Most people that know me, know I wanted to see a repeat of MTTS’06 with lots of driving, and supporting end-of-day events – rather than doing a MINI United type event that focussed on music and pushed driving to the side.
I know many people enjoyed MINI United (especially the night life) – but it’s not, for me, what MINI is about!
Personally, the fact that we had 200+ MINIs show up yesterday morning for the Rise & Shine rally, and much less than half that attend the afternoon/evening at U Mass – even with a chance to drive brand new MINIs, suggests that at least here in New England, other MINI owners think like I do!
I’ve even got “proof” that at least one other person agrees with me – I agree with you, Brian, and I think your suggestions for what could have happened are smart … let’s hope MINI USA reads this for 2010!
Sarah and I enjoyed the drive and breakfast far more than any other part of the event. Her suggestion for what should have happened was this: breakfast followed by a drive to Gloucester, and then – coordinating with the Chamber of Commerce – get a group of local businesses there to offer local tours, whale watches, and other local points of interest. Recommend some good seafood restaurants, etc.
Dedicate the majority of the day to that, and then wrap things up at UMass with the autocrossing (perhaps overlapping that with the events in Gloucester), concert and a much smaller “festival” type thing. The UMass thing was pretty lame, really, aside from getting to test drive a bunch of different cars around the course.
(I agree with your “The MC2 guy (Barry?) was a complete ass, but what else is new?” comment too! 😉 )
Hopefully MINI USA are happy with the overall success of this years events – but if not, let’s go back to something closer to the original format (and Gerry, if you’re reading, I loved your suggestion!)
And if you’re not happy with my MTTS’08 posts, be sure to visit George’s site instead!
M&I / GBMINI 
I am with you on that Ian, for me Mini’s are about motoring. I would have loved to see a combination event that basically brings together all three of Mini’s options from this year. I would like to see regional events on one weekend, then a from the regional event to a big central event. This would allow the largest number of Mini drivers to attend, and a good drive followed by a massive party.
Sounds pretty lameass to me also. I hope they get it right for Pasadena! No comment on Barry.. but I will say I didn’t renew my mag subscription or answer any of his emails.
Not having been there I can’t really comment on the events but I do think a good concert should be a good tie in after the drive is done. I still think MINI’s lame advertising campaign sucked. I met some folks out here at a small (30+) DIY meet by SCMM and quite a few knew nothing about the event in Pasadena.
No Quack Quack here in SoCal? 😦
Robert,
The “management” of QQJ is not by me – it’s by Cathleen / YellowMININY and is primarily handled on this MINI2 thread … you need to sign in to MINI2, and post there your offer; I don’t know if Cathleen already has someone sorted for MTTS’08 L.A. – but hopefully you can take the reins 🙂
. . . just wondering – how did MC2 Barry manage to “complete ass” himself?
Have you met him?
Oh . . just his typical “beingness”? Nothing special for MTTS ’08? 😉
Also Ian – is there an Official Metallic Grill Badge this time around? I gather not.
Sort of.
I bought a large MTTS badge/plaque – and you could also buy a bolt-on bracket to fix it to the car (I didn’t get that). Pics when I get there 🙂