A whole year of Fuel Power has happened, time really does fly when you’re having fun! We can’t believe that this has come round so quickly and looking back at just how much we have managed to squeeze and fit into these past twelve months has been amazing. We have picked out just a few of the key events that made this year great and as we wander down memory lane, thought you might like to join us too.
On the whole, it’s been a great year for Fuel Power. Of course the year didn’t get off to the best start when the rear suspension on the Renault Megane gave up whilst towing the Trident Companion Micro Caravan (Trixie) home for the first time but as annoyed and maybe upset as Jake was at the time, we can take away some positives from the experience - we still managed to get the car back home (albeit with the help of a Fiat Ducato recovery truck…) and we now have a full on project car to in the Fuel Power Fleet, without shelling out any money to have one! Result!? Maybe not quite how we imagined it but Jake’s not afraid to pick up spanners where necessary. The adventure also meant that we got the opportunity to restore (in almost every aspect) a rare piece of British motoring/holidaying/camping history and we learnt a lot about caravans, ourselves and our abilities, as well as learning and spending time with some of our closest family members. It was an incredibly fun venture which has also led to endless compliments at various shows and campsites this year, so despite the big learning curve and it taking far longer and far more man hours than we initially thought, it was most definitely worth it.
As for the Renault, that’s currently in storage awaiting a new axle to pop up on the internet and in 2023, with no other large project based distractions with a deadline to focus on, hopefully he can begin work on that to get it roadworthy once more (I am determined!).
“It was seriously beginning to hit project status by the time the axle broke with significantly rusty rear arches that needed attention so maybe, in a way, it’s a good thing as I think this is maybe the kick I needed to really start giving the old car the love I feel it's worth. I have really missed driving it in 2022 and taking it to an event and we were especially looking forward to taking it to Simply French at Beaulieu and Festival of the Unexceptional but they will have to wait. Is it the best car in the world? No. Fastest? Definitely not, but it is mine and I feel its adventuring days aren’t over yet”.
We ticked off a bucket list purchase of a Sinclair C5 this year, you might have forgotten we had bought one as apart from the initial announcement and a few other occasions and brief mentions, it hasn’t really been shown on the channel or social media, however we always intended for it to be a winter project and work has begun on it, you just haven’t seen the fruits of our labour…yet. But it has been happening and we have enjoyed having it as a bit more of a personal project that can be a sole focus away from work and away from the computer which is always good. It is also in this time that we seem to come up with video ideas and plans going forward so, in all areas it is going to benefit you as an audience.
Behind the scenes, we hopped across to the Isle Of Wight for a promotional weekend for the Isle of Wight Mini Adventure and began a photographic campaign for the 2022 rendition of the event. This was a fantastic weekend with just a few members of the West Country Minis family and despite the weather we did manage get some really good photos and footage from our time there. Working alongside Matt this year has been great and we have found ourselves a great friend who fully supports us in everything we do, we are truly very grateful and can’t wait to share the videos and more photos with you all next year as we continue to work alongside Matt and the WCM team to promote the IOW Adventure to the masses, because, lets face it, a weekend away with a bunch of minis is quite possibly our perfect weekend!
Talking of Matt, arguably one of the biggest successes for the channel in 2022 came when he purchased HubNut’s Yugo Sana. Ian very kindly gave us a bit of a shout out after he and Matt got chatting and all of sudden A LOT of people discovered and ventured over to the channel to follow the Sana’s story. That weekend we were away at Retro Rides Weekender and were able to celebrate hitting not just 800 but 900 and 1000 subscribers! This was our goal for the end of this year and we are not shy to say that we know the Sana is why so many of you came over, but we are also very pleased with the fact that many of you have decided to stay! So, if that is you, thank you for sticking around, we hugely appreciate it. The Sana is a very hard vehicle to find parts for in the UK and whilst Matt has gained a significant amount, it isn’t enough quite yet to really dive into the car but between us, we’re hoping to have the Yugo up and running by the end of 2023 which will be exciting for us and you Sana fans as well. So keep your eyes peeled!
We were invited along to the Bromley Pageant of Motoring by Joseph Lloyd (Lloyd Vehicle Consulting) to join him on his stand along with Amber of Driven 247, Simon of Lot 76 Cars and a couple more of Joseph’s friends through the MG Rover scene, the variety and selection of cars (and tiny caravan) certainly made for a great display! We were positioned right by the arena where the Tigers Motorcycle Display Team were performing and next to us were loads of micro cars (Jake was in love with the tiny cars). Through Joseph's connections with the show, the stand got to display their vehicles and talk about them, why they’d bought them, what they’d done to them, you get the picture. We hooked Trixie up to Pogo the Panda and did a few laps of the arena and then we managed to not bore the crowd with our very excited chat about our awesome little project. The rest of the afternoon we were forced to split as I went off to continue filming and Genevieve stayed with the car and the caravan as so many people wanted to come over and have a look! I think we can call that a success.
Now of course, the event for which we are most proud but also the most terrifying of the year. Has to be the inaugural Fuel Power Party. We love going to events that other people have put on around the South of England and the Midlands so when we had the opportunity to host our own event to mark out the channel’s successes, we had to say yes. We set ourselves the task of finding a venue, we had a short list in mind but set about one at at time with the hope that maybe, just maybe one of them would get back to us with a yes. But thankfully we didn’t have to wait further than the first one thanks to the wonderful team at the Army Flying Museum in Middle Wallop, if you are ever in the area it is definitely worth a visit whether we are there or not! The whole ethos of this event wasn’t just about the channel though, the channel has grown exponentially in the last 12 months and as cheesy as it is, there wouldn’t be a Fuel Power if nobody watched the content we produce so it was also completely with the community in mind. The party was an opportunity to get the community together for a day and it really paid off. It was massively humbling and a day we’ll remember for the rest of our lives. As much as the channel started life about Jake and his three cars during lockdown in 2020, it has outgrown the driveway in recent years and is much more of a community effort now with more people becoming involved with the channel and that is something we hope to continue going forward. It was so lovely to also meet some of the people we only talk to online for the first time and to meet completely new people who had just stumbled across the event and are now some of our most active followers. We genuinely poured our hearts and souls into this event to make it as good as it could possibly have been and we are so proud and happy with the way that the day unfolded (minus Millie being a madam that morning). The people who came along were fantastic and with around 70 vehicles turning up throughout the day, I feel like that wasn’t bad going for a relatively small YouTube channel and we’re hoping to grow this event in 2023. Nothing is concrete yet, but we’re hoping we can announce dates in the spring.
The sales of our keyrings, magnets and stickers also went down well at the party and we’re looking into launching an online shop in 2023 now that the 3D printer has had a bit of a rest (it deserved it after all that printing).
The WCM Isle of Wight Mini adventure this year was a little bit different for us as we were actively working behind the scenes as opposed to just sitting back, relaxing and enjoying the show atmosphere. On Friday night, the Fuel Power family were drafted in to help set up and unload as well as directing camping traffic as very rapidly the event started to fill up. We were then back bright and early on Saturday where Genevieve was incredibly busy getting photos of the event (and some Mini Magazine too, thank you to Jeff Ruggles for that!). People arrived and then set off on the first convoy of the weekend. Jake was busy getting film footage for the 2023 Mini Adventure promotional footage which will be shared with you in the first part of next year. We also took part in and subsequently swept the floor of the Rocker Cover Racing championship held at the adventure every year which was a great addition to an already fantastic weekend. The Island Line Rocker Cover did its job well.
Going live was something we weren’t shy of by the end of the year with our largely successful monthly live streams where we found ourselves rambling for sometimes more than 2 hours! However when we were invited by Richard of UpNDownVids to be a part of his 24 hour livestream in aid of Sophie's Legacy we were shocked and so pleased to be asked to be a part of something so important. We were slotted in nicely at 2pm on the Saturday afternoon and we had an hour long chat with a rather sleep deprived Richard. But we managed to steer the conversation to weird and wonderful and rather rude place names, which definitely helped us to fill our slot! The live stream raised more than £8,500 in the end and was watched by people across the world. We are so proud to have been just a small part in this and will, without doubt, be looking to do more of this sort of thing in the future, alongside others or on our own channel.
To round off the year, we made one more journey to film a car (surprise surprise) and we thought we’d do something this year for a good cause. 2020 had the Mini Guide in collaboration with Team Ballylough Classics and 2021 was our Lap of Lights trip to Silverstone Circuit. 2022 we decided to help raise some more money for a different charity with a visit to the Lexicon shopping centre in Bracknell to meet up with another online content creator and friend of the channel, Driving with Nico (Nico Martin in the real world). For the last five years, he’s put together the idea of the Festive MINI, a BMW MINI covered in lights which was initially created to spread some joy to the residents of his local area but that has now grown beyond Nico and his string of Christmas lights to something that is fully supported by MINI themselves. With now over 3000 Twinkly lights available to sponsor as well as space and time in local venues, Nico’s fundraising efforts have really skyrocketed and we have loved being able to support that and just see how much joy the Festive MINI brings Nico and the general public!
We started 2022 with around 500 subscribers and as we previously mentioned a goal to hit 1000 by the end of the year. But here we are at just over 2000 fantastic, supportive and loyal subscribers who so often join in with a comment or on a livestream or even just when watching the video. This has really grown beyond the driveway now and that makes us so happy to have the wonderful community around us, so all we have left to say is thank you for joining us on this journey. It might be the end of 2022 but it is by no means the end of this adventure. Roll on 2023!
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