Winning British food

Posted on by Ian C.

The Union Jack store in Peabody, about 1/2 mile south of MINI Peabody, is a regular stop for us – for Easter we can get our British Cadburys easter eggs from them; at christmas time we can get crackers; throughout the year we can get our favourite british chocolate, soap, and Walkers crisps! This year, the store is celebrating 20 years of business and they offered a fabulous hamper of British products as in a prize draw for their customers … amazingly, they phoned me today to tell me I had won!

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Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC

When I got home, Margaret & I had a great time unpacking and “oohing & aahing” at the contents:

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Some of the best contents included: A huge tin of Cadburys Roses, Walkers shortbread, British assorted cream biscuits, Snowballs and Tea-cakes, Weetabix & Porridge, Branston pickle, Jelly babies and – for Bridgette maybe – a tin of salmon!
And if I’m brave, I might try the Babycham and Woodpecker cider 🙂

New tires for GBMINI#3

Posted on by Ian C.

I finally decided this week to order new tires – swimming against the tide, I chose 205/55WR-16 Avon Tech M550 A/S tires.
I was swayed by the excellent ratings on TireRack across the board – traction in wet, dry and snow conditions all rate well, as does comfort; the tire is not available in 205/50 so I chose the 205/55 in the belief that there won’t be an issue – I can’t imagine a tire diameter about 0.3″ bigger than stock being a significant difference, and opinions on the NAM tire forum confirmed this.

The tires arrived today, so I headed down to MINI of Peabody to get them installed (an extra benefit of having MoP do the work – as well as my confidence in them – is that GBMINI#3 is once again clean!)

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Minolta DSC

 

I took some old and new tire comparison shots, to see if the wheels were significantly bigger – and I really don’t see any cause for concern! Remember also I was going from an undersized tire (205/50 is smaller diameter than the stock 195/55); the change going from a stock runflat 195/55 to the 205/55 would be even less significant:

Front wheel comparison
Rear wheel comparison
Rear wheel comparison close-up

If you want to compare different wheel/tire sizes, a great website is the Wheel & Tyre Bible which has masses of information including a calculator that shows the 205/55R16 being 5mm radius more than the 195/55R16 (the Indycar team partly owned by David Letterman! Good luck Bryan – though I’m sure you won’t need it 🙂

MINIsOnTop 2006 sponsors #5

Posted on by Ian C.

Time once again to thank the generous sponsors of MINIsOnTop 2006!

Firstly, thanks to Concord Motorsport for the donation of a DINAN Strut Tower Brace.
Another local company, Bavarian Autosport, has donated two $50 gift certificates – thanks.

Thanks also to OutMotoring; they have sent a whole package of stuff to MINIsOnTop, including Tshirts, a MINI storage unit, and a pile of window decals.

Finally, a huge THANKS to SSG Precision Optronics; this company does not make MINI-related products, but employs MINI owners – they have sent a $250 check which will be included in the charity donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Massachusetts later this year.

Remember also that MINIsOnTop is raffling a JCW upgrade, donated by MINI of Peabody – the sale of $25 tickets has raised almost $1000 already.

Next week we will be formally announcing a SECOND major raffle prize from Herb Chambers MINI of Boston similar to their huge donation last year – watch this space for more news, and contact me if you are interested in raffle tickets for either major MINIsOnTop prize.

Previous MINIsOnTop sponsor shout-outs:
Prestige MINI, GBMINI circuits, North American Motoring, and John, Gayle and TiNY
The major raffle prize from MINI of Peabody
National Motorists Association, SooperCoopers, Chip and Derek
OceanStateMINI club, WebbMotorSports, Bentley Publishers
Oxford Motorsports, Miniature Trailers, Pete, Becca

Many thanks to all MINIsOnTop sponsors!