Mimms 2020 - Sisterly Love
It’s Been a Long Lonely Summer
It's been a year with few miles driven. 2021 and we are promised a fresh start as the Covid tide starts to turn and vaccines roll out. 2020 wasn't completely bereft of joy and Mimms was an unexpected jewel in this bizarre year.
And for this Mimms journey I'll hand you over to Norcliffe senior, Ray.
Self Isolating
It’s been a long lonely Summer, or words to that effect were in the lyrics of a song released by Brian Hyland in the 1962 hit ‘Sealed With a Kiss’. Check it out, it’s a haunting harmonica melody of the times.
And so it seemed that Mimms Honda in 2020 might mirror, reflect, the thoughts of Brian H with its own ‘Long Lonely Summer’.
There was, at the start of the year, every prospect of a full programme of Mimms and other car events during 2020, courtesy of Japanese Auto Extravaganza and the Japanese Performance Show to name but two, with venues across and up and down the land.
In need of a show to shine.
Ordinarily then, the family of Honda clubs and owners might have met on at least three or four occasions from early Spring to late Autumn. However, by 11th March it became obvious that things would be very different this year. On that date a pandemic, caused by the outbreak and worldwide spread of a novel corona virus from Wuhan in China, was declared by the World Health Organisation.
Cars in hibernation, an empty circuit - Lockdown bites.
Lockdown
The virus had put paid to any and all public gatherings in the United Kingdom for the foreseeable future.
The lonely Prelude - been a long year, missing fellow Hondas
And now it was rapidly approaching the end of September without a wheel, gear or engine having turned, nor a bonnet or boot lid being lifted. Polish and wax sales were definitely on the slide. Perhaps though there was prophesy in the words and sentiments of Brian’s song for one line of lyrics proposes – ‘Oh let us make a pledge to meet in September’
By the end of June though things began to look up, seemingly brighter as the infectious activity of the virus declined, appearing to suggest it had been contained. A three month Government imposed lockdown had brought down its progress amongst the population, curtailed its ambition, and viruses do have a selfish ambition.
Mask on and admiring this 'Nuts & Bolts' restoration of a first generation Honda Accord
An optimism spread with people enticed to ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ in order to breathe life back into a stifled economy. If you had worked from home during those months, then it was time to get back on the train and into the office. Large gatherings of people, however, were still not permitted. So the car show fraternity continued to suffer in the same way that followers of sporting life had become accustomed to, with no let up in the ban on spectator participation.
The Sun Rising
Early morning sun as an FN2 TypeR arrives pre meet
But somewhere in all of the confusion over what could and couldn’t be done, and late on in the Summer, a window of opportunity appeared allowing organised events to take place outdoors. Was there an appetite and support from enough people to make it worthwhile to arrange a Mimms meeting at the last minute?
Three Sisters Race Circuit
Well there was - both appetite and support. Location, the Three Sisters Race Circuit just outside Wigan in Lancashire. The time, Sunday 27th of September 2020 at the end of a ‘Long Lonely Summer’, sealed with a ‘Three Sisters Kiss’.
Right up until that last minute, with an ‘uptick’ (what an awful buzzword) in pandemic activity and an equivalent government response (a pandemonium I suppose), rules and restrictions on gatherings were changing at a pace that was difficult to follow.
27th September, 7am and the pre meet
Lancashire, and the area around Wigan was becoming a new viral hot zone with a resurgence in number of infections. And that meant a Mimms need to liaise with local authorities and police, for confirmation that the ‘Three Sisters Kiss’ could still go ahead albeit with a detail of strictures necessary for everything to be ‘Covid street legal’ on the day.
Seemed like the appropriate face covering for a Mimms meet.
And that is the ‘beauty’ of a Mimms meet. You know it’ll be street legal with an organisation behind it which is professional, and a following that is passionate and responsible.
A few more arrivals in the early morning light.
In the context of a gathering of Honda enthusiasts, both clubs and privateers and, in the middle of a public health pandemic, that Mimms attention to detail served it well. Not least was that true of the choice of the Three Sisters Race Track as the venue for the year’s one and only Mimms show at the end of a long lonely Summer. Three Sisters? A jewel of a site on a perfect Summer’s day – and Sunday the 27th of September was a perfect late Summer’s day.
This was not the first time that the Three Sisters of Wigan had hosted a Mimms event. A spring day in May 2019 was the previous occasion. All had gone well, again with perfect weather at this amphitheatre of motoring delight.
The Sisters were, in days gone by, three huge spoil heaps, a legacy of the Garswood Hall Colliery mining heritage which began its operation in 1867 and ended in 1958. Another 20 years on and the Three Sisters Local Nature Reserve was to rise from the industrial landscape of the past, with the race circuit as part and parcel of the wider country park amenity that the girls have now become.
Arriving at the Race Track on the Sunday morning identified some of the attention to detail that had been required to stage the event.
All of the Covid ‘i’s had been dotted, and its Covid ‘t’s had been crossed.
An orderly queue of cars with appropriately ‘masked’ drivers lined up to register their entry with Event Marshals giving instruction on where to park and how to behave.
Not a problem for Honda people.
There was an evident ‘glee’ in the air, a positive relief that at long last, eventually, folk had been allowed to meet up, open up bonnets, boots and doors, and show off their cars in the sunshine.
Covid fatigue therapy dished up Mimms Honda style.
Weather wise, the day had been plucked out of nowhere as autumn wind and rain threatened either side of that Sunday.
It was a perfect day in all of its sense. It was just as Brian says in yet another line of lyrics from his song - I'll see you in the sunlight.
So, build it and they will come, and they did.
Into the Sunlight
The Mimms people and cars are a loyal grouping who represent, show, and race and pace everything Honda. Whatever it is you have to bring to the ‘party’, it’s welcomed. It’s all there from the quietly unique and immaculately preserved and restored car from the east and the past, to the full throat tyre squeal smoke of track mapped engineering.
Oh, and there’s the bog standard show room versions both old and new on display, shined or straight off the street – it really doesn’t matter to the Mimms Honda family.
It's a day of Honda indulgence featuring:
The NS-X
The Accord
The Civic
The Integra
The Acty
The Jazz
The S-MX
The CR-X
The CR-Z
The City Turbo
The Insight
The S2000
The Prelude
and a CR-V
Apologies to the many superb Hondas that I missed.
Tyre Smoke
Amidst all of the showing and shining is a background of afternoon entertainment provided by the full throat, tyre squeal, smoke enthusiasts to whom respect goes out and is well deserved.
In the amphitheatre of the Sisters, sat on the grassy bank, you couldn’t ask for anything better to see as cars are taken to the limit.
A big thank you to them and the skills they display.
At the end of the day, literally, Mimms says a big thank you to those who go the extra mile with a variety of ‘Best in Show’ awards handed out, presented to grateful owners. Simple, effective and appreciated.
Thank you Mimms for a 2020 year to remember.
Mimms will be back in 2021.
Ray
For more Mimms and Honda content:
Join In
Comments (2)
Love that DC5 integra
The one with the blue stripe detail? One of the best I've seen - superb example