MINI Meets

Tonight MINI USA took us to dinner at Fifteen, an unusual restaurant near the hotel. It was a great chance to chat with MINI friends old and new, as well as enjoying some good food (and drink!). And Rauno Aaltonen signs “MINI the book” gifts for each of us, and tells us stories …

Tomorrow, it’s the long trip home! Would I come to MINI United again? Depends …
Rumour here is that MINI United 2009 will occur, partly because of the 50th anniversary of Mini, and probably in England – if so, I think I’d probably make the trip because I can also see family & friends. But if it’s elsewhere in the world, perhaps not.

Unlike the wonderful MINI Takes The States last year, there wasn’t much chance here to meet people and make new friends. The short event, and many activities, mean everyone spends much time waiting for or participating in some event; there’s no central area where people just hang out – under the big tents, the music tends to dissuade friendly chat, and in the open air (when it’s not raining), it’s all cars and not people.
MINI United has a very different flavour to MTTS, and I prefer last years USA event (of course, I may be biased!)

Apart from the rain, and reviewing GP paint issues (!), we still had fun, including watching some of the challenge races, and a 20 minute “MINI test drive” in an R56 MCS. And if you’re wondering about the test drive, George loved it! I deliberately drove it in “everyday” style, generally cruising with revs at 2000-2500; I found the car too sluggish in that range – compared with GPMINI of course. I also found the little differences a bit annoying – side mirror controls moved (to a better place, but not where I expect), wiper controls less intuitive (each flick up increases speed, each down reduces; so if you’re at high speed and want to turn wipers off, you have to flick down three times!)
Also, I found that I could not quickly read the speedometer (it had nav too and the subtle indicator spinning round the outside isn’t so asy to spot and read the numbers), although the clear numeric display in the tach worked fine.
Re-thinking the Clubman now as it will be like the R56 … although, disappointingly and surprisingly, there were no sneak peeks of the Clubman at MINI United!