Bacon Sarnie MINI Meet, The Mill Pond Castlemorton 3rd March 2013
It has taken a while for the car events to get going for us in 2013 but finally we have the first one under our belt, a Sunday morning meet for a bacon sandwich by the side of the Mill Pond at Golden valley, Castlemorton. Continue reading
With a 1000 miles under his belt, SilverBeast has earned his laurels, which he now shares with his brothers ClubBeast and CooperBeast. Another 1000 miles and he will earn the coveted roof coloured A panels already sported by CooperBeast and ClubBeast.
The Cooper Laurels and the coloured A- panel, then are badges of honour, proof of a journey undertaken – the rite of passage from boy to adolescent to man. A true rite of passage has three distinct features; separation, transition and re-incorporation.
SilverBeast has spent his first 1000 miles of life separated from his brothers CooperBeast and ClubBeast by uniform. He has been naked and unadorned. At 500 miles he got his union jack flag badges and after 1000 miles he began to wear his laurels. Now, with an engine run in he is an adolescent. He is in transition, learning how to wield his strength and after 2000 miles the transition will be complete and he will be reincorporated into the fold as an equal and proudly wearing his coloured A-panels to prove his status.
Loud and proud, SilverBeast has been given his number!
At Beastie Folly all of the MINIs that have been in our stable have carried the “beast” name – CooperBeast, CheckBeast, ClubBeast and now SilverBeast. Before we got SilverBeast there were a few names thrown into the hat such as PeaBeast or CoupeBeast, but when he finally came these just did not seem right. A name from the past kept subliminally flashing into my mind, until staring at him, it suddenly crashed to the front of my mind – SilverBeast and instantly both Peanut and me knew that this was the right name. Continue reading
We have now had our MINI Coupe John Cooper Works – SilverBeast – for just over two weeks and the Honeymoon is continuing.
Yesterday we washed him for the first time. It was just a quick wash, rinse and dry down but it was a very rewarding experience. Washing the roof, running the sponge over its surface was a delightful tactile experience and the teardrop shape of the roof became very apparent while doing this. It really was fun and it served to reinforce the bonding process. Continue reading
We picked up our JCW MINI Coupe – SilverBeast – one week ago, so we thought it was time we put down a few of our thoughts on the car. This isn’t a TopGear or EVO style appraisal of the car’s performance, its strengths or its weaknesses as such reviews are all over the web. This is just a few thoughts put down in a rambling manner from a couple of middle aged adventurers who are delighted to have this machine in their lives. Continue reading
When we ordered SilverBeast we specced the Harmon Kardon Hi Fi upgrade and the Media Pack. The Media Pack gave us MINI Connected and I have to say that we just love this option. I’m sure the novelty will wear off but we love the car talking to us and having the engine telling me when it is warm, I find genuinely helpful. The ability to find a location on our Mac at home and then send it to the car is also a delight to use and cuts out all that messing about at the start of a trip setting up the Sat Nav. We found this video very helpful too in pointing us at some of the things MINI Connected will do.
Falling In Love With The JCW Coupe
We first saw the MINI Coupe when it was released as a concept car back in 2009 and it was an instant hit with us. The car became a reality in 2011 and in truth it was pretty close to the original concept and we first saw this in Liverpool when it was launched in October 2011. However, the car we saw was a Cooper S in red and to be frank we were less than smitten. The car looked gauche and gawky, it lacked balance and in truth we went off the car big time. Continue reading
CooperBeast Gets a New Driver!
“CooperBeast is an October 2002 build Mini Cooper in Chili red with a white roof, which we got from new at the start of November 2002.
He is a very special car to us as really the whole car enthusiasm and interest really kicked in when we got this car. MINI is more than just a car it is a whole way of life with a whole MINI scene attached. In recognition of this and the special place this car has in our hearts it is our intention to never sell CooperBeast – truly he is family”. Continue reading
AutoBeast 