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EVENT REPORT<br />
THE INTERNATIONAL<br />
MINI MEET <strong>2018</strong><br />
Editor Martyn packs his case and heads on<br />
a <strong>Mini</strong> road trip to the annual International<br />
<strong>Mini</strong> Meet (IMM), this year held in Portugal.<br />
Words Martyn Collins Photography Martyn Collins, MINI and Jeff Ruggles<br />
<strong>Mini</strong> fans headed for<br />
warmer climes in<br />
May for the annual<br />
IMM pilgrimage,<br />
this year taking place on the<br />
coast in the Portuguese town of<br />
Praia de Mira. I was lucky<br />
enough to be a guest of MINI<br />
UK, and along with the German<br />
HQ, they had devised a MINI<br />
road trip that me and two other<br />
journalists would undertake.<br />
As we converged on the<br />
Municipal Park, we heard the<br />
charismatic sound of screaming<br />
A-Series engines, then saw more<br />
enthusiastically driven, foreignregistered<br />
Classic <strong>Mini</strong>s. The<br />
IMM is very well-organised and<br />
we were in awe of the sheer<br />
volume and variety of Classic<br />
<strong>Mini</strong>s parked around the site.<br />
It was pleasing that so many<br />
Classic <strong>Mini</strong> owners and<br />
enthusiasts from England,<br />
France, Ireland and Spain to<br />
name but a few, had made the<br />
trip to Portugal, too.<br />
Like last year, the MINI<br />
CLASSIC part of the MINI<br />
brand had sent a Classic <strong>Mini</strong><br />
Cooper Sportpack all the way<br />
from Munich in Germany to<br />
the Portuguese IMM site. This<br />
<strong>Mini</strong> had Irish artist Steve<br />
Simpson on board and was<br />
decorated in his unique design.<br />
I also had the chance to visit<br />
the MINI CLASSIC Teepee,<br />
that was on the beach about<br />
five-minutes away. Inside, there<br />
was a small MINI shop and<br />
IMM attendees could get<br />
celebratory T-Shirts and bags<br />
with Steve Simpson’s <strong>2018</strong><br />
design. They proved very<br />
popular and the fact that they<br />
were free meant they had sadly<br />
run out by the time I got there!<br />
So I consoled myself by sitting<br />
on a MINI deckchair, enjoying<br />
the relaxing sound of the waves<br />
crashing on the beach.<br />
Sadly, then it was time to<br />
leave the IMM site and head for<br />
our hotel and overnight stay<br />
before embarking on the drive<br />
back to Lisbon Airport.<br />
The IMM returns to the UK<br />
in 2019. I’ll see you there!<br />
The IMM Bristol team with<br />
the famous IMM key.<br />
Very smart Riley Elf made the<br />
trip from neighbouring Spain.<br />
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