ALLGBMINI – Page 397 – M&I / GBMINI

Jasons Drive 2005

Posted on September 18, 2005February 19, 2017 by Ian C.

A “tradition” at the end of British Invasion (see also 2003 and 2004) is to follow Jason around as he leads a groups of MINIs around the back roads of Vermont – he lives locally and knows the roads well!
This year only three MINIs joined in, perhaps due to the damp weather – but we still had fun and got in a couple of photo ops; the weather made the winding downhill section particularly challenging – I was very glad to follow Jason, knowing that he knew the road well …

Minolta DSC

British Invasion 2005

Posted on September 18, 2005February 19, 2017 by Ian C.

Another year, another trip to Stowe for British Invasion (see also 2003 and 2004)

Once again, a serious amount of rain made the show field very muddy, and I think many cars were put off – the attendance looked down from previous years, and modern MINIs counted more than classics this year, for the first time (14 moderns, 11 classics):

Minolta DSC

Many other British cars too, old & new, including a handful of $$$$$ Astons – all owned by the same guy (that’s just showing off)!

Minolta DSC

I was thrilled this year to get first prize in the peoples choice – what’s more, the prize plaque was the correct color for GBMINI#3; a really nice Mini pickup, owned by Shannon, got first in the classic Mini section:

GBMINI#3 gets first prize

Minolta DSC

On the Sunday, more overnight rain caused the “backseat driver” event to be cancelled. There were a few “tailgate picnic” entrants and a reasonable turnout for the “parade of colors” displays, but many people had headed home. But one Mini / MINI pair had accidentally posed for me:

Minolta DSC

33mpg!

Posted on September 18, 2005February 10, 2017 by Ian C.

Just back from British Invasion …
Responding to a request from Ivan, and recent weblog posts from Josh and Don. I decided to experiment with fuel economy. The drive to/from Stowe VT is mostly highway and once you are out past Manchester NH it is quiet too – so I drove the whole way there and back with cruise control locked in at 68mph; I figured with the speedometer optimism I am really doing the speed limit of 65.
At that speed you rarely need to brake/accelerate to deal with other traffic, and the few times I did stop/start I was very gentle with the pedals to minimize fuel guzzling acceleration.

The result:

GBMINI#2 gets 33mpg!

This is pretty accurate too – the OBC on GBMINI#3 is close to correct, other than it is brain dead; it hovered at 32.1 for ages, then jumped to 32.6, then to 33.1 – my guess is it really calculated (European) litres/100km to the nearest whole number, then just converts the result!

After driving up (about 220 miles) and “hauling ass” with Jason & Ricardo yesterday evening taking the “MINI scenic” route from Stowe to Burlington for dinner, I filled up at 420 miles (!) on the way home today – my calculated figure for that is 31.5mpg but the original OBC figure on the way up was drastically reduced by the spirited driving last night.

Driving home today, as well as the speed & (no)acceleration limits, I did not need the A/C; as a result even with the drive yesterday, I believe the 33mpg overall average.

Apparently if I drove continuously on the highway at about 65 with no traffic and no A/C, I could get about 500 miles from one tank!

BUT:
Driving the MINI like this is VERY boring – this was a one-off experiment …