It has been way too long since we added a new edition to the MotoringFun Desktop Wallpaper Collection. This latest entry comes to us from Darren M. Tai, who took this awesome shot recently in the Orlando, FL area. Funny thing is that I actually know the previous owner of that Mini pickup truck in the back! What a small world . Thanks Darren!!
I finally got the photos posted from last weekend’s Sunshine MINIs picnic in Ocala and wanted to share. First off, let me say thanks to Snooter and Mungo for putting on a fantastic event. We had just under 100 MINIacs come out in the middle of winter for a picnic full of MINI fun! Ok Ok - so it was FLORIDA! It was great getting together with some MotoringFun.com chat room regulars who came to the event, including Deviant who technically wins the furthest travelled MINIac, fresh from Iraq! Click the photo below to check out all the other photos!
As I posted yesterday, this past weekend I was in Daytona watching the Rolex 24 hour race. It was my first time watching the race in person, and thanks to a few MotoringFun.com members who assisted me with tickets and lodging, I was able to watch the race in style from the Daytona 500 Club overlooking victory lane (huge thanks to LgEnf and Deviant!!).
Not only was the entire weekend fully catered (I think I gained about 5 pounds), but the access we had was unbelievable. With full indoor seating looking out at the start-finish line and roof-top seating to check out the entire track, I got a glimpse of how the big wigs watch a race lol. I have to hand it to the Grand-Am series - their fan access is second to none. We were able to be IN the garages during the race while teams feverishly worked on their cars to get them back out. I tried to take as many shots as possible so check them out in the gallery.
Overall, the race was awesome. Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and Dario Franchitti took top honors overall in the DP class, while Sylvain Tremblay, Nick Ham, David Haskell and Raphael Matos captured the GT win and finished a respectable 9th overall. Not too shabby for a Mazda RX-8 eh? We actually ended up in victory lane for the GT champs and were so close we got sprayed with champagne! Hope you enjoy the pics - click the link below!
Phew! What a weekend!! I just got back from Daytona where I attended both the Grand-Am KONI Challenge and the Rolex 24 races. I also managed to sneak away from the track for a few hours to hop over to Ocala for an impromptu Sunshine MINIs picnic which attracted almost 100 MINIacs! Look for the picnic to become an annual event after this kind of showing! I am still sorting out photos and video from the weekend, but I did at least get the KONI Challenge photos uploaded tonight (click link at bottom of this post).
Here is a quick recap of the race… The RSR MINIs were doing very well in a field of almost 100 cars. Lap times were about 10 seconds faster than last year and the improvement was noticeable on the track. Unfortunately, both cars suffered flat tires, which relegated them back to finishing 31 and 36. All in all it was a great race and fun was had by all. We even got to hang out with Randy and the RSR crew in the garages where we got the opportunity to hop in the race cars and snap some photos! Special thanks to Randy and team for their hospitality. Looking forward to seeing them at another track soon! I will hopefully have video posted soon as well as photos from the Rolex race.
If you read “Sebring In The Rain”, you know that we had a photo shoot at the track with some models for an upcoming calendar. Well I am proud to announce that Massive Motorsport and The Complete Tire Company has released the 2008 Models Wearing MINIs Calendar, featuring some of the MINIs you have seen on MotoringFun.com and fellow Team Minspeed members! To order your very own copy which will ship within 3 days, call Victor @ . Tell him you saw it here at MotoringFun.com!
I finally was able to upload a few hundred photos of this past weekend’s Mickey & MINI 3 event (see links below the photo). I am still working on my weekend recap, but hope to have that posted in the next day or two. In the meantime, you may want to check out Ian’s GBMINI Blog and George’s JCWGP Blog for some great write-ups and even more photos. Of course check out the Sunshine MINIs forums for all the fun banter from the weekend and, yes, more photos! Enjoy!
Henry from Colour Tech South Motorsports Photography has done it once again. I received my photo CD from Homestead last week (not even a week after the event) and the pictures taken were awesome! Thanks Henry. I went ahead and added them to the Homestead Track Gallery. Enjoy!
After a blazing hot weekend in South Florida at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, I am happy to report that all the MINIs that participated came home in one piece. A great time was had by all. Huge thanks to all who came out to support us! A special congratulations to our very own CooperDrew who kicked some “you know what” out there on the track for his first ever track weekend! Drew - you made us proud! Here is the first of the videos from the weekend. I also posted the first set of photos. Enjoy!
This week, MINI.com unveiled their official MINI Clubman website which features a very slick computer-generated MINI Clubman that you can rotate and zoom in on to see various aspects of the vehicle without any “camo-tape”.
To add to the hype, various sites around the net have posted official photos of the Clubman ahead of the press embargo. I must say that if anything, the photos have made me want to test drive one .
If you have been in New York in the past month or so, you just might have seen this awesome ad campaign while traveling through Times Square (click the photos for larger versions):
Special thanks to diedhairbri and TampaMCS for these awesome shots!
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008
. Thanks Darren!!
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Posted by Pedro in Classic Mini, Images, Downloads 
