MINI of Peabody 2008 Spring Rally

Another excellent MINI of Peabody driving event – once again, NOT spoiled by wet weather (it’s just as much fun, even if the scenery is a little damp!)
The wet weather encouraged everyone to wait inside the dealership this morning, while their MINIs waited outside; Paul welcomed everyone and explained the rules: follow the route, collect cards at each stop, try to get a winning hand and try not to get lost!
The route took us up to the Merrimac river, past spectacular scenery and incredible houses – but wet, wet, wet so no pictures … and just a couple of wrong turns 🙂 so GPMINI was one of the first cars back.
Hrach waved everyone back to the dealership (where people received their final card – we ended up with not even a pair!)

Back indoors, we had music from local radio station Mike FM, trinkets from Today’s Collision, and food (burgers and dogs, as always); there were also prizes, with the top prize (of a MINI fridge) going to Joe who somehow collected FIVE ACES in his hand!

Many thanks to MINI of Peabody and all their staff for another great MINI adventure, and to Margaret for being my perfect navigator!

See these previous years: 2006, 2007

GPMINI gets new rubber

After spending the winter on runflat snow tires (and having discarded the original runflat performance tires due to wear), I recently took GPMINI up to Sublime Restorations to have the “real” GP 18″ wheels put back on, this time with non-runflat Michelin Pilot Sport tires on them … and Julian did a nice cleaning job on her too 🙂

The tires so far have performed extremely well in the seriously wet weather we’ve had the last few days … but they are NOT a quiet ride; they’re definitely noisier than the winter runflats, and while it’s hard to remember what the original performance runflats were like, I suspect these Michelins are noisier than them too! I’ve had no chance to test them for dry weather grip yet (but the wet weather grip is worth having, as the original runflats were terrible in the wet) …