Hampton Roads Club Mini

Got home last night, actually this morning at about 2:30 AM. What a weekend! We got to Boston late Thursday night, made it out to U-Mass Boston Friday morning/ Jon Felton from NASA-MA and the MINI group already had  the course set up.  The site was maybe twice as big as Pungo or a quarter the size of ACU4. All brand spanking new asphalt. I did think it was odd they had asphalt curbing. On the other side of the lot was the event stage and the info tent along with some vendors. Tim Suddard from Grassroots Motorsports magazine had a tent too. Neat guy.

The course was pretty easy and about 4/10ths of a mile long. It did have a ton of cones though. One of the coolest things was that we got to test drive the new models too. Everything from a standard pepper white Cooper to a couple of Works editions Coopers S models. And everything in between, Clubmans, Cabrios, and every incarnation of S models there was. They also had a MINI Challenge car. THAT, was cool. Jon got to move that around, but we couldn't talk them into letting us take it for a lap. Regina was working the registration table and got to meet the singer and drummer for Fountains of Wayne. Kids in a band still look the same as they did 20 years ago, I'm just older now I guess.

One of the best things was working the event with the legendary Stu Hayner, he's one of the instructors with RA performance group, that puts on the MINI events.  He had some stories. We had a blast working the event and thinking about trying to work my way into the Chicago event, which is actually at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Go figure.

I have a good deal of photos to up load when I get a chance.

OK, here they are. Most are overall pics, then some of the various ride & Drive cars on course. Then some of the area and finally some of the people involved, including one of the coolest Campus policemen I've ever met (even with the "bahstan" accent) and his tattoo. The place was super nice, right on Dorchester Bay. Of course I can only guess that's the pronunciation. I was telling that policeman that MINI of Peabody (pronounced pea-body) was the MINI dealer up there and they were number one in customer service nationwide, then he corrected me on their pronunciation. Up there it pronounced  like P-buddy. Whatever....we still had a great time, even of they do talk funny.

Hope y'all like em:
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=180369964/a=93516196_93516196/t_=93516196

Yea, Tim was there. He and Jon Felton from NASA had dinner beside us. Tim is indeed a blast! He had some stories for sure.