Unfortunatly I won't be able to make it. I will be on my way to New Jersey. Have fun this weekend and see you next week.

 

Can someone without ADD bring a camera and take some photos to post. If you've got ninja zoom it would help. Hope to see some of you there.

 

I absolutely do not want to get caught up in any sort of argument or bad tempered discussion but I wanted to make an observation...

There is some (a few would argue more than some) resentment by many in the Classic Mini community about, what they see as, BMW's fleecing of the Mini brand and history (not a sentiment that I subscribe too.) A charge that BMW has tried to distance themselves from. That being said, why would the rules for this event at a BWM facility go out of their way to exclude the Classic Mini's? Just doesn't seem to make much sense. It would seem that to include the Classic Mini's as part of the general BMW brand would be more in-line with their marketing and the pedigree that they go out of their way to claim.
As I said, just an observation of something that struck me as odd. Sounds like it's going to be a fun event

 

The first time they had this event they didn't want to let me come in my new MINI. There were a lot of phone calls and begging. They guy that runs our events and works at the PC Mike decided to let me in. I did come in third at that event also. Last year there were 4 MINI's at the event. Another MINI (Per Olof) came in 3rd and i got 4th. No podium but i was only .002 seconds behind him. A well modified M coupe came in first and a comp. package M3 got second. Maybe they don't like having these little cars doing so well at their events.

If you want give Mike Renner a call at the PC and ask him.

good luck

 

Hello all, I hope to see a few of you at the PC Saturday bright and early. Since i'm co-driving a car i've been wrangled into doing pre-tech. Hope no one has any MINI issues. If so my guess is that i've seen it before at the track. I might be able to help out. As it stands right now i'm going to be driving a buddies car that will also be there so we'll be in seperate run groups. His car is an E30 M3. Very fun car to drive but it's rear-wheel drive and not really my bag. It will be hard to miss it's almost orange but by BMW standards it's a variety of red. A few other buddies of mine will be there and i might be driving there cars also if time allows. My brothers car is a black E30 with the number 50 on the doors. Another possible ride is the blue M coupe. Don't confuse him with me. He's much faster and has made sure i know that on the track muliple times. On a side note my car should be out of the shop Tuesday. Weeeeeee!

Should be hot Sunday so bring drinks and suntan lotion.

Lunch is not provided but there is a fast food place about a mile away. I usually bring lunch stuff in the drink cooler. Lunch is a good time to socialize and oggle at the PC cars they abuse all day long.

For those of you that are autocrossers here is the skinny. the course is by no means meets SCCA rules. it's 1.5 miles this year instead of the past 1 mile. Mike is hitting speeds of 93 in the M5 on the track. I think SCCA limits possible speeds to 70 for their stuff. Should be a good time. Looking forward to meeting some other MINI drivers with the driving addiction.

Anyone can come watch. It will be a fun time and you can cheer on your MINI mates.

 

Hmm...

I was planning on bringing my Hoosier A06s. But I've rarely done auto-xs where I ever have to shift out of second, let alone reach mid-high 80s.

Now I'm wondering how that'll work - running auto-x Hoosiers in very high heat at speeds maybe above what they were designed for. I don't know if that's the case with the Hoosiers, just a thought. Any idea?

My street tires are worn way down. Almost certainly can't run them and get back to Hotlanta.

 

I used RA-1's the past two years. They are track tires though, i'm not real sure about autoX tires. The first year we did it a buddy of mine brought down his AutoX tires and ran on them and beat everyone. He didn't drive there on them though. He was in a 2.8 Z3 coupe. I've always driven down on my street tires and changed to track tires there.

 

My street tires ARE RA1s! (don't ask)

I had them (new then) on the car when I met you at RA.

Maybe I'll let you look at them and see what you think before mounting the Hoosiers.

Or maybe I'll run the Hoosiers in the morning and run the RA1s in the afternoon when it's hotter. That way I wouldn't have to change tires in the later afternoon heat when I'm tired...

 

A06's will last just fine for 1.5 miles. People at the SCCA runoffs at HPT were running them for an entire roadrace(when you then throw your tires away at the end of the day )

I plan on running Azenis in the morning, then V710's in the afternoon.

Thanks for the 93 mph estimate for top speed in the M5, I have to go add some discs to my supertrapp now

 

That wasn't an estimate. Those are the speeds he's reaching now. Mike is the guy that set up the course for us. He works there. His job is to show people how to drive BMW's at their track. They just added a new section to their track and a high speed track to boot. It was just being finished last year at this time. They wouldn't let us get on it.

 

Hey folks, Thanks for coming out. Good to see more than two MINI's there for a change. Hope you all had a good time. I did.

 

I had a great time.

Actually, the runtime after the rain was the most fun of all!

After my final three runs (2 runs and a rerun), I think we had 2 or 3 extra runs as well. I'm pretty sure I had 10 or 11 runs on the day!

Finally got into the 1:39s when it didn't count and when the track still had a bit of water on it....

If you can remember, give us a heads up for the next one. It was great. Not to mention not having to be a track worker-bee.

 

I was guessing that times would go down after the track cooled off.

not to make excuses but I wasn't driving my car or a front wheel drive for that matter. I was lucky enough to have a buddy let me drive his car that i immediately pulled the shift **** off of hitting third gear. I drove at maybe 8.5/10ths so i wouldn't have to by a new M3 engine. My fastest was 143.???. I should be getting my MINI back tomorrow with a fresh new engine build. I've got to stop blowing these things up.

The first one of these we did at the performance center we had to **** cones. It was just as hot and it sucked. I've now officially done 3 PC auto crosses. Next time i'll be sure to destroy you all....

Thanks again for all the MINI's coming. I think we were well represented. I'll let you know when the next one will be. Usually one in the winter and one in summer

 

It's time to do it again....... The rumor is that it will be in November. i'll post details as they come in.

 

Could you please email the entry form to joseduque@yahoo.com

I am not a BMW CCA member. Do I need a member to invite me as a guest or do I just pay my $50 entry and I'm in?

Thanks

 

not sure about the membership thing.
p.s. any turbos coming?

 

BLUESMINI we just got back from EUROFEST at BMW Plant and some of the guys took Z4-M , X-3, X-5 and M5 through the paces and boy did they have big smiles on their faces. You could do 5 events for 100 bucks and that included wet and dry and off road. Luke

 

the regular price for a one day school at the PC is $650

http://www.bmwusa.com/Bmw2003/Templa...hoolcategory=3

If you buy a car and pick it up there then the school is free. I've done 3 performance center deliveries. it is a lot of fun. with that particular club we also do something called the post-holiday recovery party. It's the same thing that your buddies did but we only pay $60 bucks and it all goes to charity. It's a fun place, get there any way you can.

 

Whoohoo! Just confirmed for the Nov 18 auto-X at BMW! Come on, Bryan, or is it Brian (sorry there are two of you I'm pm'ing these days), let's do this thing!

Thanks to "Big Blue" for tipping us up off!

 

look forward to seeing you all there. looks like you've got a red S, any idea what bryan has? I want to make sure i say hello to all of my fellow MINI peeps.

 

Looks like we may have 6 or so from AtlantaMINIs.

 

You can' miss Bryan's car! I mean that in a good way! It's a Hot Orange Cabrio with a wicked aero kit and orange tinted windows...

I have 823 side stripes, (and numbers that day) and geawdawfulwifeylikesem Hibiscus (sp) flower Wet Okole seat covers. ;-)

 

Bluesmini are you ging to post the times?

 

ATTENTION!

Bryan / N2MINI just told me he may not be going to this.

If you're interested, send him a note and he'll cut you a deal to make this an even better deal, then let me know as you'll be there as my guest.

Somebody mentioned they wanted to go at the Dragon, was it Tommy? Can't remember!

 

My car is now in the shop getting an axle replacement. Just not sure if i should be out trying to tear it up the first weekend out of the shop. I have paid the $55 entry fee, and will to let you have it for $25. If anyone is interested. If not, a man has got to do what a man has got to do and that is go and give He!!