This was posted to a thread in the Pacific NW forum, but as it was (to our knowledge) the largest MINI gathering in North America to date...just thought more people should see the pictures than those that would normally browse the regional forum.




So we start the day off sunny and actually not too cold for January. The parking lot was huge and wide open...then the MINIs started rolling in.





And the next thing you know we had (at last count) 60+ MINIs and about 4 or 5 classic Minis. FANTASTIC!!

Then we lined up and were off!





So the last car leaves and we get a call from Adam of AltaMINIperformance who has been scanning the directions while out on the first few miles of the course. The course for the run was a big loop that started and ended at the McMenamin's Grand Lodge in Forest Grove OR. A few miles outside of town, half the cars went forward, half turned. From there they set out on a 100 mile course filled with amazing curves through the foothills, mountain lakes, country side and historic hiways. Adam realized that the second page of directions didn't seem right.

OH NO!!! Panic mode kicked in as we discovered that Kinko's flip-flopped the second page of the directions. So directions A had a "B" second page and vice versa. So essentially once everyone hit Newberg they got stuck. Thankfully we caught this with the help of Adam in time to race out (and I mean RACE...110mph around 45mph posted turns..damn I love this car...) and catch people of either side of the town. Spencer of Seattle's ClubMINI took this great photo of the "great direction swap 2003" just outside of Newberg.



Only a couple people slipped through the cracks and ended up not getting the corrected directions. And only one of them was grumpy about it...and we got the feeling that he'd have been grumpy if nothing went wrong. And really how could you complain with roads like this to motor on?





And then we had the after party hosted by Rasmussen MINI. Very cool! We had a MINI-Madness Cooper S intake, a Cooper Flags bonnet stripe kit, Diamond Racing Pipercross drop in air filter replacements for Cooper and Cooper S, a few MINIswag shirts, a couple MCO shirts, a coupon from Helix13 and a giant collection of MINI brand shirts and jackets from Rasmussen MINI...oh ya, and a few 2 hour service certificates (can be used for aftermarket part installs even!) and some other great little goodies. What an AMAZING prize table that was. Two of them actually!
Didn't get any shots at the party as I was EXHAUSTED and busy talking. But Spencer of ClubMINI nabbed this cute shot of a few MINIs outside the building Rasmussen rented for the party.



All in all a wonderful day filled with some great people, beautiful skies, endlessly twisty roads, a couple of kinks (hey, what run doesn't have it's kinks?) and some great beer at the party!!!

Just thought I'd share. :smile:

R

 

SWEET!!!!

 

i think the gathering at international MINI was larger, but that was partially put on my MINIUSA.

Great pics. Looks like a lot of fun.

 

What's the "international MINI gathering" you speak of? Never heard of this.

R

 

Palms sweaty, heart pounding, can't wait for my friend Joe Green to get his butt out here to Middle Earth (CWFFC) .... Thanks for sharing the picture with ALL of us ..

 

What may turn out to be a "large" gathering is scheduled for May 1-3 in North Carolina, when MINIs run the Tail of the Dragon.

Details @ the following:

Dragon Run

 

Great pictures, Davbret. Thanks. I've been meaning to tell you what an awesome photographer you are! Some of your pix on other postings are stunning.

 

That's amazing! Thanks for sharing.

I'm excited about the first Wolfe Island Canada MINI Meet that is now in the early planning stages (See my other thread).

Now I'm all the more excited. Davbret you've given us a taste of MINIlife! Thanks.

And you've given us a target (50 cars) for the Canadian event next September. And no, it's not "chilly" in Ontario in September. It's nice (and brisk!). Good roof-open weather.

 

I think this "Wow! HUGE... " thread will hit 1,000 page views (or more!).

It's a great piece of photo-journalism, and a great story as well.

I'll be coming back again, for sure, just to see those pics! (And to download them into my MINI Scrapbook). They're a great collection. Full rights are yours, Dabret!

 

neat'o :smile:

 

>>:smile:

 

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Looks like the factory pics of minis waiting to be transported to thier owners.

Great pics TKS for sharing

 

Here's a couple more pics from Jarid at Rasmussen MINI:




R