This is rather late news, but the MINI Club of WNY has a new official website. We are now at miniclubofwny.activeboard.com. So, if you are a MINI owner in Buffalo, Rochester, Niagara Falls, Boston, or any points in between or nearby, please stop on in. In addition, please keep in mind that it is a community funded messageboard. Without donations, we will lose our URL, and be stuck with the flashing advertising from Sparklit(the forum hosting service).

Huge thanks to YellowMINI who got the ball rolling to get a paid forum.

Erik...

Here's word from Diane:

The site has been discontinued. I am putting the word out that anyone who
wants to start up the website for the club is welcome to it...spread the word that if anyone
is interested in taking care of the website they have my blessings. Thanks,
Diane

First off, I'd like to thank Diane for getting the club off of the ground in the first place. Without her, we wouldn't even have a club to be concerned for. Now, we're left with what to do.

I am more than willing to do my damnedest (so it's not a word, sue me) to get a new site up and running, but I don't have the free money to do it. Nor do I really have any experience setting up and running a web-based message board in the first place. Ideas and help are needed.

Hopefully, this will be a point of discussion at this month's Dinner / Pulley Party. I am hoping to be able to attend, but personal matters may dictate otherwise.

Let me just say for the record that again, I cannot thank Diane enough for getting a club off the ground. I also would like to thank anyone who has put their time into the events that we do, and making the club what it is today. My volunteering to look after a club website is not intended to be some sort of 'power grab' or some way to make a quick buck, but just me doing the best thing that I can think to do to keep our club going.

At the very least, you'll start seeing updates here, and we can use the comments section as a temporary discussion board. As soon as I get a chance, I'll put a link to a free message board that I had on here at one time, as a stop-gap measure.

Erik...

YellowMININY from the WNY MINI Club does a great round-up of events every few weeks or so. So instead of re-writing what she wrote, with her permission, I'll be re-posting what she sends out. So, without further delay...

The April dinner will be Saturday, April 16th. Anyone
who has a location idea, please feel free to mention
it. (East or south locations welcome!)

Future Spring & Summer events

Watkins Glen Opening Day Sunday, May 1- Track Laps- 3
paced laps for $15. (Will have to check time- it is
AM-noon, if I remember right).

Minis On the Dragon May 5-8 Deals Gap, NC

WNY Mini Cooper Club Spring Rally June 11

Minis on Top June 18 Mt Washington, NH

I have no specific plans yet, but the Finger Lakes
Mini Run will most likely be Saturday, August 20 (may
be a 2 day event this year).

The Watkins Glen Vintage weekend will be Sept. 9-11,
and it would be nice to have an organized Mini crowd
there this year (don't know what this year's marque is
yet).

WNY & Northeast Mini message boards, if you are
interested in more information to share with other
Mini owners.

WNY Mini Cooper Club


NorthEast Mini main site

NorthEastMinis has a new Upstate NY forum

Erik...

The slow pace updates are going to continue for quite some time, if not indefinitely. You see, now that I work a normal schedule, I'm not sitting at my computer at 5am wondering what to do next before I go to bed. So for the time being, this blog is going to focus on local Western New York events, and what's happening with the MINI Club of WNY, and what's going on with my MINI in particular. You won't be seeing much news/opinion for quite some time. Either way, thanks for stopping by so far....

Erik...

In case you don't know about the MINI's bestest fan, Sarah Trafford, take a look.

Back yet?

Well, although Sarah can't fit her 5'11" frame in a MINI without being hunched over, down in Texarkana, they found their MINI to be quite spacious:

This six-foot writer could have easily worn a Stetson - if he were of such mind - while driving the car.

Damn Sarah, how high IS your hair?

Erik...

Well, the Saga of my break problems, that is. It's finally fixed, and it's finally squeak free. Shockingly enough, the problem was that all of the heat that built up from the earlier error (with the brake pad not seated properly), and well, the constant rubbing, caused more damage and warpage than previously estimated. Today's list of parts includes 31-21-6-762-871 Repair Set and 2 34-21-1-503-070 Brake Disc(s).

On the 'plus' side, my parts had come in, 51-21-7-147-503 & 4, the new winter resistant door handle design, and a new E-Brake Boot 34-42-1-171-195. The new handles are not as 'nice' as the old ones, the design looks less integrated, and more like a normal door handle, but I'd rather have a less fancy looking black plastic part behind the chrome handle than climb thru the passenger's side (or the boot) to get in.

Erik...

This is the second time I've heard that the Cooper will be turbocharged. Personally, I don't see it happening. Why make the Cooper a de-tuned Cooper S? It makes more sense to keep the One a de-tuned Cooper.

The One will produce 115hp and 164Nm of torque (up from 89 and 103), the Cooper 143hp and 247Nm of torque (up from 113 and 110), and the Cooper S 168hp (the same as today's offering). No torque figure is available yet for the S.
The One's 1.6-litre unit will be naturally aspirated, while both Cooper and Cooper S will get turbochargers

Nor does it make sense that the base Cooper engine will be turbocharged, with just a small bump in power, unless, the new engine isn't as nice as we had hoped it would be.

I'm not buying this either...

But also under consideration is a plan to add a second, lower-powered Cooper model, powered by the non-turbo One engine. Fitting between the One and Cooper, it could allow Mini to increase prices for the high-output Cooper and S and fill the gap with a more affordable second Cooper model.

A turbo and a NA Cooper? A lower powered Cooper when it's not getting much of a power boost in the first place?

Key features of the new engines are much better fuel economy and emissions, which will help Mini parent BMW hit the car industry's tough voluntary target of reducing average C02 emissions for all its cars to 140g/km by 2008. The new engines are said to be 10% more efficient.

Not really a 'key feature' for me, and I'm guessing that this could be the 'feature' that's causing all the problems.

Read the full article here, from the Bangkok Post.


Erik...

In case you didn't feel like leaving a comment because you didn't want to deal with the hassle of either signing up for a Blogger account, or being anon, now you don't have to. Another update is that you don't have to click thru 3 full web pages to leave a comment. The comments are on their own page like before, but when you go to leave one now, it's in a pop up window.

I know it's not that exciting, but hey, Blogger is easy to use, and well, that's what matter most to me right now...

This month's WNY MINI Club dinner is at the Old Toad Pub in Rochester NY. So, if you're more Central NY, and less Western NY, you have no excuse not to go (unless it's snowing, again).

For more info, stop on over to the MINI Club of WNY messageboard.


Erik...

Me, I'm salivating at the mere thought of this dish:

Hunters Chicken
A succulent grilled chicken breast topped with ham, smothered in barbeque sauce and topped with melted cheddar cheese. Served with a generous portion of British chips.

Well, last Monday, guess what started squeaking again?

At least this time, it was not the high pitched drone, more of a chirping. Either way, I have to wonder, exactly how many times does one need to take their car into the shop to get a proper brake job done? You don't need a wise old owl for this one, but so far, the answer appears to be three (so far at least).

So, today's options are CVT (nicer than a slush box, but still not as fun as a stick shift), cloth seats (ugh...), auto sensing wipers (couldn't be more pointless if you ask me), and auto dimming rear view mirror (now that's something I'd shell out money for. Really handy).

But no snow tires this time. Odd.

Erik...