A couple of weeks ago, our good friend Pete from Minspeed with the help of BahamaBart arranged to have John from Lucky Dog Garage fly down to sunny South Florida for an on-site ECU dyno tune day. Results were very promising and everyone who showed up said they noticed a definite improvement in the areas they were trying to tweak.

I personally was out of town that week so, unfortunately I could not provide Scooter as a baseline stock ECU mule. However, through the power of technology, I have gone ahead and compiled 2 graphs for each car - one with the various runs for the specific car, showing the improvements throughout the day, and a second graph showing how the last run compares to Scooter’s last dyno run from May. It is important to note that the temperatures were roughly 8 degrees warmer and humidity was slightly lower in July, so use the comparisons for illustration purposes only.

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Last night, my MINI buddy Scottie used the MINI Motorby program in a most unique and AWESOME way. He used it to propose to his girlfriend, Marle for all to see. And DID they all see!! You see, not only did MINIUSA help out Scottie to arrange the customized Motorby message, they also arranged for local TV crews to cover the most memorable event! Complete with TV helicopters circling overhead, Marle said yes! Check out the video and local news coverage at the links below. UPDATE: Scottie and Luis provided some photos of the event and the MINI USA Swag that was sent to the happy couple, including a letter signed by the MINI USA staff, including Jim McDowell. Check the gallery link below for more!

I personally want to send out a HUGE congratulations to such a great couple. Motor on!

[ Woman Says ‘Yes’ To Drive-By Marriage Proposal ]
[ MINI Motorby Marriage Proposal Video ]
[ MINI Motorby Proposal Photo Gallery ]

Auto Express posted up some nice shots of the new MINI Clubman which really look sharp. While the full story is in their latest magazine that was released yesterday, the did have this to say:

With no direct rivals, the Clubman will have to compete against quirky MPVs like Skoda’s Roomster and premium hatchbacks such as Audi’s A3 Sportback and BMW’s 1-Series. Prices are £14,235 for the entry-level Cooper, £15,400 for the Cooper D and £17,210 for the range-topping Cooper S. Sales start in November.

I will say that the new BMW 1 Series is also looking quite attractive now that it is coming to the US. All I can say is I want my test drive!

[ Clubman Opens up ]