Category: General

Took Sarah to Brecht’s for an ’emergency’ appointment. They were able to fit me in and have me out of the door in just over an hour. The problem was a loose connection on the headlamp unit which they tightened and now everything works. Now… can I make it to the next inspection in 5000 miles time without having to go back? My fingers are crossed!

Hey, there’s an idea… a real-time counter on this page that shows the number of days trouble-free motoring…. I’ll get on it…

Well, I had 39 days trouble free motoring, how many cars can say they get that kind of reliability??! Coming home late last night my wife said ‘you only have one headlight working’ and sure enough the left one is out. My MINI has the xenon’s and apparantly it is very unusual for those bulbs to blow, more likely another failed module. So if I take it back they will take a look at it on an emergency basis. The annoying thing is that I was just in San Diego and had I known I could have done it yesterday.

I do love my MINI, I do love my MINI… if I repeat it often enough I will believe it!

Can’t say much more than that, I just don’t get it.

Driving a distinctive vehicle has its drawbacks, if you piss someone off they know what car to mess with whilst you eat your Classic Single Combo. I had the same problem when I first got my Jeep, there weren’t many yellow ones out then and after the odd altercation in a car park I’d worry about what I’d find when I get back.

Now, I’m not an aggressive person but sometimes when you are cut up or otherwise inconvenienced on the road you need to let the other person know that they are a dolt. In particular here where I live there is a hospital nearby and the people coming out can’t see around the parked cars when they pull out: I have to swerve out of someone’s way or slam on the brakes almost daily when I go past it. In the old days, such incidents would be met with a wave “I’m sorry” but these days you get the glare, or even a gesture like it was my fault. Whatever happened to good old fashioned courtesy?? I know you can’t see and just have to go for it, but if you get unlucky and almost hit me, at least try and look sorry about it.

I’ve been thinking for some time about not renewing my SCMM membership: the runs are seldom possible for me to attend, the focus of the club seems to be more about performance mods and racing, and after being pretty much dissed in Vegas by my fellow members I don’t think there is much social aspect to it either if you’re not in the clique.

Recently, the club has had a few teething problems and I allowed myself to get caught up in it, ending up copping some attitude from board members and club members for my questions and statements. Deciding that I don’t need to take part in that kind of thing I’ve taken myself out of the club and removed the SCMM decal off of my MINI.

I think if you’re in LA, like to race your MINI (on track or freeway) and trick it out then the club is probably pretty good, and I think the president, Don, is a fine fellow and will have it knocked into shape. But I’m not sticking around to see it.

In other news, there is now a burgundy/white MINI on the same street as me, one block up! I haven’t seen it close enough to determine whether it is an S or not, but that makes at least 4 other MINIs in this little town!! Very cool that there are so MINIs about.

It took a long time but Sarah is finally fixed. Brecht needed to keep her in overnight but I was able to pick her up Saturday afternoon, all warning lights extinguished. It seems that the ABS module was not wanting to take the coding of the VIN so they waited a day and, as if by magic, it worked first thing next day. I also got the steering angle sensor recalibrated and new wiper blades. Good thing everything is under warranty, although with all the driving I did over the two days and the cost of gas right now I probably spent $40 on the repairs. Hopefully I won’t need to go back to Brecht until the next service/inspection which is in around 7000 miles.

Check out the official wrap-up from the organiser. I managed to get one of my pictures in there – woo hoo!

MINI alert! Two new MINIs have been spotted in Brawley, a red and white, and a white and black, both base versions. Teri knows both families who owns them and I shall be trying to recruit them to SCMM just as soon as I can find the business cards I was given for them.

With apologies to Jim Bowen, but you can’t beat a little bit of bully! Here is a picture of my MINI co-driver showing some patriotic spirit:

Just some random thoughts from the Vegas weekend:

• The XM radio rocked! Only a couple of dropouts the entire trip, always something to listen to on some channel somewhere. Local radio stations are history as far as I am concerned. [NB though that the new Kylie album is currently occupying my listening pleasure].
• I received a lot of compliments on how Sarah looked which surprised me. Sure she looks great but amongst all the other custom-decal’d MINIs I was thinking no one would notice her. Several people thought that my John Cooper signature decal meant I had a JC Works kit installed. I wish I did!
• I also got asked how I got the flag decal on the sunroof as many people have been told this is not possible. Well, it was on there when I bought it but my mathematical training says that my MINI proves that it is possible so go back to your dealer or decal shop and tell them to try again.
• Vegas is not a lot of fun to be in on your own. Outside the runs and meals, it was kinda lonely. Hopefully Teri can join me next year. And the Stardust hotel is too low end to be worthy of much people-watching.
• I was surprised by how much animosity we met driving up the Strip late at night. I heard and observed many more insults than compliments. And it was too bad that we couldn’t keep more together, I think most people wanted just to show off their speed (such as could be done in stopped traffic) rather than have 3 lanes of 30 MINIs together. Now that would have made a picture for the newspapers.
• More picture links: DB’s Vegas gallery, Ray Ibanez from Mighty MINI and fellow SCMM’er Jenn Tanzer.

In the last week or two, BMW have announced two new MINIs, both worthy of your drool:

 

First, we have the limited edition MC 40, of which there will be only 1000 made. See the article about the press introduction for more details. Next, we have the new MINI Cabrio which will be officially viewable March 1st at the Geneva car show. For all the details check out this article and the MINI Cabrio website.