Started in 1994 with 4 Mini's going out for a drive it has come along way and covered a lot of miles. For the first 4 years all we wanted to take out was 100 Mini's but we never quite reached that number. One year we had 98 on the Sunday and only 95 on the Monday. I promised everyone that once we had reached 100 we would not take out any more. Then the next year we took out 125 and I promised everyone we would not take out more than 150 and we took out 175 and that’s how it has been going until last year when we really did reach our maximum of 300 Mini's.

In 1999 we asked a few motorbike riders if they would help us get through the Valley of the Rocks. We now have 60 motor bikers who help us get through everywhere in a convoy. This year we are going to try and get 100 motorbikes. There is no other Mini run like ours; we close roads and shut down roundabouts, villages and towns. There is a great atmosphere and a buzz for the Mini owners taking part in our event that starts about 3 weeks before the event.

The Grand Tour brings the locals out in their thousands into the streets to watch us go by. It takes about 15/20 minutes for all the Mini's to clear an area, one after the other. The event takes in some fantastic countryside and has some breathtaking stopping points.

In 1996 the event went from a one day to a two day event and last year we included a Saturday evening cruise - “the Kebab Run” - a short run of about 20 minutes. It’s not just the drive that counts and no other event packs so much into it.

Just because we have been doing this event for 10 years don’t think we have not had our problems. Taking 300 Mini's out on any road these days causes problems. We have paramedics on motorbikes and we take out an ambulance with us. We have Mini's along the line carrying full size fire extinguishers with the Mini's carrying the big fire extinguishers wearing fluorescent lime green flags and any Mini carrying normal car extinguishers wearing fluorescent orange flags.

A few years ago I took 225 Mini's into Lynton the wrong way and missed the high street altogether. There were a lot of people waiting for us. They could hear us, but could not see us and never did that year.