MINI School

The Most Effective and Economical Upgrade Your MINI Can Get!


As a MINI driver, you have bragging rights on driving one of the best handling cars on the planet. It really is difficult (and expensive) to make it handle a whole lot better. There is one element of your car which can make your car handle the curves faster and safer: THE DRIVER. Proper technique can upgrade the handling more profoundly than anything you can bolt on to your MINI.

This September, there will be a driving course just for us. It will specialize in teaching us to safely “mash the gas” in our MINI Coopers! Most driving schools provide rear wheel drive cars as a classroom, which handle differently and require somewhat different technique than your Cooper.
A group of your fellow MINI drivers in the Carolina’s acknowledged that there should be a driving course just for MINI Coopers. For the first time, there will be a high performance driving course just for YOU, the MINI driver!

The instructors from the BMW Performance Center are going to put on a driving school for MINI Coopers on the infield “sprint” road course at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina. You will receive hands-on, in-car training from the knowledgeable instructors and then you will be given several laps to go full throttle and see how much you really learned. Electronic timing will keep track of how much you learned. The instruction will be customized for each driver’s ability. You will get to drive between 6-12 laps around the sprint track. We are limiting this event to 40 drivers and there are already 17 spots taken, so you better jump on this!

When: September 21, 2003
Where: Lowe’s Motor Speedway
Cost: $150 per participating driver
Cost Includes: track rental, liability insurance*, ambulance*, fire truck*, security*, track staff*, 2 instructors, timing equipment, lunch, snacks, refreshments and t-shirt

*denotes items that are required by Lowe’s Motor Speedway to hold an event

A $50 per driver deposit is required to hold your spot at this event. So send you check as soon as you can, so you don’t miss out on this educational and very fun event!

Please Send Deposit (or whole payment) to:

MINI Motoring Club of the Carolinas
PO Box 16301
Greenville, SC 29606

Please note what participant you are paying for (you, and/or your spouse) and how much you are paying toward each.

Please let me know if you have any questions!
My e-mail is: willymini@yahoo.com

Happy Motoring!
Bill

You're right: all the trick parts in the world won't make up for a lousy driver. Not that I am a lousy driver, of course, but I'd like to be better than I am.

Count me in! :grin:

I have emailed both of the addresses listed. Is registration still open for this event? Several in Atlanta area (ATLMINI) are interested.

Jean L
ATLMINI Club

Is regisstration still open for the driving school at Charlotte. I will go if it is. Please reply ASAP and I'll send my deposit.

I'm signed up and I didn't even know about it! :grin:

We still have about 15 spots available. so go ahead and send in your deposits. Please e-amil me as well, so I can have your e-mail on file.

Thanks,
Bill

Due to a a impending move, my e-mail is now willymini@yahoo.com

Are there still spots available?

>>Are there still spots available?

There are a few left, email me at willymini@yahoo.com if you would like one of the spot.

We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Bill

The spots have been taken, with a few people willing to wait for someone to drop out. If you want to come and watch, we will be amking plans for folks who missed out, but want to hang out with some of your fellow miniers!

>>The spots have been taken, with a few people willing to wait for someone to drop out. If you want to come and watch, we will be amking plans for folks who missed out, but want to hang out with some of your fellow miniers!
>>
>>

Do you have a list of people who will be accepted to this event and will it be posted? Do you have schedules of when things will start and what participants need to bring with them. Please, if you do, post it or PM me. Thanks.

Hotel Arrangements for the MINI School

Hotel arrangements have been finalized for the MINI School. Our official hotel will be the Wingate Inn-Concord, NC. The Hotel offers a large lobby and meeting area, which the Suburban Lodge did not. Several School attendees have stayed at the Wingate on past MINI outings and felt that this would be the best hotel for our needs. Here is all the information.

Rates are as follows:
Standard Kings & Doubles $59.00
Executive Suites $69.00
Whirlpool Suites $79.00

Reservations must be made by September 5, 2003
Mention Group Code MINI when making reservations. Please call (704) 979-1300

All Guest Rooms and Suites Offer:
Complimentary in Room High Speed Internet Access
Executive Desk with 2 Line Speakerphone and 900 MHz Cordless Phone
Refrigerator, Microwave and Coffee Maker
Hair Dryer, Iron and Full Size Ironing Board
Complimentary Expanded Continental Breakfast
Nautilus Fitness Center with Spa and Outdoor Swimming Pool
FREE 24-Hour Business Center with two computer workstations. Each has its own Color Printer and our High Speed Internet Access.


Wingate Inn Concord, NC

We appreciate the enthusiasm you have shown for MINI School on Sept 21, 2003. It is amazing that we have filled an event for 45 people 110 days in advance!! We have folks from as far south as Florida and as far north as places like the Chicago Ill area and Flushing, New York. It will also be great to see our friends from the Virginia/DC area and also our neighbors down in Atlanta, who have a big group coming!

Of course, we are excited by the response by the members of the newly formed MINI Motoring Club of the Carolinas, being this is our big event!!

Here is the list of people who have paid deposits or the full amount and are registered for the MINI School!!

1 Sandler,Steven
2 Templeman,Peggy
3 Thrash,Jay
4 Walsh,Pat
5 White,Laura
6 Wood,Rus
7 Murray,Phil
8 Roberts,Stephanie
9 Thompson, Chris
10 Robarts,Paul
11 Rivenbark,Jan
12 Naviglia,Rich
13 O'Lone,Patrick
14 Stines,John
15 Wood,Robin
16 Century MINI
17 Century MINI
18 Yao,Kathleen
19 Killian,Michael
20 Lamkin,Jean
21 Martell,Kaye
22 Miller,Jonathan
23 Miller,Barbara
24 Hoyer,Brandon
24 Huey,Tim
26 Johnson,Lee
27 Kail,George
28 Cooper,Gary
29 Covney,Paul
30 Crosslin,Sherry
31 Darrow,Paul
32 Fragale,Michael
33 Hammond,Judi & Jim
34 Hammond,Judi & Jim
35 Hanft,Richard
36 Harper,Chris
37 Haught,Eric
38 Hegemier,Tim
39 Austin,Paul
40 Bader,Chris
41 Angier,Mike
42 Willy

43
44
45
(these 3 people whose names and $ I have at home and will add when I get a chance to get out of the office.)

Sorry I had to put peoples real names up! There is also a waiting of folks who have already enquired (or even paid) and did not make it in time. These 6 folks will have the next dibs in case someone drops out.

People who are not going listed to be students of the MINI School can bring friends and family. Plus other MINI'ers are welcome to join us for dinner on Saturday and to watch on Sunday.

Now we are attempting to put together prices and things to do for non-students that want to come that weekend.

We are really looking forward to seeing everyone for this fun weekend and I want to thank mininc, Mike Renner at the BMW Performance Center and the members of the MINI Motoring Club of the Carolinas for their part in putting together what is going to be a great event!

Dont hesitate to contact me at willymini@yahoo.com if you have any more questions!

Any word on costs/activities for people that didn't make the list? It sounds like it will be a blast even just to watch...

Important Message to All Registrants for this Event !

If you have registered for this event, and are not a paid member of the Mini Motoring Club of the Carolinas, please contact one of the following as soon as possible:
George Kail, President at mininc@aol.com
Molly, Treasurer at cerogers@carolina.rr.com

It came to our attention at the June 21 board meeting that a number of people had been signed up in error for this event that were not club members.

This event is open, for reasons of liability, to club members only. When this was brought to our attention at the board meeting it was decided that to be fair to the club members that were not able to sign up and to be fair to the non-members that had signed up in good faith, a letter would be sent to all those affected explaining the situation. It was agreed that we would offer these people the option of either joining the club and preserving their slot for the event, or receiving a refund.

Unfortunately, here it is close to one month later and our secretary has not been able to obtain the registration information from our former treasurer. As a result she has not been able to send that later out.

Please accept my apology for this situation. Also please be clear on the decision of the board - we can not allow non-club members to participate in this event.

Mick
Vice-President
Mini Motoring Club of the Carolinas

Important Message to All Registrants for this Event !

If you have registered for this event, and are not a paid member of the Mini Motoring Club of the Carolinas, please contact one of the following as soon as possible:
George Kail, President at mininc@aol.com
Molly, Treasurer at cerogers@carolina.rr.com

It came to our attention at the June 21 board meeting that a number of people had been signed up in error for this event that were not club members.

This event is open, for reasons of liability, to club members only. When this was brought to our attention at the board meeting it was decided that to be fair to the club members that were not able to sign up and to be fair to the non-members that had signed up in good faith, a letter would be sent to all those affected explaining the situation. It was agreed that we would offer these people the option of either joining the club and preserving their slot for the event, or receiving a refund.

Unfortunately, here it is close to one month later and our secretary has not been able to obtain the registration information from our former treasurer. As a result she has not been able to send that letter out.

Please accept my apology for this situation. Also please be clear on the decision of the board - we can not allow non-club members to participate in this event.

Mick
Vice-President
Mini Motoring Club of the Carolinas

I also attended the June 21 board meeting and would like to clarify some of Mick’s statements.

Non-members were not signed up “in error.” Rather, we discovered after all the slots were filled that the contract between the Mini Motoring Club of the Carolinas and Lowe’s Motor Speedway required that all participants in the MINI School be club members. Therefore, anyone participating in the event must be a club member.

We regret our confusion on this point and hope that those non-members who signed up will join the club. Even with the additional $25 expense, this driving school is still the cheapest performance upgrade available for your MINI and we hope you will enjoy the other benefits of belonging to the club.

To join, simply send your name, address, phone number and e-mail address to Mini Motoring Club of the Carolinas, P.O. Box 16301, Greenville, S.C. 29606. Include a check for $25 made out to "Mini Motoring Club of the Carolinas" for a one-year membership.

The Mini Motoring Club of the Carolinas apologizes for the confusion and for the inconvenience this may cause. If the additional cost is a problem for any registered participant, the club will happily refund your deposit.

Lee Johnson
Member

Hey MINI’ers!

I apologize for being out of the loop for a couple of weeks. I will be moving from South Carolina to Ohio. On top of that, me and my wife are buying an 18th century house in need of restoration, so we are also lining up contractors and the other things that come with moving 9 hours away.

The good news is that we have some capable folks who are volunteering. We are also adding another instructor, so the instructor/student ratio is higher. This will allow us to add 5 more students, while stepping up the quality of the school. Plus, don’t miss out on the dinner and events that mininc is putting together the night before. This will be one heck of a fun weekend!! As the plans for this comes together, it gets better and better!!

1 Sandler,Steven
2 Templeman,Peggy
3 Thrash,Jay
4 Walsh,Pat
5 White,Laura
6 Wood,Rus
7 Murray,Phil
8 Roberts,Stephanie
9 Thompson, Chris
10 Robarts,Paul
11 Rivenbark,Jan
12 Naviglia,Rich
13 O'Lone,Patrick
14 Stines,John
15 Wood,Robin
16 Century MINI
17 Century MINI
18 Yao,Kathleen
19 Killian,Michael
20 Lamkin,Jean
21 Martell,Kaye
22 Miller,Jonathan
23 Miller,Barbara
24 Hoyer,Brandon
24 Huey,Tim
26 Johnson,Lee
27 Trey Rogerson
28 Cooper,Gary
29 Covney,Paul
30 Anderson, Louis
31 Darrow,Paul
32 Fragale,Michael
33 Hammond,Judi & Jim
34 Hammond,Judi & Jim
35 Hanft,Richard
36 Harper,Chris
37 Haught,Eric
38 Hegemier,Tim
39 Austin,Paul
40 Bader,Chris
41 Angier,Mike
42 Don Roberts
43. Melinda Long
44. Phil Jesuleus
45. Donna Jesules
46. Brandon Hoyer
47. Todd Schelling
48. Amanda Harwood
49.
50.

We had a couple of MINI Motoring Club of the Carolinas Board members give up their spots to allow others to participate. We will allow them to reconsider, before we fill the last 2 spots with people who are on the waiting list.

Before we send you a mailing, we wanted to check on a couple more things from the instructors, Lowes Motor Speedway and other vendors, so you wont have to change gears in any way.

As you may have read in the previous posts, all the participants will have to be members of the club as well. My sincerest apologies for not knowing this as I first started putting this all together . The MINI Motoring Club of the Carolinas is a great group of folks and we have a lot of events planned. Even if you are signed up for the school and don’t live in the Carolinas, you still can’t go wrong by being a member. I will live in Ohio and will be a member of the club!

I appreciate those who have stepped up to help like, George, Molly, Aprilwhine, Lee and Smokey. You all have been real helpful and the event will be a success thanks to folks like you.

If you think there may be an error on this list, let me know.

Thanks again for your help and participation, we cant wait to see you there!!!

Motor On!
Willy