Before you begin, I’ll warn you now that I did manage to go pretty long with this. There are also quite a few pictures (all link back to flickr) so if you are on a slow connection it might take a bit to load.

LAX To London

First time on a 747. What a beast!

Of course, the geek in me had to cruise over to the Boeing site to get all the specs. These planes are large and fast! A great combination for long haul flights. Heading north from LA to catch the jet stream, ground speed was about 550mph. Once we were riding the stream, ground speed increased to over 600MPH! Quick tip for future reference; If the money can be spent, upgrade out of coach. Trust me on this one.

Meet up with Todd and his wife, drive to Oxford

Tired and hot (temp was almost 30C in London on Tuesday), I finally arrive at our hotel in London after what I can only describe as the craziest taxi ride ever! I never rode in a passenger car before and wanted a helmet and Nomex driving suit. To my drivers credit, it wasn’t really him. It was just as much everyone else. Cut-off or be cut-off I’m sure is the mantra there.

We finally got checked in and climbed into our Cooper D for the trip to the plant. I’ve already posted that if you want more detail, but it was cool! So was the Cooper D. Man, I would so buy and drive this car.

The next day we had to ourselves, so a little bit of sightseeing was definitely in order. We started out turning left out of the hotel, which really should have been a right! So, we did a bit of walking, saw some funny signs and ate a proper English breakfast, which included beans and toast, a great cup of coffee and sausage. Yes, of course we even went through Harrods. This place was huge! Taking up a very large city block and 6 stories tall, there was definitely something for everyone. I was expecting to see nothing but really high end items here. Of course, I wasn’t disappointed. But there were also items like any other large department store would have, with prices to match (not counting the 2:1 BPS to US Dollar, of course).

London to Amsterdam

This time on an Airbus 318, in single class configuration. What a great flight. Glass smooth from start to finish, and it was even on time! Navigating Heathrow from the Tube was an interesting experience, a long walk but very easy to do. One thing I would like to point out that was nice about London and Holland was the public transportation system. It was amazingly easy to get anywhere, and not too expensive either! If you are ever over there, don’t be afraid of the train!

Once we got ourselves checked at the hotel, Todd and I headed up to the event site in Zandvoort. Again, an easy train ride and a short walk and we were there. Of course, it would be the last time we made that trip in this manner because we got the keys to a MY/B R56 MCS. Yes, it even had nav. More on the R56 later, but it was great!

Everything was ready to go with lots of black shirt event staff running through final checks and training.

We met out man Oliver, he got us to our tent to check it out, we left a few things behind and decided to call it a day at the site. Gabe had just gotten into town after a very long drive from Munich, and it was time to eat.

MINI United, Day 1

Before we could get started, we had to finish setting up the tent. Once that was done, we had a full day! Interviews were already lined up with Mike Cooper and Rauno Aaltonen. Little did we know that we would also get the chance to meet Gert Hildebrand too!

We did a little walking around before the interviews, snapped a bunch of pictures and talked to a whole bunch of people. The crowd was growing by the minute, even with the threat of rain.

You’ll hear in the background of the interviews a steady beat. There was music playing from the main stage all day, and it really added to the overall energy of the event, even during the day!

Download the interview with Rauno

Download the interview with Mike Cooper.

MINI United, Day 2

Day 2 brought track time with the R56 and more interviews. I have come to the realization that I really like the R56 on the track! It helped that it was an old F1 course, wide corners that carried as much speed as I was allowed (stupid pace car). I’ll be doing another write-up of my thoughts on the r56 later and go into more detail, but I really did like this car.

Todd got some laps too, and I think he is almost converted to like it! Like Shatner baby! WOOOOOO

Later in the day we interviewed Gert Hildebrand and Dr. Kay Segler. Again, 2 more awesome guys to meet and talk with, especially Gert! He was hilarious and kept giving Gabe a hard time about how much he hated the factory Aero kit and how many comments were left about it on Motoringfile. Yes, they read MF! Listen to Whiteroofradio too! That was very cool to hear.

We saw more cool MINIs and talked to more event goers. Heck, Todd and Gabe even took advantage of the prices of accessories during the event to come home with a little extra som’ som’ for their MINIs! Even with the conversion, the JCW Steering wheel was still a fantastic deal!

Download interview with Gert

Download interview with Dr. Kay

MINI United at Night: We make party!

Part of what MINI United is would have to be the party. Under the main tent, hot DJ’s, cool drinks as pretty people as far as the eye can see moving and swaying to the beats and the floor. It was incredible.

Of course, we all took advantage, different nights to different degrees. I’m just going to leave it at that. And I’ll cop to the fact that I missed my flight on Monday. Hey, it wasn’t my fault! There was Tequila envolved.

Day 3

Day 3 started off pouring rain, which allowed us to pick up a hitch hiking Mike Cooper! He was walking from his hotel saw us and stuck out his thumb. It was great!

Then, more pictures, talking with more event goers. We got some great audio for the show and you should start seeing the rest of it over the next few days.

Sunday night finished with a dinner and reception that MINI USA put on. Dinner at Fifteen, an autographed copy of the MINI Book by Rauno, a great meal and maybe 1 too many cocktails after. It was a great time and awesome to hang out with everyone!

Thanks have to go to MINI for inviting us, Oliver for putting up with our crap (such divas I swear!), MINIUSA for getting us rooms and inviting us along on their outtings and all of the WRR/MF fans that stopped by to say hi! It was great to meet all of you.

If you want to go back and check any of our coverage…

• My MU Flickr
• Gabe’s MU Flickr
• the MINI United Flickr Pool
• MINI United on Motoringfile
• MINI United on WRR
• the MINI United Blog

It was a fantastic event and I can’t wait until ’09! If you know what is special about that year, I’m sure you can figure out what might be in the works for MINI United as well as a possible location. That’s all you get, the rest is up to you!

You see, this is Oliver Seebach. By far the hardest working man at MINI United 2007. He was Mr. All-Go-no-quit!

He is finishing up his thesis at University and has developed a poll. Some of you have seen it over at Motoringfile a few weeks ago, and some of you took it. Those of you that, thanks!

But Oliver is still a few responses short of what he needs and German responses are outnumbering the US responses 2 to 1!

So, if you have an extra 10 or 15 minutes, it would be great if you could click the link below and take the survey. I know Oliver would appreciate it!

Club and Community Survey

I’m still working on the MU write up. It’s amazing how far behind you get when you are gone for a week. Check back later in the week for it!

Of course there are pictures too!

Check them all out over at the MU Group as well!

You can see them all over at the MU Flickr Group

More here

Todd drove all that way from London to Oxford. We never got lost, missed a turn or anything! It was awesome.

Upon arriving in Oxford, the spotted the MINI Plant straight away. Well, not so much a plant as a facility, with many buildings on the grounds, performing a myriad of duties. But there was only one building we were interested in, and that’s where they build the MINIs!

We met Becky at the front entrance who got us our badges. We then followed her to the factory building. At this point we were giving the spiffy black lab coats and asked to cover our jewelery. We chatted for a few minutes before being met by NIgel who would conduct our tour.

Something that we weren’t expecting for this tour was the ability to take pictures. I was under the impression that the factory was strictly off-limits to cameras, but then again we did have journalist passes and they said it was ok to take pictures.

The tour lasted at least an hour, with Nigel showing us how everything worked in great detail. I was amazed at how clean everything was, and quiet! All of the tools that are used in this section of the factory are electric, either DC or battery powered. There are only a few departments were air tools are used, but not in this building. Also, all of the robots and overhead trolleys were self powered, instead of getting power from one main source. And each of those machines was extremely quiet.

Another thing that was interesting was the build process itself. Each MINI is individually built with parts that were created or assembled specifically for each car. Doors, wheels, windscreens and even electrical harnesses were all clearly marked and bar-coded with their intended vehicles build number.

Each car is scanned in at each station as well as a check, and again at the end of the line for a final quality check. At that point, they are making sure that each car has the correct options. As you would expect, the drivers and passenger door are one of the last items installed to allow easy access to the interior. The final piece of the MINI that is installed, even after they put in all of the fluids, is the door glass. After that, it’s a touch of Petrol, a final quality check and if the MINI passes, off to await transportation.

Once we finished the tour, we got the drive around the facility tour before meeting with the Head of Quality and the Communications director for a little more Q&A. The energy and level of commitment that they had, that everyone we met had, was infectious! It’s no wonder the MINI is as great a car as it is. The people were amazing.

We’ve finally made it to Amsterdam! Already checked out the MINI United site and started setting up a bit. The whole thing starts today so it should be very exciting!

Check back for completely audio of the tour later. You can see all of the pictures from the tour here

Did I mention the pictures? db’s flickr.

So far so good. The Cooper D was awesome! You’ll have to check the audio for that over at WRR.

The plant tour was also great! Everyone was super nice and gave more information than we know what to do with. There will be audio and pictures sometime tomorrow, plus a full write up, so keep an eye out for that too!

From there, Todd, his lovely wife and myself will cruise out to Oxford in a MINI Cooper D for a tour of the plant and some lunch. Then, it’s back to London for what I’m sure will be some much needed rest before spending the day Wednesday sightseeing.

Thursday we’re off to Amsterdam! We’ll be meeting up with Gabe here and making sure everything is good to go. Friday starts the event and we’ll be covering it as best we can. Keep an eye on Whiteroofradio for audio updates, the Flickrs (mine, Gabe’s and of course the MINI United Group) for pictures and the MU Blog and Motoringfile for the words and video if we do that.

With all the hub-bub, there will not a be a regularly scheduled Woofcast this week either. As I mentioned at the end of our last interview with Shawn Ticehurst, we’re just a bit on the busy side to get together. Don’t worry, we’re going to be posting so much next week your head will spin! Well, ok, maybe not spin, but we’ll be posting quite a bit. If you would like to wish us well, punch up the WRR Voicemail line at (206) 33-WHITE. We’d like to do a voicemail show while in Amsterdam, so ring us up with your questions, comments or whatever and we’ll get it played!

Until London…

Have you seen seen the program yet? Man, there is some seriously cool stuff going on! Less than 2 weeks to go (I know, barely), and I’m getting pretty excited.

Are you going? You can comment here if you like. Or, better yet, leave a comment over at Ian’s blog instead. And when you do get there, be sure to come by the WRR “Hospitality Zone” (not sure where that is on the map yet) and say hi!

I’ve got my list of stuff to bring, have all of my cables in order. I still need to get a power adapter and upgrade my flight so I don’t get stuck in coach for 10 hours. Oh yea, and I have to organize my new backpack to make sure all my gear will fit comfortably in it.

I really can’t wait!

db:ok….how many minis with lambo doors are doing to be at MU?

jSchwa:7

db:whoa

j:that’s pretty strong

j:it’s those crazy russians

db:hmmmm..maybe a dbmini poll might be in order

j:you give ‘em a little capitalism, next thing you know they’re putting lambo doors on everything

db:lol

j:on ladas, on yugos, even on donkeys

db:lambo doors on donkeys?

j:they’re non functional

What about you, the fine reader of the dbmini.us? What do you think we can expect to see (and, of course, take pictures of) while at MINI United? How many cars with lambo doors? Odd/cool/different body work? Out-of-control stereo systems? Painted arches that aren’t the same color of the body? Anything. Predict away and I’ll be sure to keep the list handy while I’m there to get pictures of the coolest and weirdest MINIs I see.

Only 2 more weeks too until I head out. Yea, ok, now I might be a little excited.

Oh yea, in case you missed the links (I’ll get ‘em on the sidebar soon enough).

• the MINI United Blog – Gabe already has 2 posts up.
• The MINI United Flickr Group
• MINI United.com for all the info you need.