ALLGBMINI – Page 484 – M&I / GBMINI

20,000 miles and all’s well …

Posted on June 24, 2004February 17, 2017 by Ian C.

That’s about it really!
On the way home from MINI Peabody today(!), where I met Diane for lunch, GBMINI went through the 20,000 mile count.
Do I have issues – a few MINI ones I suppose, but nothing to stop the pleasure while motoring:
1. Recently, in the warmer weather, the old “cold start” problem has returned where the engine either won’t start for 2-3 seconds of starter turnover, or starts then stalls. It always restarts fine – I believe this is a(nother) software issue related to the way the engine computer learns how best to run the car. I find that if I wait a couple of seconds between turning the ignition on and turning over the engine, all is well (presumably while the software gets itself sorted).
2. The door window glass is loose and rattles when the doors are opened. I have had this issue resolved more than once but it returns – so now it is part of GBMINIs character.
3. The heating system is not good enough. The car takes too long to warm me up in the winter and too long to cool me down in the summer.
I have had a few other issues with the car, but all have been so well dealt with by MINI Peabody that I have forgotten them. Diane today was at MINI Peabody because she is upset with her old dealership (Keeler MINI); a couple of the issues she had were shown to us as errors in the work done by the previous dealer …
I have wondered recently about what I will do when it is time to replace GBMINI (prompted by the ’05 model changes, some of which I don’t like). My plan for now is to wait and see what the new engined car is like (mid 2006?); but I don’t know what non-MINI I could now buy that I would enjoy driving – a number of MINI owners have switched to the Subaru WRX but I don’t want power as much as pleasure and there are not many cars on the road that give you as many smiles as the MINI.
Plus, the extended family I now have with MINI owners I know (especially the “MINIsOnTop gang”) will make it hard to move to a non-MINI.

(surprisingly, no pics on this post! GBMINI is still embarrassingly dirty from MINIsOnTop)

Cape Cod MINI relaxes after MINIsOnTop

Posted on June 23, 2004February 9, 2017 by Ian C.

On Monday, MINIsOnTop Mountain Maestro Steve (Cape Cod MINI) found that the best way to wind down after organizing MINIsOnTop is to wind up the revs on the track at NHIS, organized by the SCDA. For my part in easing the end of MINIsOnTop, I went up to watch him drive and took some pictures and video!

The SCDA events are quite expensive ($235/day) but with four half hour sessions on the track and a lot of class time, it seems that Steve got value for money! I saw three track sessions, and sat in on a couple of class times too (which were very well presented and educational) – Steve improved throughout the day and on the final run was passed by no-one!
Steve’s MINI Cooper S, like all MINIs, performed very well on cornering (beating all other cars in his class) but on the straights he was beaten by the higher power engined cars – this resulted in Steve being stuck behind some cars for most of the track (many corners at NHIS) but being unable to pass on the main straight.

This was solved on the last run because some of the drivers had quit, and because Steve was at the front of the queue so never got stuck behind more powerful cars, and instead had fun passing the slower cars (including another MINI Cooper S running on runflat tires!) …

MINIsOnTop 2004 pictures

Posted on June 22, 2004February 9, 2017 by Ian C.

Finally I have been able to sort all the pictures taken by Margaret (and a few by me) at MINIsOnTop [MOT2004] this weekend … MINIsOnTop started for us on Friday evening after checking in to the Town & Country in Gorham, NH; I headed to the auto road and collected more than 100 registration bags put together by John & Steve earlier in the week – it was a tight squeeze in one MINI, even with no passenger; Margaret & I along with Ed (MaxaMini) sorted all the bags into alphabetical order, added the few extra donated items and handed out bags to 20 or so early arriving MINI owners. The rest of the bags were handed out at Loon Mountain parking lot Saturday morning.

GBMINI#2 (2003 Cooper S)

Saturday morning was overcast when we left the Town & Country with Ed & Mart about 8:30am, and during the drive over it rained torrentially! Bad sign. But by the time we reached the Loon Mountain parking lot, the rain was ending and the sky slowly cleared. More and more MINIs arrived as the morning progressed, including all the MINIs that started the day around 3:30am in Maine! We handed out all but four registration bags and eventually Richard called a “driver talk” to tell everyone what was happening:

MOT2004 and 160 MINIs

And then we all set off along the Kancamagus Highway; the route was longer than last year – basically one end to the other and half way back again. The lunch stop was a parking area on the Kancamagus highway that we could hardly all fit in. After that we drove Bear Notch Road and on to route 16, past the auto road and to Gorham and back to the Town & Country for a quick rest.

Now everyone headed to the auto road for a planned gathering starting at 3:45pm, with food and prize giving. Unfortunately the rain had returned and the morning running race up the auto road was running late so our event started very late.
The weather improved again, but sadly the food lines had not improved from last year – food service was probably the only failing of the MINIsOnTop event.
There were loads of donated prizes to hand out, as well as a plaque from MINI USA to Steve thanking him for organizing the event.
The running race delay forced a rush of the prize presentations and all too soon it was time to drive up the auto road. We were warned that near hurricane winds were present at the top, and we had to be very careful – the drive up was almost cancelled.

However, we did all make it to the top of the auto road in one piece – one car overheated but was rescued by Steve (who generously sacrificed beer to provide water containers!) At the top of the mountain the weather was utterly unbelievable, with winds gusting to 84mph and wind chill temperatures around zero fahrenheit! We took a couple of pictures and left quickly! On the way back down the auto road, as we got below the clouds the sunset became magnificent; maybe the weather likes us after all …