Today's car is a 2006 MINI GP. It's the limited edition track version of the MINI. It caps off the end of the first generation production of the new MINI. The back seats were removed, the engine tuned via JCW, lightened and specd for weight reduction, bigger brakes were added, and special extras like the exclusive aero kit and rear spoiler wing, and these are hand assembled in Italy.




But the dealer seems to have gotten ahold of it already! This is only 2 days old. Look at those holograms! I use Meguiars M80 Speed Glaze with the PC over the entire car, and followed with Epic. If you've read my writeups lately you can probably see a commonality that I love to use M80 as a base starting point for all my details. The polish/paint cleaner is just fanastic.


Can you see the awful holograms and swirls on the black windshield pillars? You can see them on the door too.

This is build #337 of 2000 I believe.

Hard to see here, but the top of the rear bumper was all hologrammed out as well.

The handle is painted matte black.


The inset that is behind the license plate appears to be a matte vinyl material.



Tips looked kinda dusty

Wheels are matte/flat black, and silver are unpainted portions.

JCW brakes

Holograms visible here. Red mirror cover is exclusive to GP.

OOooooh nice swirls!

Hmm doesn't get much better standing further back!

Carbon fiber wing


The wing is attached to the rear hatch not to the roof!

What looks like a stiffener bar has been called a cargo bar.

His and hers cup holders???

Dark face of tach is exclusive to the GP

Dark face of speedo is exclusive to the GP

The silver surround around the scoop and the black inset area with the GP are both vinyl.

Hmm potential issue

Closeup of matte material

Going to have to treat the edges carefully-don't want to get any polish trapped in the cracks.

Badges signifying this is something special

Close up of aero kit

Plastic needs attention to to prevcent from getting ugly with polish residue.

Front spoiler edge is plastic


More areas to be careful of



To save weight the GP doesn't come with Xenons.

Typical chrome S grill

Same old standard fare for mirror covers



I noticed this defect

Ok ready to begin!

Got my polishes ready--M80

Got the Prima line set up

Hmm Epic or #21????

Various QD's

various dressings

Interior tools


Best glass cleaner around


M80 in the ketchup squeeze bottle is much easier to use

Trim first aid! #39 for removing polish/wax off trim, #40 if I want to clean and dress at the same time.

Various brushes for wheel and engine details

Electronic Thickness Gauge to tell me how thick the paint is.





Overall the MINI was an good shape. Just found a few scratches on the roof.

Pretty hard to tell.

Here as well.

Wow sun is going away fast--just got it all taped off. Notice I applied tape over numbers on roof and around scoop to protect the vinyl.

Everything protected that needs protection.







Night shot before leaving


The next day these were shot by the owner











All finished and now the owners favorite MINI has a finish worthy of its reputation!

 

Fantastic job as always, Octaneguy.

and any idea who has GP 1337? leet?
that'd be cool 8-)

 

looks great.

that aerokit fitment looks like crap. something about this
car is never take a super closeup of parting lines. my Civic has
much cleaner tolerances.

 

Whered you get the cup holder for the right hang drive cars?

 

Well it's not my car, but he told me he flipped it around--I'm not sure though--I thought I tried doing that and it didn't work. I'll have to ask him to reply to this thread.

 

Excellent results as usual OctaneGuy!
Can the same results be achieved by hand without the PC?

 

Never mind, I found your answer here:
Get a PC

 

Haha great! I think that post sums it up pretty well. To get rid of the holograms all over this GP, I would not have wanted to tackle this by hand. I mean it takes me 7 to 9 hours to buff out a PC by machine---figure how long it would take by hand, and whether it would be a thorough or not.

 

Very nice pics and write-up. Man, I wish my GP was closer to where you are!

 

Yea i tired that and it doesn't work, oh well, if you could find out for me or have him post that would be very cool

 

Thanks!!! Well if you're going to AMVIV--we could meet up there.

 

Well, my wife and I will be in the GP for a week of MINI fun at MOTD '07!

 

Well there's a good chance I'll be there as well. I'm scheduled to be a sponsor again---just not 100% sure I'll be bringing my detail gear with me this time--the rain made detailing next to impossible and if it weren't for VacuCam sales at the Dragon, the trip wouldn't have been possible.

 

Know what I'm thinking?

BTW: taping off the plastic is a great idea. Is that regular painters masking tape?

 

Haha, I was thinking the same. Yep, that's just regular blue painters tape I bought at Home Depot. Just be careful if you tape over the vinyl, you don't want to lift the vinyl when you remove the tape--so press it just enough to stick, but don't rub it down.

The tape works great unless you've put peanut butter or some other dressing that won't let the tape stick to it. In that case, all you can do is put the tape more on the body panel to drape over the plastic.

Richard

 

Great info, thanks for sharing.
PM to follow...

 

wow, amazing work!

congrats MJO!!!

 

Did you finish the car through the night under lights?

Impressive!

 

"Track version"?!

 

Yep, there was one outdoor light that helped me see, and I used a handheld light to check as well.

Actually, I wrote this article to be posted on a non MINI site originally--the description was meant to be read by people who barely even know what a MINI is. I then copied and pasted it from that site (ShowCarGarage.com) over to here, and forgot to change the copy to reflect that everyone knows what a GP is. Most of the time when I work on a car, I take the customers description of the car and incorporate it into the article. In this case the owner described his car as a Track Version MCS.

Richard

 

I'll have some of whatever he's smokin', cuz it must be good.

 

So, you can use the polisher on the A pillars? Since they are plastic, I've been too afraid to do anything like that. Hmmm. Learn something new every day!

 

when do you sleep Richard!??! wow, you must be really tired after doing one of these jobs. great results, as always!

 

Absolutely. Its one of the easiest and most noticeable improvements you can make when polishing out the MINI.
Haha. I'm a light sleeper. I wake up eager to go polish out my next car. But yeah, after 4 days of working straight last week (I try to break them up so they aren't back to back) my hands definitely feel the strain from the week. But I guess choosing between Carpel Tunnel from moving a mouse all day or cramped and numb fingers from running a polisher all day long, I'll take the polisher for now.

Thanks!

 

Octane Guy! That's outstanding!!!!!!!! I wish you were on the Right Coast!