Ten Questions – Richard Brunning

Racing driver and engineer Richard Brunning is no stranger to Car & Classic having featured in a couple of our YouTube videos but anyone who has even a passing interest in classic Minis and project builds done properly will know him from the excellent Bad Obsession Motorsport YouTube channel. Specifically the Project Binky build series which has captivated classic car fans the world over whereby the engine and running gear from a Toyota Celica GT4 is shoehorned into an Austin Mini.

With its focus on fabrication and leaving no bolt or washer unturned (or unpainted for that matter), combined with a good dollop of irreverent British sarcasm, it’s a truly fantastic show and demonstrates just how much time and effort is required when you take away the fake jeopardy and over the top antics of other build series. And it’s bloody hilarious to boot. So we sat down with Richard, one half of BOM, for a cuppa and a chinwag. Oh, and a biscuit, obviously.

1) Anyone who’s into classic cars and project builds will no doubt know who you are and what you do. But there was obviously Bad Obsession Motorsport before Binky, and Brunning before Bad Obsession, so can you tell us a bit about your background when it comes to cars, spanners and racing?

My dad used to restore vintage commercial vehicles and one of my first memories is aged four going to his friend John’s house on a Sunday to ‘help’. They did a 1923 Model T Ford Bus, a 1936 Leyland Badger, a 1950 Atkinson 8 Wheeler, a 1949 Vulcan PF and various other stuff and we used to travel to steam rallies showing them off. At age 12, I started racing karts and then progressed into single seaters. My love of cars comes from my dad, there’s no question about that.

2) At the time of writing the latest video in the Binky build series saw you guys taking the Mini to the Historic Rally Festival last August and driving it off a trailer. And then back on again. The question on everybody’s lips, including ours, is how is the project coming along?

You’d think we’d be finished by now, wouldn’t you? We’ve been down a massive rabbit hole trying to create our own instrument cluster that looks like a classis mini dash but performs like a more modern set-up. The lack of space for tonnes of wires means we’ve had to create our own circuit boards but as we didn’t choose the sensible route, we’ve had to perfect our own technique of fabricating PCB’s. Plus, I’ve had to learn Arduino programming to make it all work. Grr…

3) What was the catalyst for the build? Was it a passion project or just something to do in your spare time? And what prompted you to film it?

Nik built a couple of minis for other people – one using running gear from a Saxo – and both people thought theirs was the best. Nik disagreed and as he’d recently written off a Celica GT4 and been given a Mini, we got drunk one night on Jack Daniel’s and decided it would be a great idea to try and combine the two.

The filming thing evolved from being frustrated by the TV shows that gloss over the interesting stuff and cut straight to the finished article. We thought it might be fun to show the process more fully. We had no idea what we were doing…

4) Did the thought of electrifying the Mini ever cross your collective mind and what are your thoughts on classic EV conversions in general?

No, not for this project. I have no problem with anyone doing whatever they want to their cars; it’s their car after all. EV’s leave me cold though, there’s no soul in them. Potentially terrific as a day-to-day tool just as a washing machine is.

5) Did you have any idea how successful the Binky series would be on YouTube and how has it affected Bad Obsession Motorsport since taking off?

Gosh no. We figured we’d have a couple of hundred people we know, and friends of friends watch it, but that’s all. It’s allowed us to quit our day jobs and concentrate work full time on the insanity.

6) Having been friends for so long you and Nik have great natural chemistry, which is part of what makes the videos so enjoyable, but what does the future hold for you guys and BOM?

Well, we have more projects in the shed than we realistically have life for, and we have a further few hundred projects in our minds, so it’s going to be a case of prioritising. None of them is as difficult or involved as the mini, so it might not take us a decade for each of those…

7) If you could only pick one what would it be: racing or spannering, and why?

Racing. Because there’s nothing more adrenaline inducing. I love it.

8) What’s your current daily driver and what other cars do you have in your fleet?

We’ve got a Mazda 6 wagon which is great, I drive a Jaguar XFR, because supercharged 5.0l V8, Nik’s got a Citroen C2 VTS that desperately needs scrapping, we have a 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Spec D waiting for a repair and there’s another dozen cars in various states of destitution in the shed.

9) You’ve featured in the Car & Classic YouTube video where you attempt to resurrect an Austin A30 with help from our editor and fellow petrolhead Chris Pollitt. What are your thoughts on the fake jeopardy and unbelievable time frames that we constantly see on other classic build channels? And what’s Pollitt really like?

The fake jeopardy and unbelievable time frames on other channels are exactly the reason that BOM exists as it does. It drives us nuts. I had a lot of fun getting moist in Bristol with Chris. He’s a lovely, lovely big teddy bear of a man and despite what you tell me, I think he’s ace.

10) And finally, how do you envisage the classic car world in general evolving and changing over the next twenty years as well as your and BOM’s part in it?

The classic car market has gone a little crazy recently as people seem to think a rusty old 1.2 Nova saloon is worth a small fortune. I don’t get it. I think analogue cars of almost any vintage are going to hold their value as there’s an intrinsic honesty to them that is absent from modern vehicles. You can’t tinker with a Nissan Qashqai, nor would you want to to be honest. The cars that have soul will continue to be maintained; there’s still a lot of blokes in sheds and an increasing number of girls too are discovering the pleasures of being covered in lube and manipulating recalcitrant nuts, so there’s hope for a bright future for the classics.

As for us, well we’ll still be found in an old potato shed in the middle of the middle of nowhere slowly going insane and occasionally creating content that we hope people will enjoy.