Since I am stuck in sunny Phoenix waiting for airports to re-open in Chicago and Hartford, I'll give you a taste in pictures and words of what MINI training is all about. Most important is the photos, showing the stars of training, the new R56, Cooper and Cooper S. here is that link: http://scottnickel.smugmug.com/galle...4219#129399598 The trip out to PHX was uneventful, but took most of the day. The weather was warm and moist. Had a little rainshower for about 45 minutes on the way to the Hotel Valley Ho. Beautiful place, chic, modern, and so MINI. I hung out with some old and new friends at the bar. Training with MINI is not like your typical job training. It's fun, energetic, and different. We were all chomping at the bit, wanting to get out and try the new cars in the sunshine. We walked out to the garage, and all jumped in the cars we liked the best. Mostly the cars were exactly as the launch MINIs(first wave hitting dealers now). They all had Georgia and New Jersey Manufacturer's plates. We chose a Mellow Yellow Cooper S. All the Cooper S cars were manual transmissions, all the Coopers had the new Aisin 6 speed automatic. Paddle shift just like the Cooper S automatics we're used to.
The really funny part was transferring all we read about, into actually motoring with the new car. We couldn't stick the key in properly at first.. big laughter at the guy trying. The controls for the radio took a bit of practice. The new seats are awesome. They are comfy, and longer in the front of the seat. The new interior is nice. More high quality bits, and less stuff that appears cheap. We finally picked up our motoring book, and followed the route cue sheet. The guy driving was new to a manual transmission. I kept hearing and smelling the clutch.
The first loop had us leaving Scottsdale, and getting on the highway. The scenery was cool, and I took a bunch of photos of the other cars in our convoy. We traded places about 18-20 miles out, and it was my turn to finally drive. Note to other motorers...Sport Button On!!! So, in my haste to get in the car and go, with my iPod cranking out road tunes, off we went again. We got on a long stretch of highway and a Cooper automatic came cruising on past us. We had the windows open, and doing 80, the Cooper sounded sweet! Next thing we knew, my little yellow rocketship was hitting 105...Smooth, quiet, less wind noise by a bunch. I slowed down, and kept cruising at 80 looking for the motorcycle cops. Didn't see any, and my radar detectors are all sitting in CT....Back to cruising hard again, downshift to 5th, then 4th, then hit 3rd and get it singing it's song again. Right back to 110. Wow, smooth, but not really peppy. I forgot about the Sport button. It stays off when you start the car. You need to remember to push that button. It's there to save fuel. The twin scroll turbo does a really nice job. Launch is smoother, and faster than the Supercharger. Peak HP is from 1600 RPMs up to about 5,000. Nice motor noise, and no exhaust feedback as you let off the gas. You'll hate me for saying this, but I don't need thr little pops out the exhaust. We hit the next rallye point and had a quiz out in the valley surrounded by these old, red, rocky hills. The tent and flag were there to shade us from the sun, and also to collect our names for our MINI we were motoring in. Each person was given a pen, and wrote their choice on the MINI banner. My choice for our Mellow Yellow motoring machine was "The Screaming Yellow Zonker"....no, not original, but a race car in the 50's was called that. I thought it was appropriate. Back in the MINI after a kidney break, and a refreshing beverage.
New guy driving, me in the backseat taking more pictures. The guys were relieved I was not driving anymore. They did not appreciate me driving and taking photos. "trust me, I'm a professional, and have done this in my MINI back home." While we were cruising a 32 Ford Coupe was riding along, and playing with our group. He seemed to like the MINIs he was riding with. We got back to the hotel about 75 miles after we started. Time for more learning and evaluating. I am going to post this, and work on part two to avoid being too long.
end of part 1

 

Which seats did you sit in and how would you describe the different leather finishes?

Great writeup by the way. Very exciting to read!

 

Part II
We learned a bit more once we got back to the hotel, and then broke for a 90 minute time out. Dinner and drinks were great, with a slideshow on the screen of the days events in pictures. It was nice seeing old MINI friends and also creating new friendships too. We partied until bedtime.
The next day was our track day. Brain throbbing, and dealing with a 5 AM wake up call from the airline, stating my flight is cancelled. Uggh.. I tried using the internet to get another flight. Airport is closed, no other flights available, all full, etc. I called MINI travel dept., and they eventually got me a flight for 9:30 today to Dulles, then to Hartford. That's not working either. I called the airline this morning at 6:00 and arranged to go to Chicago, which should be open when I get there after departing sunny, warm Phoenix at 3:30. The next dilemma is Hartford. They may be closed like Chicago yesterday. Might be sleeping in Chicago tonight.
We got on the busses at 6:55 A.M. and headed out to Firebird Raceway. It's a really impressive looking place. They have a dragstrip, a lake to race boats, and many road racing courses. Tons of cones. Bob Bondurant's school was operating, with cars sliding sideways with a cool looking "skidcar". They also had a couple of hot Cadillacs making great noise running on another track. Our MINIs sat out in the sunshine waiting for us to play. No cops... I was happy about that, after yesterday's run in the desert. We went in the big meeting room, all decked out in MINI stuff. The Hammer and Coop car was there, as well as a tricked out Cooper. Outside the tent were three generations of MINIs in red white and blue. We had a great breakfast. Some people were looking a little green after our power drinking at the hotel bar. They split our groups into three separate teams, and then subgroups to keep the lines short on the competitive comparison rides. We first went out to a cone course with a Sparkling Silver S, and a white VW GTI. I took the GTI with a passenger out for a fun, sideways trip through, but not over, the cones. We thought the car was good, but tailhappy, heavy, and slower because of turbo lag. VW doesn't have the twin scroll turbo. Then, I was the passenger, and we did the same thing, with plenty of tire screeching, and smell of burning rubber. Nice! I was having a blast. Next, time to do the same course in the R56 S. Nicer launch, and smooth. We hit the first twisty part, and oticed how well planted the car is. No tailwags, and plenty of low end torgue as we stayed pretty much in first and second gear. A bit more torgue steer though. We all did the same trip, with plenty of comments about the differences, and how much fun we were having. Next was a learning module, and we got to play with stuff in the cars. The new steering column is great. Tilt and Telescopic. Very smooth, and adjustable. Brilliant. No more locking tab under the center of the column. The radio controls, and Body Computer were fun to play with, and learn about. I know it'll take a little getting used to, but it's cool.
Next comparison was Honda Fit, with a Cooper Automatic. Wow, what a difference. Honda still has a solid rear axle, and is wickedly underpowered. My driving instructor was nice about pointing out I could go faster by being smoother. "No kidding, but I was looking to exaggerate the car's bad habits". He was unimpressed. The people I was with were all a little leary of being my co-pilot. Driving the cars like we stole them in the sunshine. We were all getting pumped for the timed Gymkhana run. Two laps, two second penalty for killing a cone. Our team was leading going into the competition. Other teams had 15-16 cones knocked down by the group. Pressure is on, cones were tight. Big course. They gave us a Cooper Automatic. I put it into sport mode, and took off. Tight, twisty, and pretty fast. My first run was fastest of our group, and everybody cheered as I slid sideways into the stop box, sideways, emergency brake kicking the back end out. A little drama because you had to stop exactly in the box, no corners past the cones. I was in, and safe but very sideways. Lots of laughing and cheering. The guy in charge gave me a bad look, and suggested strongly that we should not do that again, EVER. My second lap was even quicker as I adjusted to what I did wrong the first lap. Just shy of the record on the second one, all cones stayed up, even though I tickled one, and it danced, but didn't fall over. Again, more applause. I got out still pumped. It really was a rush! Another guy in our group beat my time. Bummer, no longer #1... then we heard another guy in our group really going well, greased the car perfectly through the course, and got a track record for the day. Our team won, with less cones killed (2) and the fastest time, giving us the win. We also had a lead in the points from Monday's competitions out in the desert. It came down to the finale as a group, we all had 7 questions to answer individually, on handheld transmitters. Our team won overall, and got great trophies for our efforts. I will have fun bringing that and my new Hammer and Coop lunchbox home today on the plane. More stuff to carry on. As a special treat, the driving instructors took all the late departing people out for a hot lap on the big track. I was impressed with how smooth they were, and how fast we could go sideways around corners. Awesome. That's about it for training. I am itching to get back to home and get to work selling MINIs. I love my job.

 

the seats we were in for the Yellow S were the cloth seats, obviously sport seats, because it was an S. The redwood lounge leather was really nice in one of the Coopers. The new seats are by a different supplier and are so much better. I think it's the best part of the upgrade.

 

Our group was there for the first wave, and we got to drive the Cooper S on the Gymkhana until people started beating on the manual. After a few hours, you could smell alot of clutch! One of the guys on my team actually had the clutch go on him half way though (huge smoke cloud), but it wasn't his fault, it was already smoked.

 

wow, the training sounds like a lot of fun. I wonder if my local MINI dealer is hiring...

 

Am I right in thinking the clutch will be a weak point?

 

I think you would be right in thinking the cars at the track get whipped big time.

 

Only if you put a bunch of over zealous drivers in the car and give them permisssion to beat on it.

dean.

 

Based on what? one post about a range of people driving a car some of whom may have had to drive a manual for the first time because of the competition aspect of this? I highly doubt the clutch went out because of anything other than abuse by someone who didn't know how to drive a manual.

 

I dunno--I run autocrosses in my old BMW, with no problems. 190,000 miles and no clutch work ever...

 

That was with one foot.
Your pictures are awesome, I can't believe that I didn't see any of that exteamly handsome guy with the red gotee that you hung out with.

 

The reason I had no photos of you was for your own protection! Those can be purchased at a very reasonable price! As you are aware, we weren't shooting pics in the bar, or by the pool. What happens in Scottsdale, stays in Scottsdale.

 

Now that I think about it, thanks.

 

Great Pictures! It was a fun time. I liked it much better than the cabrio launch, even if the hotel wasn’t quite as nice. The drive up to the lake was fantastic. I was the lucky 33.93 autocross guy.

 

Props on the auto X. Not making excuses, but man was I hung over. I think I got 37.1. The whole weekend went by way too fast.