From frequent contributor Rob Carver:

Boy howdy, it’s been a great week for racing MINIs ‘- they kicked some serious butt at the SCCA ProSolo Finale earlier this week! One of the most competitive series of races in North America, ProSolo really shows what you’re made of if you fancy yourself an autocross driver, and just as important, it shows which cars really are the best cone-carvers. The classes are structured to be very competitive, and usually there are a number of marques vying for the honors.

However not this year in G Stock and H Stock and Ladies Class 1, which were ruled by MINIs!! They have turned those two classes into virtually one-make affairs, an impressive feat. Class G Stock had the first eight places at least filled by MINI Cooper ‘S’s, Class H had 1st, 3rd, and below captured by Coopers, and Ladies Class 1 had all the top spots filled by Cooper ‘S’s. Total domination. Plus they did amazingly well in the Ultimate Challenge series, too.

But, wait, there’s more! At the Solo Nationals that just ended, virtually the same thing occurred! Coopers and S’s simply ran away with the titles. This may be the most lopsided series of victories for one make in a long time, and it just shows how well designed the MINI really is and for all of the puffery from some other, lesser, makes, (think Scion, PT, and their like as true poseurs), and hordes of Acuras, Hondas, and other real challengers – they failed to walk the walk. Take a look at the SCCA website, and the results speak for themselves. The MINIs really are top dogs of the cones in their classes, and that says a lot about how well engineered they are, to say nothing of how well they were driven ‘many by fellow owners we know from various websites. MINI made a statement this week, a culmination of an assault on the record books all year long.’ Better get a MINI if you wanna race around here!

Well Done!! – to all the racers, especially the win, place and show: at the ProSolo Finale ‘ Brian Garfield, Mark Chiles, and Jeff Jacobs, the 3 top spots in G; David McLean and Keith Brown, 1st & 3rd in H; Beth McClure-Strelnieks, Mary Medicus, and Patty Tunnell, the three fastest ladies in Class 1; at the Solo National Championships: Mark Chiles, Brian Garfield, and Anthony Savini, the top three in G; Angie Rogers, Beth-McClure-Strelnieks, and Mary Medicus as top three in G Ladies; Karter Bollmann, Alan McCrispin, Patrick L Washburn as the top three in H; and Donna Frank, Kristi Brown, Carol Leuty in the first three spots in H Ladies. Quite a week!

[ SCCA ProSolo Finale results ] scca.com (PDF)

[ Upcoming SCCA events ] scca.com