Dateline: MC2 magazine offices Seattle, June 10, 2010

If you read the NY Times “A” section last Sunday you saw the full-page, four-color ad by MINI USA challenging Porsche Cars North America to a race at Road Atlanta, Monday, June 21st. What so very few know about are the details behind the curtain. It’s the sort of factual info we’ll be presenting soon with the re-launch of our GoMotoring.com site. Not just “exclusive” details but hard facts and insight on a daily basis!

The story started about three months ago with Jim McDowell, V.P. MINI USA. Now our Jim likes a good joke or two; it’s said that he’s a bit of prankster, too. He shared his idea only with 5-6 US staff, and with the help of Trudy Hardy (US marketing exec), he planned this bold and crafty campaign, telling no more than the people that can comfortably fit into a MINI Clubman. It was that tightly guarded until the Wednesday before the NY Times ad, when he called Munich and let the cat out of the bag to his Munich bosses our Scoopertm tells us. Even we at MC2 had no details until Monday morning.

We’ve been skulking around in dark places since then, with our contacts.

Click here to read more.. »

Join Hudson Valley Minis at Prestige MINI’s annual Movie Night! We’ll be meeting at 6:00pm at Prestige MINI for pizza, and rallying over to the Warwick Drive-In at 6:45pm. Further details and RSVP information will be announced shortly.

Hello MINIOLOGY fans.. just a reminder about graphics and a sweet discount to pass along to our audience!

I was just speaking with Robert from MINI Motoring Graphics – these guys (aka Original Graphics) have been doing this for quite a few years and have an online previewer of what some common graphics look like on your MINI, and can do custom You-if-i-cation as well, just based on your drawings, photos, or whatever

Other (in some ways, better) than paint — it’s a cool way to customize your ride by adding vinyl wrap to your roof, a-panels, doors, bonnet, boot, or the whole car if you want hehe… this isn’t some lame generic tribal or flame sticker like you get at the major autopart chain stores …. its the latest 3M technology, very cool long lasting stuff looks completely awesome. Think of it like Tattoos for your MINI hehe..

Well, if you mention “Miniology” (that’s us, for those that have been hiding in a cave the past 8 years) you will get a 10% discount off MSRP — if the program is successful or at least gets a lot of attention and leads then maybe bump that up to 20% — also, they are always down to help with give always or contests or anything that will generate attention. So, the next BIG event YOUR local Mini/MINI club has, as always, take pics and video, and let us know! These are a very passionate group of people there at MINI Motoring Graphics.

Oh, and any dealerships reading this (we know who you are!) please contact me or Robert Burris (robert@minimotoringgraphics.com) directly for deep wholesale discounts! They are the only official partner for MINI USA and run their Graphics program.. All the dealerships can order from them and he is working hard to get the clubs (like Mini Club of Calgary, MOASF, REME, others) and website owners to work with them to get some really sweet discounts. I am thus posting this wherever I can hehe.. you may see this reposted at your local club

Ok, enough babble — get creating cool stuff and put it on your ride! Here is their website.
MINI Motoring Graphics

Cheers!
–StarLord

Mini enthusiasts in the United States will, after all, get a chance to buy the hot-looking John Cooper Works World Championship 50. This so-called “ultimate Mini,” announced last year at the Mini United Festival in England, is limited to a run of 250 vehicles, none of which were to be sold in the United States. But apparently dealers whined loudly enough that Mini now says 50 of the special-edition cars will be culled from the herd and sent to the United States. Deliveries begin in late spring.The World Championship 50 celebrates the 50th anniversary of the beginnings of John Cooper’s motorsports successes, which included a world championship with Australian driver Jack Brabham. The new Mini is essentially an appearance package variation for the John Cooper Works model. Each car is painted in British racing green — “Connaught,” it is called — with a white roof and racing stripes. The package also includes blacked-out 17-inch wheels, xenon headlights and black leather seats with red piping.The World Championship 50 is powered by the John Cooper Work’s 1.6-liter, 208-horsepower turbocharged 4-cylinder, and has the same performance suspension package as the standard John Cooper Works model.

Photo and text courtesy Niello Mini, Sacramento, Ca.

Always a leader in the world of automotive safety and technology, MINI has announced the development of a nighttime driver safety product that they feel will greatly reduce the nighttime accident rate and allow cars parked in dark areas to be located quickly.

Called the MINI Nighttime Luminous Safety Tyre (NLST), the new safety device will be offered as optional equipment on the new Countryman S, Clubman S and as standard equipment on MINI’s newest automotive product, the as yet unannounced MINI Nighthawk, a luxury 12-seat limousine, which will be built in conjunction with the Brazilian automaker, Empreendimentos Loucos, Ltd., and debut in 2013 (MC2 will be covering further developments on this story early next spring).
According to Vilhelm Ungesüßte-Kekse, marketing manager for MINI Special Projects, the NLST exceeds the Euro NCAP safety standards for 2013, which state that all vehicles manufactured after 1 April, 2013 must feature illuminated or reflective materials on the vehicle sides to improve nighttime safety for pedestrians and bicyclists.
“Our luminous tires exceed the new NCAP standard by a wide margin, said Ungesüßte- Kekse. “They not only glow out to the sides, but the tires are bright enough that ingress/ egress into the vehicle in the dark is now easy. Furthermore, in an emergency situation where the headlamps fail to light, the driver can see well enough from the light of the tires to drive in total darkness at speeds up to 25 mph. Plus, as the tires are also runflat design, drivers need never worry about nighttime blowouts on lonely country roads.” According to Ungesüßte-Kekse, the development team came up with the idea for nighttime glowing tires after reading an old issue of Life Magazine from 1961 that had an article on Goodyear Light-Tires.
“Of course, the problem with the Goodyear tires was that they used semi-transparent synthetic rubber and the glow was made from super bright light bulbs affixed to the inside of the rim,” says Dr. Hans Leuchtkäfer, head of BMW/MINI’s secret development department, the Abteilung von unechten Leistungen. “The safety issues of neon lightbulbs bursting inside the tires were huge, which is why Goodyear stopped the project.”
Leuchtkäfer says that the NLST solves the problem by using a blend of synthetic transparent rubber and luminescent neoprene, instead of light bulbs. The luminescence is activated by static electricity, so the tires glow as long as the vehicle is moving. However, should the driver not want the tires to glow for any reason, a grounding device, activated from a stalk on the steering column, cancels out the static charge. And, for nighttime parking in unlit lots and narrow alleys, a small, static storage battery located in the engine compartment, supplies the static charge to keep the tires lit for up to 12 hours.
“Upon seeing the technological and driver safety advantages of our latest development, it becomes immediately obvious why our work, and even our department, was hitherto unheard of,” says Leuchtkäfer. “Now, with the development work of MINI Nighttime
Luminous Safety Tyre being completed, we feel that making ourselves and the technology known is important.”
In fact, the company believes the work is so important for nighttime driver safety that they are giving away the technology for free to other automotive manufacturers and tire companies after they have had the product on the market for one year.
While it is too early to know if this latest safety device will spur a lot of interest with automotive enthusiasts, a number of European consumer safety groups have already endorsed the product. In fact, the European Union for Nocturnal Safety has issued a press release praising the new tires, but pointing out that they don’t go far enough.
“It’s all very well to have luminous tires to enhance nighttime safety, and we applaud MINI for its efforts,” said Jaqui Plaintes, managing director of the group. “However, these new tires do not meet NCAP safety requirements for 2016, which require all glowing vehicles to also emanate a chirping sound, so that blind people will know a car is crossing in front of them.”
Plaintes went on to point out that in the view of the European Union for Nocturnal Safety, what really is needed is the development of red/blue flashing tires for emergency vehicle use, as well as the eventual banning of nighttime driving of private vehicles.

From the staff of MC2 Magazine

MINI TAKES THE STATES SET FOR DENVER IN AUGUST By Peter DuPre, MC2 Magazine

Bi-annual event kicks off from five cities with auto cross events and road rallies to MTTS.

26 March, 2010 ~ With the official release of preliminary information on MINI Takes The States 2010 released today, MC2 can confirm what we have suspected for some time. MINI Takes The States will be held August 13-15 with Denver, Colorado as the event headquarters.

Click here to read more.. »

These guys (aka Original Graphics) have been doing this for quite a few years and have an online previewer of what some common graphics look like on your MINI, and can do custom You-if-i-cation as well, just based on your drawings, photos, or whatever.

Other (in some ways, better) than paint — this is a cool way to customize your ride by adding vinyl wrap to your roof, a-panels, doors, bonnet, boot, or the whole car if you want hehe… this isn’t some lame generic tribal or flame sticker like you get at the major autopart chain stores …. its the latest 3M technology, very cool long lasting stuff looks completely awesome. Think of it like Tattoos for your MINI hehe..

When you order, use the code MINIOLOGY and receive a 10% discount on your order!

minimotoringgraphics.com

Here is a nice vid from Hans Dinse at Niello Mini of the MiniThunder track day held Feb. 15th at Thunder Hill Speedway in Willows, Ca.

MINI Thunder – Thunderhill Raceway Park, Willows, CA Feb 14-15, 2010

Remember that Sunday Feb 14 is Valentines Day and activities will be at Colusa Casino including the Mini carshow, romantic dinner with champagne and roses.

Feb 15 (Presidents Day) is track dat at Thunderhill

Neillo MINI will be offering FREE tech inspections for all participating Minis.
They will be bringing 3 new MINIs up for display, also will probably have a technician on hand with oil, coolant, torque wrench.

Big O Tires will have a crew there to provide tire & wheel services, checking tire pressures and torque of lug nuts.

Mini Mania will be bringing a trailer full of emergency spares, just in case something breaks. Hoses, belts, trans fluid, oil, etc. They will also be providing each participant with a complimentary copy of the book MOTORING – Getting the Maximum from your new Mini authored by Gary Anderson & Don Racine. They have also offered to deliver any open orders to customers saving shipping charges.

Gotbluemilk.com will be providing event photography. They will be located around the track, taking photos of your Mini and will have them in their trailer for purchase.

http://gotbluemilk.com/

For those of you that are reluctant to enter your Mini in a HPDE (High Performance Driving Event), we welcome you to attend the day for free. Time permitting you will be able to take parade laps, without helmets, so that you can experience driving the track. These will be done during lunch and later in the afternoon. We also offer “ride along” rides with instructors.

Lunch is available to those of you who did not register for MINI Thunder as a participant for $15 each.

Don Racine of Mini Mania is looking to bring 3 Classic Racing Minis and a new MINI
Mike Kearney of Seven Enterprises will be bringing the Yellow Fortech Mini.
Working on Joe Huffaker to bring his as well.

Colusa Casino still has rooms available. There is a package deal for a room, romantic dinner, with champagne and roses for two for $215 per couple. Contact: Jim Boggs @ 530-458-8844 ext 6863

Here are some of the vendor/sponsor/contributors that will be there.

Neillo MINI – Sponsor/Vendor www.neillomini.com
Mini Mania www.minimania.com
MC2 Magazine – Sponsor/Publicity http://www.mc2magazine.com/
Miniology.com – Sponsor/Publicity www.miniology.com
Northbay Bavarian – vendor http://www.bmwnbb.com/
Defenders of Speed – vendor http://defendersofspeed.com/store/
FES Auto http://www.fes-auto.com/
Hooked on Driving – http://www.hookedondriving.com/home_noflash2.cfm
RockAuto.com – Gift Certificates http://rockauto.com/
Gotbluemilk.com www.gotbluemilk.com
Seven Enterprises www.7ent.com
LANGKA Paint Chip/Scratch Repair http://www.langka.com

Click Pic to embiggen!

www.redwoodempiremini.com