MINI MOMENTS with The Community Brain at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 2024

Mini Moments is a year-long celebration of the incredible tradition of design and innovation in the local area of Kingston, Surbiton and Chessington. This includes a particular focus on Cooper Cars, which revolutionised Formula One and rally driving in the 1950s and 1960s from its garage on Hollyfield Road, Surbiton.

For their rear engine revolution transformed F1, with driver Jack Brabham becoming the first to win the championship (1959, 1960) with an engine in the back of his vehicle.

In 1961 the Mini Cooper was born after John Cooper spent two weeks hacking the design of Alex Issigonis’s Mark I Mini. Driven by Paddy Hopkirk, the car became an international sensation when it won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, and again in 1965 and 1967.

With the 1964 winning car, ‘33 EJB’, appearing in a distinctive Corgi Toys box, our Mini Moments display at Hampton Court celebrates these extraordinary victories.

Photographs are credit to Ana Rose Layose Delmo & Stuart Tree