Playmini

16/09/2026

Project Orange heading off to its new home in Tokyo ....

15/09/2026

Castle Combe - Mini Miglia

15/09/2026

04/09/2026

The Playmini Sprint mini pickup went along to the COOLFLO show last night and was amung some superb machinery !

27/08/2026

Customers rather nice MK1 Cooper S in the workshop today for some Playmini TLC.

27/07/2026

Our historic race van got a lot of interest at the weekends Goodwood event - so many people though it was just a van until they saw inside the back doors 😁
If you want to know more about this awesome little van and its history, harking back to potentially the seed that Playmini grew from, with Nicks grandfather running the garage then Nicks father taking the spanners to work at Downton Engineering have a look at the vans webpage - https://www.historicminiracing.co.uk/historic-race-van

27/07/2026

A fun Saturday spent at Goodwood doing display laps for the GRCC circuit takeover in the Playmini historic race van

27/07/2026

A quick once over on the Playmini race van in preparation for the Goodwood Motor Circuit circuit takeover

22/07/2026

One of our old friends and trusted builder of super mint Mini Mokes is selling one on Ebay - the listing is :

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for mini moke classic car at the best online prices at eBay UK! Free delivery for many products!

21/07/2026

We will have another Playmini car available very soon 😀 ....
This is a 1979 Mini Pickup, painted in Tweed grey with genuine Rosepetal wheels covering Cooper S brakes and wide rear drums, fed with braided fuel lines and the correct bore master cylinder. Suspension is generally standard about from the adjustable height cones. P700 headlamps, new wiring loom and all copper pipes ( fuel and brake ) The interior is boasting a Newton Commercial trim kit and seats made by C&S Custom Upholstery with a Playmini limited edition Moto-lita steering wheel, new Smiths magnolia gauges and Cooper S 130mph speedometer, roof is clad in cream crackle Cooper S material and sun visors. Many parts on this build have been powder coated for finish and longevity, rear lamp housings, tailgate hinges, fuel tank, subframes, suspension arms, master cylinders, pedal box, seat hinges etc.
The engine is a Swiftune bespoke unit just for this build.
Now displacing 1216cc and producing 88bhp @ 6500rpm thanks to Swiftunes exceptional build quality and design.
A 998cc cylinder block was ultrasonic de-rusted, bored and honed for CST+100 1098 flat top pistons, it has a steel centre main strap, line honed main housings, re-ground and balanced 1098cc crank and rods, built with ARP bolts. A Swiftune SW5 billet camshaft and vernier timing gear, CSI pro distributor was fitted.
The cylinder head is a 12g940, modified for high air speed, has new valve seats and race spec 35/30 valves with bronze guides and double valve springs. Valve pockets have been machined into the block to accept the 12g940 cylinder head and attached with ARP head studs.
The water ways have been modified to give better flow, Swiftune 1.5 ratio roller rockers & heavy duty rocker shaft have been fitted.
The CSI programable distributor was dyno mapped for optimum power & torque – even the distributor drive has been balanced !
Transmission – a 4.4kg steel flywheel and 2.2 steel backplate are fitted using a blue clutch plate, all balanced. Gearbox is fitted with a Minispares C-STN48 close ratio helical gear kit, cross pin differential, 3.44:1 final drive and central oil; pickup – built by Swiftune.
Fuelling provided by a set of Playmini twin 1 ¼ SU carburettors with K&N air filters