library of motoring

PaddockTalk: A Pole and a Podium at Homestead

James — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:30:29 +0000

PaddockTalk has a review of Automatic Racing and RSR Motorsports’s results at Homestead-Miami Speedway:

The second round of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge season was a memorable one for Automatic Racing and RSR Motorsports. Sarah Cattaneo earned the Street Tuner pole in the Automatic-prepared No. 197 RSR Mini Cooper S, while teammates BJ Zacharias [...]

collectible of the day: ZIG. ZAG. ZUG. antenna balls

James — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:00:53 +0000

These three antenna balls were produced for the launch of the MINI Clubman on February 16, 2008.

ZIG. = MINI Hardtop ZAG. = MINI Convertible ZUG. = MINI Clubman

global MINI sales for February 2010

James — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:00:04 +0000

From BMW Group PressClub USA:

Sales of the MINI brand also continued to perform well. Last month, 13,443 MINI cars, 16.0% more than in February 2009 (11,584), were delivered to customers worldwide. 25,645 MINI vehicles were sold in the year to the end of February. That represents an increase of 18.2% (prev. yr. 21,704). Ian Robertson: [...]

collectible of the day: MINI Convertible brochure 2009

James — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:00:14 +0000

MINI COOPER CONVERTIBLE. MINI COOPER S CONVERTIBLE.

Here is the first MINI model brochure we have featured. Shown is the first US brochure for the second-generation MINI Convertible. This 20 page, stapled brochure has many glossy photos and a flip-up page.

MINI colors shown: Pepper White, Chili Red, Interchange Yellow, Midnight Black, British Racing Green, Horizon Blue, [...]

collectible of the day: New MINI book

James — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:00:47 +0000

One of the first books to be published about the new MINI was this one: New MINI by Graham Robson from 2002. The book covers the beginnings of the MINI from the BMW takeover of Rover, early concepts like the Spiritual and ACV30, initial marketing, moving to Plant Oxford, and the launch in 2001.

In 2005, [...]

collectible of the day: sport button pins

James — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:00:33 +0000

Shown above are a couple pins from 2008. These pins were sent to MINI dealers to promote the new sport button on the second-generation MINIs.

MINI makes the podium at Homestead-Miami

James — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 01:00:02 +0000

While it wasn’t the 197 MINI that started on the pole, RSR Motorsports and Automatic Racing did reach the podium for the Homestead 200. The 198 MINI co-driven by BJ Zacharias and Craig Conway took third place in the Street Tuner (ST) class. Randy Smalley and Owen Trinkler in the 196 MINI took 23rd place [...]

MINI captures pole for GRAND-AM race at Homestead-Miami

James — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:25:55 +0000

A MINI Cooper S has captured the pole for today’s GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

From PaddockTalk:

In the Street Tuner (ST) class, Sarah Cattaneo led an abbreviated session and will lead 33 cars to the green flag for that race.

Cattaneo drove the No. 197 Cruise America/Four Winds RV Mini Cooper [...]

collectible of the day: Unauthorized Owner’s Manual

James — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 08:00:20 +0000

Owning a MINI is fun enough, but MINI USA goes further to make the experience even better. In the early years of the MINI, that meant welcome packages, free coffee mugs, and clever items like this UNAUTHORIZED OWNER’S MANUAL.

This stapled, 32 page brochure from 2002 covers topics like helpful British car terminology, the best places [...]

social networking sites for MINI

James — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:00:12 +0000

MINI has always stood for fun, community, and technology, so it’s not surprising that MINI embraced the Internet and social networking. Not just for marketing, but to connect a community of MINI owners. From the start, MINI USA created an Owners’ Lounge on its website to give owners a place to discuss and show off [...]