Events need as many paying punters through the gate as possible to be financially viable.....the BMW MINI has been around for over 20 years, early R50 & R53 MINIs are moving into classic status now, so a whole generation has grown up around them and they are now affordable at all levels. Inevitably with classic Minis now being expensive to buy and impractical for most younger owners with no practical skills to own as a daily driver, things are changing.....not much you can do about that other than support events and turn up in a classic Mini to increase the numbers on show! If the BMW MINIs had not been there yesterday people would now be complaining the event was quiet and poorly attended.....
I remember many of the 'older' Mini owners at the Beaulieu Mini Day in the early 1990's used to complain about the new 'plastic' Rover Mini Coopers being allowed to attend and enter the event as they were outnumbering the proper 'restored' Mk1/2/3 Mini Coopers .....some of the Rover Minis being polished in the concours at that time had only just left the showroom and were brand new cars. 
In the end things got so bad between the different groups the 'Mini Cooper Register' had to have a membership vote to decide if Rover Mini Coopers were allowed to join the MCR and enter the Beaulieu show concours.....the result was in the Rover Coopers favour and the rest is history....
Edited by mab01uk, 08 August 2022 - 01:13 PM.
