'07 R56 Pepper White. Ordered last week by my wife. 5 weeks and counting, apparently.

My wife, Dani, (yes, Dani....I'm Dan ) spent 2006 autocrossing an R53 across the country and doing VERY well (2nd in L1 at the Pro Finale last year), but unfortunately the owner of the car retired it in favor of a monster SM2 RX7. So, she was sad.

Since we've been autocrossing together since before we got married 5 years ago, I have to do what it takes to keep her happy. We normally race Miatas, SM2-style, have owned a '90, '91, '93LE, '94, '99 and '06, but she seemed to do better in the Mini. This year while I race an '06 in CSP she's been staying home playing with the doggies.

Originally we wanted to purchase one of the new FJ Cruisers despite the local threads stating how fugly they are.
It was either this or get one of the early FJs that are over two decades old. And there aint no way in hell i'm working on one of these pigs


we decided to shop around for FJ Cruisers....until we went to the SCCA Houston National Tour
We (well, I since she stayed at home with the beagles) got to see an '07 up close and personal and how well it did with the new turbo.

I just threw it out there, asking if she might be interested in a Mini Cooper instead of an FJ and without even thinking about it she said "YES" like the happiest girl you've ever seen!
(picture does not reflect actual picture of Dani)

So, we went shopping at a couple of Mini dealerships seeing what they had in stock with the Sport suspension and LSD. After talking with the San Antonio dealership (which was like pulling teeth)


We made a call to DFW, talked to their saleswoman, had her order our Mini, gave her the down payment and then danced in the streets.....all STILL by waiting for SA to tell us HOW to make a down payment!

oy.

so......i've been shopping for a second set of 17" wheels, ordered a set of Hoosiers, researching the fitment of R53 custom Konis onto an R56 and searching for some old 245/40R17s to see if they fit on 17x7s

Anyhow, here we are happy people waiting for our Mini Cooper S

I'm more fond of turbos instead of superchargers anyhow. It took me 3 years to finally get a season of reliable racing from our SC Miata

For now....our '06 will need to be on hold until next year while we play with our '07 R56 in GS

Hope to learn much from this forum and hope to meet y'all out there on courses!

Dan & Dani

 

Howdy neighbor! Is them beagle doggies she is staying home with?
Welcome to NAM.
I like this .
Don't know why?

 

Yes, those are our wonderbeagles
What makes them wonderbeagles? We wonder what the hell possessed us to get (3) of them.

 

You'll have a lot of fun AutoXing the new Mini! My wife and I both run as a team.

 

Welcome, Dan!
I think that's the first pictograph post I've ever seen.

Quite a few Miata -> MINI folks here.
MINI is fun on the track, but I must admit I like the throttle steering of the Miata...

'04 Indi MCS
'92A Yellow
'91B Gumball blue

 

I'm still keeping my '94 Miata because they make the best daily drivers ever, and my preference for autocross is still a throttle-steering SM2 beast, but that will have to wait until next year when the price on the used '06s drop. But for now, my wife needs to retire her '90 Miata as a daily and get something more reliable and something she can race.

I knew i recognized your name!

Dan

 

Is there much local autocrossing? Where would one find out more?

You might also want to check out metroplexmini.org for some other TX MINI people.

(also Dan from RR!)

 

And here: http://www.scca.com/Inside/index.asp?reference=swdiv

 

http://www.spokes.org
We're not an SCCA organization, but do use their rules and regs (less red tape this way)

 

Welcome to NAM. And WOW! What a impressive first into post. You're going to fit in right away!! Love the puppy picture too!

 

Thanks! I like NAM thus far. I've been a member of many forums for years, the largest being miataforum.com, but none of them seem to have the feel of this much fun for some reason. Lots of great knowledge out here and friendly people. me rikey!

 

'Alo from the wife!

My Mini went to "scheduled for production" today, but I don't have a production week yet.

I'm looking forward to the site!