Spoke with him at length last night, the car's had quite an adventure (and a boat load of work done to it) since I've owned it! Apparently it had a nasty overheating episode during an autocross, the radiator and top end of the engine had to be replaced.
Uh oh... if he is Auto-Xing, that means he probably loves the car. Is he open to sale in the near-ish future? Any hopes at getting your MINI back?