Just got in from my week-long vacation to the Lonestar state, and all I can say is - WOW - it gets HOT in Texas! I’m used to the hot and humid Florida summers, but we just don’t get daily 104+ degree afternoons like they do. And you can say all you want about that “dry” heat… when you walk outside at 11pm and get hit in the face with Texas heat, dang!

I did manage to see about 5 MINIs while I was out there, mostly pre-2007 models. No Clubmans were spotted, however. Of course while I was there, we did have a hurricane come our way. Leave it to me to leave Florida to go on vacation, only to land in the path of a hurricane! Luckily all we got was some rain and some wind in the San Antonio area.

I am still sorting through the 2,000+ e-mails I received while I was out of town and “unplugged”. I did spot 2 interesting e-mails that I will post about next. I hope you enjoy!

Ok - time for a break from our regularly scheduled MINI blogging to bring you a technology update that is taking place behind the scenes here at MotoringFun.com . If you have been following MotoringFun.com for any amount of time, you know that one of the things I enjoy is taking in-car video footage from track weekends. Not only does it provide some cool entertainment on the site, but it allows me to look back at each weekend and see how I did.

Shooting video, in general, is fun and I enjoy creating custom DVDs slideshows, etc. What’s not so fun is dealing with tape. Importing video tape into a computer, editting it and then encoding it to the proper format takes forever and can be very frustrating. Well the price point on the new HiDef cameras that shoot video on flash memory cards finally dropped to where I could afford one and I figured that this would be a great time to upgrade the MotoringFun.com video camera to make the editting process a little easier.
Read the rest of this entry »

Some of you have asked for an easy way to see when someone is logged into the chat room from the various pages on the site. So tonight, I went ahead and added a chat room status monitor to the sidebar. Now, from just about every page on MotoringFun.com, you can see how many people are logged into the chat room at any given time. If you see someone in there, take a moment to say hi! Remember - if you are the only person in the chat room, make sure to stay logged in for at least 5 minutes or so to give someone a chance to enter the room and chat with you. Popping in and out without staying logged in just makes you miss each other by a few minutes lol. Well hope you enjoy this little addition to the site and happy chatting!

Ok - so it is January 3rd and I have not posted the traditional Happy New Year greeting - what gives? Truth be told, as crazy as the end of 2007 was for me, 2008 is off to more of the same craziness. I actually tried to leave town to get away from the insanity of work, only to be called back in to town to put out some fires that cropped up at work again . Think I actually got to spend 1 whole day with my family on New Years without the cell phone ringing with some problem to fix. For that I am thankful. Needless to say, I have piles of MINI “schtuff” to sort through and post, but first I must sleep . Here’s hoping that you got your year off to a great start and got a chance to do some motoring! Talk to you real soon!

Boy have things been crazy for me lately. I have been helping to relocate our data center at work and, needless to say, been working some nutty hours and have had no time to post on MINI happenings. Sure glad Christmas is almost here and I finally have a chance to spend some quiet time with friends and family. I hope you are able to find the time as well to spend some time with those you care about. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and Santa is good to you . Once the relocation is complete, I should be back posting as normal (should be after the new year). Until then - stay safe and happy motoring!

So what gives? Was this a 1 year exercise in blogging? Some 1 year experiment? The site turns one and the guy behind the scenes is not heard from again! Well….. not exactly… First of all, a special thanks to those who checked in with me to see if I was ok. Makes me feel like there are people who actually read this stuff . I actually have been sick in bed and not doing much of anything online. What started as flu-like symptoms quickly turned into one BAD reaction to some antibiotic and my stomach has never been the same. The BRAT diet is getting old, but those last 10 pounds I needed to lose after my summer vacation…. well - those are pretty much gone (NOTE: I do NOT recommend this as a weight loss strategy!). Guess that just means I will go faster next month at Sebring .

Peeking in my inbox and feeling totally overwhelmed at the 1000+ e-mails waiting to be sifted (yes, contrary to John C. Dvorak, I get a lot of SPAM) , I see that I have missed quite a bit of MINI news and happenings from around the web in the last week or so. As I sift through it all, I will post some of my favorites even though it may not be “breaking news”, but the idea is to have fun with all the cool things out there. I will leave you with something cool that I did happen to find today in my inbox though… Looks like MINIUSA programmed some cool keywords into MINIUSA.com that activates some cool “hidden” features. Go over to www.miniusa.com and in the keyword search box type in one of the following 4 words/phrases:

“Reverse”, “Take It For a Spin”, “Under the Hood”, and “MINImize”.

Hope that keeps you entertained until I get a chance to catch up . Till later… Keep Motoring!

Wow! I have been so busy lately that I almost missed this! I finally had a chance to sit down and relax for the first time in a while and looked at the date. In addition to reflecting on the tragedy of 9/11, I realized that one year ago today, I embarked on a new online journey that would introduce me to some of the coolest people I know - you! What started as a collection of cool MINI-related video links and photos, has evolved into mixture of everything MINI. It has even become an online meeting place for MINI/Mini owners from all over the world to sit around and chat in realtime about there day and their MINIs/Minis. Through MotoringFun.com, I have gotten to know some great friends who I have yet to even meet. To those who have stuck by this year and watched things evolve, thank you! To the sponsors who support the site, thank you! Without your help, the site would not be what it is today. I look forward to another exciting year coming up. More cool MINI events to attend and track days to participate in - stay tuned, the best is yet to come .

Pedro
Motoring Admin

As I told you in my last post, I was out at Moroso Motorsports Park this past weekend cheering on some MINIs from our local group (Sunshine MINIs) during an HPDE (High Performance Driver Education) event. There were not enough slots for me to run with them, but I did manage top get out there for some 90+mph “parade” laps . I took a bunch of pictures and video, but my favorite has to be this shot:

If you click on the photo links below you will also notice I created a new Track Time gallery for track photos to be posted. So if you have any cool photos of your Mini on the track, send them in to site.gallery01 @ motoringfun.com. I will also try to post some video shortly once I get it off the camera.

Next up - Sebring (May 19-20) with PBOC (and then with Phil Wicks in June!). You may have noticed I created a Track Day Countdown in the upper left hand corner. For all those coming to Sebring this month, that one is for you!

[ Track Time Photo Gallery ]
[ Moroso Photos ]

We are pleased to announce that MC² Magazine has partnered up with MotoringFun.com to bring you even more Mini goodness for your enjoyment. Starting tomorrow, MC² Magazine will come on board as an official content contributor to MotoringFun.com and will be providing Mini news and stories on a regular basis.

For those new to the Mini world, or those who have not heard of MC² Magazine, MC² (MC Squared – as the title should be read) was launched in December, 2005 and is the independent American magazine for all Mini owners. The name was chosen to stand for the two models of MINI, as well as the new and classic Minis, indicating that all facets of the MINI/Mini world would be covered.

The magazine is already in its 7th issue and has proven to be a valuable source of Mini information and entertainment. If you do not currently subscribe to MC² Magazine, we highly recommend it. We are excited to have MC² on board and hope you check back here often to get your Mini fix!

[ MC² Magazine ]
[ Subscribe To MC² ]

I am happy to announce a new addition to MotoringFun.com - Sponsor Product Spotlights. I would like to direct your attention to the left sidebar, under the category listings. Here you will find a special product that some of our sponsors want you to know about. We want to thank all of our sponsors - without them, MotoringFun.com would not exist. Take a moment and click on the Product Spotlight to go to the sponsor’s website for more information on that particular product. Make sure you tell them MotoringFun.com sent you!