Mickey & MINI 3

Posted on by Ian C.

An absolutely excellent weekend – with many many thanks to George, who provided continuous friendship and transportation is his fabulously cute new Mini … and thanks also to Pedro (of MotoringFun), Alex, Barry and everyone in Sunshine MINIs!

Friday evening, after happy hour drinks at the hotel, there was a great dinner get-together with perhaps 80 people attending (sponsored by MinSpeed, previously MyMINI). The food was very good, and after prize presentations (including a hilarious one for best “hard luck” story on the way to the event), we ended with a group picture:


Saturday morning began at a sensible 10am, with a good drive that led us on twisty back roads looping around the Walt Disney World property (and back through it); we had regular stops for photos, and there’s lots and lots of pictures:


Back at the hotel parking lot, we could check out other MINIs (while George washed his Mini), including Jackie’s with a beautifully created Disney themed roof design, and Vladimirs with a stereo system to rival (or beat?) GPMINI, which included Bluetooth controlled equalization!:

On Saturday afternoon, George & I attempted a photo scavenger hunt – it was great fun but a bit frantic, especially since we non-locals didn’t know many of the “secrets” that the locals did know 😉 … then everyone re-grouped at Kitty O’Sheas for food (generously provided by Downtown MINI of Orlando), and drinks! Photo scavenger hunt results were announced, with Brandy & Amy taking first place … And then, it rained!

Thankfully, only for a while … so in the evening we were able to watch the original Italian Job movie, courtesy of the hotel (there was also a go-karting event, which we heard was excellent as well!). It’s quite amusing laying on sunbeds by the pool, in the dark, watching a movie – especially when you can’t really see the picture because all the lights are still on (but of course we all knew the movie anyway, and we could still hear it!)

On Sunday, a MINI golf event was organized at the Disney Winter Summer Land course; George & I sneaked in a game at Fantasia first … and that’s where I dropped my camera(!) and had to find the bit that dislocated from it 😦 so no more pics; but thankfully the camera is now re-assembled and appears to be still fully functional.

For more, visit Pedro’s MotoringFun website, George’s website, the Sunshine MINI club website, or the official Mickey & MINI website … and try to make it next year so we can meet up in Florida 🙂

Track time with Lyon Waugh

Posted on by Ian C.

The Lyon Waugh group (that owns MINI of Peabody as well as a BMW, Lamborghini and other dealerships) invited owners to join them at New Hampshire Speedway – I went up as a spectator and met Jason, Joe, Richard also spectating, as well as Steve, David and Ivan all spending time on the track … there were loads of MINIs there (I’d guess 30+) as well as a smaller number of BMWs (maybe 10) and a single Lamborghini!

The Boston BMWCCA were providing support and as well as time on track and instruction, they set up their standard Advanced Driving Skills day events of skid pad, lane changes, etc (see here when GPMINI attended ADSS) … I headed over to see the fun, but there wasn’t any! So I returned to the track, and watched MINIs take turn 3 for a while:

 

After lunch with the Old Guys MINI Club, we headed over to the ADSS area where the “auto cross track” had been laid out with cones … this is much more my level of fun, with no helmets and zero risk of hurting yourself or the car (worst case scenario is scuffed paint from the cones, and worn tires!). Jason, driving his brand new R56, complained it was nothing like his old R50 MINI, but had fun through the afternoon “auto cross whoring” with everyone else’s MINIs (including GPMINI, Steves R56, Davids R53 …); Richard, David and I also drove the auto cross, Joe drove GPMINI, and Steve rested:

 

A great fun day, made so by my MINI friends more than by the events … it’s hard to spectate at NHIS, and after maybe 8 drives of the auto cross track, it was time to head home!