Video: MTTS 2008 – Day 2

First of all, sorry for the delay in getting this video posted. Priorities had to shift when my 4 year old got a stomach virus and between taking him to the ER and various doctor appointments, let’s just say that editing video just did not make the list over the past week or so. Anyways, here is the video for day 2 of MINI Takes The States 2008 from Miami, FL. I had a lot of footage to sort out and wanted to include as many different MINIs so that, if you were there, your MINI hopefully is shown. I tried to cover as much of the rally as possible, without it getting too long. I hope you enjoy it!


The day started early with a continental breakfast at Bicentennial Park in downtown Miami, courtesy of MINI USA. The number of MINIs/Minis that showed up for the owners-only rally appeared to be over 300. For me, it was the largest number of Minis I had ever seen in one place – very cool!

Once the rally actually got started, we had a full police escort for the first 5 miles or so. To give you an idea of how large our rally caravan was, it took about 30 minutes for the parking lot to empty out to the street. Onlookers were just in shock at the number of Minis racing through downtown Miami. A few were upset that they could not cross the street, but for the most part, people had smiles on their faces and waving as we went by.

The rally to the Homestead-Miami Speedway took about 2 horus and included a stop along the way for some Popsicles and a Polaroid photo shoot. Once we arrived at the speedway, we were directed to the MINI parking coral and were directed to the registration area so we could participate on the other activities set up for us.

Now, here is where things were a little odd and I hope MINI USA takes this as constructive, instead of bashing, in hopes to improve things for future events. Keeping in mind that the Homestead-Miami Speedway can comfortably accommodate almost 100,000 people on a typical NASCAR weekend, 600 Mini owners just don’t even make a dent at this venue. The various activities and booths were spread out in the same fashion as one would see at a regular NASCAR weekend, except obviously, there were not as many things setup. Take that with the number of people who were there, and it just seemed like nobody was really there.

The layout of the venue also caused some difficulty in finding the vendor area, which was placed well in the back of where most of the other things were setup. It took me until Sunday morning, when I was ready to leave, before I found it so I could pick up my MTTS 2008 t-shirt. I was bummed that most of the vendors had not set up on Sunday morning at 10am, even though that was the advertised time they were to be there. So I kind of missed out on that. Apparently I was not the only one as others also shared with me similar experiences.

Ok – enough negative talk, back to the good stuff. There was a go-kart track and autocross course setup across the street where a good group of us spent most of our time Saturday. The go-karts were a blast and allowed us to stretch our legs a bit in a safe manner. Shoot – they made us wear full driving suits just for the go-karts!

The autocross course was nice because MINI USA provided the cars and they were pretty leniant on how hard we could drive them. I had fun driving both a cabrio and an R56 S manual coupe. After driving both cars back to back, I could really get a sense of the low-end torque that the R56 provides, causing some major wheel spin. In my opinion, I think the R56 is a more difficult car to get through an autocross course due to this. The driver must be able to manage this with great throttle control. I am sure once you master that, you can really get it done.

The skies opened up and we were treated to a typical summer afternoon thunderstorm, which pretty much sent a good majority of people heading for cover. A large group decided to head back to the hotel to take in some AC and let the storm pass, especially since all the activities were suspended due to the lightning.

Once the rain stopped, a few of us went to a local restaurant for a snack before the parade laps. Upon arriving back at the speedway, we had to sign our lives away in the form of a waiver. It was then, that some people were notified of some terrible news. Apparently at the last minute, someone decided that you had to be 21 years of age to even be a passenger on the track. Now… being a parent, I can appreciate those who hype up events to their kids and I can appreciate the excitement that kids share when someone tells them they are going to get to do something very cool. I can also appreciate the dejection they feel when they are told they can’t participate after all. This was not cool. Heck, we even had club members who were not 21 years old told that they could not participate, even as a passenger!

MINI USA reps claimed it was track policy to not allow anyone under 21 to go out on the track, even as a passenger. Not sure who is giving them this false information, since we have had 16 year olds participate in track weekends at that very track (even recently), sO I know for a fact this is not true. Regardles of the reason, this limitation should have been communicated ahead of time so people would not get their hopes up and get their spirits dashed in the end. All I can say for those MINI owners who did not make the 21 year old age cut-off at MTTS, I invite you to join us at our next track weekend in Sebring, FL on Sept. 6-7, 2008. All you need is a valid drivers license.

After the parade laps, we all gathered at the main stage to listen to Jim McDowell, VP of MINI USA, introduce Michelle Branch for a very intimate concert. I say intimate because, by this time, there were probably only 150 or so of us left. I have to give Michelle Branch credit though – she put on one HECK of a show, even though the audience was so small. I felt she performed just the same as if we had thousands there. I went to the concert not really familiar with Michelle Branch and I left a fan. After the concert ended, a bunch of us were invited to join the local Minis of Miami club for a night of BBQ at a local restaurant and had a blast.

Overall, I had an absolute blast. Hanging with MINIacs is so much fun. Yes, there were things that could have been done better, but those items were overshadowed by how much fun we were having, regardless of the “official” planned activities. Some people came out to this as their first MINI event ever and had a ball. I even got to see people from out of state that I had not seen since Mickey and MINI 3. I sure can’t wait to see everyone at Mickey and MINI 4!

[ MTTS Day 1 Video ]

[ MTTS 2008 Photo Gallery ]

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