MTTS

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!

I received this picture emailed to me from MINI USA – or at least from one of the PR companies they are connected with!

The MINI Takes the States Financial Services vehicle seen during the drive from Virginia Beach, Va to Philladelphia, PA, Thursday June 18, 2008. (Michelle McLoughlin/newscast)

After a morning meet-and-greet, then driving through town traffic from Boston to Gloucester, lunch in Gloucester, and a spirited ride back to Boston, we spent the afternoon at MTTS’08 Boston driving MINIs on the auto-x and meeting MINI friends old and new, including auto-up-windows MINI circuit fan Mike (left, with Pete). Throughout the afternoon, it was never busy – maybe everyone was still out stuck in traffic between Gloucester and Boston – so the parking lot was sparse, but with two happy GPs:

At 6pm, the beer taps opened – to the relief of many, including Gerry Matthews and his MINI USA colleagues; and as 7pm closed in, people headed over to the music stage for The Fountains Of Wayne – but with few MINIs in the parking lot, there weren’t many people at the stage either … and many of them were MINI USA or R.A.Events folks, including Trudy, sporting skid marks on her arm 🙂

Oh, there was also a proposal! The girlfriend was shocked silent but did manage to say “yes” eventually …

And that’s the end for me – I’ll spend Sunday not doing MINI stuff, and prepare for another MINI marathon next weekend!

Many thanks to MINI USA (especially Gerry, Jim, Steve and Trudy), R.A.Events (especially Kevin & Ray), to Margaret, George & Jayne, Theo & Carol, Michael & Pam, Richard & Lynne, Ivan & Norrine, Brian & Susan, Sheena, Mike, Peter, Todd & DB (of White Roof Radio), and everyone reading … it wouldn’t be much fun without all my MINI friends!