The classic Mini is a legend on four wheels, and its fans are loyal and love to travel. This year they will be getting together in the northern Italian province of Mugello for the 2013 International Mini Meeting (IMM). A tradition-steeped event held first in 1978 and then at a different venue each year ever since, the IMM is the world’s biggest meeting of the Mini club scene. The event grounds in Scarperia, north of Florence and near the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello, will be the meeting venue for classic Mini fans from May 16th to 19th 2013.

The program has been compiled by the hosts to entertain the worldwide community and features live concerts, automobile exhibitions, competitions, joint excursions and lots of party action. The IMM 2013 also reflects the fascinating history of this unique British car, and its diversity will be impressively documented by the fleet of participants’ own cars. Nowhere else do so many representatives of different sections of the brand’s history assemble: from lovingly maintained classics dating back to the early years through to the very latest individually styled MINI models.

A revolutionary space concept, classless style and fascinatingly agile handling were what gave the classic Mini its exceptional status on the international automobile markets from the very beginning. These fundamental qualities were reproduced in all the numerous model versions created back in the 1960s, accounting for the enormous popularity of the classic Mini to this day and revived in modern form for the 21st century in the new MINI.

This is one reason why fans and drivers of the new MINI have been part of the IMM community for many years.

So in Mugello, too, there will be brand new MINI models produced in 2013 parked alongside the Morris Mini Minor and the Austin Seven. The MINI Clubman will meet its ancestor, the Morris Mini Traveller. And the Mini Cooper S from the 1960s – once the base model for the cars that won the Monte Carlo rally – will measure up against today’s top sports model, the MINI John Cooper Works. And because the IMM is a true family get-together, even the less well-known relatives will be in on the act: these include the Wolseley Hornet and the Riley Elf, elegantly fitted small cars which transferred the genes of the classic Mini to two other British Motor Corporation brands, likewise in the 1960s.

In deference to the host country, an Innocenti Mini Parade will take place on the Mugello race track. Based on the British original in terms of technology and initially in its external design, too, the Italian version of the car was produced in Milan from 1965. The last of these came off the production line 20 years ago, having undergone several revisions in the meantime.

IMM weekend activities also include a parts market, presentations by Mini clubs from various countries, slalom and drift competitions and test drives in current MINI models. There will also be excursions to Pisa, Siena and Florence, either by bus or in a Mini convoy subject to limited participant numbers. The most attractive and lovingly restored automobiles from all eras of the brand’s history will be presented in an exhibition area specially reserved for the Mini Contest. But awards won’t just go to perfectly preserved classics: in the brand’s typical tongue-in-cheek style there will also be prizes for the cleanest car, the most rust, the longest distance covered to get to the IMM and the loudest hi-fi system in a Mini.

[Source: BMW Press Release, Munich/Scarperia.]

HILLIARD, OH, May 2, 2013 – MINI Financial Services, a division of BMW Group Financial Services, is focused on taking the distraction out of teen driving. The Hilliard-based organization is offering a free interactive distracted driving clinic to licensed high school teenagers from Hilliard’s Davidson, Bradley and Darby high schools and their parents on May 4th and 5th at the company’s Regional Service Center. More than 100 local area participants will be educated on the dangers of driver distraction through presentations as well as driving a MINI vehicle on a “coned” course with a professional racecar instructor, while enacting with a series of distracted driving elements.

According to the National Safety Council, motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 cause of death in the United States for 3-34 year-olds, and distraction now joins alcohol and speeding as leading factors in fatal and serious injury crashes. MINI Financial Services has taken on this important cause through its “Miles Ahead MINI Teen Motoring School” held year-round at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with individual programs additionally held at MINI dealerships.

Wayne Orchowski, Chief Operating Officer for BMW Group Financial Services Regional Service Center, was anxious to bring the program to the local community to showcase just how quickly and easily distractions can lead to trouble behind the wheel.

“While safety and fun aren’t typically found in the same sentence, MINI vehicles can demonstrate both sides of the spectrum through our carefully constructed program for teens and their parents,” said Orchowski. “By providing a unique driving experience to younger drivers, they can immediately feel the effects of the potential dangers and realize that the phone is not the only hazardous disruption while driving.”

The weekend program will offer an opportunity for local high school students and their parents, as well as BMW Group Financial Services’ associates and their own teenage children, to recognize the risks of distraction during driving and realize the benefits to staying alert and responsive.

Driving exercises, utilizing MINI Cooper vehicles, will highlight an impairment course applying various distraction levels including:

Navigating a driving course with instructional road signs while counting backward outloud from 100 – students must read, recognize and follow all instructional signs on the course simultaneously — research shows this cognizant effort is very similar to having a cell phone conversation

Driving while wearing “Fatal Vision goggles” which simulate an alcohol blood level of intoxication at 0.06 – while technically a legal limit in most states, this minimal amount showcases to students how even a small level of alcohol in one’s blood can cause distraction

Skid-pad demonstration performed by professional racecar instructor teaching students how to recover when a car spins out