NorCal MINIs (and your local club)

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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?

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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.
 
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.
 
revorg said:
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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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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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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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!
 
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LaurieS said:
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!
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I should have coordinated with you to get a proper Rule #1E picture.
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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. ;)
 
MichaelC said:
should have coordinated with you to get a proper Rule #1E picture.
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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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For the NorCal folks, the Easy Bay run on May 1 looks to be very SE-friendly. From SF I think I can do the whole round-trip without a charge.

Sounds like it will be a twisty route but pretty slow because of cyclists and such on the road.

@drdunkyn @Ketos @Greencarguy @Sean Greene @Godfrey
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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.
 
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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.
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Today’s run with NorCal MINIs was fun! Round trip was 86mi for me, I used 57%.
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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!
 
drdunkyn said:
a limited edition Paddy, didn't realize it until we finished, because I'm MINI-ignorant
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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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