JCW MCS at rest in Shoshone, California. It's a loooong way from Paris, France!
MINIs at rest in Death Valley, California at about 250 feet below sea level!
I spent several days last week in Las Vegas, primarily for the annual AMVIV MINI owner's event. Last year my car had problems before it even made it to Las Vegas so I spent a day checking out the vendor displays on the top deck of the Palace Station Hotel parking structure while awaiting the repair of my vehicle. More on that adventure can be read in the archives for March 2007 which can be accessed from the right frame of the main blog webpage or just click this link: March 2007.
This year I got a little more involved: I took the day-long excursion with countless other MINIs out from Las Vegas to Death Valley, California, and back via the small town of Pahrump, Nevada to make a stop at Mountain Motorsports Park, host of the first round of the North American MINI Challenge. A great day on the road.
Video of some of the weekend's events
The run from Las Vegas was a lot of fun. I've never driven with so many MINIs in one caravan and that includes my trip to MINI United 2007! After a rest stop in Shoshone, CA where a photojournalist enthusiastically photographed my car for possible magazine submission, the group made its way into the National Park. Visiting Death Valley for the first time (with a huge gaggle of MINIs!) was a very interesting experience. I have the factory navigation system in my car and to watch the altitude go from 3000+ ft MSL to -260 ft MSL in the span of fifteen minutes was amazing! As the altitude decreased I also watched the NAV screen show a corresponding increase in temperature. Interesting trivia indeed from the nav system!
It's gettin' hot and the altitude is in the negative!
MINIs on the road at Furnace Creek, Death Valley, California
Near Furnace Creek After Death Valley it was off for the MINIUSA sponsored lunch and action on-track at Mountain Motorsports Park. I took JCW MCS on the track for a few laps and was able to notch up another racetrack that the car has turned a wheel on. Not necessarily as exotic as the Nurburgring in Germany but fun nonetheless!
Parked at the start/finish line of Mountain Motorsports Park in Pahrump, Nevada
The vendor display area on the top deck of the Palace Station Hotel and CasinoSo, I got to play around for the weekend with cars, I didn't lose my shirt in the casinos, and had a great time. Good trip!
4 comments:
Nice pictures! Hope you had a good time. It was my first AMVIV, and I am already looking forward to the next one. I have some photos on my site from the weekend, if you're interested, come on over :-)
Hi Jules,
Thanks for stopping by! It was a nice weekend wasn't it? I didn't spend all my time at AMVIV events but I sure had a blast at the ones I did go to! I'll have a look at your site soon.
Robert nice to see you up in Vegas. Thanx for stopping by the TwistyBitz booth. I wish there was more time to talk but as you saw I was swamped. I think I met your mom?
My wife Kittie was very sick up in the room so I was doing all the stuff I never do like credit cards, taking stock and all. Luckily one of my sisters was in town and helped out.
I sold out of my AMVIV event clocks and took quite a few orders. Tshirts, clocks all went out the door quickly!
Anyhow, glad to hear you had a good time on a few runs. That's one thing bad about being a vendor, no runs.
When will we see the Maserati?
RB
Hi rb,
It was good to finally meet you. Wish we could have chatted a bit more but I could see that you were very busy and I hope that all is going well with Kittie now. I stopped by your site and read more about your weekend. Perhaps you'll be able to drive a bit next year!
As for the Maser... gotta be patient as the S isn't out until the end of the year and a lot can happen between now and then!
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