How Mildred ended Mäkinen and Hopkirk’s Mini story

Twenty years ago last month, Neil Burgess and Jim Holder set out on a history-making Mini adventure that ended in a Rally GB victory

Petter Solberg? Merely a Margam Park warm-up act. You might think the 2003 Rally GB story belongs to the Norwegian and his British co-driver Phil Mills. You might be right. But Neil Burgess and Jim Holder have their own success story to tell.

And here it is.

The British-made Mini is a motoring icon as well as a motorsporting legend. Names like Timo Mäkinen, Rauno Aaltonen and Paddy Hopkirk told daredevil stories of winning the 1,000 Lakes and Monte Carlo Rallies.

But how did the sporting story for that Mini, originally penned by Sir Alec Issigonis, end?

Let Neil and Jim talk you through it.

Words:DirtFish staff

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