MTTS 2008 Chicago to Elkhart Lake WI
 

Here's a link with info about the event. http://blog.minitakesthestates.com/s...nts%20-Chicago

Be sure to book your hotel rooms ASAP they are already filling up and many of the hotels, yes even the hotels, in the Elkhart WI area have a 2 night min.

Anyone know where in Chicago the opening party is going to be? It sounds like the rally will start at the zoo, so Friday night in Chicago? Saturday (and Sunday- two night minimum) in Elkhart Lake (or vicinity) and Monday head home? MINIUSA- give us more details please!

You can find rooms for JUST Sat night in the Elkhart "area" but they are going fast. The area hotels are getting wise to the event and prices are going up. Act Fast. Might also have some better luck to the west of Elkhart.

Fond du Lac to the west is not the tourist trap that Sheboygan is to the east. Most of the main WI State Hwy are good roads and by July will be even better. Lot's of fun roads in that area.

There's also a Cubs game at 1:20pm on July 25th and 26th with the Marlins.

Chilton, WI 53014 US is about 17 miles north and has some rooms at the best western

It was 99 a night

Is anyone camping?

You guys are lucky to be near enough to Elkhart Lake! Very cool.

Someone please have a beer for me at Crazy's Tap in Chilton! I love Wisconsin!

I just booked at the Ramada in Fond du Lac, it was $179/night :roll: ($200 with tax). There was no problem just booking for the one night. There is no charge for parking and it's covered. :thumbsup:

Is anyone staying downtown on Friday night? I have family about 45 minutes away, but figured it would be more fun to stay closer to all the "action".:lol:

Wow I booked a room 20 miles away for 52 a night w/AAA discount 58 without. I dont care if I hafta drive 30 min to get there.
Howard Johnson Inn and Suites Elk Grove Village O'Hare
1925 E. Higgins Road
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007 US

For Friday I got a hotel right accross from Lincoln park in Chicago

http://www.beldenstratford.com/

$220 a night

The beer shall be had!

Milwaukee Region SCCA has their National race schedule at Road America on the same weekend. I assume the Minis will be at the Briggs and Stratton go-kart area inside the carousel (turn 9/10). They often do this during with other events like the time they had a drifting event during June Sprints. So, probably no track time. It would be cool if they open up the lunch time track touring to the minis.

Any word on how they plan on sharing the track?

Tad

according to this interview in MF/WWR - http://www.motoringfile.com/2008/04/18/mtts-update-2/

the MINIs are going to get parade laps after the races and they're trying to get gokarts for event for our use as well...Still no details on the Owners nite or the a.m. rally...

I haven't seen the track, but why not use MINIs on the kart track? "Evolution of the go-kart" "Gokart like handling" etc. Our local dealership has started doing this and it is a lot of fun.
Check out pics from the March Clubman Day and Motortober events.

Unfortunately, the more I hear, the less and less impressed I am with MINIUSA's handling of this event. As for P.R. or selling MINIs unless there are bunch of MINIs competing the Milwaukee Region. It will be something like "Go to MTTS to see Subarus and Hondas race." I'm still planning on attending, but...

I agree. In this case... it's unfortunate we're not hearing much more than little bits of information about the event in CHGO. it really would have been nice to have had the event details now so everyone can plan accordingly. For example, tell us where the Friday night event will be and where the Saturday morning rally will begin. The Zoo is opens daily at 9am, closes at 6pm M-F and you have to pay to get out of the parking lot. How is that going to work for us?? Right now, everyone is left to speculate whats going to happen and where since we're dealing with two separate sites. Looks like people are getting lodging reservations and hoping they've guessed right... I guess we'll have to wait and see :popcorn:

For anyone even remotely interested in aviation, the huge Oshkosh Airshow starts the day after the MTTS Chicago event, and is only a short distance away from Lake Elkhart (across Lake Winnebago).

I'm thinking about doing MTTS, then at least one day's worth of Oshkosh to make the trip a little more worthwhile.

Always wanted to go to Oshkosh :thumbsup:

I live in Fond du Lac, and if you can, I'd switch to the Microtel or Holiday Inn. Ramada is right in the middle of downtown, which is VERY loud on the weekends, and the hotel is a dump. Looks nice downstairs, but the rooms are straight out of the 70's. When we have family in town, they stay at the Microtel--cheaper, and nicer rooms. If you want a fairly nice pool, Holiday Inn is good. They are a couple of minutes farther than the Ramada from Elkhart lake, but its worth it.

Ramada does have very good food, it has a restaurant called Cibo's, (although Fusion, which is within walking distance from the Ramada, is much better for dinner, the chef is fantastic).

Thanks for the info! I just checked both the Holiday Inn and the Microtel and both are sold out. :sad: I picked the Ramada based on the reviews on Tripadvisor. I'm ok with the noise and old decor is fine and long as it's CLEAN! I'll keep checking on the other two in case something opens up. :thumbsup:

I just booked at the American Inn - Plymouth WI (6 miles from Road America) for $109 on Sat and $99 Sun

The hotel in Plymouth should be fine. If you can't get in there, or nothing in the Microtel or Holiday Inn opens up, insist on a room at the Ramada that is in the back--you don't want one on Main Street. The kids drive their 120 HP Honda's with their 5,000 dollar exhausts (imagine a parade of a million very loud weedwackers and you'd have the approximate sound) and honk all night (although the police have cracked down on that. As you can tell, there isn't much to do in Fond du Lac...).

I signed up for the automatic updates from the MTTS Chicago site, but I have a feeling this will be the place to get more complete details as they unfold. Our Mini is due to arrive early in July, so at this point we're tentatively hopeful that it will work out for us to attend this event. Our voyage would be a long one from Cincinnati, since our Clubbie will be so new that we would have to leave the expressway periodically to vary the speed. This sounds like such a fun event, but we do have questions - for instance; is it possible to just go to Road America without beginning in Chicago? Or do you have to start from the initial rally point to be a part of this? Our favorite Inn is in Green Bay, and that's likely where we would stay; I love Chicago, but not the traffic there...

CHGO event info now available!!!
 

http://tinyurl.com/5xad75

they finally announced the event details :thumbsup:

Looks good. I'd still head north to WI after Friday night BBQ to stay in WI Friday night (two night min up there) to avoid what will be a very long drive on Sat morning. There's great roads in that part of WI to enjoy on Sat morning too. Just my 2 cents.

FINALLY!

...

OK, those folks are on crack. It's a three-hour drive from Road America back to Chicago and the Saturday listing says "10:00 pm: Goodnight. Or not. Chicago's nightlife is world famous." :lol:

Wow, we're going to be all over the place, UIC on Friday night, Lincoln Park Zoo on Saturday morning, then on north of Milwaukee and halfway to Green Bay - that really is a broad definition of the GREATER Chicago area. :razz:

http://blog.minitakesthestates.com/2...uly-25-27.html