R56 Production Frozen?

Has anyone heard of a short freeze on production on the R56? I was told today from a reliable source that there is an issue with the R56’s front hood and how it meets the front wheel arches. Apparently there is a gap that is just too large for the likes of quality assurance techs. I am told that the freeze should just be for a day or so in order to make the needed adjustments on the production line. Anyone else have any information on this?

Fireball Tim Chat Tonight 9pm EST / 6pm PST

Come on over and chat with Fireball Tim tonight in the Motoring Fun MINI Club chat room! We are going to try something a little different tonight and have Tim answer questions using Skype. Special thanks to DB from WhiteRoofRadio.com for helping to set this up for us. If you don’t have Skype yet – download it at http://www.skype.com.

Also, click on this following link to log into the Skype portion of this event so you can hear the audio:

[ Skypecast Page ]

Of course don’t forget to also be logged into the chat room too so you can type your questions:

[ Chat Room ]

Esquire.com – MINI Cooper Convertible: Mean Tailgating Vehicle

Looks like some football fans at Esquire.com got their hands on a MINI Cooper Convertible and found out just how much fun it can be as a tailgating vehicle:

“You ever see one of those luckless, gateless schmoes peeking out from under a smoked-glass SUV hatch, like a mollusk who happens to really admire Michael Vick? His face says, “Yeah, this works.” But the guys with the F-150’s and Silverados know better. To them, the idea of tailgating with no tailgate is like eating a burger made out of vegetables. It’s a giant neon billboard that reads, AMATEUR HOUR IN PROGRESS. Fair enough. But what if you don’t want to sacrifice sporty driving for football-themed debauchery? What if you parallel park more often than you haul construction equipment while listening to Toby Keith? What if you want a tailgate without the truck? You have but one choice: the Mini Cooper convertible.”

Just a word of caution – PLEASE heed the tailgate weight limit warning posted on the MINI (read the article to find out why!). 😉 Thanks to James for this find!

[ Mini-Barbarians at the Gate @ Esquire.com ]

Fireball Tim Chat Rescheduled For 12/14/06

Thanks to DB from WhiteRoofRadio.com, we will be attempting a different format for our monthly chat – a Skypecast with live chat (similar to what we did for the 100th episode of WhiteRoofRadio.com). Due to getting everyone’s schedule on the same page, we need to bump the event to Thursday, however. So please update your calendars:

Motoring Fun MINI Club Monthly Virtual Meet / Skypecast
THURSDAY, December 14th – 9pm EST / 6pm PST
Special Guest: Fireball Tim

Make sure you download and install Skype ahead of time:

[ Download Skype ]

Track Day – Homestead-Miami Speedway

This past weekend I had the privilege of taking my STOCK 2006 MINI Cooper S (except PBR Ceramic pads and ATE Superblue fluid) out on the track. We arrived Saturday morning at the Homestead-Miami Speedway for 2 full days of track time with the PBOC Motorsports Club. I will post more information regarding the weekend soon, but for now I wanted to get this short video clip up to keep my inbox from filling up with all the video requests I have been getting! More to come soon!

[ More Homestead Track Videos ]

[ Sebring Track Videos ]

daMINI Shirt at SwagHappy.com

I just received my new “daMINI” shirt from SwagHappy.com. Can I just say, what a cool shirt! Inspired by Leonardo daVinci, this shirt adds a new twist on a classic piece of art. Ordering from SwagHappy.com was a pleasure as well. Shipping was included in the price and a sticker and personal letter accompanied the order inviting me to send in a picture of me wearing it to be added to their website. This shows the personal touch on each order and was executed beautifully. They are only making 50 of these shirts, so order yours today! Let them know MotoringFun.com sent you!

daMINI shirt at SwagHappy.com

[ SwagHappy.com ]