NorCal MINIs (and your local club)

Discussion in 'Cooper SE' started by endquote, Jan 30, 2022.

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  1. endquote

    endquote Active Member

    I'm in San Francisco and found the local NorCal MINIs club to be fun and friendly. I joined them on their recent run which was their biggest ever, about 60 MINIs showed up to drive up and down some twisty mountain roads. However I was the only SE and it would have been nice to have some company.

    So this post is to encourage others in NorCal to join the club and go on the next run to Sacramento in Feb, or find your local club and represent the SEs.

    Is anyone else participating in a local club? How's it going?

    endquote-norcalmini-jan.jpeg
     
    h-dogg, insightman, wessy and 3 others like this.
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  3. revorg

    revorg Well-Known Member

    http://www.wisconsinminis.org/
    We've done some fun drives, held an 'ask the chief mechanic", a spring cleaning clinic, a couple of food drives, and some karting. Unfortunately, our drives have been a bit too long for an SE (I logged 280 miles on one before going electric). I'll keep lobbying for short drives.
     
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  4. GvilleGuy

    GvilleGuy Well-Known Member

    I joined my local club, yet there has not been one Mini run where my SE could handle the range. I am near the mountains in SC, so the Mini enthusiasts here do mostly mountain drives where it would use one half to all of my battery just getting to the starting point.
     
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  5. endquote

    endquote Active Member

    That's been the case for my runs too, but there have been chargers available on both ends of the runs. I just leave early to get a charge in before the run starts, and do another in order to get home. It does make for a longer day for sure!
     
  6. Teddydogno1

    Teddydogno1 Active Member

    Good idea! I checked out my local club website and they have an SE on their home page! https://www.ssmini.org/

    Rob
     
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  8. Puppethead

    Puppethead Well-Known Member

    I've been wanting to join Minnesota United MINIs but alas, like many groups has become Facebook-centric so I'm unable to join or even see what's going on. And they also have runs that are too long for SEs. I wonder if starting EV MINI chapters is warranted.
     
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  9. MichaelC

    MichaelC Well-Known Member

    The SE is my first MINI, so I joined the Kansas City Mini Enthusiasts club shortly after taking delivery.

    I have participated in 3 club drives so far. The longest one was nearly 200 miles, but had a relatively convenient DC fast charger near one of the rally points. While the group was eating lunch, I went to the fast charger. The other 2 drives were short enough that I didn't need to worry about range. There has been at least one drive I skipped because it went too far out of town with no fast chargers along the way.

    The club has gained a couple more SEs since then. It'll be fun to see more of them on drives.
     
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  10. ghost

    ghost Active Member

    CA just had a photo shoot today in Pasadena w 125 minis. Too far for me, but would be cool to have an SE group. I live off of Ortega Hwy, which is a curvy 2-lane hwy always hosting car and moto caravans.
     
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  11. endquote

    endquote Active Member

    I did the Sacramento run yesterday with @Godfrey and around 40 other MINIs. Got lots of questions about the SE, power spoke wheels, licenseplatewrap, and more.

    Part of why I've been going to these is to get more comfortable with the car outside of the city. The last one got me feeling better about handling twisty mountain roads at speed ("go kart handling"), and this one helped with range anxiety. I used 65% on the 75mi "spirited" run, charged back up and used 68% on the 96mi highway trip home (with AC on).

    One of the club leaders did a fun video of us all parked at the end.

     
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  13. LaurieS

    LaurieS Active Member

    9220DB2C-3B0C-48EA-9E9F-DAD18A925626.jpeg 0BB765C6-7E88-4B0B-8691-8520B92C564C.png Been a member of the KC MINI Enthusiasts since 2005. We did a drive today that was SE friendly in distance. My first event with the SE. There are 3 SEs that I know of in the club. 2 of them were on the drive of 16 today. Me and MichaelC representing!
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2022
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  14. MichaelC

    MichaelC Well-Known Member

    I should have coordinated with you to get a proper Rule #1E picture.
    IMG_0835.JPG
    Last year's version of this event was my first club drive with my SE. Hopefully we'll add another one (or two!) for next year's drive to keep up the tradition. ;)
     
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  15. LaurieS

    LaurieS Active Member

    I should have as well. Oh well, next time for sure. I was just so excited to be out and about with all the MINI folks I guess I lost my mind for a bit. The whole drive was a big rule #1! :D
     
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  16. endquote

    endquote Active Member

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  17. Puppethead

    Puppethead Well-Known Member

    That looks like a perfect SE run, I'm envious!
     
  18. Not enough range for my local club.
     
  19. drdunkyn

    drdunkyn Well-Known Member

    And...REGISTERED! This run looks perfect. Should have no problem leaving and returning to home on 1 charge. This was my old stomping grounds when I lived in Oakland, this is a great route. Only slightly PTSD-ing, the last fun run was with the BMW CCA into the Sierras when my 240i's engine blew. We hadn't even gotten to the fun stuff, but the runs before were extremely "spirited", I'll look forward to what the MINI runs are like ;). I suspect they'll be a bit tamer.
     
    Last edited: Apr 12, 2022
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  20. endquote

    endquote Active Member

    Today’s run with NorCal MINIs was fun! Round trip was 86mi for me, I used 57%.
     
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  21. Rexsio

    Rexsio Well-Known Member

    First time in 5 month parking next to SE in Staten Island New York and only SE I ever seen in 5 month here once I own a car. FB5A2C70-DD02-4166-BD2B-F4F986D2F598.jpeg
     
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  22. drdunkyn

    drdunkyn Well-Known Member

    Good to meet you today, Sir! Pretty tame drive (thanks to the heavy bike/car/pedo traffic), but fun! Between you and I was a limited edition Paddy, didn't realize it until we finished, because I'm MINI-ignorant. Also, it was interesting to see your brake-lights the entire time, as that has been a point of contention for the SE. Despite our windy roads, your lights reflected everything that I would expect from any other responsible driver. Good times!
     
  23. endquote

    endquote Active Member

    Oh, I'm ignorant too! I thought it was just customized. Super cool.

    Nice video, I didn't realize you were the one with the FitCamX or I would've checked it out. I should have mine wired up for the next run!
     

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