Month: November 2004

I spent today at MINI Peabody, “slightly helping” with the running of the “MINI Open Rally”; Ivan & Richard planned a timed rally starting & finishing at the dealership, and heading north as far as Newburyport with three checkpoints. Ivan ran the route a number of times and computed a “roboMINI” perfect time – the goal for the rally was to match that perfect time.
I arrived at MINI Peabody early (but not as early as Ivan) and assisted with loading the customised MINI clipboards with directions, etc; also helped shift vehicles from the dealership lot to allow space for returning rally MINIs later in the day.
Between 9 and 10am about 50 MINIs arrived with drivers & navigators, warming up on coffee & donuts:

After an introductory speech by Martin, the customary “driver ed” speech was given by Richard, then everyone prepared to head off; a time clock was used to mark the start time (and later the end time) of every MINI, and even in the cool weather it was great to see a couple of top-down convertibles on the rally.

Once all the MINIs had headed off, we prepared for their return at the dealership; a few other MINIs turned up, and the caterers prepared lunch. The bouncy castle was inflated, and Martin relieved some stress by shifting snow. Also, a classic Mini Moke arrived from Burnetts Garage, to join the fun.
Eventually, cars started to arrive back from the rally, and the parking lot began to fill:

Long queues for food – but worth the wait!  The day ended with a thank-you speech from Martin and prize-giving to the best five finishers (except for all the moving back of cars which MINI Peabody had to do after everyone had left – well done Dan for staying around and helping, and bad me for heading off with the keys to one car!)

Update: I created a video: