Mintex Winner is a Hard-Driven Sunbeam Alpine

A winner of the Mintex / ViaRETRO Competition has been chosen. True to our ethos, the set of Mintex Classic brake pads go to a classic car which sees plenty of action and enjoyment out on the roads, which is of course where all classic cars ought to be found.

In January we featured an article on the new line of brake pads, Mintex Classic, as can be seen here: Have a Brake: Mintex Are Back-In-Box! The competition was open to every ViaRETRO reader, but inevitably there could be only one winner. With no further ado, we’ll pass the word to winner, Per Holmen, so he can share his story:

My Sunbeam Alpine S1 from 1960 must be the ideal candidate for a set of fresh Mintex brake pads. Being driven hard and often wears the brakes and you can never have too much stopping power.

But this treatment lies in its blood. The Rootes group always campaigned the Alpine series in both rallies and races, with huge success right from the Monte Carlo rally to Le Mans. When two Dutch enthusiasts resurrected this Alpine in 1995 their sole focus was equally on competition in the form of long distance reliability rallies. Besides several smaller events they also took part in the 5-day Grand Prix de Champagne in 1996, and subsequently every Tulpen Rally from 1997 to 2002, achieving an impressive second place overall in 1999.

The Alpine then came to Denmark in 2007, and ever since coming into my care during the early summer of 2016, it’s seen plenty of action on the twisty backroads of north Sealand, as well as being the selected mode of transport to Classic Motorsports events around Denmark and Sweden. For 2018 I’m planning a drive to Le Mans Classic with fellow enthusiasts. The Alpine never fails to put a smile on my face…

Yesterday, on the Sunday of Race Retro at Stoneleigh Park, Simon Knagg from Questmead who are the main distributor of Mintex Classic in conjunction with ViaRETRO, revealed the winner of the competition. A set of appropriate Mintex Classic brake pads will duly be sent to Per Holmen north of Copenhagen in Denmark. May those new pads give you plenty of stopping power during miles and miles of fun and adventures out on those twisty B-roads…

Simon Knagg (Mintex) on the left and Anders Bilidt (ViaRETRO) on the right during the revealing of the competition winner on the Mintex stand at Race Retro.