>>Rachel - I think you need to get yourself a nice, hard-compound, squishy-ride, passenger car tire, like the Goodyear Eagle LS

I'm definitely looking into the GS-D3.. maybe by the time I'm ready to buy the back-order'll've eased a bit. The S-03's I've heard are a bit noisey, but then so is my car. Scared the crap out of a group of people looking at a boat for sale at the side of the road that we happened to pick for bedding brake pads. I never USED to put this many miles on a car!

 

I will say one thing about BRG. You can see pollen on it like no other color I've ever seen. I made the mistake of parking my car under a tree on sunday. When I came back and got it on Wednesay the black top was almost completely bright green with pollen. I had to give it an emergency wash! Well Winston is now parked away from trees and is all clean. I'm almost at 400 miles, w00t!

 

Good to hear from t-bone again. Wonder how all of the other long lost April clubbers are doing.

Here are my one year fuel stats. (If anyone cares)

Total miles driven 14909
Avg distance per tank 304
Total Fuel Cost $959.79
Avg fuel cost $1.94
Fuel cost per mile $0.064
Avp mpg 30.22
Highest mpg tank 35.04
Lowest mpg tank 26.48 (track day)

I have a friend who owns a Goodyear dealership. I am going to ask him about the GS-D3's
Andy

 

over 30MPG average? lucky dog you!

I'm coming up on the 6-month of MM2 already, how time flies... My overall average MPG is 25.8, and I'm at about 9600 miles.

 

>>I will say one thing about BRG. You can see pollen on it like no other color I've ever seen. I made the mistake of parking my car under a tree on sunday. When I came back and got it on Wednesay the black top was almost completely bright green with pollen. I had to give it an emergency wash! Well Winston is now parked away from trees and is all clean. I'm almost at 400 miles, w00t!

 

Average 30mpg? Wow! I get that when I am on the road. Bombing around town with some road miles averages about 24 - 26 at 6400 miles.

Maybe the engine is still tight? Or maybe it's me?


regards,
Red

 

---> Red; I passed you up in mileage AGAIN?!

Driving style has alot to do with fuel economy. Given the same route, I can vary my mileage 25% just by changing my style. Than again, Andy does have a Cooper, which doesn't have the fuel-sucking supercharger

 

fuel economy is a direct result of driving style

 

I don't know about an MCS but with my cooper the key is not rpm but stops and starts. Keep the car moving and your mileage will improve. I spend about 70% of my driving time on country roads, maybe 20% stop and go in town and 10% on the freeway.

Andy

 

My mpg is finally starting to improve after the dealer's software upgrade. I went from an average of 300 miles per tank to 250 or less. Now I'm getting a 310-320 mile range.

Track event this Tuesday and Wednesday! My co-workers are a bit mystified about the whole thing. Then again, they think driving over 80mph is *really* fast! Muhahaha.

Andy, be sure to pass along tire discounts!

 

After a year of lusting and four months of waiting after ordering, I picked up my MCS IB/B on Friday at Mini of Murray in SLC. Took secondary roads almost all the way back to Los Angeles, nice 2 1/2 days on the road.

How I lived without this car prior to this weekend, I'll never know. Pictures and detailed report to follow. Thanks to NAM and all the great members for making the waiting process *almost* bearable.

 

>>I don't know about an MCS but with my cooper the key is not rpm but stops and starts. Keep the car moving and your mileage will improve. I spend about 70% of my driving time on country roads, maybe 20% stop and go in town and 10% on the freeway.
>>

Stopping at lights kill mileage. Starting and stopping does too. Wish I had more country roads around here. You are a lucky guy, Andy!

Regards,
Red

 

GAA!! I'm getting way too excited for this years Dragon-Run!

 

Ryan, the anticipation can only enhance the experience. Have fun!

I need to change oil and brake fluid before my next track day. Any opinions on oil? Royal Purple? Redline? Amsoil? Mobileone?????

Also has anyone tried the motive power bleeder? Looks pretty cool.

Motive Power Bleeder

_________________


03 MC CR/B. Rogue exhaust, Pipercross induction intake.

 

Royal Purple, Redline, and AMSoil are the three best, no question. I currently run Royal Purple, however recommend AMSoil if you prefer longer durations between changes.

 

Ryan - please make sure to take plenty of pictures!

The Mini proved itself a worthy track car again the past two days. All kinds of fun! New Hampshire International Speedway is a HECK of a technical track - no time to relax, even less time to correct mistakes and nowhere to go! We had a rainy first few sessions that proved just how slippery a track can get, especially on tires without a whole lot of tread left

It's strange to hear the car literally screaming down the front straightaway at WOT with the supercharger full on... a lot of people wandering the paddock had to stop to look to see what was making the noise.

Asodestrom - power bleeders are a lot of fun - more control, less fluid everywhere (if you're like me changing brake fluid.. it's not done right if it's not everywhere!).

 

Great color choice, Grimace. I'm hoping my tires arrive tomorrow (Yoko AVS ES100). I got almost 30,000 miles out of 1 1/2 sets of Pirelli euforia's, and am hoping for an
improvement in both handling and ride with these.

Phil

>>After a year of lusting and four months of waiting after ordering, I picked up my MCS IB/B on Friday at Mini of Murray in SLC.

 

Well I drove my MCS down GW parkway and south or Route 1 for a bit. Got my first ticket today, not just the first ticket in my MCS, but first ticket I've recieved ever. The cop was really nice, I was doing 48 in a 25, but he dropped it down to 44 to save me from a reckless charge. The problem was that I really didn't see a speed limit sign and there was this dude in a Jeep Chereokee in front of me doing 50 so I just followed him. Like I said, the cop was really nice about the whole thing. The only thing that irks me was that it wasn't a ticket for something cool, like doing 110 in a 60 or something

_________________
Winston the W'rknCooper

2004 MINI Cooper S

British Racing Green, Black bonnet stripes (soon)

Sport Package, H/K Stereo w/Acc. port

Black/Grey Space Cloth, Anthracite dash

 

There is only one thing to do. take Winston out tonight and DO IT RIGHT

 

>>There is only one thing to do. take Winston out tonight and DO IT RIGHT

 

Oh, I almost forgot. I got some new pictures of Winston today, fresh out of a wash. It was rather funny today, when I had him washed at a nearby church fundraising carwash, the fan kicked on in the middle of the wash, it was like he was purring Anyway, here's the pics:















There's a few more that you can see here.

_________________
Winston the W'rknCooper
2004 MINI Cooper S
British Racing Green, Black bonnet stripes (soon)
Sport Package, H/K Stereo w/Acc. port
Black/Grey Space Cloth, Anthracite dash

 

After seeing Ryan's post-wash pics, and theWrkncacnter's (Winston looks stellar btw) as well.... and finally being near a digital camera immediately post-wash, here are some pics after a nice bath today (Ryan is right, it's all about the camera angle :smile: ):

 

Looks great! That sun must have been really bright!

 

It's so GREEN down there! Everything here in Boston is just starting to open up and bloom. Ahh... spring!

Note to those out there doing the tire thing: Falken Azenis Sports in 15" and 16" sizes are on backorder... time for replacement at most places I've talked to is as yet undetermined.

In other news, you can get the Eagle F1's. Backorder for those sizes that have been scarce expected to end sometime in June.

Aged, balding yokos are *fun* in the rain!

 

It wasn't so much the brightness, as it was the sun's position on the horizon. I came home straight after work and did the wash (basic wash, nothing fancy... usually takes me 90-ish minutes depending on how caked on the brake dust is), so it just happened that it was nearing sunset as I took the pics.

I tried to minimize the glare and (as in the first photo) use it to my advantage for neato metallic-paint shots....

Rachel: You're absolutely right, it IS green down here. Things actually usually start blooming around the end of February, but we got kind of a late start this year. Of course, along with all that nice green comes one of the nastier pollen seasons we've had :smile:

Just so everyone knows, IndiBlue and pollen do NOT mix well