Hampton Roads Club Mini

One correction... the green '06 one 1st place.  The '03 and I tied for 2nd. 

OK, OK.  I know this is short notice, but does anyone have a spare bed in their room?  I'm certainly willing to split the room fare.  I was supposed to get a room at the Microtel Inn, but it's already booked up.  I have three options (based on price):  Carolina Motel in Franklin, NC, Best Western in Murphy, NC, or the Princess Motel in Maryville, TN.  They're all about $60/night; I have not made any calls yet.  I will be leaving early afternoon on the 2nd and leaving on the 4th.  Thanks.

Welcome to the gang!  The S only drinks as much fuel as you give it.  If you are a conservative driver, you can still get 28-30 MPH in city.  I do.  I can at least say I am impressed with the newer regular Minis.  I had the blue '07 as a loaner back in December for about two weeks, and it's pretty peppy for about 120 HP.

Even though mine is True Silver, I'm envious of the Dark Silver and the Astro Black.   

Die hards don't trade in their Mini... they just keep improving it.   

Welll, I know the weather was a disappointment, but I went to the British car show in Williamsburg today.  Seemed only fitting after I spent five hours cleaning and buffing my '02 MCS last night.  It was a rain or shine show.  There were only four Minis there:  myself, a dark silver '03 MCS, a British racing green '06 MCS with white rally stripes, and a blue '07 MCS with a large lion shield on the sunroof.

The '03 MCS won 1st place.  I tied for 2nd place.  My prize was a green wine bag (typical bookbag material) with a bottle of red wine in it and a corkscrew (plus the prize plate).  Kinda cool.   

There were about fifty cars there in some 20 classes.  Lots of Spitfires and MGs of various years and makes.  There were three Porsche Carreras and one very new 2007 997 (over $150K!).  What I enjoyed most is that everyone got along very well.  No one was really snobby about their car being better for whatever reason.  My friend Paul said that was because those that showed up were the ones that really enjoy the show for what it is.   

Sad as it is... I forgot my camera.   

...

One thing I did find out... the guy with the '06 MCS had an nVidia exhaust installed last year.  It was $500-600 and is stainless steel.  The tips are burnt blue in color and looked really cool.  He did about six months of research before making the purchase.  He also hated Borla because they would not ship an exhaust until enough Mini owners purchased one at the same time (they are all custom bent and cut at one time).   

Once again, the Mini comes through in style.  I recently read the Mini is the best car to come out in the past 20 years.   

You can count me in.

OK.  I'm planning on going to the Dragon 2008 event for the weekend.  I am going to take off half day on Friday to get started on the drive down there.  MisBehave, please post or PM me the details on who has a spare room available and at what price.  Thank you.   

MisBehave, thank you for the post.  That looked like a cool trip.  We will have to set up another one of those runs.  Not sure if we can get so many from several states, but there should be plenty around here.  No hurry.  We have the whole summer ahead of us.   

I had a good time, too.  I picked up some engine and suspension talk.  So much I still have to learn about how to modify and tweak a Mini.   

Thanks for the posted link.  I forwarded it to my bud who sold me my '02 MCS.  He should get a kick out of it as well (especially if he's standing next to it).   

Funny you should mention the ferry/restaurant thing.  A friend of mine suggested that (though I think I saw it somewhere else in the forum as well).   

According to the most current radar, there is not much more rain in the air.  However, some light rain keeps developing just to the southwest of the Richmond area, and it is heading northeast.  I want to say it will not be too bad.  I'm still going to show.   

I appreciate the compliment on the stripes going over the bumper.  They did the same on the rear as well.  My friend that previously owned my Mini had them do that at the dealership.  I guess I never have seen another Mino owner do the same with their stripes.

As I mentioned in other posts, they are gone now, the result of two accidents last year.  If I do put them on again, I want to get them painted on.  For right now, I'm kinda enjoying the clean look.

I'm curious to know how well the stereo plays.  One thing about mine... having a permanent top makes for great acoustics, since Mini's are completely open (save the boot cover that goes up when you open it).

I actually dig the paint job.  Sometimes I wish neon lights were legal in this state (though that does not really stop people from putting them in).