I used to be a member of the BMW Club when I had my 318Ti M-Technic but let it lapse. At the time, Roundel was kinda down on the Mini. Have things gotten any better? I would be happy to pay the $ if they have any interesting Mini stuff. All opinions will be appreciated. Cheers.

 

With so many Mini Clubs and vendors out there, why bother with a bimmer club?

 

BMWCCA is cool about the minis and we show up to many events. Minis have had many great write ups in Roundel lately. I have been a member for 20 years. The local Los Angeles branch has a monthly article as well. Well worth the $$$ and its one of the greatest car mags out there.

 

+1

 

Having been a member of the Rocky Mountain and Los Angeles Chapters, and attended events regularly in the San Diego chapter, I'm a big believer in the BMWCCA being a good thing for MINI owners.

BMWCCA has the clout, the membership base, and the experience to put on some excellent events and has been very welcoming of the MINI.

 

All of the above are reason why there should be a national Mini club.

Mini's have their own magazine: MC2

Plenty of clubs.

But then, I'm a purist. I wouldn't take my MG to an all British Car Club because I prefer to be with MG owners in that instance.

To me, taking a Mini to a bimmer club is like taking a Firebird to a Corvette club. Just too different of an animal, even if made by the same automotive group.

 

I've been a BMWCCA member as a MINI owner for a few years now. I originally joined as a way to save a few bucks on BMWCCA and PCA Driving events since they honor each others memberships. The savings for the DE's more than pay for the membership and the Roundel magazine is a great publication. There's an article in the current edition inviting more MINI owners to participate. I've always felt welcome at the DEs, even when you pass a few too many on the track. MINIs win a ton of trophies in the local BMWCCA autox events too.

 

Great club, I attend some of the local club events and feel very welcome.

 

I've been well received by BMW owners at events over the last several years. Roundel has a column every month written by one of our own MINI owners. Coverage was slow to start with but getting better and better. The membership to BMWCCA has been worthwhile from my perspective.

 

BMWCCA is a great club and very welcoming to all comers unlike PCA at track events. I'm a longstanding member and own a '73 2002 track car. It's really about leveraging off what they offer which is a long club history, large membership, organization and track time. I don't deny that a MINI is a separate breed than a Bimmer but they have this within the club as well with sub-groups for 2002 nutjobs like me as well as large lumbering saloon cars (7 series). If you like to do track and autocross events plus a bit more it is worth it. The monthly mag is pretty good as a bonus.

 

As others have mentioned, the HPDE's are worth the price of admission. Consider that the big name schools charge 3 grand for a weekend. The two day track event sponsored by my BMWCCA chapter was around $500. Granted, you bring your own car, but in either case you still pay for room and board. Your dollars go a lot further. The instruction, both classroom and in-car, I received was great.

They don't care what you bring. In addition to the Bimmers, there was a 'Vette, fox body 'Stang, RX-7, Audi A4's, G35, and one other MINI besides mine.

You're tapping into lots of man-years of high performance driving experience with the established club. So there's nothing wrong with Mini clubs, but don't discount BMWCCA.

 

I joined BMWCCA for the same reason a lot of folks have...the great HPDEs at reasonable prices.

I've noticed that we who drive MINIs are welcomed rather well at them, and even Roundel has lately been trying to get more MINI owners to join up. One of their columnists is a MINI owner and writes pretty informative MINI-related articles.

 

Great club and magazine - highly recommended

 

I've been a member of the CCA for 9 years and the attitude towards the MINI has certainly changed a bit. It's not now and will never be a MINI club, but there are members and contributors (roundel) who understand that the MINI just might be the last coughaffordablecough BMW that expresses what BMW is supposed to be all about: freude am fahren! Now others believe the MINI is an entry level BMW hardly worth the name or association, and those people have themselves to deal with every day; can't say more about 'em other than the fact that it is pure ego satisfaction to make them look stupid at a track (I know, I know, it's not competition).

There's a MINI column in roundel called "bimmer lite" or something like that - the author is a member on this forum. It's not enough MINI stuff, but what would be? My hope is that eventually there are enough MINI owners who read roundel and write in with technical issues that Mike Miller (the best part about roundel to me) will start pontificating on how to keep our MINIs in good shape for a long time.

And all of the above notwithstanding, I for one don't give a rat's *** if BMW owners don't like my MINI! The HPDE's are awesome, although I can't compare them to other organization's events 'cause I've never attended any.

SO - hell yea join up, read and write in to roundel, and let's make it more of a MINI club!

mb

 

Highly recommended, some of the best DE's in the country. I joined just so I could get in the DE's. They have welcomed me, and since I have just a Cooper, if anyone would be sneered at, it'd be me. I think I regularly have the least HP of anyone out there, but I work hard to stay out of the way of the M3's, and pride myself on my point-by's. There are plenty of old POS Bimmers and slower cars out there. There are Miatas, Vettes, Lotii, you name it, and 4 or 5 MINI's that regularly show up. The common thread is that we all love cars, and if you have an good attitude, and don't act like a jerk, they will make you feel right at home.

 

Been a member for 6 years now, since I had my E30. Great club, great people, great driving schools, and in my area, very welcoming to MINI owners - a lot of the 2002, E30 owners are very pleased w/ the MINIs being at the events. The newer BMW owners are intersted,and amazed at hot well the perform.

Funny thing I've noticed, the real seperation is from MINI owners not socializing w/ the BMW owners, rather staying with the other MINIs at the events - not the other way around.

 

They're making a concerted effort to get the Mini crowd involved--I joined because of that, and I can't wait to get involved in the driver's schools.

There will always be snobs out there who determine their personal self worth (and others) by what they drive; if someone has a problem with the Mini, that's their problem, not mine (I have the luxury of being financially secure, and can afford a car significantly more than my Mini comfortably, but it's the Mini that I enjoy the most)--who cares how much your car costs, as long as you enjoy it?

 

On the track, you'll find that most people there admire driver ability more than car ability. In other words, the guy with the $2000 Nissan Sentra that drive the crap out of it will get more recognition than the guy with the M5 who drives badly.

I cannot speak for the show & shine, wine tasting, etc crowds.