After quite a bit of feedback from attendees at both MTTS Miami and Boston, MINIUSA will be making a few minor changes to the Chicago and LA events.
They are still working on LA, but for Chicago, the Sunday events will be trimmed down at Road America. The early word is that the party will head back down to the Chicago area mid day on Sunday for a wrap up and a pleasant surprise at our good friends Ridemakerz. That will still allow plenty of time Sunday morning for you to get some seat time in the Factory JCW MINI at Road America! In addition, for those Chicago-landers who couldn’t make it up to Road America, this will, potentially, allow another local opportunity to get in on the fun.
You already knew about the Factory JCW MINIs being available to drive, right? MINIUSA felt bad that Rauno was not going to make all 4 MTTS venue’s, so Chicago and LA will have a limited number of these special MINIs available to you to drive. Win win in my book.
The JCW Show! We talk about the Factory JCW, the JCW Challenge Car and I give my thoughts on the R53 vs R56.
See that R/C car up there? Ridemakerz are only making a limited number of them, and they will only be available at the last 2 MTTS events!
Speaking of limited number, Todd is also selling a very limited edition Motoringbadge that is also only available on-site at MTTS. If you want one, you’d better find him early ’cause they go quick!
Another great event put on by MINI USA! This time, the venue changed to the campus of the University of Massachusetts.
It was kicked off Saturday morning with a meetup and drive starting at Pier 4, up to Gloucester and back to the UMASS campus. I think there were over 300 MINIs for this run, so traffic was a little slow. But, surrounded by MINIs, it wasn’t so bad.
Our week started in Miami after the end of the MTTS event at Homestead Raceway as we headed north. We drove a lot, tried not to eat too much junk food and got to have a great MINI experience!
A lot happened between Florida and Boston. Long days starting at 6:00am, driving all day, then not getting into our rooms until midnight and later. There was so much going on, you’ll have to check the photos and video. There were, however, a few standouts.
Starting with our stop in Charleston where MINI of Charleston hosted a great meet-up, beach party style! Great food, boiled peanuts and Tony the peanut man! In the background, the sky was interrupted by an aircraft carrier, which made a fantastic backdrop.
Here it is, all of the audio from MTTS 2008. Listen in as we start in Miami and work our way north to Boston. With many interviews along the way.
Some of you have asked about the MINI we drove. We had an Astro Black R56 S with body colored roof, sunroof and automatic transmission. Yes, we know we are Whiteroofradio. I think someone at MINI USA was having a little bit of fun with us.
This is the last of the audio and there is quite a bit of it. I still have more coming in the shape of video and photos, so you can watch for those later today.
Exclusive! The Factory JCW will be getting the burble exhaust sound back as was on late R53 models. This is great news and you can see and hear for yourself at your local dealer starting July 14.
The MTTS road-trip continues. We just hit Boston last night and this is the first internet access we’ve had in two days. And this is not to mention the only time we’ve seen the inside of a hotel room in the last two days has been between 1 AM and 6 AM. We plan on having some updates tonight and/or in the morning.
We’ve been talking to Rauno everyday this week and getting some great stories from him! This is our actually interview with him from MTTS Miami.
Little did Rauno know, but Todd kept the recorder running a little longer than the actual interview, so we also got him talking about traction and how it applies to the MINI. He is brilliant!
Enjoy.
By the way, you have registered, right? If you are planning to attend MTTS Boston, Chicago or LA, make sure you do that now!
We are all here and to start you off, we went to Bicentennial Park to hang out with about 300 MINI and Mini owners who were treated to a Movie by MINIUSA and MINIs of Miami.
We are off to get Day 2 started! Until I get a chance to get them organized and posted, you can view the photos on my Flickr stream. You can get a sneak peak at the videos here as well.
There will be more later! Plus, we will be making an attempt and doing something live from Homestead! Keep an eye on my Twitter for updates.
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1st Gen MINI R50: One & MC Coupe R52: All 1st Gen MINI Convt. R53: MCS Coupe 2nd Gen MINI R55: Clubman R56: One/MC/MCS Coupe R57: One/MC/MCS Convt. R60: MINI SUV
Sections: JCW, MTTS Jul 2nd, 2008 13 Comments 
After quite a bit of feedback from attendees at both MTTS Miami and Boston, MINIUSA will be making a few minor changes to the Chicago and LA events. 
The JCW Show! We talk about the Factory JCW, the JCW Challenge Car and I give my thoughts on the R53 vs R56.
