Rocketboy's MINI Blog - Archives

On May 15th and 16th, Randy Webb from Webb Motorsports will be visiting sunny Lewiston, NY for a Pulley Party.

What is a Pulley Party you might ask?
"There are many MINI enthusiasts around the country - in fact, there are more enthusiastic regions than there are MINI shops. Because of how familiar we are with the MINI, we had been asked by several regions to come to do installs. Being that we care so much about customer support, and we like to spread cheer and joy, we decided to take on the task of helping as many MINI owners as were interested.
The "pulley" is the supercharger pulley, and it is reduced by 15% in diameter. That, in turn, spins the supercharger faster, making more boost sooner and throughout the RPM range. How much of a reduction was thoroughly researched, including desert endurance testing, extensive track testing, street driving of over 15,000 miles, and technical discussions with several engineers.
We have now done over 185 cars, most of them during the pulley parties. Several owners gather at a central location during a weekend and get to chat with other MINI folk, see other cars, bench race, and leave with a car that makes an average of 15 horsepower more than when they showed up." - Randy Webb


Current Pricing can be found here.

If you're interested, you can find out more info here, or here, which also includes the pricing to get a new intake and a ECU upgrade installed.

And a huge mention needs to go to the Southern Ontario MINI Club, as they were the club that got this in motion.

Maybe next time for me... I'm already spending more than enough money for tires this year... (New Snows, New Runflats, etc...)

Erik...

The Nomad, which I've rather infamously mentioned before here, is going to market. According to this article by USA Today, "Chevy Nomad, which is close to getting the OK for either the 2006 or 2007 model year, according to GM executives. It's a small wagon with retro-styling cues and a name from the 1950s in a package that GM thinks could draw more buyers than the Mini Cooper does.".

Of course, there's a chance that the Nomad could draw more buyers that the MINI. Production of MINIs is still rather small, considering the number of countries that it's sold in, and the number of models of MINIs that there are. But no matter how hard they may try, it's not a MINI. A MINI is not "designed to use lower-cost tooling and simpler manufacturing processes suitable for low-volume production", nor does it "allows very different bodies and interiors to fit onto similar floor pans while using similar engines, transmissions and suspensions ".

I also like this quote " "The quality gap (among brands) has narrowed to the point of being almost immaterial, so the place to stand out with customers is in emotion-driven design and value," (GM product boss Robert)Lutz says."

Ummm.. what? True, when you have the samehandfull of car companies owning many more different brands, which is what we have now, I guess that's true. But it seems that the change in quality is sometimes not always for the better.

(No, I don't have anything against Mercedes-Benz, it's just sad what's happened to it.)

Erik...

I love the small sidebar mentions that MINIs get in wholly unrelated articles.
In an article on NYNewsday.com about chef and author Rachael Ray, there is yet another cool unsolicited comment about MINIs.

She also bought a BMW X5 for herself and bought her mother a green Mini Cooper.

"That mini goes like a rocket ship!" Ray said, laughing. "My mommy zips around in it, this little 4-foot-10, 70-year-old Italian woman. It's the cutest thing. She got a speeding ticket the first time she took it out. When the officer pulled her over, she told him, 'I'm sorry, it's impossible to make this vehicle go less than 90.'"

I say anything less that 70, and my MCS is not happy, but I could go with 90...

Erik...

Watkins Glen

May 02, 2004
Opening Day
Experience the twists and turns of Watkins Glen International from behind the wheel of your own car! Follow the tire marks of your favorite drivers like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. and see what it takes to be a Watkins Glen ace!. Take three laps of the famed NASCAR course in your own car for only $15. Or jump in a pace car. Either way it's an experience you won't soon forget! A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Kyle and Patty Petty's Victory Junction Gang Camp.

You can find more info here.

The Western New York Region SCCA has also posted up dates for Solo2 events:

04/18/2004 WNY Solo 2 Driver's School
04/25/2004 WNY Solo 2 Event 1
05/16/2004 WNY Solo 2 Event 2
06/06/2004 WNY Solo 2 Event 3
06/27/2004 WNY Solo 2 Driver's School
07/10/2004 WNY Solo2 Event 4
07/25/2004 WNY Solo2 Event 5
08/08/2004 WNY Solo2 Event 6
08/28/2004 WNY Solo2 Event 7
08/29/2004 FLR Solo2 Event 7

Locations are not posted up yet though..

Erik...
(Thanks to Jack for posting the info on the MINI Club of WNY message board)

Another day, another 5 emails were sent to me with the MYDOOM worm. Please, stop opening e-mail attachments that you don't know what they are. MYDOOM was quite tricky in the way it spread itself, by disguising itself as an e-mail from a network administrator, but if nobody clicked, nobody would have been infected.

For more info on how to stay safe, check out Trend Micro's Save Computing Guide. They also offer a free online virus scanner. If your virus software is out of date, or you don't have any (like me), please use it.

Erik...

Can MINI owners ever get tired of hearing about Paddy Hopkirk's victory in the Monte Carlo Rally, and Mini's place in racing history?

And when the article has tasty tidbits like this one:

Makinen reflected on the technique he used to overcome the bigger cars that sought revenge the following year. "I resorted to left-foot braking," Timo grinned.

"No one had ever done that before, but testing in the snow in Finland, I discovered that by applying the foot brake while accelerating around a corner, the car would go quicker. I did that on the rally and it worked — we won easily."

how can I resist reading about it again?

(Once again, credit goes to iafrica.com for a great write-up.)


Erik...

This time, from iafrica.com. The article expands on how the boot will work:

ReMiniscent of the classic Mini, the Mini Convertible has a new drop down boot which doubles as a handy loading platform. Two steel cables on a spring mounted retractor system act as boot hinges holding a weight of up to 80kg. The boot capacity with the roof up is 165 litres — with the roof down it is 120 litres.

However, Mini Convertible owners with bulky items to carry need not despair. By turning two levers in the boot, the rear fastening of the roof can be released allowing the rear section to be raised. This creates a wide aperture through which larger items can be loaded. In fact, by using this "easy load" facility and putting the rear seats down, the Mini Convertible instantly offers 605 litres of storage space.


Who says there's no room to haul anything in a MINI?

Erik...

As posted up at the MINI Club of WNY, they are starting to look for volunteers for the 2004 WNY MINI Rally...

Erik...

I know I'm a few days late, but in case you've been in a spider hole the past few days, the MINI Convertible has been announced, and quite a few pics have been released. I still think it looks weird, and it's just not a MINI with the big flat roof, but I do recognize that MINI would have been stupid not to bring a convertible to market. Quite a few people have asked me if my MINI was a convertible (probably due to the white roof), or if there was a convertible version out. Well, my MINI's roof is still firmly attached, but now, not all MINI's roofs are.

If you want better/real info about it, check Motoringfile.com for a great write-up, and a great gallery.

Well, there's no pictures, because there was not anything worth taking a picture of. It was almost a total waste of time. The problem is, is that the Buffalo Convention Center is very small, and the displays consisted mostly of a TV with a VCR looping tape. Scion had a nice (tiny) display about some of the options you could get, MINI had a wall of fake 'wacky' license plates, Range Rover had a little rocky ramp, and little things like that, but no real bells and whistles. But I did learn some things....

- I'm not a big guy, but I couldn't fit into a Subaru WRX if I wanted to. My legs don't bend backwards.
- Scion xB is a rather nice mini-mini-van. I'm sure that in some alternate universe that there's a Rocketboy's Scion xB Blog...
I do worry about the quality though, it just didn't seem that sturdy of a vehicle.
- The new GTO is VERY similar to a Sunfire. The way that they were displayed on the floor allowed you to look at the side of both of them at the same time. From the B-Pilliar back, they are almost the same thing, with the rear passanger side window being exact. Well, I didn't break out a ruler, but from just a visual, they looked like the same parts.
- The smaller the walking area, it seems like the greater the chance that there will be a group of people just standing there.

On the plus side, I did get a great parking space.