TURIN watch out! One Oxfordshire family have become so besotted with the classic Mini they have enough horsepower to pull off their own Italian Job-style heist.

The Webb family are so in love with the Cowley-built car that dad Steve, mum Michele, son Luke and niece Ali Hewitt all own models of the classic vehicle.

And the love affair seems contagious since their daughter Claudine, 23, bought her 1986 Mini Piccadilly two weeks ago to bring their fleet of Minis up to a fab five.

Their affection for the old-style Mini began when Luke, 18, began non-contact banger racing at the Standlake Arena, near Witney, five years ago.

Since then the Webb family have bought 10 Minis including their four road models and a further six for racing.

Mr Webb, 50, from Yarnton, estimates he has sunk £10,000 into restoring and repairing old Minis to bring them up to scratch.

He said: “Luke started the Mini craze and then my wife decided she’d like one and it snowballed from there.

“Every Mini we see we think we can’t let it go to the scrapyard so we end up just buying more and more.

“They are a fun little car. They swallow up money on repairs because there’s always something needs doing on them, but they’re quite addictive.”

Luke, a former pupil of the Marlborough School in Woodstock, has been tinkering under the bonnets of Minis since he was 12 and has won 25 races in the car.

The teenager is now planning an Italian Job-style drive to the Swiss Alps in his 1978 Mini Clubman for the International Mini Meet in June next year.

He said: “I’ve loved Minis since I was about four or five, they just stand out.

“I’m not a fan of new cars. I love keeping the Minis going. Even if there are times I want to pull my hair out, there is a massive reward in bringing them back to life.”

Claudine Webb, 23, said: “They’re quirky and you don’t see many of them on the road anymore.”

Miss Webb said another Mini could soon be joining the family as her partner Gary Fleet, 28, also planned to buy one.

Ali Hewitt, 19, of Botley, found someone to share her love of Minis when she met her boyfriend Scott Hathaway, 22, at a Mini show in Brighton last year.

Miss Hewitt, who plans to drive to Barcelona in a convoy of 10 Minis next year, spent £5,000 on restoring her car.

She said: “We attend as many national shows as possible and go out for a family drive every weekend.

“There’s a big social side to owning the Mini. You get to know people through going to the shows.”

However, Mr Webb, who works in the shadow of the BMW car plant as a warehouse man at Kennington Flooring in Transport Way, Cowley, said his family were not fans of the new Mini.

He said: “It isn’t a Mini to be honest with you, it’s too big. The beauty of the Mini is how small and compact it is.”