whiteroofradio.com - The MINI Cooper Podcast » Notes – Robert

Event Update: MTTS 2008

db — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 03:13:15 +0000

Gina Koutros from MINIUSA took time away from getting ready for the New York Auto Show to give us some more detail on MINI Takes the States 2008!

We find out the reasoning behind selection Miami, Boston, Chicago and LA for this years event. Plus a sneak peak into the reasoning behind separate weekends. For those of you that missed it, there was a poll conducted late last year as to what type of event owners would like to see, and the four regional events won hands down!

Again, those dates for those of you that haven’t put it into your calendars yet.

Miami: June 13-15
Boston: June 20-22
Chicago: July 25-27
Los Angeles: August 1-3

Everyone is invited, even if they don’t own a MINI! Of course, there will be something special going on for owners only as well. Registration should be open around the 2nd week of April. Don’t worry, we’ll be sure to let you know when as soon as we know!

Keep an eye (and ear) out here and Motoringfile for all the news and updates about MINI Takes the States 2008. No need to look anywhere else!

Event Update: MTTS Download audio file (MTTS2008.mp3)

Download | 6.3MB | 13:31

MINI Swim Anyone?

Robert — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 20:08:23 +0000

Caught in the recent rains in New Zealand is this lonely, Liquid Yellow MINI, desperately doing the dog paddle to get back to shore.

Now we know Gabe isn’t a fan of LY, but even that tough Chicagoan will feel sorry for this little guy!

=R=

The Party Just Got Better!

Robert — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 21:46:32 +0000

The MINI Vaughan West (Toronto) launch party on March 31 that I mentioned in an earlier post just got a lot better! Believe it or not, if you mention WhiteRoofRadio to Motoring Advisor Cosmo this Saturday you’ll get $500 off a new MINI. Special for WRR fans only!

(FYI – you have to tell him before you negotiate your purchase price that you’re a WRR listener).

This dealer is fantastic! They even created a special MINI Canada-like themed e-vite. Check it out at http://www.minivaughanwest.ca/2007mini

6 test drive MINIs are going to be available, so everyone will get time behind the wheel. And I’ll bet the co-pilots won’t be slouches, either!

This will be a real launch party, not some dumb champagne swilling affair, but a real driving experience. See you there.

=R=

MINI Party Anyone?

Robert — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 20:45:23 +0000

If you’re in the Toronto area, one of our 4 or 5 local dealers (yep, we have that many) is hosting their New MINI Launch Party on March 31.

RSVP to ahiggs@minivaughanwest.com.

I know you’re probably not in this ‘hood, but I wanted to share the invite with you. Very cool graphic.

Maybe I’ll see you there. You’ll know me – I’ll be the guy with the WRR fake media badge!

=R=

Look – Up In The Sky. It’s A Bird. It’s A Plane. It’s A MINI!

Robert — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 17:17:07 +0000

I’ve mentioned that Toronto is littered with new MINI billboards, but this one tops them all.

The sentiment is right on, and the poster is seen by thousands of commuters every day. The apartment building that hosts this poster is at the intersection of two major highways that cut through Toronto.

The building is often used to announce movies. Spiderman has adorned it numerous times. But not now. Spidey has left the building!

=R=

A Fitting New Year’s Photo

Robert — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 19:26:46 +0000

Caught in the act. Members of the Southern Ontario MINI Club out on a Sunday stroll, pulled over for driving too slow!

Yep – true. And it doesn’t snow in Canada, eh?

Happy New Year, and Very Happy Motoring.

=R=

robertintoronto@gmail.com

Stretch? Can you say S-t-r-e-t-c-h?

Robert — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 23:45:55 +0000

Now this is something you won’t see in your home town, but in Beijing they’re driving real stretch MINIs. This is not your Clubman or your Traveller, that’s for sure.

Check this baby out. How ’bout the bath tub option?

=R=

MINI Takes Newfoundland!

Robert — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 01:35:06 +0000

You heard it on WRR this past week. MINI Canada and MINI US each entered a ready-to-rock MCS in the Targa Newfoundland Rally. You also know that for the second year in a row MINI stood out from the crowd.

Here’s a great pic of the MINI Canada entry, coming into the home stretch. Only in Newfoundland, eh?

See you on Episode 100. It’ll be a blast.

=R=

Packed To The Gills

Robert — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 22:45:25 +0000

This is the loaded hatch that I mentioned in my voice message on the ‘Cleanout’ episode.

It’s tight, but comfy, I’m told!

And Todd, have a fantastic week. I cannot wait to see and hear the pics, the vids and all the podcast fun. Being in Canada, there’s no GP envy here. Those front bumpers just don’t pass muster in the True North!

Have a Grand Prix of a time!

=R=

The Spy Ads Are Here

Robert — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 22:15:45 +0000

Well, they’re actually not here. They’re there (in magazines, in the U.S.). The super secret kit is not available in Canada, but the first ad is now appearing in the August issue of Business 2.0.

Check it out:

If you have a spy kit, can you translate for your WRR friends around the world? We hate being left out of anything MINI!

=R=

Good Plate!

Robert — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 02:59:05 +0000

I was back in Ottawa, Canada this past weekend. Check the license plate I spotted on a Cooper. (Note: the pic was taken with the lousy camera on my MOTO SLVR. For such a great phone, you’d think they’d toss in a halfway decent camera. But, no!).

But it’s a terrific license plate for a Cooper. Guess what it wants to be when it grows up?

=R=

Canadian ‘Rallye’ MINI

Robert — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 22:49:14 +0000

The Canadian ‘Special Edition’ MINIs are arriving. The ‘Rallye’ version is an S with Sport and Premium packages. The ‘Competition’ version is an S with those packages, factory JCW and Aero Kit. And we were told there would be no more factory JCWs in Canada. Surprise, surprise, eh?

Oh, the wheels on the Rallye are, as Gabe told us, FLAME SPOKES (sometimes affectionately called The Horeshoe Wheels).

Nice badge on the door pillar. And nice shot of me in the reflection. And nice shot of Howard and Bart, the sales guy, waving to all the nice WRR listeners

=R=

Wow! A MINI Vblog. Who Knew?

Robert — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 18:25:01 +0000

Now this is cool:

http://www.vlogbymini.de

A video blog by MINI in Denmark. Well worth checking out. Scroll down to see some pretty good stuff, MINI and otherwise.

Gabe, you know all. What’s the story behind this? It’s worth yakking about on the podcast, methinks.

=R=

A MINI Retirement Gig

Robert — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 16:00:10 +0000

Well, this is interesting. As you may know, 6 mos. ago I traded in my ’03 LY/B MCS (known as ‘My Sharona’) for an ’06 AB/S MCS JCW (Checkmate). The ’03 had Randy Webb all over it: pulley, intake, hot wires, the whole shootin’ match.

I was at my dealer yesterday (for some reason ‘MINI Woodbridge’ changed it’s name to ‘MINI Vaughan West’ during a location move) helping with an MCS sale to a friend of mine (you remember the guy with the big, honkin’ Lincoln pick up truck? Believe it or not he’s ordered the last Checkmate package in Canada. Getting rid of the boat. Isn’t that a hoot?).

I learned that my ’03 had sat on the lot for the last six months (a hard sale – out-of-warranty, and all the mods), but it just sold. And it sold to a guy who is going to give it rubber and wheels and take it Targa Newfoundland. And he chose my MINI ’cause the mods had already been done. The car is good-to-go as is! I knew that car was ready to enter it’s golden years.

What is Targa Newfoundland?

It’s the only annual event of its kind in North America. It is a 2200 km long, high quality automotive adventure, held over a seven-day period in September, on the paved roads of the eastern and central parts of the island of Newfoundland. MINIs have done exceptionally well the past couple of years.

The site is: http://www.targanewfoundland.com/

Now, isn’t that a fitting retirement for a MINI? I feel like a proud father!!

(Oh yeah, Gabe? It’s Liquid Yellow, and proud of it!).

=R=

Something A Little Different

Robert — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 14:16:43 +0000

Amidst all the WRR server issues, and db’s dedication to getting us back to normal(!), I thought you might enjoy a little MINIart.

This weekend is the Canada Day long weekend (our national 2/4 Beerfest). Enjoy these typical Canadian winter scenes!

And Happy Birthday, Canada. (Oh, Stanley, what are you doing in Carolina??).

=R=

Something You Don’t See Every Day

Robert — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 21:38:02 +0000

You just never know what great MINI stuff you’ll see in-and-around the streets of Toronto.

How about this? I’d like to see this Mini under Randy’s control! Todd, should we loan it to him?

(And I don’t know what that weird tornado-like cloud is above the Mini!).

=R=

Only In Canada, eh?

Robert — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 14:24:30 +0000

Now appearing in bus shelters around Toronto, it’s MINI Canada’s latest poster. I thought you’d get a kick out of the message.

Makes you kind of hungry, doesn’t it?

This donut is a little different than the one I showed you here: click it

(db: Why didn’t the link work? Help!!) (fixed it – db)

=R=

How ‘Bout These Grill Badges?

Robert — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 18:05:07 +0000

You know how I feel about grill badges – I love the suckers! Todd can’t make ‘em fast enough for me.

While tooling around my ‘hood I came across this fantastic auto, with some original grill badges. And how about that license plate, eh?

=R=

MINI Badges Done Right!

Robert — Wed, 10 May 2006 01:56:05 +0000

OK, call me crazy, but I just want to show off Todd’s badges.

I’m not convinced the paint will be damaged (as my LY/B MINI had large magnetic meatball numbers on each door), but the look you see here may not stay.ï¿½ After all, who wants to peel off the badges before each car wash?

But those badges sure are standout.ï¿½ (My official badge holder came into stock today.ï¿½ They’re somewhat of a rarity in Canada).

And that’s me, robertintoronto@gmail.com, with my Flame Spoke Wheels.ï¿½ Not Horseshoe.ï¿½ Flame Spoke, also apparently making an appearance on the Canadian Limited Edition MINI, whatever that is!).

(Oh, and guys:ï¿½ Shania’s from Timmins, Ontario).

Woofcast #50

db — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 01:30:51 +0000

Here we are with #50. We can’t believe it either! Thanks for sticking around and listening. We do appreciate it!

db drives an x3, Todd tries to eat ice while podcasting and is really stretching the birthday out, Gabe makes bacon and everyone decides that monkeys pulling a chariot would be comedy gold! Oh yea, please don’t try to compare the audio quality of any of the TWiT podcasts. Switching from FM Radio to a TWiT cast can blow your ear drums out. Oh yea, we discuss some news too…

Don’t forget to get those Motoringfile Grille Badges and keep an eye on Outmotoring.com for the holders very soon.

Todd did the hard part

Woofcast 50 Download audio file (woof50.mp3)

Download || Subscribe || iTunes ||Download Zip || 43:32 || 19.9MB

The Junk MINI

Robert — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 03:29:47 +0000

I was cruisin’ in my ‘hood, late last night, When my eyes spotted a very weird site, It was a MINI dressed to kill, This thing gave me quite a thrill!

=R=

(images lost during the crash of ’06. If you have them, please let me know! ~db)

Flame Spoke Wheel Review

Robert — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 17:11:37 +0000

With db and Todd at AMVIV, and Gabe renovating a bathroom, I thought it was time for something different.

If you’ve heard my in-MINI reports, you know I’m in Toronto, Canada. We get winter here, as evidenced by my Canadian Extreme Donut post somewhere below (near the Woofcast #39 post).

However, we’ve had a change of weather, and I’ve now installed my never-used-because-I-took-delivery-with-snows summer tires and wheels. And the wheels are the Checkmate Edition Flame Spoke specials.

As you can see, they’re nice and shiny. And round. That’s something you notice right away about these special edition wheels. They are round. And they’ve got that cute ‘horseshoe’ thing going for them.

I particularly like how nicely they match up to the rubber itself. That is one nice, tight fit. And you can’t help but notice how nicely the Flame Spokes show off the JCW brakes. That makes the whole thing worthwhile, imho.

Needless to say, you won’t see many of the Flame Spokes around, ’cause you won’t see many Checkmates around. It’s a plot, I know, to artificially inflate the price of used cars, but hey, who am I to complain?

=R=

Who Needs Clydesdales?

Robert — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 16:14:50 +0000

Who’s trolling for beer in Vegas? You shouldn’t have to look too far!

=R=

(Images lost during the crash of ’06. If you have them, please let me know! ~db)

The MINI and The Lincoln

Robert — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 16:45:03 +0000

WRR #41 includes the MINI initiation of Howard, the 6’1″ Harley ridin’, truck drivin’ guinea pig for my audio experiment. It worked out quite well – both the MINI and Howard survived.

To put this all in perspective, these pics are my JCW MCS and Howard’s Lincoln, just before the ride. Now, go back and listen to the podcast ride again. You’ll have a new appreciation for Howard’s experience. =R= (Images lost during the crash of ’06. If you have them, please let me know! ~db)

The First Canadian Post

Robert — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 20:00:41 +0000

How ‘cool’ is this? The first WRR post from the frozen tundra of Canada, where in Toronto it is now minus 6 C or 21 F. You guys in the sunny south will never have the fun of making a Canadian Extreme Donut. But, just so you know, your MINI would ROCK in the snow. Ours sure do, eh? =R=