GBMINI#2

Tonights marks the second anniversary of the day I first saw GBMINI delivered to MINI Peabody – it looked very normal back then; no roof flag, no painted trim, no JCW, no loads of other things. And now, somewhat sadly, soon no GBMINI either.
Well, except for the new GBMINI yet to come.

I think my current GBMINI knows something is up and has been trying to teach me what a mistake I am making! This last week or so I have regularly noticed stunning performance from the car – I will be accelerating briskly along route 128, then push my foot further and get a big new kick of extra power … I don’t know if it is the gas, the cold air, or what but I am really enjoying driving at the moment 🙂

Anyway, at 28,000 miles GBMINI is still wonderful and deserves a good new owner …

Only light snow so far today, but “they” are claiming another possible 6-9″! UPDATE: This is what the roads were like when I headed home (early):

Minolta DSC

Minolta DSC

Minolta DSC

Minolta DSC

Minolta DSC

My new non-runflat tires are performing adequately; fine for driving reasonably plowed roads but I can easily lose traction if I accelerate or brake hard (experimentally – I don’t drive that way!) The traction control & ABS are excellent at maintaining correct direction; without ABS I would not be happy in this weather.

It would be interesting to compare with real snow tires, as there are some places where I would like more traction – mostly on slopes which have not been cleared of snow; I know that if I had to stop I would not be able to go forward up a slope any more. And going down such slopes I am very careful to keep my speed low, in case the tires & ABS together cannot stop GBMINI (not happened yet and I don’t want it too).

Question for any experts reading this: Would an LSD help with maintaining traction from a stop when going up a slippery hill? Or is it only beneficial on curves?