AMVIV Photos!

Well it only took the greater portion of a week to trudge through all my photos from AMVIV and cull them down to my best, say.... 200?









Enjoy the full-length (200+ photo) gallery here !

:b:

AMVIV IV: A Brief Recap

For those playing along... We got back from "A MINI Vacation in Vegas" on Sunday afternoon, with minimal traffic. That's what you get when you're already on the road by 8am!

I took about 400 photos this time around as well as about 2 hours of video. I hope to have everything edited and posted in the next couple days but in the meantime, here's a brief recap of AMVIV from my perspective!

For the record, this year's event was totally awesome. Last I heard there were about 450 and about 600 people. There were twice as many vendors as last year and a little something for everyone- well except for ladies' t-shirts in small. The product I noticed "flying off the shelf" the most was the M7 Strut Brace. Even with 4-5 vendors all selling them, I think they each sold out of them! Heck even *I* bought one! I didn't get it installed though due to some minor suspension issues I wasn't aware of. :(

The North American MINI Cooper Challenge race was fun to watch despite a pretty significant fender-bender in the first race. Even more fun to watch were the Bikini All Stars from MAV TV! (raaar...)

I didn't do any of the runs this year. One reason involved the installation of an ALTA 15% Pulley! (Yeah baby!). Other reasons involved me not getting up at 8am every day while on "vacation". The Boot-n-Bonnet Show was spectacular this year as well. Many of my favorite MINIs were back, along with a lot of really really nice ones I'd never seen before. I didn't win anything but I wasn't trying. It was great meeting new people and people I "know" from NAM but never met in real life. Ironically, many of the folks I know "IRL" ("in real life" that is)- I didn't get to spend much time with.

The Strip Cruise had about 260 cars involved this year. An awesome sight to behold. So much so someone felt a couple rounds from a BB gun into some cars was warranted.

This year marked the first time DB, Todd, and Gabe from WhiteRoofRadio were all in the same room. Their MCing of the banquet was well done and I hope they recorded it and just post the whole thing as an episode.

Overall, not a bad extended weekend, and worth every penny. I'll have more detailed recounts of particular events as the days and editing of photos and video progresses!

Unauthorized use of a vehicle

Police log 03/16/07

Friday, March 16, 2007 6:07 AM MST

Unauthorized use of a vehicle

A 16-year-old boy was arrested after joyriding in a friend's car Wednesday morning.

According to Flagstaff police reports, an officer was called to the area of Butler and Foxhill at about 8:23 a.m. on a call of a speeding, reckless driver. A witness said he saw a gray Mini Cooper nearly flip as it made a turn onto Amberwood, then said he was passed again by the car near Butler and Foxhill. He said the car, which was traveling at about 100 mph and smelled of burning clutch, was full of juveniles and probably heading toward Sinagua High School. The officer found the car at the Sinagua parking lot, and contacted the daughter of the registered owner, who said she had given a friend her keys right before classes started so he could retrieve a calculator he'd left in the vehicle. She said she told the friend not to drive the car and he said he wouldn't, reports stated.

When the assistant principal went to pull the boy from class, he was not there, and the officer found that the car was no longer in the lot. The officer searched the area for it and spotted it driving east on Butler, about to turn into the school lot. The officer stopped the car, identified the driver, and arrested him.

The boy was referred to juvenile authorities for unauthorized use of a vehicle and released to his father.

Lookie What I Got! Honeycomb Supercharger Scoop Insert

I know when I've been one-upped. Sometimes I don't care- especially when *I* benefit from it too! Take for example, when ImagoX (NAM) one-upped my Intake Screen with his more aesthetic Honeycomb version (gotta love it any time you can deface Dodge RAM parts)!

Read all about it on Northamericanmotoring.com!

New MINI Clubman?! Caught on tape!

As mentioned previously on BUSHFINGERMINI, I'm not personally a big fan of the upcoming MINI Clubman. I'm sure it'll do well though. Regardless, today I found this footage of the new MINI model, "caught on tape" on the streets of Geneva (shortly after the official announcement at the Geneva Auto Convention.

Pretty rougish. "Guerrilla" if you will. Unpolished. In fact a bit too unpolished for such excellent shots from all camera angles. Hmmm... Viral-esque perhaps? Is that even a word? Anyway, it ist he first video of the Clubman I've seen so far. So here's the clip! :B:

FS: Brand New H-Sport "Sport" (27mm) Front Sway Bar (and OEM Rear Sway Bar, too!)

As the title states, this is a brand spankin' new H-Sport "Sport" (27mm) Front Sway Bar for '02 and up MINI Cooper. Hardly even breathed on, this was taken out of box only to take these photos.

Two-position adjustable, w/ Bushings, Zerk Fittings, 1/2 tube of 'loob'
Retail price: $176.00
Shipped: $100 + plus shipping (O.B.O.)

"...Perfect for aggressive canyon carving and track day events while not being too aggressive for every day street driving..."

Here's the link to the Manufacturer's official description:
http://www.h-sport.com/cgi-bin/EDCstore.pl?user_action=detail&catalogno=22800F

Click here for larger photos



Also for sale,
OEM MCS Rear Sway Bar w/ bushings. (great as an MC upgrade or MCS replacement!) Less than ~5000 miles of use- practically new!

Retail: ???
Shipped: $50 plus shipping (O.B.O.) Click here for larger photos


I accept: Paypal, M.O., Checks*, well-hidden cash
*delivered upon clearance

MINI Mileage Update

Like we tend to do 'round here, it's the next edition of the MINI MILEAGE CHART!

As posted previously, I track my mileage and gas usage diligently (If only I applied this to the rest of my life!). Like most people, the polar opposites of when/why/where/how I drive has a major effect on MPG (a whole 5 minutes to work, and 200+ freeway miles on the weekends? yeah- erratic, I know).

The numbers speak for themselves. well, assuming I know how to use Excel correctly...


On paper, the the 2006 MINI Cooper S gets 25 (city) to 32 (hwy). But we all know that's not true! However, it was pretty neat getting almost 350 miles on one tank! (This particular pump-to-pump experience included a nice 100+ mile"spirited" run.)