Wow Steven,

You have a great eye photographing your car. Great backdrop.

Franny

 

Thanks Franny. I see you are in Colorado, you guys doing ok with the fires? I hope so


-Steven

 

Thanks for asking... As I look out from downtown Denver, the skies are a bit hazy - looks like smog. The amazing Firefighters are wrangling the two biggest fires around here - Ft Collins and Co Springs. They are over 50% contained and we are hoping for some rain soon. We took a drive up in the mountains with the other car and had a great time winding up to the base of Mt Evans at Echo lake. It just feels really dry up there though... A little scary. A new fire, touched off by lightning last week just to the west of Boulder is mostly out. That one could have been pretty bad.

It is a bit early for these fires, but we skipped Spring and went straight to Summer a couple months early. A couple years ago, it was 53 deg and spitting rain on the the 4th. This year, we just came out of almost a week above 100. 106 at the hottest.

We have Mini in the Mountains the first part of August. Really looking forward to that! It will be the first trip for the new car. We want to wait on road trips until the bra is installed. We have driven around the neighborhood a bit and it really is fun to drive!!

Looking forward to more photos of your car. Great work!

Franny

 

I just read through your entire build and I am very impressed! One of the best looking and modded MINIs I've ever seen! I love the NM and carbon bits, not to mention the color scheme. Did you install everything yourself, or did you have a shop help you?

 

Thanks for the compliments. I had help with the springs/sway bar. I did the rest myself

-Steven

 

Steven I love your roadster, its just how I would like to have one, but dont think its the ideal car for driving around in in Scotland though but everytime I come in here to catch up on how your car is getting on I keep saying yes I want a roadster..., keep up the excellent work your doing to the beast

 

Thanks Zimbo...more to come.


-Steven

 

One of the traits of the JCW Roadster for me is how strong the BMW DNA shines through. Driving this Mini feels like the best of BMW, married with Mini's fantastic driving dynamics. As a sort of tribute to that, I did some visual work on the Roadster. I used the three colors from BMW's M/Motorsport division. I like the results...

























-Steven

 

Now that I have switched back to my stock intake, I wanted to try the Alta Foam filter. Alta claims a little over 4 WHP, and 5 ftlb. of torque. What I really wanted, was to sharpen the throttle response. Guess what, it does what they claim. The crisper throttle response was evident on the first drive, and I'm hearing a little of the turbo whine and BOV valve hiss now. I was missing that.


-Steven

 

hmmm...I can't see your pictures anymore. Not sure why.

 

Have you noticed a decrease in fuel economy? I was considering getting an upgraded panel filter...too bad NM doesn't make one.

I like the ///M details!

 

dillo,

I'm seeing everything fine on my computer. Not sure what is wrong Do you see text?


-Steven

 

looking good. I feel like you could have less of the strips. I like the boot handle... but it seems like less is more with this.
I feel like a fitting place for something like this is the side scuttles
Looks nice though! great personal touch

 

They are back...must have been something with other computer. As always...nice pics, beautiful car

 

I'm not seeing any decrease in fuel economy You might even see a slight increase, as it is a more efficient filter. Thanks for the compliments.

-Steven

 

Very nice M accents, very tastefully done.

 

very nice.

 

I've been on a road trip to the Rocky Mountain West. We started in Chicago, headed through Wisconsin, over the Mississippi into Minnesota, straight across South Dakota, into Wyoming, and down to Utah, putting 500-650 miles a day. This has been great to get the Roadster out and stretch her legs...and what legs! I've mentioned in previous posts the BMW DNA I feel in this car, and out on the interstate this is really borne out. The JCW is rock steady at high speed, never twitchy or busy feeling. I had a few chances to push it well past 125 mph, and it is settled and belies the actual speed. Passing power is another strength of the JCW. I've never owned a car that has such explosive power at speed, drop a gear, nail the throttle and hold on. Here's a few pics of the trip so far...

South Dakota, heading for the Badlands and Wall Drug



Then onto Mt. Rushmore. This was a cool view of the Monument, you come upon it a mile or so after leaving Mt. Rushmore




Wyoming...checking out the Pioneer trail



Guardsman Pass, Park City, Utah Heading up, and then down the back side of the pass offered some great twisties










more to come...a lot of driving left to do

-Steven

 

Hi Steven,

Looks like a great trip! Love the photos.

Don't know if you will be in the area, but the 5280Mini group is having their Minis in the Mountains this weekend up in Winter part. There will be lots of Minis there and, if you can swing it, it would be great to see you and that gorgeous car of yours!

The event starts on Thursday and ends Sunday afternoon. Let us know if it is a possibility.

Looking forward to more great photos!

Franny

 

Cool pics! I did a similar thing last summer in my old car....went from Chicago>Seattle>LA>Grand Canyon>UT>CO>Chicago

And I took the same picture as you, but facing the other direction...we had to pull over since it was too foggy. I hope you didn't stay in Keystone much, it was easily the worst part of my trip.

 

Thanks for the invite! Unfortunately, we will be heading north from Park City to West Yellowstone. It would have been nice to meet up with some fellow Mini motorist Have a great weekend.


-Steven

 

Sounds good. Safe travels! Looking forward to more photos.

F

 

Had a great day playing in the mountains today.....twisty roads up to Alta, Brighton and Solitude. It was so good having the top down carving up the roads






Back near Park City



-Steven

 

A few more...







-Steven

 

Looks like a great trip ! Not sure which photo I enjoyed more. Those birch (?) trees make a nice backdrop for your black roadster ! Love the shot of Mt Rushmore, too.