I was watching the Continental Challenge and I heard an interview with RSR Motorsports that they may go to an all Honda team. He said that the Supercharged Mini's just can't cut it anymore. He did say he will miss the Mini fan's. I don't know why they are still using the old supercharged Mini's anyway when they should be using the newer Turbo powered cars. It will really be sad to watch the ST class with no Mini's in it at all. :frown2::frown2::frown2:
....and Honda offers a lot more money (more than twice the contingency money) and support than the, basically lip service that Mini supplies. Really hate that RSR will not be racing the Mini anymore but business is business, and it takes a lot of money to go racing, even in Grand Am ST. Good luck and thanks Randy and everyone at RSR for racing our little cars so long!!
Last year we talked with the nice folks at Team RSR & were told they had no inclination to sort & develop the R56 turbo. With precious little help from MINI it would cost them a ton of cash do that. The Honda's are a sorted & developed car & Honda motor company actually helps the teams fielding their cars. This is a professional series & costs a ton to compete. If you want to win you have to drive something that makes competitive sense along with financial sense. Team RSR are a bunch of great folks. I'll route for them no mater what they race. Well maybe not a Kia. :wink:
I figured this was the case as soon as RSR got the Honda. And to add fuel to the decision, Grand Am was reluctant to give RSR another exemption to be allowed to run the R53 MINI cause it was way out of production.
It won't be sad for me to watch because I won't be watching. I don't like the way Grand-Am is evolving and the MINIs are the only draw for me now. Once they're gone, no more Grand-Am for me, thus no sad ST class viewing. :wink:
:cornut::cornut::cornut: Oh Yeah! Why you dirty little low down:mad5::mad2::incazzato:.............................HMMMM..........wait a minute............how many times has Margi(08 R56 MCS/JCWm) been in the dealer for warranty work on problems that have never happened to any of my other cars.:nonod::frown2: Then there was that JD Powers and Assoc thing. I kept telling them how wonderful my Dealer and MINI were all 10 or 12 times that I had to take Margi in.:nonod::frown2: Somewhere along the line I realized the she had had 10-12 big(engine) things wrong with her prior to warranty expiration. Well okay you're right Dave. However, she's blowing R53s off the road now in the acceleration department from 3-5.5kRPMs up.:lol::devil::ihih::lol: I really wonder whether the problem started when Mini dropped y'alls Brazilian Chrysler engine for our French Peugeot engine. What do you think? Jason
Come on Randy- Fill us in on whats happening. We all know you do read this forum so let your fans know exactly what is going on. If you are giong to start using only Honda's give us a heads up on when to trade our Mini's in at the Honda shop.:wink: :confused5:
Hmmmmmm Brazil or France..... Let's see...... Brazil has thong bikinis and the French..... Oh yea that's them running away.... Lol ;-)
"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind." - General George S. Patton
:cornut: For Sale: 2000 brand new French or Italian Army rifles never fired and only dropped once.:devil::lol::lol::lol::lol: Jason
We'd all like to see MINI pour money into a race program here in the states but we also know that MINI has shown time and time again they are not interested. We on Motoring Alliance do not represent the typical MINI owner that could care less about racing and is more interested in the hipster lifestyle stuff. Can you blame MINI for following the money? It's been a fun run with RSR but I do fear this is the last season we will see them in a MINI.
:cornut: Darn it Nathan!!!!!!!!!!! Why do you always have to spoil every thing with the truth.:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: Jason
As previously stated; I think RSR was a little lucky for Grand-Am to let them run the R53 Minis again this year because the car is so far out of production. When I talked to Randy at Laguna Seca last year he was hoping to still run the Minis one more year but figured that was it and it would be time to go to a different make because Mini was not providing enough support to the team. I will still cheer for the RSR Team!
At least the MINIs are doing well in B-Spec. I agree, I'll still cheer for RSR, but it won't be the same when they aren't driving any MINIs. Another point, it wouldn't make any sense to start developing R56's now, anyway... might as well wait a year and start working on an F56. Maybe that's the plan!?!?! (I wish)
Which is the "Ultimate Driving Machine," BMW or Mini? In no way will BMW ever provide enough support to Mini in racing to out pace BMW no matter how much we want it. Fact of life and BMW is even about to have their own front wheel drive BMW badged Mini....who do you think will get the milk? Business.:devil:
Possibly because of the MINI following (being us). I know folks who own BMW's, but they don't have pictures of it on the wall, or several, well attended yearly events like MOTD or MITM, or a huge, wild and crazy after market resource. Most of them are boring. The MINI is a fun car and so are we. Jim