One thing I did get a chance to do there was talk about my Mini, and Minis in general. Not hard to do — I love my car, and I love the Mini. And I love my Mini adventures — I put a sheet of paper on the dash, encouraging folks to ask about driving the Alps, or the Ring, or across America, or the Dragon.

I spent some time chatting with a guy who was there with his family. Not a Mini owner, but he is considering one. The dealership invited him to come down – and he was very pleased that he did. At the show, there was just about one of everything — Coopers, Cooper S’s, supercharged, turbo charged, Clubmans, stripes, stock, street racers, etc.

He isn’t in a hurry to buy a car. But he did have a million questions. Gas mileage. Stock / OEM run-flat tires, vs. after market.

I encouraged him to:

Read. Rummage around the Mini website, and check out all of the things.

Ask questions of owners. Find some Mini websites (like NAM, or Coopernation, or a local Mini Club, like the Tar Heels or HMMC) and join in their forums; they’re always receptive to questions from prospective buyers, and the forums probably have questions to answers you haven’t even thought up yet. And go to Mini events in the area — Mini owners tend to be social, and tend to enjoy talking about their cars.

Consider used Minis. Motoringfile has great buyer’s guides, for 2002-2006 Mini Coopers (R50) and Mini Cooper S’s (R53). With 2007 came new engines (turbo, not supercharged) and slowly also some other changes. Nothing wrong with a good, used Mini.

Test drive EVERYTHING. If you’re going to buy new, try one of each. See what heated seats actually feel like, if you’re considering buying them. See how noisy a convertible is at highway speed. Put your foot into a 210-bhp John Cooper Works monster. Make the dealer earn their money, and leave no question unanswered. And if you’re considering used, find the local Mini club and ask folks to take you out for a drive, or to let you try theirs, too.

I was thinking earlier that the arrival of Tess Turbo marks the closure of a pretty good summer of motoring. Since late August, Tess Turbo and I made it through the Nordschleife at the N?rburgring, across the Alps, onto a boat to Baltimore, across America to Kansas City via Hermann, MO, and then on to Augusta (and the welcome arms of M2C2, the Mini Motoring Club of the Carolinas) and the Dragon with the Tar Heel Mini Motoring Club, before heading to HI.

Wow.

Let me see if I can put these into perspective, to try and illustrate just how great they are individually and then as a group.

Driving my Mini Cooper S on the Nordschleife at the N?rburgring (Wikipedia) is like….. It’s like having Marisa Tomei, Hayden Panettiere and Kate Walsh asking me…. no, paying me to join them for a weekend long orgy, and have my wife agree only if it can be broadcast as a pay per view event.

It is legendary. Saying “I drove the Ring” is like saying “I surfed Sunset” or “I went to Woodstock.” People have been racing the Ring for so long, it’s just become one of those things.

It is also 21 km / 13 miles of pure driving bliss. You can drive as hard as you want or as hard as your car can handle. I am lucky — Tess Turbo is capable of so much more than I could ever dream of doing, so really, the limiting factor was me. But there’s just something about really putting your foot into it and really, really driving hard. With your kids in the back seat. And then hitting the autobahn to go home.

And the Alps? I still can’t believe we did that. What started as something almost of a joke, we put together an awesome plan and then pulled it off, snow and weather be damned. The scenery was awesome. The driving was insane. And I think we drove more of the Alps than did the guys from Top Gear. Our passengers / families were great, and we all had a blast. 4 days and 1100 miles? I’d do it again tomorrow if I could.

And somewhere in all this, I still made runs out onto the autobahn. And all through the Black Forest, and the Odenwald. If I had just spent the summer doing that, I would have cheered all winter long. I mean, just look at this:

How beautiful is that? And that’s just one part of one forest that we use to go driving through on any given Sunday! Warm sunshine, quiet and empty roads, over hills and ridges and back down through valleys, under bright blue skies and puffy white clouds.

Oh, and I could have found a way to take the car to Egypt with us, I would have. Valley of the Kings? Swimming in the Red Sea? Never in a million years would I have imaged doing that.

And even the trip from Baltimore to Kansas City was amazing. I posted a note on North American Motoring, my Mini cyber-home away from home, and was given a big heaping of great ideas to liven up the drive. It would have been easy and boring to hop onto I70 and just zone out, but instead I saw some great country and made some great side trips. Places I would not have gone, and places I’d welcome seeing again.

If my summer had ended there, I’d still have called it a damn fine summer. But after that, I linked up with Mini folks out of Augusta, GA and Columbia, SC, for some social events — which is a big part of being a Mini owner. It seems that no matter where you go, there are other Minis and their owners who are looking for Mini-related events, be it dinner or a spirited drive somewhere. Here’s a photo of me with two other Arts, also Mini owners.

And the Dragon weekend epitomized that. 9 Minis, 48 hours of little sleep and a lot of driving, and some great times. Hauling ass, all over the countryside, just for the sake of driving Minis. En masse. With giant, shit-eating grins cemented on our faces. Yes, the Dragon itself is something to see, but for me, really, it was the weekend that counted the most. Good, good people, and good, good fun. That weekend reinforced for me the belief that being a Mini owner and driver is indeed a very social event for me — and that I would not want it any other way.

So, here I am, six months later, and full of energy over the arrival of a car. Wow. I topped off the tank on post this morning, and now I am just waiting for the kids to get home, so we can see where we can go drive. Maybe I’ll take some pictures; maybe I won’t.

Check fluids?? Checked the tires?

Put a wool blanket in the trunk, along with a few bottles of water?

Have you checked the first aid kit that you keep in the trunk, to see if anything has expired?

You should.? Winter will be here soon.

I love my Mini. I love driving my Mini. And I love my Mini adventures.

I’ve got a running list of adventures that I’ve had in my Mini. It looks something like this:

* Going full throttle on the autobahn
* Driving the Odenwald
* Sunday drives the Black Forest / Schwarzwald
* Driving the Black Forest from end to end
* Driving Poppa Bear Point
* Turning laps on the Nordschleife at the N?rburgring
* Minis in the Alps 2008

And this weekend, I added another one to that list.

I joined 8 others, mostly from the Tar Heel Mini Motoring Club, for a few days of driving through North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and on into Tennessee. The trip was organized by my “brother from another mother”, Paul. He’s a veteran of five trips up to Deal’s Gap, and he organized a great weekend.

The coordination for the trip was ongoing, and it was online. Paul’s plan was to meet Friday night near Asheville, NC, have some dinner and a beer or ten, and stay at the Days Inn. Saturday, we’re make a wandering drive through the countryside, ending at the Dragon and staying at the Fontana Village Resort. Sunday, we’d have some breakfast, drive the Dragon again, and then head out separate ways in order to make it home at a decent hour — some folks had to work this morning.

Friday I popped smoke around noon and started the drive north. Dropping the address of the hotel into Tess’ GPS, she wanted me to head an hour east to Columbia SC and then north on interstate the rest of the way. Well, this was going to be a weekend about the drive, and that wouldn’t do at all. So, I had Tess re-plot a new route — the shortest one possible.

Much better. Much. The new route was almost entirely on 2 lane roads headed through the country side. I took a peak into Greenville, SC, as the only real detour from heading north, stopping to see the city some — no reason, other than it was there. Once I got north of the city, though, the low mountains started to come into sight, and I knew it was going to be a good weekend — the looked like the mountains around where we just were living in Germany.

I was the first to arrive, so i was able to relax and settle in some. We’d only be there the one night, so I kicked off my shoes and relaxed some. Just when I was starting get a little bit hungry, the convoy of 5 Minis from NC arrived.

We turned around and headed into Asheville, figuring we’d find some place to eat. Asheville is a nice, nice little city. I rode with Rudy and Paul, and the two of them told me the history of the founding of the city. Rudy had gone to college nearby, and Paul, having come up that way often enough to drive the Dragon and for work, is in love with the city. We didn’t have a chance to stop off and see the Biltmore Estate, which would be on my list of things to do if Tess were hanging around some more. We walked through the city some — on such a nice evening on a long weekend, everyone was out and about, and parking was limited — and ended up at Tupelo Honey, a nice restaurant with great food, great atmosphere, and great beer, and a wait that was probably less than an hour. I opted for chicken, vice the shrimp with grits that a few people had. Yes, I am not Southern.

(L to R: Frank, me, Paul, Mike, Van)

After dinner, we were teenagers — we stood around the back of a car in the parking lot, drinking beer from 5 liter kegs, using the ubiquitous red cups, and smoking (cigars, because we’re civilized). This weekend was advertised by Paul as being his Tour of Terror, and he was promising to show us a “spirited” drive. There had been much debate on what he meant by spirited — I was hoping it meant good German bier, and I was not disappointed. But other clearly wanted it to mean going fast, and it was that, too. Paul is fast — just look at this photo. He’s that fast.

Saturday was indeed about driving. Here is the actual route we took (it’s in Google Maps). We were assembled and on our way at 0800, in military precision. Eight Minis, 9 people, and not much extra stuff other than a cooler of beer. Paul had laid out this elaborate drive to get there, and I was not disappointed at all. It was fantastic. Easily, any one part of the drive to the Dragon would have been a good day, and we did it all. Without a doubt, my favorite stretch of the road was Wayah Road — it was fantastic. It’s marked in here, my Google Earth file for the trip.

Just driving Wayah Road would have made it a great day. We did so much more than that.

Lunch was at the Sweetwater BBQ, in Robbinsville NC — and the food was out of this world. Somehow I doubt I’ll find BBQ like that in Hawaii or Iraq.

After lunch, it was a good drive up to Highway 129 and Deal’s Gap, the Tail of the Dragon. And let me be clear — we were deep in motorcycle country. It was clear when we arrived at lunch, and there was no doubt, as we got closer to Deal’s Gap, that cars were the minority. I think they cut us some slack — eight Minis is a pretty cool sight. And, well, we drive like the dickens — that helps. We got up to Deal’s Gap, bought goodies and stickers and shirts and stuff, and then made a slow drive out the Tail of the Dragon for orientation and to check for police — who were out in numbers. We stopped at the dam at the far end, and took a group photo. I snuck in a photo of the 300Z guys who had gone before us and gone a little too fast (it’s a 30 mph zone), and they got to meet the TN fuzz.

The Dragon itself is 11 miles. It starts at Deal’s Gap, and goes out along a ridge and then on down to the water. It’s not a lot of changes in altitude, no massive climbs or descents. It’s all turns.

And by turns, I mean 318 of them. In 11 miles.

Is there any wonder why it’s motorcycle country?

The best part, as I see it, is that the route starts in NC and heads into TN, and there is nothing along those 11 miles. No driveways. No intersections. No stop signs. Nothing. Just turns. And since it starts in NC, and since there are very few places to even pull off the road, the only police are from TN, and if you don’t see any on the way out, there won’t be any on the way back in.

But we’d seen some on the way out, so we had a nice, tame drive back in. Once back at Deal’s Gap, we turned left and headed out Hellbender, the stretch of road to Fontana Village where we were staying. Nice, nice place, loaded to the gills with motorcyclists, of course. We dropped bags, changed, had a beer or three and then had some dinner. The Fontana Village is a very nice resort, and the rates were very, very good. And yes, there’s a military discount — always a good sign. There was no free ‘net access in the rooms, and we had drinking to do, so we only loaded and shared photos on thumbdrives, stood outside drinking and telling lies, before we called it a day and headed to bed at a decent hour.

One Mini driver had to head out early, so we were down to seven Minis. Five of us headed out around 7 am, to drive the Dragon and then meet the others for breakfast. The drive out was, um, spirited indeed, and the drive back was, um, terrorizing. On the way back in, I loaded Sara’s camera onto the camera mount in my car, and chaser her the whole way. I’ll link to the video when she posts it — it was awesome.

The driving. Let’s see. I have dynamic stability control on my car; if the front tires are going to break free, the DSC kicks in to get the car back under control (and a light goes off on my control panel). It’s front wheel drive, and those front wheels are getting about 190 horsepower — maybe a little bit more. The car is supercharged, and I’ve replaced the supercharger pulley with a smaller one (for more pressure and more horsepower). The car weighs nothing.

That warning light from the DSC? Yeah, I saw it — a lot. The front tires? Thoroughly abused. The brakes? Needed cooling off time from excessive use. I learned how to torque steer when the ass of the car broke contact with the ground and I’d tripped the DSC at the same time. Ponder that one for a minute.

There are a few photography shops that go out to the Dragon every day and post their photos online. I am waiting for them to do so — I am dying to see them! I’ll link to them later when they go up.

Most made one run on the Dragon Sunday morning, before we had breakfast and before they headed home. Paul and Rudy are known for going fast. I was known for liking pretty roads. They’re the terrorists, I’m the prettiest. Paul and Rudy and I made a second go of it — and it was the slowest, “prettiest” drive on the Dragon, ever. Nice, though. At the far end, we said our goodbyes, and headed our separate ways. Actually, I headed out while they let their brakes cool some more.

I headed for Helen, GA. Why Helen? It’s Bavaria, in Georgia. Really, it is. Spot on tourist reproduction. And there happen to be some amazing routes to get there. It was just me, one Mini driving solo, and I really, really enjoyed the drive. At felt at one with Tess again, and I’d missed that feeling. Once I got out of Helen, though, it was pretty mundane driving (in comparison to the rest of the weekend, I suppose), though it was mostly smaller roads. When it was all done, I was really, really tired. I was asleep by 2000 / 8 pm.

I’ve got two videos from the weekend. The first one is on Google Video and is on the drive getting to the Dragon. It’s filmed with my camera, but a borrowed mount that just didn’t see to want to work with me on finding an angle to see around the damn mirror. The second video is on my server, and it’s in an iPhone-friendly format, just for the cool kids. The second one is actually a good chunk of the Dragon, but I had no idea that that run was going to be soooooo sloooooooow. I ran out of disk space, it was so slow.

I’ve got photos up on my Flickr account, and Sara posted hers, here and SGT Pepper his. I suspect there will be more — like RudyT.

One last topic: How does it compare?

It’s not the N?rburgring. The Dragon is not built for speed. You’ll never hit even 4th gear on the Dragon, when you can wind it out past 100 or 120 mph on the Ring if you know what you’re doing (and are in a capable car). The Dragon is no racetrack, that’s for sure. The Dragon is all turns — which makes for an entirely different experience. But — both the N?rburgring and the Dragon are public roads; the only difference, I suppose, is that the N?rburgring has no speed limit. And it’s car country, without a doubt, while the Dragon isn’t.

It’s not the Alps. Holy crap, it’s not the Alps. Both have lots of turns, but the Dragon slinks along across the spine of a ridge. Lots of small turns. The Alps? Massive changes in altitude, and lots of switchbacks. Granted, the Dragon is 11 miles long, while we did 1100 miles through the Alps. But still. Even if you add in the miles getting to and from the Dragon, there’s no comparison. The area around the Dragon might, at best, qualify as foothills for the Alps. Foothills for the foothills of the Alps. Maybe.

It’s not the Black Forest. It’s close to the Odenwald (here and here). It could easily be Poppa Bear Point Run. The area absolutely reminds me of the area around Annweiler, out west of where I use to live in Baden-W?rttemberg. The Dragon would be an intense section of one of those drives. However — and there’s always one of those — there are a couple of differences. You wouldn’t see cops in the back woods in Germany, unless it was something unusual (I think I saw them once on Poppa Bear Point Run). Also, the roads in Germany were in better shape — this is more clearly shown if you include all of the miles I drove getting to and from the Dragon. Lastly, there are some great, great stretches I use to drive that were maybe wide enough for a car and a half, but were in fact two lane roads. Zippy fast, very smooth, very curvy — and very narrow, with the highest chance of an encounter with a tractor and not another car.

I’d do this weekend again, though — in a heartbeat. Great group. Great drive getting there, especially Saturday. The Dragon itself? Yeah, it’s OK. I got my sticker to put on the car later. But really, it was all of the other driving that made it awesome. I’d move to Wayah Road tomorrow if I could. I am glad that we had that one, um, aggressive run on Sunday morning, and I am dying to see Sara’s video of how I was driving. But really, it was great time spent in my beloved Tess Turbo, doing what we do best. I wish the kids had been with me, too — they’ve have gotten a kick out of it.

Oh, and as thanks for putting it all together, I bought Paul something pretty for his Mini. He’s a Dragon Slayer, and a Lady Killer.

Very likely, I will end up dropping it off in Atlanta. So, I figured I would look at taking the train back to Augusta.

Oh, wait. Amtrak doesn’t go from Atlanta to Augusta. It goes from Atlanta to Denmark, CS — about 50 miles away.

WTF? Do not want to go to SC. Want to go to Augusta.

I could fly — for $450. I’m scared to see what renting a car — one way — would cost me.

I do have some friends in Atlanta — I may have to ask them for the favor of a lift back home. Ugh, though — that’d be 4 hours on the road for them.

One serious issue? Rims.

They’re on everything. Seriously, that’s a Rolls Royce sporting giant, out of control rims.

I’m taking a lot of photos of a lot of cars with crazy rims. Feel free to follow along, here. As the summer grows longer, so too will the list of cars with rims that I photograph.

Better than seeing a cop back there....

$62,000.

And as I was passing this car, creeping by at 72 miles per hour, one single thought crossed my mind.

This guy is never going to drive this car faster than 100 km/h. OK, maybe, but really, he bought this car knowing that the speed limit in America was going to keep him from really driving it.

So, I have to wonder: In this land of speed limits, does it make any sense to have a car like that, if there’s no chance to ever fully utilize it? (And yes, I see the irony in asking, given that I drive just such a car myself.)