Hotel bookings for MTTS

Posted on by Ian C.

Are you planning to do some or all of the MINI Takes The States drive? If so, and you plan to stay in the recommended “headquarters hotel”, you’d better have booked your rooms by now!

I’ve started seeing reports of full hotels, and I recently received this message from the event organizers:
[… MINI USA is not booking rooms for MTTS MINI owners …] YES, there are very small room blocks being held but those are for the crew and staff needed to run the program. Motorists are advised to book their own rooms either by calling the hotel directly and just asking for the most current available room of your choice or by booking online at the hotel’s website (usually room rates are less expensive if you book this way as the hotel doesn’t have to pay a commission or pay someone to answer the phone)

Rooms are available at all hotels by booking online. I checked them all two days ago. Some are nearing sell out though, such as St. Louis due to the baseball game and it’s popularity.

… I’d suggest not asking for the MINI program but rather just asking them for the lowest current room rate available.

Corrupted by the GP

Posted on by Ian C.

I’ve never been too interested in the MINI Cooper S with JCW GP kit – GBMINI#3 is only a year old and the GP is simply not designed for day-to-day use; it’s 18″ wheels will give a horribly harsh ride, and are likely to be easily damaged by potholes; the rear seat removal doesn’t much affect practicality, but the fact that you can’t choose any options is disappointing …

On the other hand, after a year with MCSa GBMINI#3, I’ve concluded that there are times when I miss the manual transmission, and there’s often times I miss the power of the JCW in GBMINI#2 – it’s obvious now that the last years waiting and rumours about a JCW upgrade for the MCSa will never come true in USA (see one of Jeff Straccos answers on MotoringFile).

And I was very impressed by the GP video released back in February:

 

Yesterday I received a GP press release package from the New York motor show, and the fabulous pictures on it finally corrupted me – I decided that I could buy a GP while keeping my current MINI, using that car for day-to-day driving (softer ride with 16″ non-runflats), and the GP for fun rides when I want the power … although who knows how that plan will change once I own two MINIs!

The other thing that swayed me was the super cool Monterey delivery option and the MINI Takes The States coast-to-coast drive; I’ve always fancied driving coast-to-coast (though not as frantically as this trip), and MINI offered a simple way to solve the problem of what to do with the car at the other end!
MINItakesthestates.jpg

So this afternoon I visited MINI of Peabody and gave General Sales Manager Paul Taylor a $1000 deposit … he wasn’t sure that he could get another GP (each dealerships allowance is variable), but having a deposit in hand is likely to sway things.
However, I totally missed any chance of signing up for the Monterey delivery, unless some strings can be pulled! So now I wait to see what can be done …