Nope - I had to get the filter for the discount package. Still way cheaper than buying the 1 quart at retail price.
Took my Clubman and my Son out for a long drive with the sun roof open 55 degree. It was an awesome drive as we found some great back road and found the new FSD shock and bushings were the perfect upgrade. Handled very nice and composed! Chatting with my Son about road rules and safety and avoid the pot holes. Unfortunately, we hit one... loud clank.
Saw it pop up on Random Garage for the first time. Kinda feels like hearing your own record played on the radio for the first time! Guess it's going to be an ok day afterall. :biggrin5:
Yesterday I led 28 other MINIs :wink: My friend Kerry was gratuitous enough to let me use her MINI since Gizmo is still in the shop. Had fun driving the Camden Edition and squealing the tires in turns with the snow tires :biggrin5: Stopped by my second 'home' too. Made for some fun pictures. Here's my friend Sheri...being Sheri lmao
A few members of Size MINI Club of Vancouver and I added our MINIs to this year's RevScene spring meet. This year's was absolutely huge. We filled the 2-3 miles of parking lot along Spanish Banks in Vancouver with cars and people. Official count was 1014 cars, but there where many others just cruising around because they couldn't find a place to park their cars.
Today I took the Avis MINI back to the airport drop off for Avis in Austin, it was a nice little Cooper with 7500 miles, about perfect for Austin putt'n around. This eve, got to DIA and started up Scooter it the 24 degree cold DIA east garage, how I missed my MINI. We drove home through the slushy magchloride, good grief we need Spring to get here. I did manage to visit MINI of Austin today, very nice dealership, one heck of a modern service department. I post a picture our two of my long weekend and of MOA, later! Don
2 new Continental Extreme Contact DW tires to replace 2 balding ones. A nice feeling when you drive and don't have to worry if a tires going to go. Been sweating it for the past couple weeks.
Texas Mile aftermath / recap Removed my fire extinguisher / mount after getting home from the Texas Mile late last night. Covered just over 2300 miles round trip (to Beeville, TX and back, near Corpus Christi). Drove on posted-75 TX two-lane highways, where the prevailing speed seems to be 80+, even for loaded pickups. Saw brahma bulls, oil derricks, pear cactus, bluebells. Visited the Riverwalk in San Antonio, ate goat and drank Patron. Lots of fast cars at the Mile, including the record-holding Ford GT that set a *new* record this year, 267 in the standing mile. Couple dozen Z06's, ZR1's, and a whole fleet of CTS-V Cadillacs. 220+ mph motorcycles also. Not a surprise to be the only MINI there, and was very pleased with my best run of 135.9. We took our Z06 also, managed a 171.4 driving it.
Texas Mile aftermath / recap...video link, photo album I did put up some photos from this event: Texas Mile 2013 Uploads Photos by ljmattox | Photobucket And edited a POV video of a (slower) pass I made on Friday, against the headwind: [ame=http://youtu.be/Y7kQwsxHYqc]Texas Mile 2013 MINI POV - YouTube[/ame]
1/2 Mile....then 1 Mile. It can be interesting to compare run-to-run. E.g., my wife and I had identical 171.4 runs in her Z06, but she clobbered me at the 1/2 mile, at least 10+ mph. I'm a little more cautious about those $$$ tires on that car with traction control turned off
That slow pass was 126...some headwind, and shifting a bit early. Had a decent tailwind for Sunday, great for small engines
Took the ferry to Vancouver Island and drove the Pacific Marine Circle. The Pacific Marine Circle Route. A driving tour on BC's Vancouver Island coast. Sights along the Route. Beaches. Parks and Trails. Natural Wonders. Swimming Lakes. Museums. All I can say is WoW!!! Narrow highway that has single lane bridge crossings over rivers and streams. Lots of twists, turns, switchback combinations and changes in elevation, mid-turn. Incredible scenery including views of the pacific ocean and snow covered mountain peaks with canyons in between. The most incredible thing I saw was logging trucks take switchback turns as fast or faster than my MINI. and they did it safely too. They let me pass when I was going faster and when they were faster than me, I pulled over a bit to let them pass and they would flash their taillights, wave, and blow their horns in thanks just like a good MINI motorer would. I gained huge respect for those guys. Okay, there were parts where I went slow to take on the views. I will post a link to my Flickr page on this post when I get pictures up on Flickr. If you can stomach the $100 return ferry trip (which in itself is fun), I would recommend this to any MINI motorer out there. Views from the Pacific Marine Circle Tour
Yertle got some new soles for his shoes. Saved around $40 from the initial quote I got earlier this week.
Made up an excuse to take a long drive in a light rain. These skinny Justa all seasons are really surefooted on wet asphalt. Couldn't have made a better choice for the way Bertie likes to toddle around.