Gear up for big celebrations of a tiny 1960s icon at the first-ever Brands Hatch Mini Festival.

More than 50 years of automobile history will hurtle around the track at the first Brands Hatch Mini Festival.

Owners of the tiny and iconic British car will show off their motors around the 1.2 mile Indy circuit on Saturday, June 16 and Sunday, June 17.

Crowds can wander through off-track displays of the Mini in its original and current guise.

Voted the second most influential car of the 20th century, behind the Ford Model T and immortalised in 1969 movie The Italian Job, fans can also see a Mini stunt show at the event.

Then petrolheads can watch the Mini Challenge for a round of the new Mini championship. Run under the banner of MSVR, it went down to the wire last season with Chris Knox overcoming Lee Allen and Luke Caudle to lift the title.

And as part of the entertainment, on Sunday, Britain’s Got Talent strongman and ‘headbalancer’ John Evans, will attempt to balance a Mini on his head.

Mini Challenge manager Paul Harvey said: “I’m looking forward to the event. It will be great to get all the Mini clubs involved and hopefully if enough people get behind the event, it will become a regular feature.

All the Mini Challenge drivers will be looking forward to taking part in this meeting.”

There will be 12 Mini races across the two days. Original Mini lovers can also see some competitive action on the circuit, in the Mini Se7en and Mini Miglia Championships. The Mini Se7en Championship is almost as old as the classic car, now entering its 45th year of competition.

The series will see versions of the 998cc Mini compete against each other, while the Mini Miglia championship will see highly tuned variants tackle the Kent circuit.

There will also be action from historic Minis with a pre-1966 Mini race and a handicap race for both the new and old variants of the car.

A bumper grid of pre-1966 Minis is expected which will include several competitors travelling from Europe to take on the Brits at Brands Hatch.

Supporting races come from the GT Cup Championship and the Le Mans-style sportscars of the Radical UK Cup.

There will also be a trade village, parades and live music at the festival.

The event runs from Saturday, June 16 and Sunday, June 17. Admission £21, children free. Call 0843 453 9000 or visitwww.brandshatch.co.uk