wow..that's a lot of mini's...and that mini whos trying to catch up with randall has a big cajones to even try..hehehehehe!

Hopefully Zee Foto got some pics of us on Saturday or Sunday. They have not update their web-site yet:

www.zeefoto.com

O.K., I know some of the cars and participants:

I know Randall's black 986.

I know Nick's black 986.

I know Bill's white 987.

Now I'm guessing:

Yellow 987 = Mantis?

Black 987= DMCutter?

Black 986 = Sammy?

Who owns the Arena Red?

Who did I miss?

Grizz, there was not a black 987. The other black cars (both 986) are Sammy and NickCats. NickCats has the spoiler.

Yes, Mantis is the Speed Yellow 987.

The Arena Red is Derb's.

Cutter has a Metallic Midnight Blue 986 that is lowere...very nice.

The Red MR2 is Randall's friend, Tom.

While I will still save my pennies for my SC or Turbo kit, I gotta say that my little 2.5 had plenty of grunt in 2nd gear taking the switchbacks on the dragon.

Tom's MR2 was no slouch either with that YZZ2 Celica engine in it. He made ever Pcar driver present work very very hard to keep up, didn't he?

I loved my car before this trip, but I must say that I am more impressed with it than ever. I actually tried to get the back end to break loose on wet pavement, but with 10 inch wide rims, Michelins and the 7mm spacers, the car just flat refused it.

I did experience some oversteer once when I just drove it too hard trying to outpace everyone behind me. I can easily see how a much younger driver with less cautionary common sense could kill himself on that road.

... and you'd never catch me on a bike on that road. I'd kill myself in a heartbeat.

"that's a pretty cool get together of forum members! glad that all you come back safely driving through the rain

was it like an event there that weekend? there's a lot of cars especially MINI's...."

According to the mini forums (my wife's car and sometimes I visit that forum),
it was their 5th annual and they seem very organized. Found this video... nausiating and interesting -- shot at midnight by one of the mini people:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJCdnkrAIF0

After watching a few minutes of that video, I was sure someone had monkeyed with the speed of the video... and the guy who posted it said he sped it up so he could squeeze it all onto one youtube video.

There's no way a mini could do the dragon at that speed, especially at midnight.

Note to self: do not drive the dragon after dark in any vehicle.

Randall, that was exactly what I was thinking when watching the video. The minis did not go that fast in daylight on dry roads...let alone on wet night roads. They sped up the video for sure.

The guy did post that he had to speed it up to fit in onto YouTube. Nevertheless, that is one windy road!

Break the rear tires loose with acceleration, or hard cornering? :confused:

It sure sounded like good time...perhaps, later in the year

:cheers:

Not to bash the Minis but....we ran into an owner at the inn where we we staying. As he eyed the boxster, he turned to my wife and actually said, " yeah that's a nice car. You could beat me in a straight line but you can't beat me in the curves."

My wife said, "have you ever driven a boxster?"

He said, "yes, they're a fun car but a mini will beat a boxster every time in the curves. You can accelerate in the curves in a mini!"

I walked away shaking my head......

Looks like a great trip. The Queen's visit screwed me up for this one. I spoke to her about it. She said she'd try not to do it again. :rolleyes:

Maybe I can go next time, if you return.

Bmuss, thanks for filling in the blanks for me. Could have sworn I saw a black 987. Must've been Cutter's blue 986.

Actually the "midnight run" is kinda fun. You just don't drive real fast and it's a good idea to have few day runs under your belt first ... which we all have now ... so ... next time! Have to wait on the beer of course. :eek:

Cool video, but in the dark it really doesn't do justice to the elevation gain and loss; I also don't remember so much apparent straightaway...seemed like it was much more sick and twisted.

Hey...I know you!

I sent you and Randall brand new 987S's today. Enjoy.

That's funny stuff! ;)

Maybe with R compounds they could keep up in the corners but without them I kind of doubt it. I did have one on my tail coming down Friday evening that kept up but we weren't exactly tearing it up and my passenger started to feel ill so I kept it in check. I'm also guessing it had R compounds on.

Tom's MR2 was freakin' fast! If he had the wheels and tires I'm pretty sure he would've stayed with us if not smoked us...

Yeah that's dead on ... hopefully I'll be having a little more fun next year. This year I showed up in what I could, which was BF Goodrich KD Sports on the back, Yokohama Advan A043's on the front. Different compounds that heat up and change properties at different rates, so I was a little leary of pushing it, plus I'd only been on the KD Sports for 3 days when I started the trip.

Still I had a blast driving with you guys and I appreciate your patience with my extra caution this time. I'm hoping to do either KD Sports or KDW-2's all the way around next time and have some time to get to know them first too. :D

Oh wait, I just watched some of the video and after seeing how that guy was crossing the double yellow, I'm with you on that. That's a level of "fun" I can do without ... been off the mountain already ...

http://hosting.dynamis.net/dragontri...202004/car.jpg
(October 2004)

But Tom, wasn't "Dumpster Corner" actually on 28, the Hellbender, and not the Tail proper? So your record is actually clean on the Tail.