LOH's mini (2013 JCW-GP) adventure
Discussion
Apologies for the glacial progress on the thread again, just been very busy but if anyone's still interested here we go.....
So Monte Carlo, some place!
We arrived early evening & even after the fantastic weather we'd had in the alps it was something of a shock to walk out into the Mediterranean heat, a nice shock mind you!
We stayed in the Novotel, I've probably mentioned we stayed in a few of these as they always seem to have on site parking & you know what you're getting with them. The hotel offered valet parking so after unloading the car we gave the keys over to the guy & got settles in (more on this later).
It's such a small place that it's fairly easy to get your bearings & the Novotel is situated quite a way up the hill above the casino, for those of you who haven't been if you picture the f1 track it starts down above the harbour, one level uniform where the boats dock on the same level as the swimming pool. It then follows the harbour along & to the right (the first corner/pit exit) then up the hill to casino square where all the really (think of it as relative!) expensive hotels & shops are before dropping back down to the lowes hairpin, the tunnel & then dropping back to harbour level.
So below our hotel is the casino, then below that is the harbour-got it? Dead simple, plus it means you instinctively get a feel for the place & can find your way around really easily.
Due to trying to follow the sat nav & find the hotel we didn't pay too much attention to our surroundings but as soon as you're out & about you start to really appreciate you're surroundings. First nice car I saw, a Ferrari GTO growling about the place set the tone. Amazingly, being a car nut you actually start to become immune to them as they are simply everywhere.
We had a look around & then went down to the harbour & enjoyed a few drinks, surprisingly enjoying them as they were really cheap! We didn't know what to expect but for a large beer & a wine you're looking at around €6 for the pair. The bars down thee are really nice with most having a few singers performing, nice food & some simply awesome vistas for people/car/boat watching.
We settled on one open air restaurant where the staff were great & the pizzas even better, price including drinks & tips was under €60 so it really isn't all that expensive, then we headed off to the Brasserie De Monaco next door where they brew their own beers & sampled a few of those too!
We had a couple of days down in the principality & although not the cheapest (& by a massive margin not the most expensive!) our hotel was great as it was central, reasonably priced with parking & most importantly a pool to lounge around! There's only so much chilling you can do mind you with the noises going on around you all the time.
Honestly, Monaco is a millionaire boy racers paradise! These blokes are something else & the reason why valet parking is so important out here. The general itinerary is to pick your car up, rev it full blast from traffic light to traffic jam while trying to impress some birds who don't really need to be impressed if you know what I mean!
(We unfortunately just missed the girl to the left falling up the stairs on camera!)
Our second night we took this all in by spending some time around the casino square, enjoying a drink at the historic tip top bar (next to a couple of hookers it turned out), before eating at the cafe de paris-nice place as it goes.
It is all very glamorous but to be honest not really for us what with the hookers & curb crawlers who are out to pick them up, we much preferred the harbour end.
There are some bloody lovely shops mind you & we managed to look like we belonged in one as the other half got a nice reception in mui mui when she was wearing her matching shoes & bag-everywhere else we felt like plebs! I spotted a lovely watch in the window of a jewellers so we went in for a look, the Dorris inside was most helpful fetching it over & making a big song & dance about it all. Now, I'm not a huge watch guy but we both have what we consider to be nice ones so I was a little shocked when she proceeded to tell me this one was €23k!
I tried to act cool trigger but I think I failed!
(This was for sale for only €3800 & we [she!] really wanted to take it home! it was minter than mint but might have proved a slow journey all the way back via Bruges!)
Anyway, we had a great few days & on our last night we collected the car & did a few laps of the track, well you would wouldn't you?! Nice to see the grime covered little mini getting quite a few photos taken as well
(Parked in the next bay to ours under the Novotel
)
The next step of the journey was basically a lost day & was the only bit of the journey we hadn't pre booked & sorted out. Essentially, doing Monaco was a bit of a step too far but we would have regretted not doing it on our honeymoon so we did it & resigned ourselves to having one day where we needed to do the long slog. On the last night we felt pretty comfortable about the whole thing so looking on the iPad we picked a decent looking hotel, somewhere around Reims safe in the knowledge that it was easily doable & fairly comfortable on the autoroutes. The tyres were shot but we'd leave out the twists & turns of the route napolean & we didn't need to arrive in Bruges until the next day after.
What could possibly go wrong
So Monte Carlo, some place!
We arrived early evening & even after the fantastic weather we'd had in the alps it was something of a shock to walk out into the Mediterranean heat, a nice shock mind you!
We stayed in the Novotel, I've probably mentioned we stayed in a few of these as they always seem to have on site parking & you know what you're getting with them. The hotel offered valet parking so after unloading the car we gave the keys over to the guy & got settles in (more on this later).
It's such a small place that it's fairly easy to get your bearings & the Novotel is situated quite a way up the hill above the casino, for those of you who haven't been if you picture the f1 track it starts down above the harbour, one level uniform where the boats dock on the same level as the swimming pool. It then follows the harbour along & to the right (the first corner/pit exit) then up the hill to casino square where all the really (think of it as relative!) expensive hotels & shops are before dropping back down to the lowes hairpin, the tunnel & then dropping back to harbour level.
So below our hotel is the casino, then below that is the harbour-got it? Dead simple, plus it means you instinctively get a feel for the place & can find your way around really easily.
Due to trying to follow the sat nav & find the hotel we didn't pay too much attention to our surroundings but as soon as you're out & about you start to really appreciate you're surroundings. First nice car I saw, a Ferrari GTO growling about the place set the tone. Amazingly, being a car nut you actually start to become immune to them as they are simply everywhere.
We had a look around & then went down to the harbour & enjoyed a few drinks, surprisingly enjoying them as they were really cheap! We didn't know what to expect but for a large beer & a wine you're looking at around €6 for the pair. The bars down thee are really nice with most having a few singers performing, nice food & some simply awesome vistas for people/car/boat watching.
We settled on one open air restaurant where the staff were great & the pizzas even better, price including drinks & tips was under €60 so it really isn't all that expensive, then we headed off to the Brasserie De Monaco next door where they brew their own beers & sampled a few of those too!
We had a couple of days down in the principality & although not the cheapest (& by a massive margin not the most expensive!) our hotel was great as it was central, reasonably priced with parking & most importantly a pool to lounge around! There's only so much chilling you can do mind you with the noises going on around you all the time.
Honestly, Monaco is a millionaire boy racers paradise! These blokes are something else & the reason why valet parking is so important out here. The general itinerary is to pick your car up, rev it full blast from traffic light to traffic jam while trying to impress some birds who don't really need to be impressed if you know what I mean!
(We unfortunately just missed the girl to the left falling up the stairs on camera!)
Our second night we took this all in by spending some time around the casino square, enjoying a drink at the historic tip top bar (next to a couple of hookers it turned out), before eating at the cafe de paris-nice place as it goes.
It is all very glamorous but to be honest not really for us what with the hookers & curb crawlers who are out to pick them up, we much preferred the harbour end.
There are some bloody lovely shops mind you & we managed to look like we belonged in one as the other half got a nice reception in mui mui when she was wearing her matching shoes & bag-everywhere else we felt like plebs! I spotted a lovely watch in the window of a jewellers so we went in for a look, the Dorris inside was most helpful fetching it over & making a big song & dance about it all. Now, I'm not a huge watch guy but we both have what we consider to be nice ones so I was a little shocked when she proceeded to tell me this one was €23k!
I tried to act cool trigger but I think I failed!
(This was for sale for only €3800 & we [she!] really wanted to take it home! it was minter than mint but might have proved a slow journey all the way back via Bruges!)
Anyway, we had a great few days & on our last night we collected the car & did a few laps of the track, well you would wouldn't you?! Nice to see the grime covered little mini getting quite a few photos taken as well
(Parked in the next bay to ours under the Novotel
)The next step of the journey was basically a lost day & was the only bit of the journey we hadn't pre booked & sorted out. Essentially, doing Monaco was a bit of a step too far but we would have regretted not doing it on our honeymoon so we did it & resigned ourselves to having one day where we needed to do the long slog. On the last night we felt pretty comfortable about the whole thing so looking on the iPad we picked a decent looking hotel, somewhere around Reims safe in the knowledge that it was easily doable & fairly comfortable on the autoroutes. The tyres were shot but we'd leave out the twists & turns of the route napolean & we didn't need to arrive in Bruges until the next day after.
What could possibly go wrong
guysso, what could possibly go wrong
two words, the french
ok, i'm not totally against them & when you're travelling through europe you generally have to encounter them at some point so you should just accept they are the way they are & roll with it, & to be fair we alsways do-many a time have we had fun at le mans or paris or whatever......
so, we booked a room for the saturday night in a place called channon et champagne-sounds nice eh? just this side of reims & a fair ol' chunk of the journey done which would get us to brugges for the sunday.
looking at the tyres i'd already conceded that we were pushing our luck but they were holding out, just! diplomatically i figured we'd stick to the autoroute & leave the route napolean for another time so we didn't completely destroy what little tread we had left, they day dawned a beautiful mediterrean blue sky & away we went on the route de soliel.
big mistake! i'm not sure when the french holidays begin or end but i have my suspicions that it's some time around the 3rd weekend in august! every bloody toll booth had a huge tailback before it & in some cases after as cars tried to filter in. the stunning scenery & 90 odd degree heat did little to lift the spirits.
fair play to the little mini though it took it all in its stride, never gave any issues (though with the lack of info dials the first we would know of high temperatures would be a wisp of steam or a puddle of oil!) & was totally comfortable, gaining some admiring glances from the other cars in the traffic.
our sat nav predicted reaching our destination by around 5 pm but this just kept slipping back until we eventually reached our destination at around 8:30pm. to be honest i can drive all day without it stressing me out but the other half had had enough by the point!
now, PH don't allow naming & shaming so all i'll say is if you ever stay in this town (i wouldn't advise it) then check out the trip adviser reviews-you might see ours! the hotel was down a crummy street in a pretty crummy looking town & when we found it i thought it was boarded up!
we'd booked via booking.com & emailed ahead to say we would be arriving late & could we have a table at the restaurant, needless to say the restaurant was shut. first sign of trouble was the insistence of the reception to pay the bill in full before seeing the room, & oh what a room!
now, i'm a fairly down to earth kind of chap, but what a dump! cracked ceilings, flaking wallpaper, a proper avocado 70's period bathroom & a stench that brought flooding back student dorms of youth, lovely!
to be fair to the other half, she said we were only sleeping there & we might as well just get into town & have some food & leave first thing in the morning.
there was a small italian at the end of the street but we decided to take a look around the town to see what was on offer, which turned out to be the sum total of f
k all apart from two locals pubs that didn't look the most inviting.we wandered back to the small italian to see if they had a table & i'm sure you can guess where this is heading, yes, they were fully booked.
seeing the funny side i just figured that was it, there was no way i was stopping in this dump. we went back to the hotel where they refused to give us our money back so off we went, i programmed in brugges & we got an eta of 1:30am.
now, i didn't expect to go all the way there but at least we'd be heading in the right direction & we could stop at anywhere we saw on the way.
by around 11pm the other half was starting to get a little bit worried! we'd been flashed by a speed camera but we managed to pass two further police cars in slowish traffic but there was a distinct lack of motels, for some reason the offer to kip in the car wasn't met with the care free attitude i'd come to expect
i rang our hotel in brugge only to be told they had no spare rooms for us, they were very apologetic but there was a festival on that weekend & the whole town was booked out-no point going all the way then.
just as i was starting to wonder we flew past a town just south of lille that literally had half a dozen hotels all grouped together on an industrial estate, bingo! we pulled off at the next junction & tracked a local road back to find a load of neon lit motels clustered around a car wash & roundabout-who says i can't do classy on my honeymoon?!
we picked the least dodgy looking one (there was a fully loaded family car to park next to-who'd break into ours with that bounty on show?!) & were met by the very helpful night attendant & security guard who showed us all the options for the night-35 euros for a couple or 37.50 for a twin. put your card in the machine which then gives you an invoice with a code that's used for your keypad front door.
let's just say i think it was the type of place most people used by the hour
anyway, it was clean, had a shower & a tv & we got our heads down-i won't say it was the best nights sleep i'd ever had as the mini was under our bedroom window & any voices i heard (mostly drunken btw) i assumed were sizing up which car to rob, & which to merely break into.
honestly, the next day i don't know why i was bothered. you wouldn't want to spend a week there but everything was fine & the staff more than pleasant. we showered & were on our way with just over an hours journey to brugges & our final stop of the trip
even typing this out i can't get pissed off about the crappy hotel, it was funny more than anything & in the end it helped us to get the bulk of the huge journey from monaco to brugges done in one hit.
man maths helps as always (well this is PH) & i figured that although we lost £75 on the dump hotel plus spent £35 on the motel we were only down £110-ish. now, if the crappy hotel had been less crappy & the restaurants in that town half decent we would have spent way more on food & wine so i reckoned that made us quids in!
as we arrived in brugges the grey overcast sky cleared & the sun broke out, the streets were full of tourists for that evenings finale of the festival of the canals & i decreed a slap up lunch was the order of the day seeing as we'd saved so much by being ripped off the night before
(ps, no pics from these days as we couldn't be arsed!)
The end is nigh!
So after the nightmare of the day before we were pretty glad to be getting into Bruges. As mentioned by the hotel concierge the night before there was a festival going on in town & although the hotel had let us know about it there seemed to be very little we could find out apart from that it was some celebration of Bruges history. We tried getting some tickets but seeing as the website was in Flemish we didn't have a scooby but the hotel sorted us some out so it was all good.
The idea was that certain streets would be closed off to traffic during the days of the festival so that individual streets could have their own part of the celebration which of course meant that navigating the medieval town was even more interesting than normal! To be fair, they're pretty car friendly for such an historic place & I only had to get out & move two barriers to the bemusement of onlookers & drive down one pedestrianised street to get to the underground car park
As declared, a slap up lunch was ordered to get over the disappointment of the previous nights excursions washed down with one of the many individual breweries ales to get the mood set.
I know I've mentioned Bruges before on this write up but it's such a fantastic place, if you want some serious browny points get the misses over there-she'll absolutely love it. Not only that, as with the last trip it makes a handy stop off for anywhere else in Europe you might have been, such as the nurburgring perhaps! So if your other half doesn't fancy going over to Germany you can bribe her with stay in the most romantic town this side of Venice, with the added benefit of you getting to sample some of the finest Belgian beers (or chocolate) known to man
That evening, we found yet another hidden gem of a restaurant run by a couple of young lads who couldn't have been more accommodating. When they heard we were back in town to get some more of Bruges famous De Garre beer they insisted we try some of their own speciality of which they were equally proud, they even sent us off with a carry out to enjoy the festival with
Speaking of which, we had an absolutely fantastic night at! Essentially, there were various parts of the city cordoned off that your ticket got you access to, & at these locations were little shows that they put on.
The first, a celebration of Hollywood films that had featured Bruges as a location was really well done. Essentially they showed you on a large cinema screen people walking through that particular square in a film (in this case some Audrey Hepburn film about a nun
) & then had live actors replicating it in front of you, with people playing the director & film crew etc.
It all culminated in a big song & dance that the local schools obviously got involved in, all good craic.
The biggest set piece involved the huge tower in the central square that featured in the film "In Bruges", basically it used to be much taller but lightning hit it years ago & the top bit burned down. So with actors playing out the roles of people from a bygone era they struck it with lightning & set fire to the top of the tower, all using laser lighting, sound effects & lots of smoke-who doesn't like lasers?!
There were other things going on as well, shows that immersed you into worlds set hundreds of years ago & due to a combination of the ancient surroundings & the booze that we'd been given you really got into it & felt like you'd truly stepped back in time-I'd ally recommend it should you ever be over there in time for it.
(Dancing with flags must be their thing as they loved this)
Obviously as all this was going on they'd gone to town everywhere else with street vendors, musicians & the like all over the place putting an even better atmosphere than you normally get in a place so angled towards tourism.
We spent the last couple of days just taking everything in & enjoying the last of our honeymoon, with some superb food (plenty of muscles), loads of beer & the last of the summer sun-glorious stuff!
Getting the overnight ferry back to 'ull meant we were free on our last day to get all the shopping in that we could & doing the rounds of the supermarkets, stocking up on as much beer as the little mini could carry.
The car had been perfect for luggage space for the whole trip as with the lack of rear seats you (she) can take pretty much everything you'll ever need. We share a huge wheeled hold all that took up the space nearest the boot, then in front of that we have a largish soft bag that stores most of ancillaries-hair dryer (yes I know every hotel has one!), shoes, make up bags etc & that sits nicely to the rear side of the luggage bar so if we have to brake hard it all doesn't fly forward. In front of the luggage bar we each have a mini soft bag that they threw in with the car to carry our own little extra bits, plus maybe some wine & glasses or whatever. When we go for a quick overnight stay we'll just put whatever we need in these & leave everything else in the car.
Due to the tinted rear windows it needs to be pretty good light to see in but we also packed a travel rug (yes given by my parents) for picnics that we could drape over everything to keep it out of sight, but it's rare that we ever left the car full of all our stuff anywhere where we were either far from it or in a place that we didn't trust (like the motel we stopped at). In those cases the huge wheeled hold all is easy enough to move around, the squashy weekend bag sits on top of it & we then only have one other bag to carry each so we're very mobile.
This little lot pretty much (with the inclusion of a dirt bag for laundry) filled up the boot floor allowing a couple of jackets to be hung off the rear grab handles on top of the bags allowing, very neatly, the rest of the space to be packed full of Belgian beer!
From the centre of Bruges to the port of Zebrugge takes no more than 15mins (45 to Calais) so we packed up the car & had afternoon tea at the Hotel Orangé, before going for the boat.
It was nice that the staff remembered us from our outward journey, if you book a club cabin there's a couple of glasses of champagne to welcome you to the bar & after over two weeks of some of European finest foods & wines we both thoroughly enjoyed ordering fish & chips & a bottle of English White to wash it down with hell, you've even got all the British channels to watch on your cabin tv!
Settling in on board, I'm always reminded of why I so much prefer these driving holidays to a fly away. No crowding or crushing, your own cabin to take it easy in & a nice restaurant to sit & enjoy the last few hours before you head back to the hussle & bustle of normal life. We both knew that professionally, we were both heading into some really busy times (look how long it's taken to write this-nearly 2 months!) & it wasn't just the fact that this was our honeymoon that made it so special.
Our longest euro tour yet, with some simply jaw dropping scenery & roads taken in, never mind the amazing places we'd been & people we'd met. The little mini did us so proud, never once missed a beat, kept just enough tread on its tyres to keep us legal & returned unseen mpg for this type of trip-didn't even use a drop of oil.
With time spent away with an iPad & an internet connection you inevitably browse the classifieds but I simply can't think of a car that I would have preferred to have taken this trip in, certainly not any of my previous cars or ones I've considered buying. The closest I've thought might have been the lotus evora, but packing & unpacking the bags would have been a pain though they would have just fitted & on those mountain passes where we were dicing with motorbikes & squeezing past busses at full speed would probably resulted in at least a missing wing mirror if not worse!
There's something about the little GP, would I glance back at the evora after we'd parked it up a little more often? You'd have to say so, I certainly would if it was one of my old air cooled 911s but I can't imagine the other half would have been as comfortable with their antiquated ways-certainly on the route de soliel in 95 degree heat.
But the little mini is a funny little thing, it's just such great fun on the right type of roads
Do I glance back appreciatively every time I park it up, well not every time but I still do think it looks the nuts for a mini & it's nice to think that not everyone else does either in an underground car park as well-not all attention can be complementary in city environments unfortunately.
Your honeymoon should be your most memorable holiday right? Well ours was & for all the right reasons too. When we're old & grey it'll be fantastic to look back & reminisce about it, & to remember the mental little mini that we took along for the journey
So after the nightmare of the day before we were pretty glad to be getting into Bruges. As mentioned by the hotel concierge the night before there was a festival going on in town & although the hotel had let us know about it there seemed to be very little we could find out apart from that it was some celebration of Bruges history. We tried getting some tickets but seeing as the website was in Flemish we didn't have a scooby but the hotel sorted us some out so it was all good.
The idea was that certain streets would be closed off to traffic during the days of the festival so that individual streets could have their own part of the celebration which of course meant that navigating the medieval town was even more interesting than normal! To be fair, they're pretty car friendly for such an historic place & I only had to get out & move two barriers to the bemusement of onlookers & drive down one pedestrianised street to get to the underground car park
As declared, a slap up lunch was ordered to get over the disappointment of the previous nights excursions washed down with one of the many individual breweries ales to get the mood set.
I know I've mentioned Bruges before on this write up but it's such a fantastic place, if you want some serious browny points get the misses over there-she'll absolutely love it. Not only that, as with the last trip it makes a handy stop off for anywhere else in Europe you might have been, such as the nurburgring perhaps! So if your other half doesn't fancy going over to Germany you can bribe her with stay in the most romantic town this side of Venice, with the added benefit of you getting to sample some of the finest Belgian beers (or chocolate) known to man
That evening, we found yet another hidden gem of a restaurant run by a couple of young lads who couldn't have been more accommodating. When they heard we were back in town to get some more of Bruges famous De Garre beer they insisted we try some of their own speciality of which they were equally proud, they even sent us off with a carry out to enjoy the festival with
Speaking of which, we had an absolutely fantastic night at! Essentially, there were various parts of the city cordoned off that your ticket got you access to, & at these locations were little shows that they put on.
The first, a celebration of Hollywood films that had featured Bruges as a location was really well done. Essentially they showed you on a large cinema screen people walking through that particular square in a film (in this case some Audrey Hepburn film about a nun
) & then had live actors replicating it in front of you, with people playing the director & film crew etc. It all culminated in a big song & dance that the local schools obviously got involved in, all good craic.
The biggest set piece involved the huge tower in the central square that featured in the film "In Bruges", basically it used to be much taller but lightning hit it years ago & the top bit burned down. So with actors playing out the roles of people from a bygone era they struck it with lightning & set fire to the top of the tower, all using laser lighting, sound effects & lots of smoke-who doesn't like lasers?!
There were other things going on as well, shows that immersed you into worlds set hundreds of years ago & due to a combination of the ancient surroundings & the booze that we'd been given you really got into it & felt like you'd truly stepped back in time-I'd ally recommend it should you ever be over there in time for it.
(Dancing with flags must be their thing as they loved this)
Obviously as all this was going on they'd gone to town everywhere else with street vendors, musicians & the like all over the place putting an even better atmosphere than you normally get in a place so angled towards tourism.
We spent the last couple of days just taking everything in & enjoying the last of our honeymoon, with some superb food (plenty of muscles), loads of beer & the last of the summer sun-glorious stuff!
Getting the overnight ferry back to 'ull meant we were free on our last day to get all the shopping in that we could & doing the rounds of the supermarkets, stocking up on as much beer as the little mini could carry.
The car had been perfect for luggage space for the whole trip as with the lack of rear seats you (she) can take pretty much everything you'll ever need. We share a huge wheeled hold all that took up the space nearest the boot, then in front of that we have a largish soft bag that stores most of ancillaries-hair dryer (yes I know every hotel has one!), shoes, make up bags etc & that sits nicely to the rear side of the luggage bar so if we have to brake hard it all doesn't fly forward. In front of the luggage bar we each have a mini soft bag that they threw in with the car to carry our own little extra bits, plus maybe some wine & glasses or whatever. When we go for a quick overnight stay we'll just put whatever we need in these & leave everything else in the car.
Due to the tinted rear windows it needs to be pretty good light to see in but we also packed a travel rug (yes given by my parents) for picnics that we could drape over everything to keep it out of sight, but it's rare that we ever left the car full of all our stuff anywhere where we were either far from it or in a place that we didn't trust (like the motel we stopped at). In those cases the huge wheeled hold all is easy enough to move around, the squashy weekend bag sits on top of it & we then only have one other bag to carry each so we're very mobile.
This little lot pretty much (with the inclusion of a dirt bag for laundry) filled up the boot floor allowing a couple of jackets to be hung off the rear grab handles on top of the bags allowing, very neatly, the rest of the space to be packed full of Belgian beer!
From the centre of Bruges to the port of Zebrugge takes no more than 15mins (45 to Calais) so we packed up the car & had afternoon tea at the Hotel Orangé, before going for the boat.
It was nice that the staff remembered us from our outward journey, if you book a club cabin there's a couple of glasses of champagne to welcome you to the bar & after over two weeks of some of European finest foods & wines we both thoroughly enjoyed ordering fish & chips & a bottle of English White to wash it down with
hell, you've even got all the British channels to watch on your cabin tv!Settling in on board, I'm always reminded of why I so much prefer these driving holidays to a fly away. No crowding or crushing, your own cabin to take it easy in & a nice restaurant to sit & enjoy the last few hours before you head back to the hussle & bustle of normal life. We both knew that professionally, we were both heading into some really busy times (look how long it's taken to write this-nearly 2 months!) & it wasn't just the fact that this was our honeymoon that made it so special.
Our longest euro tour yet, with some simply jaw dropping scenery & roads taken in, never mind the amazing places we'd been & people we'd met. The little mini did us so proud, never once missed a beat, kept just enough tread on its tyres to keep us legal & returned unseen mpg for this type of trip-didn't even use a drop of oil.
With time spent away with an iPad & an internet connection you inevitably browse the classifieds but I simply can't think of a car that I would have preferred to have taken this trip in, certainly not any of my previous cars or ones I've considered buying. The closest I've thought might have been the lotus evora, but packing & unpacking the bags would have been a pain though they would have just fitted & on those mountain passes where we were dicing with motorbikes & squeezing past busses at full speed would probably resulted in at least a missing wing mirror if not worse!
There's something about the little GP, would I glance back at the evora after we'd parked it up a little more often? You'd have to say so, I certainly would if it was one of my old air cooled 911s but I can't imagine the other half would have been as comfortable with their antiquated ways-certainly on the route de soliel in 95 degree heat.
But the little mini is a funny little thing, it's just such great fun on the right type of roads
Do I glance back appreciatively every time I park it up, well not every time but I still do think it looks the nuts for a mini & it's nice to think that not everyone else does either in an underground car park as well-not all attention can be complementary in city environments unfortunately.Your honeymoon should be your most memorable holiday right? Well ours was & for all the right reasons too. When we're old & grey it'll be fantastic to look back & reminisce about it, & to remember the mental little mini that we took along for the journey
clarkmagpie said:
Great read and some terrific photos!
Sounds a heck of a good road trip.
Would love to do similar but 17mpg rules that out!
Congrats on the wedding too.
Cheers mate, us 17mpg all you'll get out of the TVR?!Sounds a heck of a good road trip.
Would love to do similar but 17mpg rules that out!
Congrats on the wedding too.
I've actually kept all the receipts for this trip so I can list up exactly how much it cost if anyone's interested? I might not want to dwell in that mind you.......
clarkmagpie said:
That's the rs6, the tvr gets slightly more!
I keep thinking about driving to the alps to snowboard this year but even with a car full it is prob cheaper to fly...
True, but where's the romance in easy jet?! In all seriousness, I figure that driving is only going to get more expensive, more prohibitive & further out of reach for the common man & if that's going to be the case I want to enjoy the freedom of European roads while I still can I keep thinking about driving to the alps to snowboard this year but even with a car full it is prob cheaper to fly...
Using the hull ferry that saves us northerners a big chunk I reckon that I could get down to the alps in just under 2 tanks in the mini taking the scenic route, what's that £120 twice plus say £260 return for the ferry-£500. Obviously not everything's as frugal as the mini but that's still only £250 or thereabouts each if you rope in the mrs or a mate, not too bad in the grand scheme of things.
NinjaPower said:
Craig, may I be the first on PH to congratulate you on your recent magazine article that details how you set the lap record of 8 minutes 23 seconds for a Mini at the Nurburgring, and in icy conditions no less!
many thanks Tim! You've got to love the local press & their endeavour to research a story properly, though I must admit-if they're going to get my lap times incorrect, its very nice of them to get them wrong in the right direction!Hope all is well with the 993, if work lets up a little we'll hope to get on a run soon enough
Looks like you had great fun there sandy, for those wanting some more vides of the cars, here's evo's track car of the year film;
http://youtu.be/Ad9arPad2BM
Looks like they really enjoyed the GP & I'm looking forward to their evo car of the year film where the little mini excelled as well.
http://youtu.be/Ad9arPad2BM
Looks like they really enjoyed the GP & I'm looking forward to their evo car of the year film where the little mini excelled as well.
I've been thinking of an update for the thread, but thinking's pretty hard for a thick northerner like me so I'll just link some videos showing other people having fun in the GP.
First of all, the drive boys take one to that road race in America where they blast down the highway in the middle of nowhere;
http://youtu.be/DrrwDHZUK6I
Then, the evo car of the year special-which makes me a little warm & fuzzy inside cos they like it as much as me, as well as driving it sideways a lot
Part 1 http://youtu.be/t1wsRC0zE7g
Part 2 http://youtu.be/t1wsRC0zE7g
In all seriousness, I am going to write something a little more interesting soon as it's almost been a year since I bought the car (time flies!).
Enjoy
First of all, the drive boys take one to that road race in America where they blast down the highway in the middle of nowhere;
http://youtu.be/DrrwDHZUK6I
Then, the evo car of the year special-which makes me a little warm & fuzzy inside cos they like it as much as me, as well as driving it sideways a lot
Part 1 http://youtu.be/t1wsRC0zE7g
Part 2 http://youtu.be/t1wsRC0zE7g
In all seriousness, I am going to write something a little more interesting soon as it's almost been a year since I bought the car (time flies!).
Enjoy
Edited by LaurasOtherHalf on Monday 25th November 23:55
sagarich said:
LaurasOtherHalf said:
In all seriousness, I am going to write something a little more interesting soon as it's almost been a year since I bought the car (time flies!).
Some sort of maintenance geekiness could be good. For example, how many tyres you've destroyed? Oil consumption etc etc.sagarich said:
LaurasOtherHalf said:
Noted, I'll make sure I include a run down of all costs so far (though to be honest I've been holding off totalling up all the invoices from the honeymoon!). Btw you're not an electrician are you by any chance?
Nope, not me. What gave you that impression?
GokTweed said:
irish boy said:
Mine's parked up in the garage, not much fun on the slippery roads. Bought a volvo 740 which I'm enjoying, may just end up leaving the mini off the road till spring.
Your sporty mini is not fun on slippery roads? I think you may have bought it for the wrong reasons. In fact I am half tempted to notify mini of this statement so they can take it off you and give you a One D with that attitude sir!
bah less grip = more fun!
someone asked earlier what my costs for the year have been in the little GP & i've consulted the paperwork & come up with the sum total of......
£0!
so far
let's be honest, the tyres are (& have been) on their last legs for some time, since the honeymoon in fact but with the mileage i'm doing at the moment it just seems pointless putting new ones on-i'm not doing motorway miles & we have other cars to use should we need to head off in bad weather.
i bought a pint of oil for the eurohoons & kept it in one of the smugglers boxes in the boot but the car just refuses to burn any oil at all-i'm taking credit for my running in method
the pads & discs are fine (i do try to be easy on the brakes on track) so all i've used for the whole year is petrol & insurance.
i need to pay the road tax at the end of the month & buy a full set of tyres (£612 for 4 delivered) but it's been such a cheap car to run. i expected to go through a set of pads at least but the brakes are so massive you really just don't stress them much, even though i run it in GP Mode all the time.
i can't believe it's been a year (almost) since i bought the little thing, it really has been great but i have found my eye wandering over the classifieds for something a little more......premium, though i know should i get rid of the little i'll miss it hugely. there is garage space to keep it however
anyway, we had the car down in the lakes last weekend but the weather was so atrocious we didn't do much driving so no new pics but we're heading back down to the lakes for a week at new year so fingers crossed for some bright & cold weather to get rid of the last of that tread on the tyres
someone asked earlier what my costs for the year have been in the little GP & i've consulted the paperwork & come up with the sum total of......
£0!
so far
let's be honest, the tyres are (& have been) on their last legs for some time, since the honeymoon in fact but with the mileage i'm doing at the moment it just seems pointless putting new ones on-i'm not doing motorway miles & we have other cars to use should we need to head off in bad weather.
i bought a pint of oil for the eurohoons & kept it in one of the smugglers boxes in the boot but the car just refuses to burn any oil at all-i'm taking credit for my running in method
the pads & discs are fine (i do try to be easy on the brakes on track) so all i've used for the whole year is petrol & insurance.
i need to pay the road tax at the end of the month & buy a full set of tyres (£612 for 4 delivered) but it's been such a cheap car to run. i expected to go through a set of pads at least but the brakes are so massive you really just don't stress them much, even though i run it in GP Mode all the time.
i can't believe it's been a year (almost) since i bought the little thing, it really has been great but i have found my eye wandering over the classifieds for something a little more......premium, though i know should i get rid of the little i'll miss it hugely. there is garage space to keep it however
anyway, we had the car down in the lakes last weekend but the weather was so atrocious we didn't do much driving so no new pics but we're heading back down to the lakes for a week at new year so fingers crossed for some bright & cold weather to get rid of the last of that tread on the tyres
Craikeybaby said:
I was revisiting this thread whilst planning my trip to Monaco next year, especially places to stay between Reims and Monaco - I don't think we'd be up for doing that in one hit (and more like you guys).
Did you make those tartes flambees from Strasbourg? We've got that planned as a stop on the way back.
Are you taking the mr2? That would be a great trip!Did you make those tartes flambees from Strasbourg? We've got that planned as a stop on the way back.
In all honesty, we did the Monaco-Lille leg because we needed to-if we hadn't we wouldn't have been able to fit Monaco/Mediterranean leg in to our timescale. But, personally I would do it again tomorrow if it meant the extra day we got in one of the towns we visited, even Laura didn't mind it.
Any help you need just feel free to pm me or ask in the forum, oh & we now have he tarte flambés very regularly!
Interesting article on the GP over on the USA based motoringfile website
motoringfile said:
Opinion: Why the New GP is MINI’s First real JCW Product
There is little question the original JCW GP is a special car — an incredibly special car. It was thrown together at break-neck speed with off-the-shelf parts and yet it’s one of the most satisfying cars I’ve ever driven at any price. Sure, MINI had some trouble selling all of them at the time, as they have with the GP2, but since then it’s become a classic with ever-slowing depreciation. That original MINI JCW GP will surely be a classic.
In contrast, the new GP is a much more serious car. Road testing and development took place primarily at the Nurburgring, led primarily by a MINI race car driver. Instead of a few months, the second generation JCW GP was two years in the making. In those two years, MINI JCW fitted an entirely new, bespoke suspension. MINI spec’d unique tires and a specially-matched six-pot braking system that was designed to stop cars almost 1,000 lbs heavier. The result was nothing short of phenomenal. Whether on the track or on the road, the 2013 JCW GP is astonishing in its ability to change direction, stop, and go. Yet it’s not just the quickness of the new GP that exhilarates. It’s the car’s feedback at every touch-point.
There’s much more to the GP than simply an upgrade to the existing MINI JCW Hardtop. Unlike the first GP, or any JCW product for that matter, this is a rethink of every aspect of the car, save drivetrain. We’ll get to that in a second, but first let’s talk about why the GP is so impressive and quite possibly, a peak into JCW’s future.
Aside from the engine, the rest of the new GP is more singularly focused than even BMW M cars. Simply put, the suspension and tire set-up is more serious than anything outside of an M3 GTS or CRT. The brakes are derived from the BMW 135i and thus quite over-specced for a 2,700 MINI. “Stopping power” doesn’t begin to describe the result. That braking capability means you can drive the car deeper into a corner and even trail brake if that’s your style. Yet for all their capability, the GP’s brakes aren’t grabby or difficult put to good use in everyday driving.
Then there’s the GP’s aero. Some of it is sexy, some not. The rear wing is smaller than the previous GP because, surprisingly, smaller actually works better at reducing lift. Yet the rear spoiler is only part of the equation. There are the plastic bits under the front of the car that will go unseen by most owners. Yet those under panels are almost as important as the wing, because they reduce lift in the front of the car, where it’s needed most.
Inside, the GP is a mixture of off-the-shelf JCW components and bespoke touches. Most obvious, the rear seat has been removed in an effort to reduce weight. Yet for all its red JCW fanfare, the interior package works very well. From the red seat belts to the leather dash, to the Recaro seats — once you take a seat in the GP’s cockpit, you know you’re not in your average dealer-spec MINI Hardtop. With the sound-deadening material removed, the GP’s cockpit is a very visceral place to be when the car is in motion. You hear and feel everything the car is doing — from the burbling growl of the engine to the seemingly endless grip of those exclusive Kumho tires.
All the on-paper specs and laundry list of components don’t do this car’s driving experience justice. Some people, most who whom haven’t even driven the GP, have dismissed it as “not enough” of an improvement over the standard JCW Hardtop. We couldn’t disagree more, and we’re not alone in the world of the automotive press in holding the GP in high regard. Most of the GP’s detractors talk about horsepower, as though 300 hp in a FWD car is an automatic performance formula. While we disagree about horsepower as a magic bullet, let’s talk about the GP’s engine.
If there’s any dissapoitnent with the new GP it’s found under the hood. The 1.6L JCW power plant found in the GOP is unchanged here in the US. In European GPs, some subtle tuning created a bit more power, but not much. Why did MINI invest so heavily into every other aspect of the car except the one that creates the go? In a word: budget. MINI only had so many dollars to spend in developing the new GP. Given all the things they could have done, MINI chose to focus on aerodynamics, braking and suspsension instead of blowing the whole budget on squeezing 50 reliable horsepower out of a dead-end engine program. Minus the other improvements made to the GP instead, MINI would have ended up with a slower, less compelling car in the end. The Prince engine was always a stop-gap measure for MINI until they figured out what to do long-term (starting with the F56). Now that they have that decision in place (a 2.0L four cylinder JCW sounds good doesn’t it?) they’ll be able to create future JCW cars with an engine strategy in mind from the beginning.
If we think about the GP in that context, outside of the engine MINI and JCW significantly upgraded every other performance component on the car, all while further setting the car apart visually. While the specific graphics on the GP definitely aren’t for everyone (they aren’t for us), for anyone who’s driven the car in anger, the results speak for themselves. It is without question the fastest and most rewarding MINI created to date. And in my mind, this is the first real product MINI has created that lives up to the JCW name.
This car more than any before it should give us all hope for the JCW brand’s future. If the rumors we’ve heard are true regarding the 2015 JCW, we should all expect very good things. The R56-based JCW GP is an early look at that. Especially when you add the potential of a 2.0L, turbocharged engine to the equation.
http://www.motoringfile.com/2013/12/30/opinion-why-the-new-gp-is-minis-first-real-jcw-product/There is little question the original JCW GP is a special car — an incredibly special car. It was thrown together at break-neck speed with off-the-shelf parts and yet it’s one of the most satisfying cars I’ve ever driven at any price. Sure, MINI had some trouble selling all of them at the time, as they have with the GP2, but since then it’s become a classic with ever-slowing depreciation. That original MINI JCW GP will surely be a classic.
In contrast, the new GP is a much more serious car. Road testing and development took place primarily at the Nurburgring, led primarily by a MINI race car driver. Instead of a few months, the second generation JCW GP was two years in the making. In those two years, MINI JCW fitted an entirely new, bespoke suspension. MINI spec’d unique tires and a specially-matched six-pot braking system that was designed to stop cars almost 1,000 lbs heavier. The result was nothing short of phenomenal. Whether on the track or on the road, the 2013 JCW GP is astonishing in its ability to change direction, stop, and go. Yet it’s not just the quickness of the new GP that exhilarates. It’s the car’s feedback at every touch-point.
There’s much more to the GP than simply an upgrade to the existing MINI JCW Hardtop. Unlike the first GP, or any JCW product for that matter, this is a rethink of every aspect of the car, save drivetrain. We’ll get to that in a second, but first let’s talk about why the GP is so impressive and quite possibly, a peak into JCW’s future.
Aside from the engine, the rest of the new GP is more singularly focused than even BMW M cars. Simply put, the suspension and tire set-up is more serious than anything outside of an M3 GTS or CRT. The brakes are derived from the BMW 135i and thus quite over-specced for a 2,700 MINI. “Stopping power” doesn’t begin to describe the result. That braking capability means you can drive the car deeper into a corner and even trail brake if that’s your style. Yet for all their capability, the GP’s brakes aren’t grabby or difficult put to good use in everyday driving.
Then there’s the GP’s aero. Some of it is sexy, some not. The rear wing is smaller than the previous GP because, surprisingly, smaller actually works better at reducing lift. Yet the rear spoiler is only part of the equation. There are the plastic bits under the front of the car that will go unseen by most owners. Yet those under panels are almost as important as the wing, because they reduce lift in the front of the car, where it’s needed most.
Inside, the GP is a mixture of off-the-shelf JCW components and bespoke touches. Most obvious, the rear seat has been removed in an effort to reduce weight. Yet for all its red JCW fanfare, the interior package works very well. From the red seat belts to the leather dash, to the Recaro seats — once you take a seat in the GP’s cockpit, you know you’re not in your average dealer-spec MINI Hardtop. With the sound-deadening material removed, the GP’s cockpit is a very visceral place to be when the car is in motion. You hear and feel everything the car is doing — from the burbling growl of the engine to the seemingly endless grip of those exclusive Kumho tires.
All the on-paper specs and laundry list of components don’t do this car’s driving experience justice. Some people, most who whom haven’t even driven the GP, have dismissed it as “not enough” of an improvement over the standard JCW Hardtop. We couldn’t disagree more, and we’re not alone in the world of the automotive press in holding the GP in high regard. Most of the GP’s detractors talk about horsepower, as though 300 hp in a FWD car is an automatic performance formula. While we disagree about horsepower as a magic bullet, let’s talk about the GP’s engine.
If there’s any dissapoitnent with the new GP it’s found under the hood. The 1.6L JCW power plant found in the GOP is unchanged here in the US. In European GPs, some subtle tuning created a bit more power, but not much. Why did MINI invest so heavily into every other aspect of the car except the one that creates the go? In a word: budget. MINI only had so many dollars to spend in developing the new GP. Given all the things they could have done, MINI chose to focus on aerodynamics, braking and suspsension instead of blowing the whole budget on squeezing 50 reliable horsepower out of a dead-end engine program. Minus the other improvements made to the GP instead, MINI would have ended up with a slower, less compelling car in the end. The Prince engine was always a stop-gap measure for MINI until they figured out what to do long-term (starting with the F56). Now that they have that decision in place (a 2.0L four cylinder JCW sounds good doesn’t it?) they’ll be able to create future JCW cars with an engine strategy in mind from the beginning.
If we think about the GP in that context, outside of the engine MINI and JCW significantly upgraded every other performance component on the car, all while further setting the car apart visually. While the specific graphics on the GP definitely aren’t for everyone (they aren’t for us), for anyone who’s driven the car in anger, the results speak for themselves. It is without question the fastest and most rewarding MINI created to date. And in my mind, this is the first real product MINI has created that lives up to the JCW name.
This car more than any before it should give us all hope for the JCW brand’s future. If the rumors we’ve heard are true regarding the 2015 JCW, we should all expect very good things. The R56-based JCW GP is an early look at that. Especially when you add the potential of a 2.0L, turbocharged engine to the equation.
Now then, I haven't updated this thread in a long time have I? No problem for bringing it to my attention either, coincidently I was considering writing something on the car yesterday as I was particularly bored watching the Soche Grand Prix but that's another matter.......
So, my reason for not updating the tread in nearly a year is rather unfortunately because nothing of note has happened with the car, certainly in comparison with its first year with us.
The GP is still very much with us though, and has just clicked past 9k miles on the odometer so although infrequently, it's still being used! As impressive as the thread may read up to this point, unfortunately the last 12 months has been one hell of a long slog at work though I'll hopefully explain a little of that in this post....
There were a multitude of reasons for buying the little GP in the first place, but one of the main ones was our future plans with work and life. Obviously I'd decided to get into another hot hatch so that was the main one but we knew that the next couple of years were going to be up on the air so with MINI offering their 50:50 it have us the option of having a brand new car with nothing in the way of outgoings for the next 24 months. Basically, you paid half the purchase price to get the car, then in 2 years either give it back and walk away, pay off the balance, refinance what's left or part exchange.
It'll be 2 years at the end of the year so we've got some decisions to make I guess!
I wanted a car that would be fun on track, practical enough to use every day, reliable enough not to put a dampener on our honeymoon and not cost us an absolute fortune.
The reason for the low cost (compared to some of the other nice cars I've owned) was because we knew were going to be expanding the business in the not too distant future and would obviously need funds for that. Not too long after buying the car we got into plans about how exactly this would go ahead and it's basically meant that since we got married we've been working none stop on achieving this.
This culminated in our new expanded business opening last month and it finally feels like there might be a small bit of light at the end of the tunnel.
All through this time the car has been an absolute pleasure to own. Although I haven't had the time to take it on any track days it has handled being driven around town, taken to work, occasionally used as a van (no back seats means it's very roomy!) and when the time allows, used as a rare bit of fun on a Sunday blast.
I did end up replacing the original track tyres, though knowing there would be no track days coming up I opted for some toyo proxes and they are superb. The ride has improved immeasurably and although I don't doubt the grip will be massively lower on track they are just so much more comfortable and forgiving on the road-I'd even go as far as to say on the road you can actually drive it harder, though probably at a lower limit.
I'm ashamed to admit you can still see the paint markers in between the treads however which probably gives you an idea of how little it's been worked since I fitted them though!
So what for the future? I'm honestly unsure of what to do for the best. Ideally I'd like to get back into a 911 of some sort though that still leaves me with no idea of what to do with the GP. It was our wedding car and the sentimental part of me would love to simply pay off the remaining balance of the finance agreement, stick it in the garage and keep it forever, the car has always had the LOH number plate on it and it seems a shame to just get rid of it
I've even got a pair of unused Recaro SPGs sitting in the spare room wardrobe so I could turn it into a proper full on track car with a cage guess?
Whatever I choose, I wouldn't regret buying the car anyway. They're still bringing a good price and what with MINIs getting even bigger I can't see how they'll build another one that's as much fun. Even if it's just being used to commute the first thing I do when I pull the car out of the garage is to switch it into GP mode and even if it's just a little blip of the throttle when changing down to enter work the pops and bangs of the exhaust never fail to bring a smile
Then you never know, I might need to head out of town for something and the sheer fun you can have on a B road equals many cars with a much loftier price tag.
So, answers on a postcard I guess? I might put it up for sale on PH if we still get free adverts (do we still get those?) and see if anyone's interested. If the right buyer comes along then so be it, if not, well who knows? As long as the business keeps improving we're planning on doing another euro-hoon next Easter if we can afford the time, down to the ring perhaps and then onto a ski resort in the alps or something? I'd love to do it in a 911 but if the GP is still around it'll certainly be no hardship
So, my reason for not updating the tread in nearly a year is rather unfortunately because nothing of note has happened with the car, certainly in comparison with its first year with us.
The GP is still very much with us though, and has just clicked past 9k miles on the odometer so although infrequently, it's still being used! As impressive as the thread may read up to this point, unfortunately the last 12 months has been one hell of a long slog at work though I'll hopefully explain a little of that in this post....
There were a multitude of reasons for buying the little GP in the first place, but one of the main ones was our future plans with work and life. Obviously I'd decided to get into another hot hatch so that was the main one but we knew that the next couple of years were going to be up on the air so with MINI offering their 50:50 it have us the option of having a brand new car with nothing in the way of outgoings for the next 24 months. Basically, you paid half the purchase price to get the car, then in 2 years either give it back and walk away, pay off the balance, refinance what's left or part exchange.
It'll be 2 years at the end of the year so we've got some decisions to make I guess!
I wanted a car that would be fun on track, practical enough to use every day, reliable enough not to put a dampener on our honeymoon and not cost us an absolute fortune.
The reason for the low cost (compared to some of the other nice cars I've owned) was because we knew were going to be expanding the business in the not too distant future and would obviously need funds for that. Not too long after buying the car we got into plans about how exactly this would go ahead and it's basically meant that since we got married we've been working none stop on achieving this.
This culminated in our new expanded business opening last month and it finally feels like there might be a small bit of light at the end of the tunnel.
All through this time the car has been an absolute pleasure to own. Although I haven't had the time to take it on any track days it has handled being driven around town, taken to work, occasionally used as a van (no back seats means it's very roomy!) and when the time allows, used as a rare bit of fun on a Sunday blast.
I did end up replacing the original track tyres, though knowing there would be no track days coming up I opted for some toyo proxes and they are superb. The ride has improved immeasurably and although I don't doubt the grip will be massively lower on track they are just so much more comfortable and forgiving on the road-I'd even go as far as to say on the road you can actually drive it harder, though probably at a lower limit.
I'm ashamed to admit you can still see the paint markers in between the treads however which probably gives you an idea of how little it's been worked since I fitted them though!
So what for the future? I'm honestly unsure of what to do for the best. Ideally I'd like to get back into a 911 of some sort though that still leaves me with no idea of what to do with the GP. It was our wedding car and the sentimental part of me would love to simply pay off the remaining balance of the finance agreement, stick it in the garage and keep it forever, the car has always had the LOH number plate on it and it seems a shame to just get rid of it
I've even got a pair of unused Recaro SPGs sitting in the spare room wardrobe so I could turn it into a proper full on track car with a cage guess?
Whatever I choose, I wouldn't regret buying the car anyway. They're still bringing a good price and what with MINIs getting even bigger I can't see how they'll build another one that's as much fun. Even if it's just being used to commute the first thing I do when I pull the car out of the garage is to switch it into GP mode and even if it's just a little blip of the throttle when changing down to enter work the pops and bangs of the exhaust never fail to bring a smile
Then you never know, I might need to head out of town for something and the sheer fun you can have on a B road equals many cars with a much loftier price tag.
So, answers on a postcard I guess? I might put it up for sale on PH if we still get free adverts (do we still get those?) and see if anyone's interested. If the right buyer comes along then so be it, if not, well who knows? As long as the business keeps improving we're planning on doing another euro-hoon next Easter if we can afford the time, down to the ring perhaps and then onto a ski resort in the alps or something? I'd love to do it in a 911 but if the GP is still around it'll certainly be no hardship
SlowStig said:
I am really glad this thread was bumped up, I remember reading it back when you first started and having no idea what the difference between a MCS, JCW and JCW GP was, so I followed your adventures through to Spa and the Ring and looked forwards to each instalment of your trips. I really enjoyed the write up and updates through your honeymoon and all the fun that you had and the memories created.
I really really hope you don't get rid of the GP, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading through on your thoughts and feelings with the car, and even today have read through it again to remind myself of how epic an adventure you have had with it.
I enjoyed this so much that even though I couldn't afford a GP, I got myself a JCW and I'm taking it to the Nurburgring in December and then tour Europe in it next summer, using this as a bit of a guide as to where to visit!
(I especially enjoyed your bit about the A6, my O/H lives near to the Porsche dealer in Kendal and I keep trying to find an excuse to go up the A6 in my JCW to compare!)
Cheers for that I really really hope you don't get rid of the GP, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading through on your thoughts and feelings with the car, and even today have read through it again to remind myself of how epic an adventure you have had with it.
I enjoyed this so much that even though I couldn't afford a GP, I got myself a JCW and I'm taking it to the Nurburgring in December and then tour Europe in it next summer, using this as a bit of a guide as to where to visit!
(I especially enjoyed your bit about the A6, my O/H lives near to the Porsche dealer in Kendal and I keep trying to find an excuse to go up the A6 in my JCW to compare!)
your post actually just made me go back to the start & read through everything again-man we really had some fun in this car! If you're ever at a loose end and want to compare the GP with yours feel free to fire me an email over
Edited to add, nurburgring in December is very brave- don't forget your snow socks!
SlowStig said:
Glad I could help, you really have done some cracking journeys in the past few years!
I might take you up on that offer, I thought there might be a MINI owners club in Cumbria but as of yet I can't find one so an excuse to go for a run out with a local is rather appealing!
I am hoping that the nurburgring is open for at least 1 slow lap at least, otherwise it will be a weekend of beer and snow!
I'm sure there is some sort of mini thing locally, I know my mate who has the 1275 that came to spa with us goes to a lot of stuff another mate has a Paul smith edition goes to some things too, I'll ask them when we next catch up & find out what I can-unfortunately I've never had the time to go to anything with them.I might take you up on that offer, I thought there might be a MINI owners club in Cumbria but as of yet I can't find one so an excuse to go for a run out with a local is rather appealing!
I am hoping that the nurburgring is open for at least 1 slow lap at least, otherwise it will be a weekend of beer and snow!
I'd look into the ring in December nearer the time by the way, the last two winters have been long ones with 2013 especially being under huge amounts of snow for a good few months-there'll be nowt much to do over there if the weather is bad as it pretty much shuts down even though they're supposed to be open! Keep an eye on what dale lomas who writes for PH says on his Bridge To Gantry Facebook page, he normally keeps everyone abreast of the weather for those doing last minute runs over
likesachange said:
I should be attending the next ecosse meet on the 2nd travelling up from Carlisle in fact I can virtually see LOH's house from mine! So if you need an excuse to drive it there's one right there
Bloody typical, we have plans I'm afraid, I really must keep up to date with the local meet sections as I always miss them. I was told you've been living up to your username btw, noticed the new aquesition as I walked the dog past yours-lovely bit of kit!Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff