Hello,

I'm new to NAM but attended my first meeting tonight of the Mid-Canada MINI Club at the Pony Corral Downtown.

I was disappointed to hear that there are only 22 MEMBERS of this club. This club needs some new blood. There are lots of things that the club would like to start like show and shines, social events (the next one is at Speedworld I think www.speedworld.ca date TBD), maybe trying some NEW stuff like tsd rallies and such. We were the only ones in attendance with a new style MINI but they welcomed us openly and encouraged us to get more enthusiasts interested if we knew of any. The more members that we can get the more doors open like; auto-x events, driving schools, sponsorship opportunities, and, maybe even work something out for a discount on parts etc.

There was a rally over the summer organized by the dealership that brought out 41 cars - now where are you guys?????

MB MINI owners - young/old, new/classic MINIs PLEASE get involved...what would be more fun then a group of MINI owners....NOTHING!!!

Please PM me if you are interested and I will get you some additional info.

 

my friend Calvin (p.phresh on here) went to one meeting. He and I have met with them before. provided our contact information to them to advise us of meets etc, but were never contacted. We even spoke with some members at the Birchwood organised meet this summer.

Unfortunately, show and shines aren't really all that exciting when it's a bunch of stock MINIs. The MINI community in Winnipeg isn't really like the rest of the world. There aren't many enthusiasts that would participate in events like this.

I personally would be all for it, but probably, you and Mark, myself, and Calvin would be the only ones really up for anything. Maybe Shawn (Revolver on here) if he is still around.

 

Would you or any others you know of like to try to help us (Mark & myself {hopefully} in conjunction with the MINI club already existing) get more people interested? I agree that a show and shine is not really the best option for anyone but Mark and I have participated in a few TSD (time speed distance) rallies with the Porsche Club and had am AMAZING time aswell as participating in the cruise for MS and some other stuff...

The Porsche club has 55 or so members in Manitoba and they do some really great stuff like the TSD rallies or cruises out to the beach, their own Auto X day, parties and social events, Charity drives (cruise for MS) etc. I personally would love to get some things going here. Let's face it - someone who buys a MINI is not buying it because it is :

a) the most reliable in that price range
b) The best performance bang for the buck

I think everyone (or at least the vast majority) of MINI owners get one because of the "fun" factor and from what I have seen and those I have met MINI owners are creative and fun people.

I really feel that if 40 odd people are willing to come out to the dealership for a cruise they must at least have SOME interest in getting more involved.

Here's what I am proposing to do:
1) Put more pressure on Birchwood about promoting the club to NEW people when purchasing a MINI (after all it is in their best interest for a variety of reasons). There are LOTS of dealers who actively promote club participation.
2) put together a brochure or smal window flyer that can be distributed to other MINIs I meet in parking lots etc....I know that I for one had no idea that the Mid-Canada MINI club even existed and it was not so easy to find
3) Get a blog or web-site going where events can be posted...maybe NAM could help us out by hosting one??? This would be followed by a newsletter with info on some cool stuff.
3) Organize some FUN EVENTS. This is what I think is missing the most.

We (Mark and I) would be MORE THEN HAPPY to get some stuff going but we do need people to participate to make it great. In my "past life" I was an event planner and Fundraising Coordinator for a major charity so I do have experience getting things rolling...and prying open some pocketbooks

I seriously hope that the existing MB Mid-Can MINI club welcomes our assistance in expanding membership and getting this thing really rocking. I know we're just the new guy but honestly no club exists or grows without enthusiasm.

 

I think the big thing about the Manitoba MINI people is that they aren't really car enthusiasts, and barely MINI enthusiasts. I love cars, I always have. I know the same can be said about a lot of people. The MINI seems to attract non car enthusiasts. Just people who think the car is cute, or neat to drive.

In all reality, I think that the 3 of us (you, me, and p.phresh) are probably the only CAR enthisiasts with MINIs. all the rest of the people just kinda dig driving their car, and that's about it. For them to show up to a free BBQ lunch was probably more for the BBQ lunch than it was for the enthusiasm about the brand/cars in general.

I'll be more than willing to come out, and help out with anything you guys plan. I just don't know if joining up to the mid-canada mini club would be the best place for us.

-Steve

 

Yeah, we're not sure of that either. But there are issues with starting a club that are more then I want to deal with (for now).

Funny, what I want to see is almost the opposite to what I saw at the meeting -

At the meeting it SEEMED to be (I could be wrong) that it was more about getting together for diner with friends (who incedently don't actually DRIVE their MINI to it) just to yak

What I want is to do is DO THINGS!!! Meetings are necessary to be sure stuff is organized and gets done but IMO they should be just to discuss organizing cool stuff to ACTUALLY DO and a plan on how to get it done. Yak yak yak...blah blah blah:impatient Let's go out and have fun is what i say!

Anyhow, thanks for your support and I will post on the forum when Mark and I get the TSD rally organized...I'll be approaching Birchwood too for a start point so maybe they can do some sponsoring or send out some invites to it to other MINI owners (MINI not required to participate by the way. Mark and I did the PCA rally in the F150)

 

Oh just move to Calgary, geez I totally agree with you, all these car meets are more fun if you go "do stuff", drive some where, autoX, something! Other than just talk, hehe.

Good luck with your Manitoba club, I'm sure there are more MINI owners out there who wants to join in. From my experience, its better if you post at Mini2.com as well (which your fiancee has already done) and also contact your local dealership, they are the ones who can get in touch with the most MINI owners.

What you might be able to do is print out some nice looking flyers and ask the sales and service team to hand them out to MINI owners.

 

I would like to join up. I would probably not get to many meetings as I live up near Gimli, but would like to join the club, and get out to events.

Does anyone know how MINI Canada feels about auto-x, and warrenties?

 

Hmmm...good question. I am aware that "organized racing" voids warrenty in most contracts. But having attended LOTS of other Auto x events for both the PCA and with WSCC I would be surprised if it does as there are some VERY nice and VERY expensive new cars (stock) taking part.

I suppose it would also depend on whether they(dealership) knew and could prove such.

 

Saw this post and thought I would jump in.
I believe you only have a problem if it is a timed auto-x event. If it just a fun event with no timing equipment then your warranty will be fine. This is the info my MINI dealer told me when I inquired when I picked up my MINI.

 

We were at the Birchwood BMW this morning to pick up some Chritmas gifts for the baby (JCW door sills) and had a chance to speak to Carl and Ernie about starting/organizing a MINI meet for both NEW and classic MINIs. They were both very enthusiastic and Ernie was quite excited about hosting and/or sponsoring a TSD rally for our meet. If it is within the "Privacy Law" Ernie would be keen to contact MINI owners through their database to invite them to attend.

Ernie also mentioned that they could set up a slolom for drivers in the Red River Ex lot next door if we were interested since they had done that in the past for BMW clubs.

If all goes according to plan Mark and I will have a TSD rally ready to go for the end of January or beginning of February. Hopefully drivers will bring their MINIs....they really are good winter cars if you get the right tires and the LSD, DSC help a whole lot too. I LOVE driving it in the winter and have had zero trouble even on slippery days.

Anyways...very excited and thought I would pass that along to the other MB NAM'ers and any MB MINI owners that might be lurking but too shy to post

 

Great news Count me in.

I don't have a real fast MINI, but I love motoring it

 

2005 Mcs

 

but you're in Cleveland Mike!

 

I am back once a month, plus I bought the MINI, and I drive it when home, so I am a MB MINI owner. Don't deny me my rights!


Hey, FWIW I saw U2 yesterday AWESOME.

 

Anyone interested in getting a pulley done? Tintmasters in Fargo will do pulleys, but it wold be best if we can get a few cars down there at the same time. cost would be $120 for pulley, $20 for belt, and $60 for install. pretty good deal IMO.

lemme know.

 

JCWGurl,
I'm a MINI rep at the Calgary dealership, and a MINI-obsessive. Whenever anyone joins the MINI 'family' I let them know about the runs and stuff we do in Calgary, and ask if they want to know via e-mail about upcoming events. I have only had one person say no, and the majority are excited to hear that we do such things. I don't know if any of your MA's down there are inclined to participate, but I see it has a way of enhancing the whole MINI ownership experience and if they do too, there assistance could really help boost the ranks. Good luck, and Happy Motoring!

 

Soon we are going to get going, just need to wait a bit. Someone just got married

Mark

 

We're back!!! Sorry - we did get a little sidetracked there but are back and ready to get back to normal life which includes getting the Manitoba Mini Cooper Club started up with fun stuff! I'll keep you updated! Thanks Faster, Tobias I will be getting in touch with you (and a bunch others) for some advice, and maybe a little help

More coming!

 

Well you can count me in too. I was at a british car event early last summer that was just the old style minis and other british cars, and let me tell you, no one was interested in my new mini. Not until I told them that I liked old british cars did they even want to talk.

That being said, the MINI drive that we did last summer from BMW was a blast! So much enthusiasm and joy of motoring! Less talk, more drive!

My friend Garth who also has a MCS (we bought ours a week apart) and I go motoring all the time. The drive up to West Hawk on hwy44 is super curvy... going to Riding Mountain is a blast too. And terrorizing the general public is a favourite pasttime.

Have done the Autox and it was shown in Winnipeg Men magazine. What a rush that race is...

So let's motor!

 

I've been way busy at work. But now I have some time. So lets all pitch in and get motoring

Mark

 

That's pretty cheap. I had my heart set on a JCW kit, but it's so damn expensive. I'm leanin toward the pully and then some other mods.

What pully are they using? the 15%?

 

ALTA pulley

I imagine if we get 4 cars down, it'll make it worth while

 

So which pulley do they use?

How many would be into it? Wonder what warranty would still be covered? I should have a serious talk with Karl.

 

ALTA pulley as I previous noted. whichever size you chose.

Warranty depends on your relationship with the dealer really. if you're a jerk ot them, they will void it if something breaks because of a pulley installed. if you're good, they might cut you some slack.

 

my bad for not reading about the alta...

I have a good relationship with wpg BMW... they were the ones that told me no worries for the autoX... although the fact I was being featured in a local mag may have had something to do with it...

Actually they have been excellent all round.. Karl always gives me the gears about "racing" even though I've only been once.

But when it comes down to brass tacks about the pulley.. I wonder what the official line is... I should talk to Ernie if no one else has...