From little acorns do mighty oak trees grow

The Italian Job event coins that phrase perfectly. 

The idea started as little more than a jokey conversation amongst a group of friends in a Hove pizzeria way back in 1989. One of the group suggested we organise a Beaujolais Rally style event amongst ourselves but to Italy (we were in an Italian restaurant Topolino’s in Church Road after all). Another suggested using Minis and another still came up with the name the Italian Job. Someone else suggested fundraising for Children In Need and Childline. I had spent three glorious years at University in Italy, so my input was that we take the event to my old university town, a little known corner of North East Italy called Trento. 

The idea for the Italian Job was born but at that stage that was all it was, an idea. 

So the next day I took the concept to my mother Giulia. She is Italian (Neapolitan actually) and had been involved in the travel industry all her working life. I knew she would have a better idea of how to actually take the idea from the drawing board to real life. Chatting with her about it then, I saw a light bulb switch on in her head and her passion for the Italian Job was born. It’s a passion that still to this day at aged 88 is still very evident and strong. 

Together we wrote to the city authorities in Trento and laid out the bare bones of our idea. They too loved it. Next, we sent a cheeky letter to John Cooper in Ferring, West Sussex. For those that don’t know, John Cooper was the motorsport legend who invented the Mini Cooper. He was incredibly approachable and receptive and just like my mother and the authorities in Trento, he loved the concept. 

John Cooper was heavily involved at that time with Rover Group developing what was to become the re-launch of the classic Mini Cooper in 1990. So the timing was perfect even though it was accidental. John took the idea of the Italian Job to Rover. Guess what? Just like my mother, the authorities in Trento and John Cooper himself, Rover Group loved it too. They loved it so much they threw a lot of effort and weight behind the event and helped open many doors for us. We were off.  

So in little more than a couple of months we’d taken the step off the drawing board into real life, with a plan, strategy and support. Next came a series of press releases (the old fashioned way of typing them, printing them, and posting them, not knowing if the idea would ever make it into column inches in motoring magazines and newspapers). We were lucky, because it did and it appeared everywhere. 

We were literally inundated with enquiries from people to join us, so we hastily prepared an entry pack, in the old fashioned way of photocopies on coloured green, white and red paper plus a very simple explanatory leaflet. 

Our first ever Italian Job in November 1990 saw us take 55 teams to Trento for two days of adventure driving through the Dolomites and across the region of Trentino. We had the full support of Trento City authorities, local Police who gave us escorts everywhere we went and the local wine growers association who saw the Italian Job as a gentle way of introducing their relatively unknown but delicious wines to the UK market.   

Our return route from Trento back to Brighton saw us have an overnight pit stop in Lausanne, Switzerland and then a crazy dash across France back to Dieppe for an overnight four hour ferry crossing to Newhaven. At 2am in the morning the final teams arrived at Dieppe waiting for the 6am ferry. With time to kill many teams did what any discerning Mini driver does and started washing and waxing their cars. It really was a surreal sight.  

We arrived back in Brighton Marina mid morning under escort from Sussex Police to a chequered flag being waved enthusiastically by the legend that was John Cooper. The sense of satisfaction was almost overwhelming. 

It was an incredible event in 1990, full of emotion and joy. To see the fruits of our labours come together like it did was such a rewarding experience. 

Even more rewarding was our fundraising success that first year… £70,000.- in total. We knew then that we just had to do it again, and that’s exactly what we did.  

The Italian Job has run every year from 1990 to 2019 and in those years 3 million pounds have been raised and donated to incredible children’s charities across the UK. 

We’ve evolved the event enormously in the interim years and of course benefitted massively from technology along the way. We now have satnavs and mobile phones for instance, which makes the task of actually getting to the start line in Italy that much easier. We are now a 12 day long event and incorporate a mildly competitive navigational ‘rally’ as part of our driving experience. Adding this competitive element has elevated the event even further. 

We have a fully equippped service crew manned by two qualified mechanics, who accompany us on our travels, to ensure the wheels of the mighty Minis continue to turn. They often break and, covering nigh on 3,000 miles in 12 days, means they need some extra special tender loving care. 

In 2001, the New MINI was born and we accepted them as participants straight away. John Cooper, who sadly passed away in 2000, had been heavily involved in the creation of the new MINI so, for us, it was only right that we welcomed the new form of the mighty Mini. 

Between 1990 and 2019 the colourful Minis of the Italian Job have been turning heads wherever we go and we have been to some magical places in Italy: Rome, Turin, Imola F1 Circuit, Monza F1 Circuit, Mugello circuit, Modena, Maranello, Bologna, Milan, Naples, Florence and Venice. Across Europe we have stopped at the Nurburgring, Munich, Innsbruck, Paris, Reims, Geneva, Monte Carlo, Dijon and Spa Francorchamps.

A personal highlight for me came in 2005 when somehow, after many months of negotiation, we managed to persuade Ferrari to let us drive our Minis onto and around quite possibly the most hallowed asphalt on earth… their private circuit at Fiorano, near Maranello. It was quite simply an incredible achievement, one of my proudest moments of the Italian Job to date.

The pandemic of course suspended the Italian Job, but we’re back and planning our next event in October 2022. 

I would urge anyone reading this to consider joining us for a fundraising event with a real difference. We can promise all teams an unforgettable few days of fun, driving on incredible roads and in some breath-taking spots, fabulous camaraderie and amazing adventure as we wind our way across Europe to Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Lombardy, Piedmont and back to Blighty. 

All you need is the volition, time to participate and fundraise and of course a Mini. We accept any age, shape, size or colour of Mini, so beg, borrow or ‘steal’ one and join us as we set off in pursuit of our next fundraising target of 4 million pounds for children’s charities. 

It really will be the second most fun thing you can do in a Mini.

www.italianjob.com