So is anybody going this year? I would like to go Saturday. Does anybody know if there will be any MINIS racing Saturday?

The BMW club will not get the parade lap this year as they are doing things differently. They will be randomly drawing 75 cars from all the car clubs for slots in the parade lap

 

Looks like fun. I haven't done this before, so I have a few questions.

Can you have a cooler in your car? Adult beverages? Do you take lawn chairs to set up next to your MINI, or do you sit in the car? How much are tickets? Do you have to be in place at the paddock before racing begins? Do two paying customers grant two chances to win the parade lap? I know I could call the phone number, but folks here are so darned informative...

 

Yes, Yes (no glass) Yes. If you sign up with a car club and if your a member of BMWCCA or Birmingham British you will get a discount and be able too park in the car coral, I believe you have to sign up with the car club thinky to be able to do the pace laps.

Note last year there were no BAMA MINIS in the car coral, suprise surprise.

I'm at the track this weekend, if you come out I'll get you a ride with myself or somebody at speed.

And yes there should be 3 MINI's in the Sat. event.

 

Sorry we don't seem to be meeting up to your standards emma

I was unable to go last year as were many others. The first year I went I think we had around 14 MINIS. The second year turnout wasn't as high but it wasn't too bad.

Louis I always bring a cooler with beer/water (& cups if your beer is in glass bottles) & I also bring something to eat. Year before last I brought a loaf of bread & a big batch of chicken salad for everyone. We had a MINI tailgate party since my cabrio boot opens down The food there is blah & overpriced so I plan to do the same this year. Maybe we can each bring a lil something & have a picnic. Also bring a lawn chair, radio with headphones/earbuds, sunscreen, etc.... The car clubs get awesome parking. We park right beside the track & sit along the edge in our lawn chairs just a few feet from our MINIS. If shorn comes he will bring his MINI flag & fly it during the race.

You must buy your tickets in advance to get to park in the car corral. I can't remember the cost. You can buy a weekend pass or a one-day ticket. The MINIS race on Saturday so I normally just buy a ticket for that day & I think it ran somewhere around $25-$35. You can buy them online at www.barbermotorsports.com & they mail them to you. The drawing for the parade lap is new so I dunno how that will work. I think the parade lap is on Sunday so I won't be there for that. That's all I can think of right now but I attached the race notice in my first post so you can click on it & read up

 

Here's my problem with BAMA MINI's, it's that there isn't really a BAMA MINI's anymore. There's no club events, well a dinner once a month attended by the same 4 or 5 people everytime. When I first got sort of involved there were drives or an event about once a month. There hasn't been anything in over a year.

If a new person goes to the dinner they don't show up again.

I understand the problem, there no way to get any info to new folks and since there are no emails sent anymore the folks that once came don't.

I've joined the British CAR Club and HOD BMWCCA they've alway got something going on are are happy to have MINI's at their events. Last year at the Rolex I parked with the BMW folks because there were no BAMA people.

If BAMA MINI's wants to get back to being a real car club rather than a dinner club something needs to be done. Look at the contact list Andrew was making did it ever happen? Do Dah this year no. Look at the members page of BAMA, when did most of the people listed last come to the MINI super club?

There are more MINI's in the area all the time and less going on with BAMA it might be time to do something or give it up.

 

Yeah it's real easy to talk the talk & criticize others constantly (which is all I have ever seen you do in our local forum) but why don't you try to walk the walk & actually organize an event instead of expecting others to do it for you. I view BAMA MINI as a pretty informal club & I don't think anyone would mind if you step up & organize a ride. Just announce it here & email the info to golfman so he can broadcast it for you.

BTW we had a drive in April. Were you there?

BTW golfman sends out emails to those who have provided their email addresses to the club announcing everything we do.

 

my 2 cents worth. Emmathecheesedog? If you want to pay the $9.00 a month fee to host the sight let me know, I would sure like to put that money on mods for my MINI. Seems like in the past when we had our Meet & Eats, that is when we planned the Events. I along with bamatt, would love for you to plan and event for the group.
Has an idea, If you plan an event for the group, maybe everyone will get excited again and we can double the attendance of Atlanta Mini's.

 

Back to the Barber Race in July. I was playing around on the ticket ordering site & it doesn't appear to be set up correctly yet. There was no place to enter our club name so we would get the $5 per ticket sold & there was also no place to enter the discount code for the free paddock pass. So I guess don't order your ticket yet till they get it tweaked or if somebody else has figured out how to make it work right let me know

 

OK golfman helped me see that the ticket ordering page is working. When ordering you enter "carclub08" for the password. Then on the next page it will let you select your car club (MINI-Birmingham or whoever you are with) & ask for your make & model so you can get the free car corral parking

 

 

If I am back early enough from racing at Mid-Ohio I'll be out there, I'm normally there every year with the BMW club, often times helping park people. I am also on the advisory board for Barber Motorsports so I'm out there allot anyway.
As for the club activities once I get a Mini I will be more than happy to help plan and put on stuff all the time, I have done it for years in the BMWCCA up in the Kansas City region and a little since moving back to Birmigham a few years ago.
In fact we are having a BMW group get together 6/14 at a Hooters here in town.

 

I was told at our dinner last night that there may not be MINIS in the race after all. It seems as though the Rolex/Grand Am is now all GT no ST. I haven't a clue how to research this further but the Barber website does show the race as a GT race. If anyone knows any of the MINI racers perhaps they could contact them & get us a definite answer.

 

Would you guys mind if a couple of us Atlantans tagged along and parked with your group? One of our members is going to be there with his DP team and I plan on coming over to watch. Might be 3-4 of us max. We would want to sign up as being with your gang so you would get the car club $5 credit thing.

Tim

 

Now that we have been told there will be no MINIS in the race I don't know who all is going. I will ask at our July Dinner next Tuesday. But... if you see MINIS there & you do not park with them they will be mad at you so you BETTER come hang

 

Thx,. Yeah it really stinks that the one race I can get to has no Mini's in it Grrrrr. But the DP cars make it worth the ride over

Tim

 

Looks like I am going to have to stay close to home this weekend :( Wife is under the weather. Hello TIVO