2008-07-12 : Meet & Motor & Beer Tasting
On Saturday July 12, 2008 about 22 MINI’s and their proud owners came out to the 2nd running of BlimeyCabrio’s Meet & Motor & Beer Tasting run. Everyone met up at the Sonic in Apex North Carolina, had a bite to eat and someting tasty to drink then headed out on a modified Tour de Steamplume route around Jordan Lake. After that everyone made their way to the Carolina Brewing Company for their weekly Saturday tour and tasting.
I just went for the ride, and opted out on the beer but I have had CBC brews and I assure you they are tasty.
Here are some pictures I took. More in my gallery.
What to do next?
I have been pondering what modifications I want to make next to my MINI. Money is a bit of an issue, but I don’t feel like making any more ghetto mods at the moment. I just recently added a Garmin nüvi 360w to my collection of gadgets and made a nice out of the way mount for it. I didn’t technically drill any holes in the car itself, but I did screw the mount base in place with an anchor and attached it to a space on the frame of the sunroof. This puts the GPS up high, and makes it very visible without being too annoying. One issue I may have though is the rear of the unit is in view when I look at the rear view mirror. It just covers the right side of the rear view making a potential blind spot issue, but I never rely solely on the mirror as I always check over my shoulders.
Idea #1
So back to the next mod. I have been thinking of adding a M7 Air Plate Diverter. It is carbon fiber which will blend in just swell with other mods I am planning on and it’s very functional as well which is a big plus. I could make one myself, but then it wouldn’t have all the carbon fiber goodness and would probably look bad. I don’t have all the fancy shop tools I need. I dont have a shop either 
Some More Pictures
Some Pictures of Sprocket… taken September 2007
If you would like to see more pictures check out the gallery.
Tranquil Triangle Thursdays
Every month on the 2nd Thursday, members of the Tarheel MINI Motoring Club and their guests meet up for a little socializing.
We have been having these meet and greets for a little over a year and we continue to have large turnouts with new people and their MINIs showing up every time. For the first hour or so we mix and mingle and show off our latest mods or just walk around gawking at other MINIs. After that some of the crowd picks a place to go to have some food and drinks.
An excerpt from the THMMC forums follows the cut…
Mods on my car
I bought my MINI Cooper S on September 21, 2006. Since then I have been adding modifications on a regular basis. That’s one of the fun things about owning a car like a MINI. Small changes to the engine allow large performance benefits due to the high horsepower to weight ratio. Small changes to the exterior and interior styling just personify your MINI more. Usually when we have club meets, there may be 15-20 MINIs and their owners that show up and NONE of them look alike… each one is different in it’s own special way.
To date I have made the following mods:
- Blacked out the chrome belt at base of windows aka beltline blackout
- Opened the tail lights, and blacked out the chrome trim then resealed them
- Added brake light mod to utilize top bulbs which are normally non-working
- Removed the stock antenna and replaced with an OutMotoring stubby antenna
- Tinted the windows - wanted to go darker but stuck with the NC legal limit
- Replaced the stock S-Lite rims with 17×7 O.Z. Racing MGS Records with carbon fiber center caps
- Replaced stock run flats with 215/45ZR-17 Kumho ECSTA ASX tires
- Added 4 Union Jack valve cap covers
- Added new locking lugs
- Replaced stock gearshift knob with a custom (design by me) Whalen Shift Machine
- Replaced stock shifter with a Cravenspeed short shift kit
- Replaced stock shift boot with a CravenSpeed shift well cover
- Replaced stock exhaust with an Invidia N1 catback exhaust
- Replaced stock cold air intake with an Alta CAI and box top, removed firewall shell
- Replaced stock spark plug wires with Nology Cool Wires
- Replaced stock supercharger pulley with an M7 16% supercharger Pulley
- Replaced stock front grille openings with Aero Grill openings, custom fit lower grille to stock bumper
- Added custom bonnet scoop grille
- Replaced standard NC plate with a personalized one and added license plate surround
- Added custom mount for GPS reciever
I have some things sitting around that I need to install, I will save those for a future post.
Some pics
Here are some pics from a meet and greet the Tarheel MINI Motoring Club had on November 11, 2006.
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If you would like to see all of the pictures check out my gallery.
