What a great event! There were 272 cars registered, and a ton more that attended just to see what was happening. It was a great mix of new and old cars, and I believe some bridges were built bettering the new/old relationship.
MINI Meet Events
Phil Wicks Academy
There was more than enough to keep all enthusiasts busy at the Meet. The Meet went from Monday through Friday, with the Phil Wicks Driving Academy running at Blackhawk Farms on Monday and Tuesday. This was a great experience and gave many MINI/Mini owners the chance to get out on a road course for the first time. There was also a chance to get a ton of track time!
Autocross
Following the Driving School, there was a day of motorsports at Blackhawk Farms. There was a Solo event with over 80 cars registered, including Charles Rossier from RDR and Eric Savage from Helix 13 - great guys. For those of you unfamiliar with a Solo 1 event, it is a track run instead of a coned course. You still get one lap through, and you run alone. The Webb Motorsports cars dominated the Solo event, with the Mule taking top time of day and an over 4 second lead over the second place car - another Webb Motorsports car driven by Cooper Stofer in his first ever track event. Congratulations Cooper!
Ultimate Mania Challenge
Also run on Wednesday was the Mania Challenge. All of the New MINIs were plagued with belt failures - something we are working on. Fortunately the Mule just kept plugging away all week! Before the start of the race, everything looked good, with the Mule being the fastest new MINI at Blackhawk, turning a 1:23.9 second run on our Toyo tires. Due to differing qualifying rules - a "qualifying race" rather than fastest times, the grid was somewhat mixed - which made for a more exciting race start! During the Qualifying Race, the Mule was gridded 5th or 6th based on when the car reached the grid if I remember correctly (the starting positions changed at each run). When the green flag dropped, the Webb Motorsports car rocketed from its mid-pack position to pass the Mini Mania "Super Cooper S" on the inside into turn one and take the lead. After turning a few hot laps, we returned to check pressures and make adjustments for the race. Of course, this was without the knowledge that we were doing a qualifying
race rather than timed qualifying, so it hurt our position for the race. We ended up qualifying 7th for the challenge.
When the race started, there were 6 classic MINIs ahead of the Mule, and by the end of the first lap, we had climbed to second behind the classic Mini of Jim Firstenburg, a local with a very nicely prepped car. For the rest of the challenge, we raced - the Mule outpowering, and the classic out braking. With less than one lap left, the Mule lost its belt, and the event was done. Even with the car losing a belt on the last lap, we finished first in class (new MINI).
The belt was replaced (with help from Eric at Helix - thanks!) and a scratch race with the FMD performance new MINI and several classic Minis, including Jim, was put on. The FMD car was directly in front of the Mule on the start, and at the green flag, the Mule again was in second place by the end of the first lap, behind Jim's classic. We again fought hard, and several lead changes took place, but the abbreviated race ended with the classic on top by a little less than the front wing! Again, the Webb Motorsports Mule finished first in class, but was just nipped for the overall win.
A great event with definite comraderie from some of the other tuners - classic and new. Thanks to Eric from Helix and Anthony from FMD.
From Blackhawk, it was back to Rockford for the remaining two days of funkhana, rally, and concours events. There were also several vendor displays, and a few pulley installs. Francis from Florida had a very nice new MINI with a shaved boot and full body color aero kit. There were so many nice cars to behold - woodys, delivery vans, pickups - great stuff.
Many friends were made, and I very much look forward to the 2005 meet, and the next Mania Challenge - we expect to win!
More pics, video and info to follow!
Randy
