Howdy fellow-motorers,

It's not too late to get in on M2C2's biggest and best event to date. But you have to be quick! :smile:

We have had a tremendous response to our dinner and driving school scheduled for Sept 20 and 21. We were booked solid until just recently. We have had some cancellations, so there are a few spots now available. Don't miss out on this terrific opportunity to improve your driving skills in your MINI.

What It's All About

On Saturday, Sept 20, we will have a dinner and presentation at Jillians. Jillians is a huge entertainment complex. The dinner is buffet-style. After the dinner, Mike Renner of the BMW Performance Driving School will do a presentation on performance driving and will show some videos of MINI's strutting their stuff on the track. Mike will also talk about the driving school that will take place the following day. There will be a question and answer session, as well.

You DO NOT have to attend the driving school in order to attend the dinner.

You can learn more about Jillians here:
http://www.jillians.com


Jillians is located in Concord Mills Mall. Concord Mills has something for everyone. There is shopping at many stores and outlets, a Bass Pro shop, Books a Million, a movie theatre, and even a Nascar Speedpark where you can test your driving skills in their go-carts. What more could you ask for? For more info, go here:
http://www.concordmills.com

For info on the Nascar Speedpark, go here:
http://www.nascarspeedpark.com

The driving school will take place the next day on Sunday, Sept 21. It will begin at 8:00AM and will be held on a track at Lowes Motor Speedway. You will learn how to properly drive your MINI. Ask anyone in the performance car business and they'll tell you the best modification you can do to get more out of your car is to improve the driver's skill. Learn to drive your MINI well at this event. The driving school participants will be divided into five groups consisting of ten students to a group. There will be class/lecture time, then you'll drive your car on the track with the instructor. Helmets will be provided, but if you have your own, you're welcome to bring it, especially if you have a 10" hat size.

http://www.lowesmotorspeedway.com


Everyone that drives in the driving school will receive a complimentary t-shirt to commemorate the day, as well as a complimentary box lunch provided by the caterers at the Lowes Motor Speedway.


The costs are as follows:
Annual M2C2 (MINI Motoring Club of the Carolinas) Membership - $25

Driving School (membership in M2C2.ORG required due to insurance requirements) - $150

Dinner at Jillians - $25 each (membership in M2C2 not required)

Extra Box Lunches (if you wish to buy one for a spectator at the driving school) - $10 each

Extra T-shirts - $12

Here is a picture of the T-shirt:

(This t-shirt was designed by a super nice guy and member of MCO and MINI2 for our club, but I can't mention his name, because his skills have become so popular, the guy can't get any work done. We at M2C2 sure do think a lot of him, and thank him very much for providing us with this graphic.)

Don't let this terrrific and fun opportunity pass you by. Contact me at john@m2c2.org if you'd like to attend.

Let's motor,
John Stines
Treasurer, M2C2.ORG

 

of COURSE.... it HAD to be the weekend that our business will be attending probably the third largest car show in the world, the Nopi Nationals, in Atlanta.... this is a MUCH better price than the Road Atlanta driving school (which isn't MINI only, by the way) being held in November, but unfortunately i have prior arrangements... you guys have fun without me!

 

I'd love to attend, however, finances are currently on the tight side. Hopefully you'll plan another driving school in the future.. :???:

 

We do plan to offer another driving school in the future.

Also, I should mention that the t-shirt pictured above is short-sleeve, but the actual t-shirt will be a long sleeve T.

See ya,
JS

 

Hi John,

I just shot over an email to you, my husband and I would love to attend. It got filled up the first time around by the time one of the guys in charge responded back to us . Please let me know if you have room for us.

Thanks,
Lunmara@hotmail.com

 

Lunmara,

I received your email and have replied. I look forward to seeing you at the event!

See ya,
JS

 

Hey Lunmara,

Let me know if you're in and I'll bring that decal down if you're still interested.

We went to the Rock a few weeks ago looking for you, but ?????????????

Hope all is well with both of you guys.

See Ya

 

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah,

Smokey you had just left 10 mins before we found some Mini's at the Base to ask where you were, we over slept that morning. Getting my hubby up early on our few days off is next to impossible. ::p: And work is just as crazy as it normally is. Please bring it with you to the driving school and I will get it from you then. We work all the time to pay off the first MINI because I will have a second "convertible" MINI next fall so we don't have to fight over the car!

 

Howdy everyone,

If you're attending the dinner the night before the driving school, we'll announce at the dinner where we will meet and enter the speedway. However, if you are only coming to the driving event on Sunday, please use the following directions. We'll begin lining up outside the speedway at ~7:45AM and will enter around 8:00AM.


Directions to Lowe's Motor Speedway

From Charlotte:

I-85 North

Exit 49

Right onto Speedway Boulevard at top of ramp

Follow Speedway Boulevard to first light

Proceed straight through light and you are on Speedway property

Immediately turn left onto Speedway Service Road and follow to Gate 26 tunnel entrance (Inside of Turn Three)

Proceed through tunnel, bear left toward Winston Cup Garage

Park on either side of Winston Cup Garage


From Greensboro:

I-85 South

Exit 49

Left onto Speedway Boulevard at top of ramp

Follow Speedway Boulevard to first light

Proceed straight through light and you are on Speedway property

Immediately turn left onto Speedway Service Road and follow to Gate 26 tunnel entrance (Inside of Turn Three)

Proceed through tunnel, bear left toward Winston Cup Garage

Park on either side of Winston Cup Garage

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me at john@m2c2.org. Thanks!

See ya,
John Stines,
Treasurer, M2C2.Org

 

Just got back home from what turned out to be a really great weekend! Many thanks to all the organizers and to the instructors. Clocked up about 50 miles of track time. What a blast!! :smile:

 

I can only agree with Moorlockx; it was a great weekend. Many thanks to John, George, Sarah, Molly -- and to *****, who took the crucial steps to get this underway so many months ago. And thanks to Century MINI and Zaino distributor Steve Treece for the door prizes and gifts.

Driving school was a great social event; I got to meet new MINI owners and enthusiasts and to see old friends again. But the point of the school was to learn to drive our MINIs better and I think everyone will agree that we had great fun doing that.

It looks like we got lucky on the weather, too: the Isabel-related wind and rain was well gone by yesterday's event, and showers are on their way today.

Again, thanks to the m2c2 people who put this together and to all of those who attended. I'm looking forward to the next one!

LJ

 

You don't know how sorry I was that I had to miss this. Still can't stand up straight yet.

But I'm looking to live this event through your pictures so put them up here! please?

 

Screeching tires, revving engines, whoops and cheers, and grins from ear to ear. That was the M2C2 Driving School at Lowe's Motor Speedway. We had a fantastic time!

I want to thank Mike Renner, Matt Mullins, and Bill Conger for their excellent instruction. Mike and his team did a great job. Everyone left with a smile on their face. I want to thank Matt for a thrilling ride and Todd Schelling for loaning me his MINI for a few laps. It was better than a roller coaster ride.

I also want to thank Chris Thompson and Coke for supplying us with the Dasani bottled water. It was hot on the track, and the water was essential. Thanks, Chris! Thanks to Steve Treece, our local Zaino distributor, for the door prizes for our dinner. Thanks to Linda Gresham and Century MINI for providing us with door prizes and the cool keychains, as well. Thanks to Dustin at Jillians for allowing us to park some MINI's on their patio while we had our dinner.

And to the board members... Thanks so much to Bill Lawrence (*****), our former treasurer, for getting this whole thing started and for helping to the end. Thanks to George "Mr. Smooth" Kail

We had a photographer, Steve Starnes, come to the event and take some pictures of you folks lapping the track. He already has our pics loaded on his website, including when we were on the main Lowe's Motor Speedway racetrack. You can see them here:
http://www.adrenalinesportsphotograp...lowes92103.htm

Steve has these available as prints, CD images, etc. If you'd like to purchase one, you can do that through his website.

Speaking of photography, the MINIs lapping the main track at Lowe's were apparently on one of the live feeds of a news or weather channel, because my wife was attending a family gathering, and Libby saw us on TV. How 'bout that.

The request I heard most often at the event was "When is the next driving school!". Well, we're working on that. It will likely be Spring of 2004. We'll keep you posted.

You guys and gals are the best, and I look forward to seeing you again, soon!

See ya,
John Stines
Treasurer, M2C2.Org
Contact me at: john@m2c2.org

 

>>You don't know how sorry I was that I had to miss this. Still can't stand up straight yet.
>>
>>But I'm looking to live this event through your pictures so put them up here! please?


We missed ya Smokey!! :smile:

- Mike

 

Thanks Mike! Did the JCW tear up the track? You did have it ready didn't you?

Glad to hear that everyone had a great time.

And thanks John for the link to the 1500 photos!! I'm just guessing on the number it might be more

 

I have to say without a doubt the driving school experience was a blast. I learned more about proper control of my vehicle in a day than the previous 10 months I have owned it. I am definitely up for an early spring school next year. Just hope the weather is cooler . I really enjoyed meeting some folk from MCO and renewing aquaintence with other mini owners. We must make sure however the driving school doesn't overlap the dragon run in late April/early May.

Missed ya Smokey hope to see you at the next event.

 

I would have to agree with my hubby, Rafthos, we had a blast!!! I had an idea of what our litte "Monty" could do but Sunday blew my mind that I could make that car perform that well! The cold air intakes been on order, come December, Cat and Dog Racing are going do our pully upgrade and I can't wait. Autocross, here we come! Next time we will know to bring a shade tent and folding chairs, we had no idea what to expect but next time we will be better prepare for the down time between runs. The heat and standing all day in the direct sun made for a very tiring day. By the end of the day I couldn't stop smiling but dropped like a rock after a cool shower at home that evening. Please, Please lets do another one in a few months! Just not to close to the Dragon next spring, the boss man gets mad when we ask for two weekends off in the same month! Thanks to alll that hosted it, next time, let us new members know more in advance so we can help you guys out more!

 

A VERY BIG THANK YOU!!!!!!

All I can say is thanks to everyone who put this great event together. It's been 25 years since my last days of racing my old 240z and going to club events.Thanks for a fun weekend and letting a Yankee from up north join in. Some people asked why I would 10 hours to attend your event ???? Fun,great people and a great job by all.

Please keep me informed of your spring event and the Dragon Run I heard so much about. Hope to see some of you at OcktCOOPER Fest in New Jersey in two weeks.

JCW S701 Buffalo,New York

PS The Works Kit does run them down ntabr@msn.com

 

Sounds an looks like you all had a blast!!

 

A big thank you to all you worked so hard to make this event a success!!! We both had a blast and learned a great deal.

Once again we saw how it is great to be a part of the MINI family and meet such nice people. It was fun to learn to drive the car better and even more fun to get to run the BIG track.

The M2C2 went out of their way to make a great idea reality.

Hope to see you all again. Happy Motoring from the Atlanta MINI's club.


Paul & Todd

MCS Indi blue/white, panasports, etc

 

Great enthusiasm, great fun, great folks, and great big smiles.
For a retired race dude, this event was about as good as it gets.
Thanks guys and gals.
MJK

 

Where are the photos? Man I want to see what it looked like. Mini envy

 

Wave,

It looks like most of the photos are being posted on MINI2 in the National forum.
Go to the bottom of this thread and work your way backward:
http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...threadid=30402

Also, hidden deep within my long-winded thank-you message is a link to:
http://www.adrenalinesportsphotograp...lowes92103.htm

See ya,
JS

 

Hey, Motor on! How do you like the Panasports? Did you get the 16x7's? What size tyre did you get for them. I've been thinking about getting a set for Oz, and would love some feedback.. Thanks!

 

Thanks again to Willie, Sarah, John, George, Molly & Carl for all the hard work they put into setting up this event. Thanks also to BMW for their instructors' expertise. It was a fantastic experience, beyond words to explain how much fun we had. Phil can't stop day dreaming about "goin' around them corners!"

Our Mini "family" is growing fast and it's just amazing how many fun and interesting folks are into the Mini experience. I tend to be an introvert, but it is just so easy to talk to everyone and never be at a loss for words. I feel at home with Mini people!

Phil says don't forget to mention what a thrill it was exting turn 2 on the big oval at 110 mph!

P.S. We missed you Smokey, and hope you're feeling better soon.

Kind Regards to all,
Donna & Phil Juselis