Bolton Mini-le-Mans 24 Hour Pedal Car Race

A bit of nostalgia for anyone who remembers this. Bethel Church used to run a youth club on Friday nights, which through the 1980s participated in Bolton's Mini le Mans pedal car race.

Bethel Church number 10 pedal car at Moss Bank Park

About the Pedal Car Race

The first Mini le Mans pedal car race at Bolton was held in 1980 at Leverhulme Park. The event became a popular Bolton tradition for twenty years, attracting thousands of visitors every year. Sponsorship money raised by the race was donated to causes such as Dr. Barnardo's and Guide Dogs for the Blind.

In the early days, about 40 teams competed, most being local clubs and businesses, but it also drew a few participating teams from around the country, and even from abroad. There were six riders per team, young people aged from their early teens to twenty-five, who would take turns to do one or more laps around the track for 24 hours. The winning team would usually do over 1000 laps over the 24 hour period, around 360 miles.

The first two events in 1980 and 1981 were won by Vauxhall Motors. The third event, in 1982, was won by British Aerospace (BAe). Other participating teams included Bolton School, Ingersol Rand, Adlington Scouts, MK Cycles, Boundary Garage, Bolton Institute of Technology, Astley Bridge Baptists and Longsight Methodist.

While the race was very competitive at the top of the leaders board, the objective for many of the younger teams, scout troops and youth clubs was just to have fun. Simply keeping going and finishing the race was challenge enough, constantly fighting to stay ahead of, or catch, their nearest rivals.

Bethel Church Team

David Tonge, who was an instructor at BAe, and involved in their pedal car project, invited the Bethel Church youth group along to spectate at the first race in 1980. The young people from Bethel were so impressed by the event that they said they wanted to enter themselves and be part of the next race. David and Jack Edwards then spent the rest of the year building a pedal car.

Bethel Church youth club competed for the first time in 1981, their cart being allocated the number 29. In subsequent years the church entered two cars, the A team, and a B team for the younger riders, and the church entered almost every year up until the end of the 1980s.

The race is still fondly remembered by a generation of the youth club members who took part, and those church volunteers who supported the effort with training, supervising, catering, cheering-on and the mechanics who built and maintained the pedal cars.

Catching forty winks

BBC Coverage in 1982

The BBC children's program "Get Set For Summer" briefly covered the 1982 Bolton Mini le Mans, which was broadcast on Saturday 12th June in the same year. Note at 5:32 the Bethel pedal car, number 29, going into the pits for change over, with David Tonge watching. "That wasn't such a good change over." says the commentator!