The last update from MTTS 2008. We talked to a bunch of people including Jim McDowell, Peter from M7, Fireball Tim and Vertical Horizon.
If you missed any of our MTTS Coverage, you can find it all here, my photos from LA here and photos from the East Coast trip here.
it’s been a lot of fun this year and we hope you were able to join in on some of it! Big thanks to the folks at MINIUSA and RA Events for not only running such a great event, but for having us along and being so hospitable!
We are back tomorrow night with our first Woofcast in a while and normal service should resume this week.
For all my griping before the event I must say I had a fun time. Yeah some of it was kinda screwy and maybe underwhelming but it was what you made of it. The bands where a “tad” loud and maybe the head slammer music was an odd choice, for the age swing, and did drive some away along with the 90º temps. They should have had the In-N-Out Burgers truck along with the other food vendors and maybe some vegetarian choices for people like my wife.
On the good side, I got to meet, as usual, some really nice MINI owners, got to go on some fun drives with my friend GP/George from NYC. Got to have a fun evening at Jillian’s and revisit a project (City Walk) I worked on a long time ago, talk to a friend, Robert Apon, and his sister, also at Jillian’s. Take a nice drive along the California Coast and do a drive on a road I’ve been driving since I was 16, the Angeles Crest Highway, with other MINI owners and then have those MINI owners from other states rave about that road and how much fun it was. Imagine if they drove it, like I do, early in the AM by themselves. A big plus was the test drive in the JCW. Wow what a car! My one complaint, ghostly steering.
Nice meeting you DB and Todd, also. Really glad I did not set up a TwistyBitz booth as I had decided to just have fun for a change. Best of all, I saw a friend there, Rose Bowl, I used to race with but had not seen for some 14 years.
The venue staff did a great job with all that they had and didn’t have from MINI. No matter what you felt about what it should have been they worked the bums off and my hat is off to them.
Hard to say which stop was the “best”. I know that sounds diplomatic but each city had something different. Miami had a great drive to the event and the opportunity to drive your MINI on Homestead Speedway; Boston had an incredible location/view and the best AutoX course. Chicago had a lot of highlights including the zoo, and Blues Traveler; LA also had a beautiful setting and some really fun drives (Angeles Crest).
Having attended all four events I would not call any one a flop. They all had something to offer. Sure, maybe the events didn’t appeal to everyone but they pretty much were what you made of them.
IF, and that’s a big “if”, MINI USA does another MTTS I think you can count on another cross country type event like 2006 or something similar. It’s really hard to re-create something as great as MTTS 2006 and I don’t think they should completely duplicate that event but take the best parts of MTTS 2006 and build on it.
Not to play devil’s advocate and cause a stir, but I was pretty let down by LA. It seemed to be more of an advertising exercise than an enthusiast’s rally. Maybe I’m missing the point of it all, but everything was really more geared towards new, and potential, owners than existing ones. Hey, come check us out…we’re hip, cool and fun, why not join us and buy a MINI?
What was there to cater to the likes of me? Only two drives that really didn’t stop at all to check out the sights. I would have liked to have seen more along the way. Barely a handful of vendors – I mean, his car’s are cool, but what’s Fireball Tim got that I want? Where was Alta, Moss, and the likes? Cripes, Mini Mania is in-state, where were they? The autocross course was fun, but I already own an R56, so nothing new there. The festival was entirely in the parking lot – so much for the “bring a blanket” emails I was getting from MINI. All I could do was look over at the cool grass wistfully thinking that they should have at least placed the stage over on the green.
To top it all off… the Rose Bowl? What in the world did this event have to do with the Rose Bowl? I expected we’d get a tour or something. All we got was a stadium in the background of our generic parking lot. We could have been anywhere. For my 12-hour drive, gas, and hotel, I expected a whole lot more. At least I’ve got AMVIV to look forward to.
Shamus I agree with a lot of what you said but not all.
I am a tad prejudice when it comes to the Rose Bowl as I was borne and live in Pasadena. So I loved the fact that it was there and I didn’t have to drive 12 hours to get here. Plus, it seems like that was some sort of hardship for you, driving your MINI that far? I don’t understand your opposition to the Rose Bowl? How MINI used it yes. The park that surrounds the Bowl is Brookside Park and both are in the “Arroyo Seco” area. For sure they [MTTS] could have moved the bands to a grassy area just across the street and used the adjoining road for the vendor, fun zone and other stuff areas.
Your odd comment ”To top it all off… the Rose Bowl? What in the world did this event have to do with the Rose Bowl?” Since there is no ”MINI Bowl” that I know of you must mean, by that comment, why wasn’t it at a race track, I presume. Me also. I was told both of these; “We waited too long to secure a track” or “There was a problem with the tracks in the area liability wise”. Both by MINI execs. Spin for inadequate planning, it could be?
Not sure what you were looking for with this comment either… ”What was there to cater to the likes of me?” Did you want them to carry you around with dancing girls and palm frond fans waving. It was what you made of it and if it didn’t appeal to to you well that’s kool.
As far as the vendor area. I talked with the M7 guy and he did very well. Moss, Alta? Don’t know why they didn’t show? My reason why I didn’t set up a booth. I figured for my line of products, Tshirts, clocks and stuff, most would only want MTTS stuff. I just wanted to have some fun for a change as booth sales are exhausting.
I since have gotten emails and people asking me why no TwistyBitz at MTTS. I gotta have some fun with other MINI owners besides just selling stuff.
We’ll I hope non of my comments offended and hopefully we will see you at AMVIV and you can buy all the Twisty stuff you want.
No, your comments are fine. I just felt that the event fell way short from what it should have been. Let me elaborate.
I thouroughly enjoy driving my MINI and, to be honest, the drive down and back was one of the biggest highlights. It’s just that I expected there to be more actual driving excursions. More to do in the 11 hours the Saturday event was planned for than sit around in a parking lot. Maybe an hour-long afternoon drive up to Grifith Observatory or a Saturday night cruise down Sunset. It would have been all to easy to schedule in quick drives that start and stop at the festival grounds. Go Motor, as the company likes to tout.
I felt that there wasn’t a whole lot of thought put to those of us who travelled a respectable distance to be there all day, every day. As it stands, I went on Saturday’s morning drive out to the coast and made it back to the grounds just after noon. I spent two and a half hours test driving cars, visiting vendors, buying the commemorative hat and grille badge, listening to music and eating. I even had time to talk to the Indie 103.1 guys, who I listen to daily on iTunes, and DB and Todd, who I bought badges from. By 3 o’clock I had made the circuit around everyone twice and was left wondering what I was going to do for five more hours. Since it was hellishly hot out there on the bare asphalt, I went back to my hotel and cooled off a bit so I could come back fresh for Vertical Horizon’s show.
If this doesn’t emphasize the point I’m trying to make then I don’t know what will: everyone was gone! Seriously, when I left there were still well over a hundred cars in the lot. By six, there were around twenty. Great planning guys. Sure, maybe no one was into the headliner, but with a full schedule of events, excursions, and diversions, people will stay for the whole party and leave wanting more. Like I said before, it felt more like they were catering to the local prospective-buyer crowd than the dedicated enthusiast.
As for the Rose Bowl, it looked really nice in the background of my pictures. Other than that, why bother? For cripes sake, we were in a parking lot. A historically significant, pretty one, but still a lot all the same. It has nothing to do with the Rose Bowl. Get some floats, have a mock parade of flowers with the MINIs, go for a tour of the stadium. Do something to tie the event into the area it’s being held. The main stage needed to be on the green. The vendor and food areas needed to be under the tree-line to provide shade. It was over 90 degrees and we were supposed to relax on hot pavement?
I made the most of what was presented to me and still feel extremely let down. And since I’d never been to an MTTS before, my expectations were wide open.
For all my griping before the event I must say I had a fun time. Yeah some of it was kinda screwy and maybe underwhelming but it was what you made of it. The bands where a “tad” loud and maybe the head slammer music was an odd choice, for the age swing, and did drive some away along with the 90º temps. They should have had the In-N-Out Burgers truck along with the other food vendors and maybe some vegetarian choices for people like my wife.
On the good side, I got to meet, as usual, some really nice MINI owners, got to go on some fun drives with my friend GP/George from NYC. Got to have a fun evening at Jillian’s and revisit a project (City Walk) I worked on a long time ago, talk to a friend, Robert Apon, and his sister, also at Jillian’s. Take a nice drive along the California Coast and do a drive on a road I’ve been driving since I was 16, the Angeles Crest Highway, with other MINI owners and then have those MINI owners from other states rave about that road and how much fun it was. Imagine if they drove it, like I do, early in the AM by themselves. A big plus was the test drive in the JCW. Wow what a car! My one complaint, ghostly steering.
Nice meeting you DB and Todd, also. Really glad I did not set up a TwistyBitz booth as I had decided to just have fun for a change. Best of all, I saw a friend there, Rose Bowl, I used to race with but had not seen for some 14 years.
The venue staff did a great job with all that they had and didn’t have from MINI. No matter what you felt about what it should have been they worked the bums off and my hat is off to them.
RB
see now why couldnt boston have had half of the vendors and people like LA did. IMO boston was a flop.
I heard that Chicago was the “best” MTTS stop closely followed by L.A. Is that true?
Hard to say which stop was the “best”. I know that sounds diplomatic but each city had something different. Miami had a great drive to the event and the opportunity to drive your MINI on Homestead Speedway; Boston had an incredible location/view and the best AutoX course. Chicago had a lot of highlights including the zoo, and Blues Traveler; LA also had a beautiful setting and some really fun drives (Angeles Crest).
Having attended all four events I would not call any one a flop. They all had something to offer. Sure, maybe the events didn’t appeal to everyone but they pretty much were what you made of them.
IF, and that’s a big “if”, MINI USA does another MTTS I think you can count on another cross country type event like 2006 or something similar. It’s really hard to re-create something as great as MTTS 2006 and I don’t think they should completely duplicate that event but take the best parts of MTTS 2006 and build on it.
Not to play devil’s advocate and cause a stir, but I was pretty let down by LA. It seemed to be more of an advertising exercise than an enthusiast’s rally. Maybe I’m missing the point of it all, but everything was really more geared towards new, and potential, owners than existing ones. Hey, come check us out…we’re hip, cool and fun, why not join us and buy a MINI?
What was there to cater to the likes of me? Only two drives that really didn’t stop at all to check out the sights. I would have liked to have seen more along the way. Barely a handful of vendors – I mean, his car’s are cool, but what’s Fireball Tim got that I want? Where was Alta, Moss, and the likes? Cripes, Mini Mania is in-state, where were they? The autocross course was fun, but I already own an R56, so nothing new there. The festival was entirely in the parking lot – so much for the “bring a blanket” emails I was getting from MINI. All I could do was look over at the cool grass wistfully thinking that they should have at least placed the stage over on the green.
To top it all off… the Rose Bowl? What in the world did this event have to do with the Rose Bowl? I expected we’d get a tour or something. All we got was a stadium in the background of our generic parking lot. We could have been anywhere. For my 12-hour drive, gas, and hotel, I expected a whole lot more. At least I’ve got AMVIV to look forward to.
Shamus I agree with a lot of what you said but not all.
I am a tad prejudice when it comes to the Rose Bowl as I was borne and live in Pasadena. So I loved the fact that it was there and I didn’t have to drive 12 hours to get here. Plus, it seems like that was some sort of hardship for you, driving your MINI that far? I don’t understand your opposition to the Rose Bowl? How MINI used it yes. The park that surrounds the Bowl is Brookside Park and both are in the “Arroyo Seco” area. For sure they [MTTS] could have moved the bands to a grassy area just across the street and used the adjoining road for the vendor, fun zone and other stuff areas.
Your odd comment ”To top it all off… the Rose Bowl? What in the world did this event have to do with the Rose Bowl?” Since there is no ”MINI Bowl” that I know of you must mean, by that comment, why wasn’t it at a race track, I presume. Me also. I was told both of these; “We waited too long to secure a track” or “There was a problem with the tracks in the area liability wise”. Both by MINI execs. Spin for inadequate planning, it could be?
Not sure what you were looking for with this comment either… ”What was there to cater to the likes of me?” Did you want them to carry you around with dancing girls and palm frond fans waving. It was what you made of it and if it didn’t appeal to to you well that’s kool.
As far as the vendor area. I talked with the M7 guy and he did very well. Moss, Alta? Don’t know why they didn’t show? My reason why I didn’t set up a booth. I figured for my line of products, Tshirts, clocks and stuff, most would only want MTTS stuff. I just wanted to have some fun for a change as booth sales are exhausting.
I since have gotten emails and people asking me why no TwistyBitz at MTTS. I gotta have some fun with other MINI owners besides just selling stuff.
We’ll I hope non of my comments offended and hopefully we will see you at AMVIV and you can buy all the Twisty stuff you want.
RB
No, your comments are fine. I just felt that the event fell way short from what it should have been. Let me elaborate.
I thouroughly enjoy driving my MINI and, to be honest, the drive down and back was one of the biggest highlights. It’s just that I expected there to be more actual driving excursions. More to do in the 11 hours the Saturday event was planned for than sit around in a parking lot. Maybe an hour-long afternoon drive up to Grifith Observatory or a Saturday night cruise down Sunset. It would have been all to easy to schedule in quick drives that start and stop at the festival grounds. Go Motor, as the company likes to tout.
I felt that there wasn’t a whole lot of thought put to those of us who travelled a respectable distance to be there all day, every day. As it stands, I went on Saturday’s morning drive out to the coast and made it back to the grounds just after noon. I spent two and a half hours test driving cars, visiting vendors, buying the commemorative hat and grille badge, listening to music and eating. I even had time to talk to the Indie 103.1 guys, who I listen to daily on iTunes, and DB and Todd, who I bought badges from. By 3 o’clock I had made the circuit around everyone twice and was left wondering what I was going to do for five more hours. Since it was hellishly hot out there on the bare asphalt, I went back to my hotel and cooled off a bit so I could come back fresh for Vertical Horizon’s show.
If this doesn’t emphasize the point I’m trying to make then I don’t know what will: everyone was gone! Seriously, when I left there were still well over a hundred cars in the lot. By six, there were around twenty. Great planning guys. Sure, maybe no one was into the headliner, but with a full schedule of events, excursions, and diversions, people will stay for the whole party and leave wanting more. Like I said before, it felt more like they were catering to the local prospective-buyer crowd than the dedicated enthusiast.
As for the Rose Bowl, it looked really nice in the background of my pictures. Other than that, why bother? For cripes sake, we were in a parking lot. A historically significant, pretty one, but still a lot all the same. It has nothing to do with the Rose Bowl. Get some floats, have a mock parade of flowers with the MINIs, go for a tour of the stadium. Do something to tie the event into the area it’s being held. The main stage needed to be on the green. The vendor and food areas needed to be under the tree-line to provide shade. It was over 90 degrees and we were supposed to relax on hot pavement?
I made the most of what was presented to me and still feel extremely let down. And since I’d never been to an MTTS before, my expectations were wide open.