Edge

If you're converting directly from non-compressed (e.g. CD) source material to play on your iPod, I highly recommend you convert to AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) instead of MP3. It's a far superior format, better quality sound than MP3, and no, it isn't a proprietary Apple format. It's a standard, just like MP3, and many devices support it, not those from Apple (not as many support AAC as MP3 though, that is true). It's a newer format that was designed specifically to be the successor to MP3, to the point that it is even stated as such by MP3's creator, Fraunhofer IIS.

Just to clarify... R53 JCW BBK, sure. R56 JCW BBK... probably not (maybe... but I doubt it).

HAH! Have you ever tried to do that? I've slept in the car before (driver's seat, leaned back). Miserable. But I know you were just joking around. Heh - no problem... my reputation is well deserved! :sleep:

As others have noted, CD-TEXT (aka CD+TEXT) is an update to the standard CD Audio format that has the wonderful benefit of storing the artist, album name and song titles. I have long been a fan of this feature (since the late 90s), but unfortunately the feature is not well supported by CD player hardware nor by the music publishing companies. It takes both a CD formatted in the CD-TEXT format and a CD-TEXT-supporting CD player in order to take advantage of the feature. Fortunately, there are many options these days when burning your own audio CDs (for personal use, naturally) to add the CD-TEXT features on the fly. Audiophile properly alluded to this in his earlier post. I should note that if you are an Apple iTunes user, it's VERY easy to create your own CD-TEXT audio CD from your own collection. When you go to burn a selected playlist to an audio CD, simply check the "Include CD Text" checkbox, and Voila! it will do it for you using the album, artist and track names you have in your iTunes library. In fact, if you're burning a regular audio CD, there's really no reason not to include the CD Text! Unfortunately iTunes does not automatically read CD-TEXT when importing an audio CD, but I know that scripts do exist out there to help grab that info from a CD-TEXT compatible CD. In most cases though, the Gracenote CDDB (on the Internet) fills in the names anyway.

There are two primary impacts of the Sport button, as I understand it: Steering response Throttle response ...the MINI's suspension is not electronic, so the handling is not directly affected, although it may feel that way with the change in steering response.

LOL... yep. Planned ahead. I know how nuts the traffic jam can be to get onto the field before the Panoramic Photo, and as one of the line captains I didn't want to have to argue with folks to let me through when I showed up... so I parked on the field (at the back of the field, to leave room for line markings) late the night before. Glad I did, too. It didn't stop Barry from teasing me on the radio... at ~9:10am, he said on the radio that I was too late, that they had over 100 cars on the field already, and that I'd have to be in the 3rd row. This was a few minutes before I showed up. I didn't take the bait though, I knew he must be messing with me since the photo was published as starting at 10:30am. I played along in a calm voice: "Oh, really? That's strange, I figured that being almost 90 minutes early would be sufficient. Oh well, stuff happens"... minutes later I show up and only the line captain's cars are on the field. Hah! I knew it! Nice try though, Barry! Clearly he knows me and my "morning struggles" well too. :angel:

Woohoo! I hope they all have a blast! 4 people crammed into one MINI... that should create some interesting post-hunt stories. Chinese fire drill, anybody?

I agree, and I wouldn't have done that... but MINI does offer that Union Jack mirror cap themselves, so technically it's probably still an OEM part. I agree that it takes away from the overall classic look of the GP though. If I had a GP, I'd have been much less likely to do anything to it (mind you, some people have teased me that I have almost made my own GP by now. Hah! Not quite - too heavy).

Nope - the R53 GP came with the same OEM tow hook as the rest of us. That GP owner probably just bought one in the aftermarket. Or... that could just be a tow hook license plate mount.

All 2nd Gen MINIs have a Sport button. The 1st Gens don't, but as I like to say... that's because they are ALWAYS in sport mode!

...you mean Coupé ads. They are good ones though! :top:

I was going to say... just don't drink Starbucks in your car. What's more important to you - drinking your coffee on the go, or keeping your ride clean and unstained? Problem solved (with the date's coffee too). Drink at the Starbucks, then go! And bottled water, with a screw top, is a fine solution for those who want water. Again, screw-top bottled drinks can solve that. :top: In any case, I realize I'm in the minority here and not helping the conversation, so I'll butt out now. I just couldn't resist chiming in. :angel:

I really hope that everyone finds the solution they are looking for. However, I'm of the strong opinion that drinking (or eating) in the car is simply bad, and I don't like to do it nor do I allow it for passengers, with the sole exception of drinks that have a screwtop lid. Interesting fact... the day I took delivery of my MINI from the dealer (03/01/05), I brought a screwdriver with me. Why? Because I wanted the dangblasted ugly extra downtube-mounted cupholder gone from my MINI before I even drove it. I literally sat there in the service bay and took it off the car before I even drove off the lot! Just a different viewpoint. Happy cupholding! :top:

I'm no classing coordinator but the rules seem pretty clear to me. In the Showroom class, it says "Aftermarket Front Strut Bar Permitted" but under Sway Bars it specifically says "Stock". I interpret this to mean as any sway bar other than the one that came from the factory automatically bumps you into Tuner class. Since the rear sway bar is one of the most common and basic mods to do to a MINI, most of us in the club who autocross fall into this category, and therefore most of us run in Tuner 2.

In the interest of maintaining a peaceful decorum here, I'm going to have to ask that the "legality" issue be dropped now. Beau has clearly proven that his is not an open-and-shut case of law breaking, so let it go, people! If this thread doesn't return to the topic of window tinting, and quickly... it will be closed.

It looks like the negative feedback worked, and they took the video down. "The video you have requested is not available"

LOL - STRKRS (i.e. "starkers") has a completely different meaning! :laugh:

Just remember that it's only valid at the Tyson's location (Route 7, between Rt 66 and 495).

Yep, they were only attached with masking tape, so no fuss, no muss. I was surprised that he was double booted though.

I have no idea what any of you are talking about. :angel:

Ali - the MINI FINI Sport Link, which is the basis of all of the MINI FINI attachments, looks like a pair of machine guns out the back of the rear bumper. I'm sure you've seen them on a number of MINIs before. I have them on mine but I also have black covers on them (when I'm not using them) so they are less noticeable. Sorry, no pic handy right this minute but I can send you one if nobody else posts one soon.

Yep! The MINI FINI stuff is top notch quality, too. The darn things are rated as Class 3! (up to 5,000 lb)... of course the MINI itself can't handle that much tow weight, but it speaks volumes as to how well built the MINI FINI stuff is.

Oh no, that's terrible! Even if Bender is out for MOTD, I hope that Jennifer & Jim are able to get a MINI loaner car and come to MOTD anyway while repairs are done. Was this in TN or still in VA? Also, what lane was the pothole in? (Lane 1 = far left). There will be a LOT of people in MINIs driving down I-81S over the next 5 or 6 days - I encourage posting of all of these pothole details on MA & NAM too.

There's a very good chance that you'll be in the S2 class then. Many of us will be happy to take a closer look at Lola to see if you have any mods that bump you into T2, but it's unlikely. However, some simple mods, such as a sway bar, automatically bump you into Tuner!

It depends on what mods you've done to the car. To start off, you need to determine which "Group" you are in. Since you drive a Cooper S, you are in Group 2. Then, you need to determine which class you are in. That depends entirely on what mods you have done to your car. Some mods are considered minor enough that you would be in Showroom Class, for a final class code of S2 in your case. However, there are many mods which automatically bump you to "Tuner" class, which would put you in T2 class. Finally, the people who really went nuts and did all kinds of very serious mods to their car... go into the "Modified" class. They don't even bother with the groups at that point (i.e. it doesn't matter what kind of car you have), so that class code is just M. The full list of rules on the classing can be found here: NCC Community - Autocross Classes