Race for the Prize

Today, at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Rory had his first track day. It was a fundraiser for the Speedway Children's Fund. About 15 members of SCMini Club met up this morning at Beach Cafe for breakfast and then we convoyed up to the Speedway. We actually had only 14 cars, including one Countryman, but there was another lady in a MINI that just showed up on her own, so they directed her to where we were staging. There was also a small contingent of Smart cars. They ended up lining us up behind them for the laps. There was a pace car, then the Smarts, then the MINIs. It was fun. We only got up to about 84 mph, but it was slightly disorienting to be on the track as it is on a slant. Once we got up to speed, it was pretty good. We were spaced far enough apart that there really was no sense of competition, it was just a fun run.

Strangely Donovan, from Desert MINI, was driving the Countryman with a ladder sticking out from its sun roof. He also had a framed painting in the boot. He said he wanted to have something go around the track that had never gone around the track before.

As we waited to be lined up in our lanes, we did the usual checking out of each others' cars and catching up with those we haven't seen in a while. I was glad I made myself get out of bed this morning. It was iffy there for a while. It's been a long time since I made it to any club events. Usually they are really early in the morning on weekends, or early on weekdays when I'm not back from work yet. Rory really needed to get out on a trip that didn't involve work or running errands. And now he's fitting right in with the other Minis, motoring veterans and newbie's alike.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Starbucks