MiTP

[EcosseGP]

Yeah that's right I've got run flats and yours are smaller than mine !!

[stoney]

I won't be on the strip not my idea of fun but watching every one else is I'm holding off for a track day

[ELFMAN]

Ah very true as I have proper tyres not run craps

I was thinking that weight transfer (very important on the strip) might be in your favour! (runs away...)

[weefossy]

Where's the photos guys?

[EcosseGP]

Well I did a full report on my weekend on GPOC forum but if you want some photos and a chance to read over it I'm more than happy to post it here too ...

Was a brilliant weekend with loads of laughs and the weather stayed dry too.



At 8000rpm no-one hears you scream !

[stoney]

sorry never took any so to speak as forgot my good camera :(

[EcosseGP]

Too much talking Rob too


At 8000rpm no-one hears you scream !

[boozeman]

Would of loved to have been there. Was there a few years back and had a fantastic time.

Miniigp post up your report.

[EcosseGP]

I took a few photos but nothing too exciting I'm sorry was having way to much fun. The words "kid in a sweet shop" spring to mind.

Well what more can I say I've had a great weekend and really couldn't be bothered coming all the way home on sunday but needs must and i had the lads to organise for the football trip south ...

It was great to see some new faces as well as the well known members too and like I always say sorry if I didn't get a chance to speak to you it wasn't intended but the day seemed to pass so quick. I didn't even get a chance to check out the "stalls" which I suppose in a good way probably saved me a fortune even though Christina's Paul was always pointing out things he'd seen that I might like ...

I think this time I'll put a wee write up in this section instead of just the photos, it might go some way to other members who may be thinking about attending shows, meets, etc what weekends like MITP is all about ..

A knock at the door half past 8 in the morning started Friday and to cut a long story short "Maxi" our silk green MINI One had been ditched on Thursday afternoon and in its place was an electric blue Cooper S. The only problem being my OH loved that "One" so had travelled over to check out the new family member in the hope that Maxi was still in the family and she hoped the "S" was another family member. After getting over the shock of Maxi being replaced with the "S" and the fact the deal was done and dusted she left and I started to get the GP packed for the trip to MITP.

Well as a change this year I had stuff to do so i decided to travel down Friday rather than Saturday this year just to make more of a weekend of it knowing I had to rush back Sunday after the event and boy was it worth it. On making my overnight stop in Nottingham the car decided to wipe the smile off my face for the only time during my ownership. Whilst sat on the garage forecourt waiting to fuel up I noticed smoke coming from underneath the bonnet and the attendant rushing out waving his arms yelling "your cars on fire" .. Aye right no smell of smoke but could definitely smell antifreeze and I'm thinking cracked coolant bottle .. I turn the ignition to hear an almighty bang and decide to not even bother turning it over. Calmly getting out and by this time joined by the forecourt attendant who was now in possession of a fire extinguisher .. let me tell you there was absolutely no chance he was going to discharge that over the GP without spending a night in hospital .. I opened the bonnet. A quick scan of the engine revealed the coolant bottle lid had split and was missing .. Simples.

Pushing the car to a safe place on the garage forecourt I made a couple of calls trying to sort out a replacement with Daz, Nick, Pete and even Craig as i knew he was heading down the following day with Rob, calm was restored when a fellow MCS owner appeared minutes before Daz to help get me moved with a replacement cap. One of these moments similar to a genie appearing granting you a wish and thinking did that just really happen (genies aren't real of course). After fuelling I headed to Dazs for a cuppa and a quick catch up before Pete arrived to sort his bonnet scoop. Not sure Daz thought Pete was the man for the job when he produced the chainsaw and said "I'll have that scoop off in nae time lad" .. and I think Daz wondered wether he'd have been better off attempting it himself. Scoop decal replaced and calm restored Pete, Daz and I all battered down the motorway for a bite to eat with a nick and Dave and another night of swapping stories, tricks and suggestions ensued and eventually we called it a night a headed home. Pete left saying "first time I've been in a pub and not had a drink" but we all really enjoyed the night .. The silent night air was filled with pops and bangs as the cars left the traffic lights and another £20 in fuel was burnt in practise for Sundays visit to the Pod.

Up Saturday first thing and I headed up to give the car a quick rub down at Dazs before heading south to meet up with Rob in Wellingborough. I had planned to leave relatively early for a leisurely drive down but Daz and I were having a great time practicing for pushing the classic around the course at MITP time caught up with me and eventually headed off late afternoon after we managed to do a few 10 minute jobs that did actually take 10 minutes (Craig take note). After a quick blast down the M1 I met up with the GP chief and his good lady Sarah, always good for a laugh and carry on .. Before I knew it Rob had called to say he was at the hotel already and wondered where I was (still another hour away) so I left Mr and Mrs Lowes and headed for the hotel in Wellingborough.

Stopping for fuel en-route I ended up bumping into a few of the Merseyside MINI gang and again got side tracked speaking to Rob and Liz in their GP2. Funnily enough I managed to make it to the hotel around 7.45pm to meet up with Rob and Christine and grab a bite to eat .. I obviously talk too much ! After dinner and checking up that Craig and Jude were checked in and sorted and Pete had his tickets and licence packed for the following day I headed off to bed .. No chance of a sleep, MITP was just around the corner ...

After about 3 hours sleep, ta dah, it's Sunday morning and time to head to McDs for breakfast and meet the gang. Jose is already waiting and after a quick introduction and breakfast we sit and watch as one by one everyone starts filling the car park with GPs before the usual convoy to Santa Pod. It's such a great sight to see a whole convoy of GPs making their way through the villages and watching folk stare at them wondering the age old question "why do they all look the same ?"

Heading through a village I see a blue Skoda rattling towards us flashing the headlights like mad everyone slows down thinking the Police are lying in wait but alas no it was Josie in her hire car heading in the opposite direction to McDonald's for breakfast !

The usual mayhem then ensues queuing to get into the pod and onto the stand before the noise of MINI engines fills the air and the cleaning cloths come out and everyone frantically gives their cars one last rub down or in some cases Craig gives out instructions (only joking). I tried Jude's method of doing a bad job so I wouldn't need to do it again but don't think that worked ! How can you do a bad job when Craig has a boot full of cake on offer

Well all the cleaning done and on speaking to some of the gang, getting it tight from Mark about my dash and us bringing our own Scottish water with us it was signing on time. Craig and I probably both worse than kids on Christmas Day ventured into the signing on cabin and filled out our forms, parted with some proper Scottish money and had our race numbers B360 and B361 (never forgot a race number). After a quick walk down to the start and up into the stand to see a few MINIs and classics head up the strip it was time to "have a go" myself. I tried to saunter slowly back to the cars to get lined up for some "strip action" .. The walk back started slowly but just about ended in a sprint in the excitement ...

Back at the car and everything all fastened down in the boot it was off to the queue with the big fella. As luck would have it after queuing I was paired to run with Tony (organiser of the Big MINI show 15th September 2013 (tickets on sale now) who throughout the whole lead up to the start line tried to psych me out confusing me with things like make sure you're DSCs off .. aye right !

Well as our turn comes to head off the queue and towards that start the adrenalin starts, my right foot starts to twitch and as you turn the corner and see the strip ahead I thought WTF will happen if I stall when the light goes green .. Had a solution to that I was going to get out open the bonnet, shake my head and pretend something had broken before reversing back and driving straight home ... Luckily it didn't happen !

You can not comprehend the distance that 1/4 mile seems when you're at the start line being watched by other MINI owners and the pressure you're under just not to make a fool of yourself. On one hand the adrenalin is pumping and one half of your brain is telling you to go mental and the other half is going now mind take it easy, don't miss a gear, wonder if I put the oil cap back on tight .. No time to think about checking it now ..

Amber light stage 1, amber light stage 2 (at this point I'm thinking i should exit stage left) then countdown lights before the green light and WTF Tony is away. I think at this point I better take the handbrake off and set off after him .. so I do with Kenny Rogers on the CD and the air con on full I plant the throttle and as the car digs in and lunges forward i grab another gear. Its like a parachute jump 1000, 2000, 3000, (I'm thinking check canopy) but continue up the range 4000, 5000, 6000 .. Level it out then select 2nd to do it all again.

In all the talk of heading down the strip what happens is you forget the vital things to remember one being to either lock everything in the glove box (if you have one) or scatter your CDs and things around the floor before setting off from the line because that's what happens when you pull away from the line .. I'm hit by CDs, iPhone charger, papers, sunglasses you name it I'm hit with it. The car at this point looks like my OH has been in it for an hour (only joking darling) and I'm considering stopping to tidy it up but then I mind what I'm doing and I catch Tony out the corner of my eye pulling away thinking that all my cleaning should make the wee thing more aerodynamic and eventually manage to catch him before the line .. Result !

More of a relief that I didn't stall it at the line but well chuffed of having a shot down the strip at Santa Pod. Of course Tony whilst on his wind ups in the queue had slipped in a valuable piece of information which just hadn't registered at the time .. "When you get to the other end just mind and stop there's a turn off on the left" .. It wasn't until I passed the exit and watched Tony exit stage left I realised that's what he'd been talking about ..

Gracious in defeat he waited and congratulated me (he'll tell you he let me win to make me feel better and so I turned up at his show - "The Big MINI Show" 15th September 2013, tickets available right now, free plug as promised again Tony) and I retuned back to the queue to do it all again.

Another run later and this time remembering to take the handbrake off at the start line and leave the strip by the left exit I retuned to the club stand for more banter and of course the usual sarcastic comments ..

I noticed everyone had disappeared as Mark ended up trying to fit his cabrio braces using the one screwdriver will fix anything routine and Craig's it's a ten minute job philosophy only to nearly end up bleeding to death after trying to prise out a blanking bolt cover ! On deciding that the job couldn't be done firstly in 10 minutes and with a screwdriver he down tools and the gang headed back to the line up queue for one last GP shoot out ..

In true traditional fashion we all lined up together but ended up being paired up against faster opposition .. My last strip action saw me watch Shed Racing show me how's it's done and maybe think maybe I should stick to what I do best .. Well I'll need to work that out too. Some of the GPOC weren't taking things seriously enough (nothing unusual there then) and I left Sam and Pete to battle things out ..

Back to the stand and a final cool down for the car whilst I went down to collect my time sheet (think they could've saved the paper it was written on or that I'd collected someone else's sheet) and then I ventured to the Blackett Photography hut. They'd been taking photos of the cars on the strip all day so I figured they'd have at least one of me .. The photographer could easily have taken something going as slow as I was I thought it might even have been close between me and Daz as to who was the slowest !

Anyway a scan if all the photos revealed a few of the wee buggy and after buying what felt like half the shop the run down the strip for the photos alone had totally put the cherry on my weekend .. along with Craig's (packet mix) cake !

A few quick goodbyes and then it was time to head north again with Criag, Rob and Manson in tow this time, although I genuinely did not want to leave as the day had passed so quick (unlike my strip times) and never really got to say "bye" to everyone that had made the effort to make my weekend.

The run back up the road went smoothly and despite a few sets of roadworks and some heavy showers it was a soothing way to finish off the weekend. The wee buggy got a quick wash before being fired in the garage until I get back from the football ..

A massive thanks to one and all for making MITP 2013 my best event to date and here's to the next outing ..

Josie I hope all goes well for the rest of your stay and don't work too hard, I'm sure it'll be worth it in the end.

It'd be rude for me not to post up a few photos from the day .. I hope you don't mind but I've included a couple of my car this time (didn't even get a photo of my new dash I was so excited and busy all day) that the professional took. Please don't be offended if your car isn't in the ones I've posted as I didn't get round to taking one of everyone's sorry ..



I've a few more but it takes ages to upload them so if someone thinks I took a photo of them and wants me to post it up let me know and I'll pop it on ...

Once again thanks a million for a great weekend and roll on MITP 2014

I've written this as I know that people find it hard to find the firstly the time and secondly the money to attend shows and I understand that .. but as a MINI owner if you do one thing during the time you have your car please, please, please consider going to MITP you'll not regret it.

I know the photos above were posted for the GP gang but I will try and put a few others on not so GP specific when I get a chance.



At 8000rpm no-one hears you scream !

[EcosseGP]

At 8000rpm no-one hears you scream !