End of the road?

In our last issue Mini World contributor Stephen Davy-Osborne expressed his love for his 1996 SPi Mini Cooper, aka Nicole. In this final instalment we rejoin the story at the end of 2012, when Nicole has miraculously received an MOT certificate...

With Nicole’s Farewell Tour now extending into 2013 I was talked into signing up for Rallye Beaujolais, organised by Bob Higginson in aid of the Torbay RNLI. Driving more than 1,600 miles in two days just went to prove that, although she had 90,000 additional miles on the clock compared to Bob’s immaculate MPi, she could still hold her own and became the only Mini not to encounter any mechanical mishaps en route. Although, she came very close to having a case of Beaujolais thrown at her by support van drivers Kate Dominey and Pam Ayles after we played the ‘Allo ‘Allo theme tune down the CB radio as they were being inspected at customs in Roscoff.