousness at the Monte Carlo Rally. Preceding years had been a tough learning experience for the works team, but now they would make people sit up and take notice. Rauno Aaltonen and Paddy Hopkirk drove the 55 hp Mini Cooper to a 1-2 finish in their class, which was good enough for third and sixth places overall.

It was clear that the classic Mini was better equipped than any other car to pull off the classic David vs Goliath act. John Cooper had long suspected that the car had what it took. Back in 1959 he instructed Roy Salvadori to drive a prototype to the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. The journey itself turned into a race between Salvadori and fellow racing driver Reg Parnell at the wheel of an Aston Martin DB4. The result confirmed what Cooper had foreseen in his mind’s eye: the Cooper-prepared classic Mini arrived around an hour earlier than the much more powerful Aston.

Identifiable from a distance with their tartan red bodywork and white roofs, the six small racers dispatched by the BMC works team for the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964 were – at least on paper – fighting against the tide once more. The Mini Cooper S lined up at the start for the first time. Its new four-cylinder engine now had an increased 1071cc capacity and output had also been boosted to around 90 hp. This was a lot more than in previous years but still modest in the face of competition from the likes of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SE and Ford Falcon, whose six-cylinder and V8 units had three or four times more power at their disposal.

The 33rd edition of the Monte Carlo Rally began – as was traditional at the time – with a nod to the origins of the event, the cars starting from nine European cities before converging on the French city of Reims. The Hopkirk/Liddon partnership got their journey with the Mini Cooper S under way in Minsk, while for Rauno Aaltonen and Tony Ambrose the Monte adventure started in Oslo, and Timo Mäkinen and Patrick Vanson set off from Paris. The classic Mini successfully negotiated all these journeys and all six works cars were able to take their place in the 277-strong field in Reims. The first stage of the rally to Saint-Claude brought together the two cars which were to define the 1964 Monte from start to finish. Bo Ljungfeldt roared to the top of the time sheets in his Ford Falcon, but Paddy Hopkirk remained hot on his heels in his Mini Cooper S.

The next leg of the rally was made up largely of mile-long flat-out sections, but Hopkirk refused to let his big-engined rivals build up a decisive advantage. The “Night of the Long Knives” would become the day of reckoning; this was the classic Mini’s chance to demonstrate its talents to the full. “It was quite snowy that year, so we had done a lot of practising and preparing,” explains Hopkirk. “The Mini was particularly good downhill, and all the tests were up and downhill, so what we lost going up, I think we made up for going downhill.”

Irresistible handling, correct tyre choice, Hopkirk’s gifts at the wheel and the snow – which slowed the bigger cars down – all came together and ensured that Hopkirk was able to take over the lead on the 1,607-metre (5,270 ft) Col de Turini. However, it remained a tight contest all the way to the finish, with Bo Ljungfeldt, as expected, again posting the fastest time on the final stage through Monte Carlo. However, Hopkirk was also squeezing everything from his Mini Cooper S once again and hung onto his advantage to wrap up the win. “It’s not like rallying today when you know where you are. I had to do the final circuit, then the journalists told me I had won and I couldn’t believe it. It surprised the world and us, so it was very nice,” recalls Hopkirk.

The following year Timo Mäkinen and co-driver Paul Easter ensured the classic Mini would retain its title. They were helped by a new engine with capacity increased to 1275cc, but it was the Scandinavian’s driving skill that landed the decisive blow. Mäkinen was the only driver to remain penalty-point-free throughout the rally distance, despite the fact that the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally was providing one of the most exacting tests in the history of the event. Epic levels of snow and ice made the going seriously tough, but that didn’t stop the organisers including a second night stage through the Maritime Alps in the programme. Mäkinen and his Mini Cooper S appeared impervious to the deteriorating conditions. The Finn won five of the six special stages on the final leg of the rally and finished the event with a handsome margin over the second-placed car.

The most impressive and also most dramatic Monte Carlo Rally for the “Three Musketeers” was to follow in 1966. Mäkinen, Aaltonen and Hopkirk dominated the event from the start, and it was in this order that they completed a clean sweep of the top three positions overall at the finish. Public enthusiasm for the quicksilver classic Minis appeared to be boundless – as was the disappointment when the French race commissioners revealed their decision to disqualify the trio on account of lights that allegedly did not conform with official regulations. This was also the reason given for removing the fourth-placed Lotus Cortina from the classification, which meant that the Finnish Citroën driver Pauli Toivonen was crowned the winner.

The dream of a Monte hat-trick lay in tatters, but the “Three Musketeers” resolved to return at the earliest opportunity. In the winter of 1967 Hopkirk, Mäkinen and Aaltonen lined up alongside two other BMC works teams for the Monte Carlo Rally. And this time neither the rules nor the other cars could stand between the Mini Cooper S and victory. Rauno Aaltonen was joined by Henry Liddon – Paddy Hopkirk’s co-driver from the successful 1964 Monte – for his latest assault on the rally. The Finnish-British team clicked straight into gear. Aaltonen guided the classic Mini to what was this time an undisputed victory with 12 seconds to spare. And nobody was more pleased for the duo than Hopkirk: “Henry Liddon was really an outstanding co-driver. But the co-drivers never got enough credit, you know. They did a fantastic job in reading the notes and they were the office manager of the car.”

Hopkirk finished the 1967 Monte Carlo Rally in sixth place and also drove the classic Mini to fifth overall the following year. Aaltonen was third in 1968. However, the era of the small car that stormed to the summit of rally racing was clearly approaching an end. Its rivals had grown just too powerful and the sporting zenith of the classic Mini was now behind it. Memories of that famous triumph in the winter of 1964 will forever burn bright and the “Three Musketeers” have written an indelible chapter into the history of motor sport. As for distinctive headlight solutions, such as incurred the wrath of the powers-that-be back in 1966, they also live on as some of the most popular Original MINI Accessories – from black headlight housing and the evocative spotlights fronting the radiator grille to retrofit xenon headlights.

And so MINI is poised to retrace the steps of its historic forebears. Just a few months after its launch in August 1959 – in Morris Mini-Minor and Austin Seven form – the classic Mini found itself an additional birthplace in continental Europe, the Amersfoort-based firm J.J. Molenaar’s Car Companies turning its hand to assembly of the classic Mini between 1959 and 1966. More than 4,000 units were built over this period, using components delivered from the United Kingdom, plus one or two special additions only found in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Among the select group of 30 cars built in that first year in Amersfoort was the Austin Seven now making its post-barn comeback. This may therefore be the oldest example of the Dutch-built classic Mini currently in roadworthy condition; it is absolutely one of the oldest representatives of the brand anywhere in the world. But to top it all, it is a genuine “barn find” having been hidden away in said abode for almost a quarter of a century before being re-discovered and examined by BMW Group Netherlands employees. The decision to restore the car was taken quickly, aided by the certainty regarding its origins. The car’s chassis and production numbers were easily identifiable and the seats were upholstered – in traditional Dutch style – using real horsehair.

A five-strong team from VDL Nedcar took on the restoration challenge, stripping the classic Mini down to its bare bones before gradually piecing it back together again. The quintet were able to tap into a reliable well of experience and specialist knowledge in the fields of body and engine construction and apply this expertise extensively. The small 34 hp four-cylinder engine and the gearbox were given a total overhaul and some body parts and the door panels had to be rebuilt by hand. The restorers used faithful replicas of original parts wherever possible and enjoyed valuable assistance from the MINI Community in tracking them down. The restoration process was documented in full at www.facebook.com/Mini.reBorn1959, and that attracted a flood of helpful tips – not to mention the odd long-lost part – from sources around the world. The classic Mini set off on the first test drive of its second life like it was 1959 all over again; the “reBorn” mission had been accomplished. Another contributory factor in the freshness of the car is its new paintwork in the original shade Farina Grey.

Around 1,500 employees will be responsible for building MINI cars when production starts in Born in summer 2014, and among their number will be the five “midwives” who helped deliver the forgotten Mini back into the world. Their efforts are now concentrated squarely on preparing for the future of MINI production at the plant. But they are given daily reminders of their journey back into the brand’s past as car number 983 – “reBorn” in the Netherlands – looks over them from pride of place in the foyer of the new MINI focused production facility.

Source: MINI

We won “Best Newcomer Award” for taking part in the Ballincollig St.Patrick’s Day Parade.

And we won “Third in Class” at The Irish Festival of Speed.

Some photos below courtesy of Oliver Mc Carthy show a great event.
Nice to see new members attending too