REAL ESTATE

In the world of motor sport, it’s virtually impossible to come up with a racing ‘first’. Every manner of car, old or new, top-drawer or entry-level has, it seems, been tried, tested and raced. Yet, Mark Burnett, MD of Burlen Ltd., managed to pull a racing rabbit out of the hat when, in 2019, he turned up at Goodwood’s 77th Members’ Meeting in his wonderfully-bonkers, and seriously-swift, Appendix K 1964 Austin Mini Countryman. Aptly nicknamed ‘Splinter’, the wood-clad Austin Countryman proved to be much more successful than either Mark or his racing rivals anticipated... and became a huge favourite with spectators, ‘et al’.

Well, having stunned the historic racing fraternity with the Countryman, a variation on the Mini theme that had been homologated for racing in period albeit never campaigned, he’s about to do it again with its younger sibling: the Clubman Estate. And the reason behind