4th of July Parade 2008

Plenty of fireworks to go around this year. CMMC once again was invited to join the 4th of July parade, this year in Oak Lawn. There was a great crowd with plenty of young ones darting for the candy what we were encouraged to toss at the crowds. In fact the kids were treated to a load of free hot wheels cars that Cathy and Gary tossed out. The kids went nuts for those! Below are my picts from the event. You can check out everyone else's picts here. I had a wonderful time again and look forward to raiding the clearance items to add to my decorations for next year. Good times!

Snob in a ...

I came across this ginormous spoiler with a small car attached that I thought this was hilarious. I wonder what the MINI would look like with a spoiler that was as big as this one. ;-)

Dragon Recap

I finally had a chance to sit back and gather my thoughts on the 2008 MINIs on the Dragon. This was my first official MOTD that I had attended, but I have had the opportunity to drive though the dragon once before on a previous road trip.
We arrived late Thursday evening to find our cabin had almost gone up in flames, literally.  I was told that a tree fell on some power-lines that sparked a fire.  It took the locals a little while to put it out, but the scent of burning brush was still noticable when I drove up.  By morning we had the power back so that was good news. The first official event was the Dragon Parade Run on Friday morning. The weather was great and I had a blast running up and down the Dragon with a lot of other MINIs.
We then headed out to do some side trips to visit the Cherokee Indian Reservation and the Smokey Mountains. All in all, it was a great day for a drive.
On Saturday, I participated in the Draggin Dragons pine car races. That was so much fun. Our entry made it into the second round but having lost some much needed weight, we were outed soon after. We decided to drive into the city to grab some eats and drive through the mountains again before the farewell dinner.
The greatest thing about this event was being able to hang out with a bunch of MINI owners. It was wonderful to see just about everything you can get for the car in every color combo and flavor. From what I hear, the group was a good size this year but not over crowded as it might have been last year. The highway patrol was fairly tame, no scary moments for me anyways. Overall a very good trip to the Dragon. I highly recommend it if you can get out there. It is definitely worth it.
Below are a few more pictures that I took. Also check out pictures from our cabin mates Francis and Paul, as well as a video from Taylor at the CMMC site.

Cnet Clubman Review

Here's a Car Tech Cnet Review that I enjoyed. I saw many Clubmans on the dragon last week so it is certainly starting to become more popular. I really like the roof rack on the new clubman too.

Dragon Road Trip

I got the car packed and ready to go. By tomorrow evening I should be rolling through the Dragon with a few hundred other MINI enthusiasts. Should be a blast.
I drove the MINI to work this morning and my tire pressure monitor went on. No signs of a flat so far but it got me freaking out since I do not have the run flats anymore. I think my umbrella pressed the monitor button which triggered the light but if anything it was a great reminder to get some tire sealants for the long road ahead.

High Roller

The question is: "Why you would ever want to step up into a Miata?" All I can do is shake my head in disappointment..... and then point and laugh. HA!

$50 Fill Up

I was so glad to see a gas station as I rolled up with only 4 miles left on the OBC until I was completely empty. But as I left I wish I didn't need to fill up so much. This is my first fill up that reached the $50 dollar mark.... Ouch. And we haven't reached Memorial Day weekend yet when gas prices are outrageous.

MCS Wannabe

Ran into this guy yesterday with his dark silver vdub with centered exhaust. It gave me a a little laugh so I thought I would share it.

2 Years w/an MCSa w/Mods

So I had a few inquiries about my mods at my last CMMC outing.  They were from people who were about to take the plunge and start modifying their own MINIs but were still curious on some of the other details that are not so commonly discussed.  What was also interesting was that they sought me out because I had an MCS with an automatic transmission.  So I thought it might be useful to recap the things I have done and the experiences so far.

A Little History
I took delivery of my custom spec'd dark silver/black 2005 MCSa back in April 2005.  That was the model year that MINI first started offering an automatic transmission on the MCS.  I started right away with some minor interior accessories but I held off from doing any performance upgrades for a year just to be safe from any warranty issues.   Most of the mods I did my self but the engine mods were a bit out of my league and the last thing I wanted was car problems that could be blamed on the mods that were improperly installed.

Performance Mods
After a year of browsing the forums over at NAM and MINI2 I knew pretty much what I wanted to do. Nothing over the top but just the three most common things that people do to their MINIs; a pulley, intake and exhaust. I initially wanted the pulley for sure. the 15% reduction pulley seemed to be the most reliable from what I read. Although there was hardly any difference, the 17% and 19% had a few reports of running the supercharger a little too hot which would cause the component to fail sooner. Again, I wanted to play it safe so went with the 15% reduction pulley, aproximately the same size as the JCW upgrade.After reading even more, I found that since the supercharger is compressing more air it would be smart to upgrade the air intake. I had it explained to me with the analogy of sucking on a straw. If you are sipping a drink with a thin straw you need to work harder to get more of liquid through. If you increase the straw diameter, you then make it easier and faster to get the same amount of liquid through. The same concept applies air and the engine.  So I made up my mind to get an air intake upgrade as well.At the same time, with all that air going into the engine it needs to get out just as fast. The stock exhaust is good but is still restrictive so I started looking into replacing the exhaust as well. So in my mind it was not just a matter of throwing a pulley on, it was a matter of letting the pulley do it thing freely.  I opted for the Milltek exhaust for its great reviews and its similarities to the JCW exhaust upgrade.

Now the issue was who would do all this work for me and give me the peace of mind that is installed properly.  Again I turned to the forums and I found many reputable installers located all over the country.  Luckily Randy Webb of Webb Motor Sports was scheduling one of his last pulley parties in Chicago at the time.  I quickly signed up and had all three upgrades installed by him.So Far So Good
Currently, its been about two years since I had all that work done on my three year old MINI.  My milage is improved a little but it is relatively the same when compared to my pre mod figures, about 26 with short fast drives.  With the three mods, the car runs great.  Shifts are smooth and the engine is eagar to rev.  I have had no issues what so ever with the these mods.  The sound from the exhaust is pleasing, not too loud, and just enough louder to turn heads at high revs.  The supercharger whine is a welcome sound as well.  With the upgraded intake, the sound from the engine bay does travel into the passenger cabin a bit more but it's not obnoxious.  It's a nice way to get some audio feedback from the car.

Overall I can not be happier with adding the thing I did.  I would highly recommend doing these upgrades for some added fun around the bends.   It is definitely worth every penny.  Speaking of cost, you can find how much I paid for these and all my other additions here.

MINI Cooper MINI?

I thought this was silly. Shouldn't it be mini MINI Cooper? I guess it's not common knowlege that MINI is the make and Cooper is the model. Either way, it's a mini MINI. ;-) And the look on Conan's face every time he knows a writer's sketch is stupid is priceless. Plus that MINI has two stubby antennas. Weird. Scan to about 18 minutes in if it doesn't queue up.

Dragon Bound

Yup, that's right. I was bitten by the dragon bug last summer when I drove through but now I wanted to see what it's like when a whole bunch of MINIs take over. Registration is seems fairly low so well see how it goes. It might be nice for the roads not to be over saturated. Either way, I am excited to get down there and ride that dragon roller coaster!

Happy Birthday, I Think...

Not sure what I would celebrate as the birthday of my MINI; the built date or the delivery date. But a couple of days ago (3.18) marked the day my DS/B MCSa was completed at the factory and awaiting transport to the states. Three years so far and no signs of letting up.

2008 Spring Forward Drive

The annual CMMC Spring Forward Drive took us on a nice trip this Sunday up to Lake Geneva where we met up with the Milwaukee MINI club and ate a good lunch at a restaurant I like to go to a lot, Houlihan's.  After a quick stop at Culvers in Burlington, WI, we headed for some nice side roads on our way to Lake Geneva. Check out the pictures below.On a side note, there was a "MINI Motoring Against Cancer" Banner at the event which raised almost a thousand dollars for the American Cancer Society. The banner will be heading out to AMVIV and hopefully out to the dragon in a couple months.

Motoringfile NewsRoom

The MotoringFile NewsRoom was introduced today for all your MINI related and general auto news.  While still in beta form, it looks very polished and worth a bookmark or two.  dcMINI even made the list right on the front page, bottom center of the MINI news section.  Thanks Gabe.
A similar website has been in existence for many years, GoMotorong, but it seems that Mark Volgar might be selling (or has sold) the site according to dbmini.us.  Here's what Mark said about his RSS MINI site

I don’t hold claim to RSS feeds nor do I think that GoMotoring has claim that I made reading RSS feeds better. What I will say is that while numerous technophile users out there don’t see a need for my site, most users are very happy that I provide a one stop NEWS PORTAL for MINI related news. This shows in my repeat visit stats on the site. I never wanted to compete with NAM or MF, I just wanted to make the average MINI owner a spot to get all their information from one location and be able to go the site with the information they wanted to read.

When I got my MINI I surfed at least 15 sites a day and very few of them had anything new to say. GoMotoring took care of that problem for me and has now been quite useful for many, many MINI owners in the same way

I used to do the same almost everyday.  I would check out GoMotoring first, scan the page for any changes, and read any new items.  The problem for these types of sites is that personal RSS readers are a lot more convenient.  I now use Google Reader and I am glad I do.  I have all the RSS feeds for all the sites I like to visit, including a few non MINI related ones, all in one place.  And in addition I can mark items as read so they do not show up the next time I check for updates, a real time saver. GoMotoring used to be a time saver for me compared to visiting each site individually and checking for updates.  Now Google Reader is even faster and customizable.

It seems that there are a number of MINI related sites that are transfering ownership in one way or another.  NorthAmericanMotoring was recently sold and MINI2 was bought out a year ago I think.  A lot of things are changing and hopefully for the better.

New IPhone Button for dcmini

Those of you with an iPhone or iPod Touch can now add dcmini to your home screen with a cool new icon.  I gave it a shot and it seems to work fine.  I hated having a super tiny preview of the webpage itself show as the icon since the content usually changes from time to time and the icon doesn't.  I starting to see more and more sites be iPhone friendly and decided to do the same for dcmini.  Give it a shot and let me know what you think......   

boy do i miss warmer temperatures... it's freezing! :-)

It's My B-day and I'll Drive If I Want To

That's right.  The big two-nine came today and with great pleasure.  Since winter is in full swing, I usually do not get to drive the MINI so much... by choice.  But the weather is springlike today and just a little wet so I just couldn't resist.
I decided the MINI could use a little run through the puddles today on my ride to work. The temperature is just about right for the engine to zip in and out of traffic.  The MINI is just so peppy on days like today.  And with the  slick roads, it makes those empty parking lots just that much more fun.  Happy New Year everyone!

The 20,000th Mile

This passed weekend, my MINI tacked on its 20,000th mile! That's well over 10,000 miles with a pulley, intake and exhaust on an MCSa with no issues to date. Here's a choppy video I captured of this moment on a Chicago expressway.

Starved Rock 2007

With the leaves turning those wonderful colors, it was time for the annual Starved Rock Run. What a great drive right in my own back yard. And this time the club had it planned just right with a nice brunch at a resort lodge nearby. I had a great time. Here are a few pictures of the event.

Holy Crap! The Dragon is Awesome!

Absolutely the best road I have ever driven. Hands down. This winding road demands full concentration and the utmost respect. I highly recommend it if you can make it there. I will most likely be attending next years MINIs on the Dragon if at all possible. It's that good. Here are a couple of picts of the pre Dragon part of highway 129. We just couldn't take any pictures during the really curvy parts because we needed to hold on. I did add the pictures from Killboy.com, which I will be ordering full res shots soon. Enjoy!....... and btw, you should go to the dragon..... now! :-D

MINI Road Trip 2007 (part 2)

First off, I just realized that this is post #101. Posting has been extremely fun for me and hope to continue for some time to come. Thanks to everyone for visiting.

Road Trip 2007:
Continuing on from Part 1 of the road trip, we made stops at a few more locations. The first part we stoped at Springdield IL, St. Louis and then Memphis. This half we visited Nashville, the Smokey Mountains, and Cininnati. Check out the pictures below. And with the stop to the Smokies, a visit to the Dragon was inevitable. ;-)