Well I have been waiting over a year for my GT5 game to ship from Amazon… Adding this game to my wishlist now! Holy cow! The graphics are just unreal (oops - I mean REAL)!

The RSR MINIs have done it again! Awesome job by the whole team! Congrats Randy!!! Full press release below:

TROIS RIVIERES, Quebec—Randall Smalley and Owen Trinkler earned their second consecutive GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge win during Saturday’s race at Circuit de Trois-Rivieres, putting the No. 198 RSR Motorsports MINI Cooper S at the front of the Street Tuner field.

A combination of great handling, superb driving, strategy, and quick pit stops allowed the MINI to win the two-hour Street Tuner race.

RSR Motorsports led much of the race at Trois-Rivieres in 2009, and the team knew that strategy and pit stops would be a key factor to leading the way once again. Last year’s race had few caution periods, so Smalley took advantage of an early-race caution to pit, handing over to Trinkler.

Trinkler held down a steady pace and pitted again with forty minutes remaining. He re-emerged in fifth place, with plenty of fuel and a fresh set of tires. It enabled him to work his way forward, eventually taking over first place. Trinkler held onto the spot until the checkered flag waved.
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You have to love it when 2 car companies like MINI and Porsche can get together for an ad campaign like this. Kudos to Porsche for having a good sense of humor!

Wow - been a while since something new got posted here! Ran across this and thought it was classic. Thanks to MotoringFile for posting it up!

It’s been a while, I know, but I hope you all are doing well. Life has been busy for me over the past few months. After a $7000 AC replacement bill, my track budget for 2009 pretty much vaporized. I had to miss Sebring last month and I am having to cancel my plans for Daytona later this month . But alas, the house is now cool, which is important in South Florida!

The MINI scene around here has been pretty much non-existent over the past few months. I have heard similar stories from other regions as well. Some believe the new MINI owners buying cars are not as enthusiastic about the MINI and its culture. Of course, there ARE enthusiasts out there buying new MINIs, but I would have to agree that the numbers seem much lower.
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Man, let me tell you… this summer has been brutal! Not only did we hit new heat index records here in South Florida (hitting 110 earlier this week), but my AC died at my house and left me and my family sweating for several days. Thankfully we were able to sleep at a neighbor’s house and took a trip to Orlando to stay in a hotel to keep cool. The week before, we were sweating it out in the hot South Florida sun at Palm Beach International Raceway for the Braman MINI 50th Birthday Bash. What a fun time that was. Huge props to the folks at Braman MINI for putting on one heck of an event.

There were MINIs from as far away as Jacksonville to came down to celebrate. $10 got you in the track for the whole day of go-karting, drag strip runs, auto-x and more! I took Scooter out on the drag strip and managed to click off a 15.098 second 1/4 mile. In that run, I actually beat a brand new Infinity G37 . Unfortunately, my day got cut short because I had to go start dealing with my ailing AC, but I still had a blast!

Palm Beach’s Braman MINI will be following Vista MINI’s lead in throwing a birthday bash for the Mini on Sunday, June 14th. Braman appears to be putting out all the stops for this event - a full day at the track for ALL Mini/MINI clubs to attend. This is the first time I have seen a local dealer in South Florida attract MINIacs from all over the state for a dealer event. It should be a lot of fun and a great chance to see people you don’t get to see except for larger events like Mickey and MINI.

MINIacs will be able to try their hand at autocross, a road course and even try out their MINIs on the drag strip at the newly renovated Palm Beach International Raceway (formerly Morosso). A live band, “Ever So Klever”, will be performing and there will be plenty to do for the whole family. An event flyer is located at the link below, so if you are in the “region”, come on out and say hi!

[ Event Flyer ]

[ Map of Event ]

[ Club/Event Sign-up ]

Thought this was pretty cool! Check it out:

A few friends of mine made the trip over to MINI United 2009. I am still waiting to see some of their pics but fellow Sunshine MINIs member, mk1coopers, who is over there posted some pretty sweet photos that I think are worth a look at. Check out the link below for more!

MINI United 2009 Thread @ SSM

Like other dealers around the world, Vista MINI will be hosting a 50th anniversary bash to celebrate the Mini’s 50th anniversary. A full car show and BBQ is planned and a fun time will be had by all. If you will be in the South Florida area on May 31st, make sure to stop by and say hi. A big thanks to all the hard working people at Vista MINI for putting this event on! Click the banner for all the info!