Roundel, the monthly magazine for members of the BMW Club will be featuring more Mini stuff going foward! They will also be starting a monthly Mini article in March I believe. The magazine is free for members of the Club and dues are cheap.

http://www.bmwcca.org/members/am/template.cfm?Section=Welcome

The BMW Club is reaching out to Mini owners! The Club is a great organization and here is another opportunity to share the Mini love.

Vince

 

Thanks for the information. It's been nearly 30 years since I was in BMWCCA (while a member I designed the club t-shirts for 2 annual meets) so things must have changed a lot. Glad MINIs have been included.

 

I believe as a member you can get a $500 discount on a new BMW.. but you cannot get this discounts on a Mini. There are no discounts for MINI's from corporate...even employees!

 

I've been a BMWCCA member off 'n on for .... well, a very long time. Sold my M3 a few years ago so I doubt things have changed too much since then; its still safe to say its a good club. Roundel is a nice magazine, good tech help is available. They have a neat raffle every year with pretty good odds to win new BMWs (MINIs now ???); last year 9 new BMWs were won by members. Only question for me will be how much attention they'll dovote to the MINI community.

 

I'm planning to join, just so I can do track days with 'em. :-)

 

I joined last week so I could register for the Driving School early and get a $40 discount on the registration. I saw a copy of the magazine at the local BMW specialty repair place and thought it was nice but that I would probably trash it when it gets here. Now that it will hopefully have some MINI stuff in it, it may make it all the way to my kitchen
Annette

 

That is why I joined a couple years ago . . ..

 

I've been a member since my last car was a BMW. Great club, excellent club magazine (roundel), and they put on excellent track days, driver's schools, tech sessions, etc...

I'm pumped to hear about Roundel's new committment to MINI since it is pretty much ignored up to this point. Except for the letters bashing us, our cars, and then the obligatory replies. It's actually great reading; seeing how people can be insecure just because they bought a car for its name and - gasp - that same company makes a 20,000$ car!!!!!!!?????? One can hear their thoughts: "Why, they (MINI owners) must be........wait for it........use my college education........come on, I've got an important job, nice car........OH YES.....WANNABES!!!! They're wannabes!!!!! It's all so simple!!!! MINI owners WANT TO BE BMW owners, but they can't afford to be!!!!!!! I'm so smart." Now imagine that in Stewie's voice, and it's really funny.

Yes, folks, those people exist, write letters, and get them published. Romping good reading it is.

Let's get more MINIs out to BMW CCA Events!!!!!!!!!!

mb

 

and they HATE to be passed on the track by a MINI! Only disappointment I had at at DE event was that many were very stubborn about letting me pass.

 

After one year of the BMW Club I decided that although Roundel is a nice mag, that neither the mag nor the club was for me. So I let it lapse.


Much to my surprise I got an email from MiniUSA that my BMW Owners Circle profile was updated correctly.

Herbert

 

I've been a BMWCCA member since '98. Besides the wonderful Roundel magazine, the club also puts on some great events, i.e. autocross and driver schools.

One disappointment I've had though was the first time I went to buy parts for my MINI from my local dealership and didn't get the BMWCCA discount. I was buying parts for my 325iX at the same time and asked for the discount on both. To my surprise, they wrote up two separate invoices - the one for the 325iX had the CCA discount, but the MINI invoice I paid list. I guess I'll have to try Classic MINI next time for the NAM discount.

Aside from that, I've really enjoyed the club and I feel that my chapter (NY) openly encourages MINIs to participate (especially in the Autox series). The fact that Roundel will soon be including more MINI info is great news as well.

 

I've been a BMWCCA member for over 16 years, during which I've owned a '76 2002 and an '87 325is, both with many performance mods. I attended many driver schools and ended up instructing for a few years. BTW, the schools, for the money, are the best around - safety is paramount, practical learning experience, high percentage of instructors, and lots of fun. I found the club members to be very open to MINIs and their owners - after all we are all in the same family, despite the fact we are of a wayward branch from across the channel. I don't believe they think of MINI owners as wanabees. I bought my MINI because it was engineered and built (sort of) by BMW, but also because BMW has yet to make/import the car I really want, a 130i convertible. If others don't recognize your common sense selection of vehicle, its their problem.

dchez: You should get your BMWCCA discount on MINI parts. I did at Long Beach BMW/MINI and South Bay BMW/MINI.

YuccaPatrol: M cars hate to be passed by anything. In my lowly 325is with Dinan upgrades, I kept up and it drove them batty.

Moskito: Just one letter with technical info that saves you time or money, and you've gotten back your investment. And the discounts on parts... I'd strongly suggest that you get yourself reinstated.

scatpack: I think the membership reward program discounts vary with the car. Discounts can apply to new or CPO, or even European delivery.

 

Weegit, does your chapter allow convertibles on the track, or are your instructing days over?

mb

 

All BMWCCA chapters run the schools with essentially the same rules. Convertibles must have SCCA approved roll-over protection, which I don't think is met with current configuration. The only other safety equipment required is a Snell (SA) 00 and newer helmet. I'm not sure whether full-face is required yet.

Sadly, I stopped instructing because with the infusion of all the M cars, it became more and more difficult to teach fundamentals. Those cars are amazing - flawlessly correct for most minor mistakes.

 

i think the rule is the role bar in a converatable must be two inches above the drivers helmet. that's for BMW CCA. i know there are some clubs that allow converertables but not the BMW ones or porsche for that matter.

 

A line drawn from the top of the windshield frame (but only if structural - otherwise some part of the hood or engine bay frame) to the top of the roll bars must clear the helmet by 2". I'm sure there are other requirements as well.

 

As it relates to ragtops, each chapter has thier own rules in addition to that of BMW CCA. The GVC (which runs school at Watkins Glen) does not allow any ragtops without a rollbar and factory hardtop.

 

The BMW Club is looking to increase membership and as per my discussions with various folks involved at National (I am President of the Genesee Valley Chapter); Mini is an area open for a lot of expected growth.

I think if we can get the membership growth, in the BMW Club, on the back of the Mini, we can push for more recognition and monetary benefits such as Mini rewards discounts and parts discounts. Rather than talk about what they don't do for us, we should drive (or should I say motor) the change.

Vince

 

You don't have to be member, but they do offer a lower entry fee for members - it was $35 less when I was active - the same price as membership.

 

to go to a BMW school, you do have to be a member of the BMW CCA. to get early acceptance you have to be a member of the chapter that's putting on the event. this is for insurance reasons. they might let a porsche or audi club member slide in but for the events in the tarheel chapter there is no hope of getting into an event because the events fill up the first day and outside chapters have to wait two weeks before they can apply.

quote from the upcoming event follows:

 

I attended and/or instructed at schools at several tracks in California, Arizona, Nevada and even Connecticut, and with as many chapters. I found that the more popular tracks (Laguna Seca and Sears Point - now Infineon ) seemed to fill up very quickly, even with entry fees topping $500. "Outsiders", even those of us from out of town had difficulties getting in. The "lesser" tracks (SCCA tracks like Buttonwillow and Thunderhill) usually had lots of room and so took non-BMWs. I would guess the East coast is very similar.

I'm encouraged to hear that MINIs will take a more prominent role. I remember the first MINI I saw at a school was about 3 years ago, and it was an anomaly. Perhaps I'll get back into instructing if I can drive others' MINIs .

 

What we have to remember, is that we can drive the focus of the Club and the more active members we have, the more leadership roles we can have!!!

 

PLEASE explalin this WEEGET.

I would guess the East coast is very similar.

 

as above say, join the BMWCCA, and participate in a variety of events

My last driver's (10/2005) school at new hampshire international speedway had I think 8 or 9 MINI's (out of about 85 cars) which is about 10%

I believe the MINI will become the new e30 of this century, as it is the only car sold in america made by bmw that weighs under 3000 pounds............ and the MINI is clearly the most frugal and fun in my opinion and good for DE... who wants to risk a $38K bmw 330... Hopefully they bring the 1 series to us but then the MINI will be out shined

Proud member for over 11 years, but now only driving a MINI at events.......

 

Nothing derogatory, I assure you. I meant that like the West coast, I would guess there are "premier tracks", which I would assume to be relatively more popular (such as Watkins Glen), vs. lesser known or more remote tracks. For instance, out here among many, we have Laguna Seca and we have Pahrump (Nevada near Las Vegas).

The So Cal area does have the luxury of having several BMWCCA chapters within 400 miles (I'm affiliated monetarily with 3), so there are at least a half dozen schools each year to choose from. But with the everrising track rental costs, we've sometimes had to "settle" for the smaller tracks (less amenities, poorer track conditions, etc.) to make ends meet. This doesn't mean the schools aren't any less educational or fun.