THE MINI CROSSOVER CONCEPT
[text from BMW AG Press Release, 09/10/2008]

The MINI brand is continuing its overwhelming story of success – now taking a new approach with the MINI Crossover Concept.

This Design Study offers a fascinating outlook at a new facet of the brand powerfully expressed by a truly innovative body concept – the fourth body variant, to be precise, following the classic two-door, the MINI Convertible, and the MINI Clubman.

The MINI Crossover Concept is a new model variant for the first time measuring more than four metres in length, with four drive wheels, four doors and four single seats. These features alone place the new car right in the line of vision of new target groups seeking to combine the individual style of the brand with enhanced versatility within the interior and innovative functionality throughout.

A universal, multifunction fastening rail, the MINI Center Rail, extending between the seats on the centre console of the MINI Crossover Concept, offers not only offers unconventional storage options, but also provides a consistent link between the front row of seats and the rear.

Click here to read more.. »

StarLord’s classic Mini roves around San Francisco during the Magical Mystery Mini Tour 2008, Sunday morning’s historical tribute drive to Steve McQueen, a throng of Minis zoom around the city’s landmarks, woot!

We got up at the crack of dawn (well, before that actually!) to meet up with our fellow Mini Motorists for a beach bonfire and run through San Francisco. The weather was foggy and miserable, so our British cars felt right at home! About half way through the run though, things cleared up. Head on over to our Flickr page to view some of the pics from this morning (and the past few days as well) — that said, if you post to flickr, be sure to tag your photos with MMMT so that other folks can find them!

MMMT Photos here!

Anyway, 6:00am found us gathered at Ocean Beach across the street from Beach Chalet and down the road from the famous Cliff House, Windmill, and other sights. Several of the old timers reminisced about Playland at the beach, which is now just a memory, while the rest of us had “breakfast” (bagels, donuts, coffee served by the SF Deli caterers, same folks that put on the “bbq dinner” last night (some chicken, ceasar salad, tri-tip, beans, dinner rolls, and drinks were extra..) With all the great food available in San Francisco, several people found good food elsewhere, but for those that just wanted to hang out, this was adequate fare to grub on.

At well after 7:00 the run started and up we went up to Twin Peaks, basically following MOASF’s Sunrise Tour in reverse, throwing in Coit Tower, and dubbing it the ‘Steve McQueen Memorial Run’ (ok, who got to drive bullet? let’s see those pics!)

StarLord will be editing a video taken during the run with all the classics, what a hoot! I have about an hour of footage and need to edit it down to highlights, but it should give folks that missed it a good sampling of what they missed.

Right now, REME and the MMMT crew are making their way down to Woodside to meet up for lunch at the Mountain House (off Skyline Blvd.) before heading up Highway One and then back to Treasure Island. If I’m lucky, I’ll have the morning’s photos uploaded and video edited and posted to YouTube before then, but who knows, this may take longer than that

Hope everyone is having a total blast and look forward to seeing folks at the end of the road.

Rob (Califzeph), Kat, Leeta, Rob (the other Rob!) are out in force doing even more photos and video for Miniology, be sure to say Hi if you see us out on the road or at the Miniology booth!

Cheers,
Christopher ‘StarLord’

Rob (Califzeph) brings us his synopsis of the Treasure Island MINI (or Mini) cooper car event from this past weekend. Drives, Vendors, and Party like it’s 1969! Groovy, man, Peace! Cars! Love!

For those that prefer to download this instead of watch it online, here’s links to the medium and large m4v (itunes/quicktime) format videos:

Medium 640×360, 11:07min, 118 Mb

Large 960×540, 11:07min, 280 Mb

Please don’t try and play these directly from our site. Instead save the linked file to your desktop or wherever, and play it later from Quicktime or iTunes. Cheers!

Minipenny drives StarLord’s classic Mini around Treasure Island during the opening day of Magical Mini Mystery Tour 2008. Too fun!

Well, gosh its 7:30am here and the show opens at 8:00am. We need to get our stuff sorted for today’s events! Be sure to come by and say hi to Rob Saunders at the Miniology booth, he has lots of flyers printed out, will be showing DVD’s of past shows, interviewing other vendors and participants, and editing podcasts in the mobile production studio each day.

Today’s events will include:
- Vendor Fair (all day, 8am-10pm)
- Run to Golden Gate Bridge, Mount Tam, Stinson Beach (departs 8am)
- Gloria Ferrer and Mario Andretti Winery tours (2pm, $ fee)
- Kid’s coloring contest (2-5pm)
- Sunset BBQ dinner ($ fee)
- Live Concert with Beatles tribute band ‘The Sun Kings’, 7-10pm)
- Ad-hoc fun starting 10pm till the wee hours throughout San Francisco

Then we start bright and early Sunday at Ocean Beach, 6am for the Sunrise bonfire, followed at 7am with the Steve McQueen run! Woo!

For those who are hungover or later-risers, there’s a run through Santa Cruz at 1pm (Sunday, right!) and another Giants game at 1:05 if you’d rather watch baseball..

Motor on!

The crowds gathered for sign-in festivities last night en masse, coming from places as far as Japan and the UK. (It would appear our rumoured Italian friends wimped out at the last minute and decided they couldn’t make it.. Ciao bella, maybe next year!)

Burgers and hot dogs were served by SF Deli catering, and plenty of all sorts of alcohol was on tap for our non-driving folks to indulge in. We met up with Barry Brazier from MC2 Magazine, Russell from Mini Fini, Don Racine of Mini Mania (where I purchased a cool Morris key fob and talked tech about Henley’s high oil pressure) and other friends new and old from various clubs and events that we’ve been to the past years. It was cool. We have some great pics of people dressing up like, well, hippies The band played to a thinning crowd as people drove off to watch the Giants baseball game, and we met up with fellow Miniologists Rob C. and Leeta, Kat ‘Minipenny’, Rob S. ‘Califzeph’, Norm ‘Pooper’, Peter ‘Zied’, and some of the MOASF gang Thorty, BluMeanie, Hans, Vic and Corey, Jerry and Jerry, Willum, Keith, and other friends too numerous to mention!

Minipenny took the opportunity to joy ride StarLord’s classic Mini, laughing the whole way and swearing she’s going to buy the first Mini she sees in spite of my door handle falling off, door latch cable breaking, headlight going out, weather stripping and trim coming loose, bent front wheel, and all the other fun associated with owning the more original British Minis. What till you guys see the video of this!

The Magical Mystery Mini Tour begins this evening as hundreds of Minis descend upon Treasure Island, meeting up with host club Redwood Empire Mini Enthusiasts, or REME for short, will be clubs and Mini / MINI fans from around the globe! We drove by the site this morning as the caterers were busy setting up the tents, seating, and display stuff for everyone. The stage is ready to rock and the weather is completely awesome this weekend. We are going to have some rare balmy nights, Norman Nelson (the event organizer who dreamed up this whole thing, probably inspired by his wife Jesse’s go-go boots and loud laugh-in style patterned dress) uh, where was I? Oh yeah! He couldn’t have picked a better time, and mother nature is being kind to us, there was just the slightest cool breeze blowing over the great lawn. Can’t wait to dig in and meet our fellow Miniologists tonight! Woot!

And if you’re one of the few people who’s been living in a cave the past year or so, head on over to the official website to register and get a calendar of the days events .. I know, it’s kinda goofy formatting and you have to scroll like mad because there is so much going on, but hey these are Mini motorists, not web gurus! just print the whole thing out and read it at your leisure

Cheers!

[from BMW Group]

New York. In 48 hours, the waiting will have come to an end and the MINI ROOFTOP NYC will be opening its doors for a whole series of cultural events, combining high-quality performances, discussions and events, will be taking place in New York City from 4 to 13 September 2008.

MINI is the host on the roof of a building in New York City, and on the basis of the lifestyle brand’s “Creative Use of Space” campaign, the MINI ROOFTOP NYC Initiative is aiming to give established and striving artists a platform to develop their creativity. MINI ROOFTOP NYC is a place for artistic appreciation and a place to meet. The event offers the public the chance to experience something together and to enjoy exclusive events featuring stars from the world of music, fashion, design, wellness and more. In terms of the concept, many of the events over the 10 days are open to the public. New York City’s creative scene will come together here with thinkers from all walks of life.

MINI ROOFTOP NYC is taking place at 465, 10th Avenue (corner of 36th Street) on the roof of a building in Chelsea. It will be kicked off by the “Big Bang” event on 4 September 2008, from 8 p.m. onward. Creative management of the event will be taken over by the internationally famous style publication “Dazed and Confused”. The highlight of the evening is currently the most popular band in Brooklyn, New York, MGMT. Their exclusive performance will last an hour, and be followed by a further DJ set from DJ DIPLO.

Further highlights over the next 10 days will include, for example, a photo workshop on 5 September with star photographer Michel Comte in collaboration with the Italian magazine “L’Uomo Vogue” and then, on the late afternoon of 5 September, a cocktail party with the Assouline publishing house to launch the book “Veruschka”, which is a tribute to super-model icon Veruschka. Veruschka herself will be on hand to sign some of her works, and selected prints from her book will be displayed in the MINI ROOFTOP NYC Gallery until 12 September (inclusive).

On 6 September 2008, there will be a major event with what is currently the coolest and most popular fashion brand from Australia, Ksubi. Musical highlights will be provided by the Bang Gang DJs and JDH & Dave P and there will be a typical Australian barbecue for those suffering from hunger pangs, provided by the New York hotspot “Kingswood”.

On 9 September 2008, MINI ROOFTOP NYC will be hosting a fashion show by EDUN (Spring 2009 Collection), followed by a documentary film which shows the EDUN production factory in Uganda. EDUN is the up-and-coming fashion label established by the wife of U2 frontman Bono, Ali Hewson. At the after-show party, music will be provided by DJs Vito Roccoforte and Gabe Andruzzi from The Rapture.

On 10 September, the famous V-Magazine will be gracing MINI ROOFTOP NYC with a mixture of fashion, style and music. Famous models such as Agyness Deyn, Gemma Ward, Lily Donaldson, Anouck Lepere, Jessica Stam and Lisa Cant are expected to attend, along with more star designers and DJs.

The crowning glory will then be the closing event on 13 September 2008, when “VICE” magazine will be responsible for the artistic management. Musical highlights include Yeasayer, No Age and the Refuse DJ Team. Other special guests are expected.

The extensive programme and further information about MINI ROOFTOP NYC and the “Creative Use of Space” initiative are available at www.minispace.com. Further information about MINI can be obtained at www.MINI.com.

One of our friends on YouTube posted this one, thought I’d share it with you!