You heard it on WRR this past week. MINI Canada and MINI US each entered a ready-to-rock MCS in the Targa Newfoundland Rally. You also know that for the second year in a row MINI stood out from the crowd.
Here’s a great pic of the MINI Canada entry, coming into the home stretch. Only in Newfoundland, eh?
See you on Episode 100. It’ll be a blast.
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This is the loaded hatch that I mentioned in my voice message on the ‘Cleanout’ episode.
It’s tight, but comfy, I’m told!
And Todd, have a fantastic week. I cannot wait to see and hear the pics, the vids and all the podcast fun. Being in Canada, there’s no GP envy here. Those front bumpers just don’t pass muster in the True North!
Have a Grand Prix of a time!
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Well, they’re actually not here. They’re there (in magazines, in the U.S.). The super secret kit is not available in Canada, but the first ad is now appearing in the August issue of Business 2.0.
Check it out:
If you have a spy kit, can you translate for your WRR friends around the world? We hate being left out of anything MINI!
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I was back in Ottawa, Canada this past weekend. Check the license plate I spotted on a Cooper. (Note: the pic was taken with the lousy camera on my MOTO SLVR. For such a great phone, you’d think they’d toss in a halfway decent camera. But, no!).
But it’s a terrific license plate for a Cooper. Guess what it wants to be when it grows up?
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The Canadian ‘Special Edition’ MINIs are arriving. The ‘Rallye’ version is an S with Sport and Premium packages. The ‘Competition’ version is an S with those packages, factory JCW and Aero Kit. And we were told there would be no more factory JCWs in Canada. Surprise, surprise, eh?
Oh, the wheels on the Rallye are, as Gabe told us, FLAME SPOKES (sometimes affectionately called The Horeshoe Wheels).
Nice badge on the door pillar. And nice shot of me in the reflection. And nice shot of Howard and Bart, the sales guy, waving to all the nice WRR listeners
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Now this is cool:
A video blog by MINI in Denmark. Well worth checking out. Scroll down to see some pretty good stuff, MINI and otherwise.
Gabe, you know all. What’s the story behind this? It’s worth yakking about on the podcast, methinks.
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Well, this is interesting. As you may know, 6 mos. ago I traded in my ’03 LY/B MCS (known as ‘My Sharona’) for an ’06 AB/S MCS JCW (Checkmate). The ’03 had Randy Webb all over it: pulley, intake, hot wires, the whole shootin’ match.
I was at my dealer yesterday (for some reason ‘MINI Woodbridge’ changed it’s name to ‘MINI Vaughan West’ during a location move) helping with an MCS sale to a friend of mine (you remember the guy with the big, honkin’ Lincoln pick up truck? Believe it or not he’s ordered the last Checkmate package in Canada. Getting rid of the boat. Isn’t that a hoot?).
I learned that my ’03 had sat on the lot for the last six months (a hard sale – out-of-warranty, and all the mods), but it just sold. And it sold to a guy who is going to give it rubber and wheels and take it Targa Newfoundland. And he chose my MINI ’cause the mods had already been done. The car is good-to-go as is! I knew that car was ready to enter it’s golden years.
What is Targa Newfoundland?
It’s the only annual event of its kind in North America. It is a 2200 km long, high quality automotive adventure, held over a seven-day period in September, on the paved roads of the eastern and central parts of the island of Newfoundland. MINIs have done exceptionally well the past couple of years.
The site is: http://www.targanewfoundland.com/
Now, isn’t that a fitting retirement for a MINI? I feel like a proud father!!
(Oh yeah, Gabe? It’s Liquid Yellow, and proud of it!).
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