[eltel]

MINI haha (homage to Longfellow)
MINI School (rather poor way of associating miniscule)
MINI Crew

[brisoz2002]

Quote:

Originally posted by jasemini
BRISBANE MINI PILOTS (can also be used in other areas ie: Sydney Mini Pilots etc...)
MINI FLIGHT CREW
BRISBANE COOPER CLUB
QUEENSLAND MINIACS
QUEENSLAND MINI SYNDROME
MINI-ITIS
NEW MINI CAR CLUB
BRIS-MINIS
REDANDWHITEMINISARETHEBEST CAR CLUB
??????????

Jase

The Miniacs appeal to my sick sense of humour so for my 2 bob's worth....how about

Queensland Cooper Miniacs

that way we incorporate the 2 Models and all us maniacs.

cheers guys.....Neil

[swamos]

If we use a name with Cooper in it, what do we do if MINI bring in the One at some point in the future??

What about...

2MINI Club

[AussieMini]

The One will never be brought out here.

[brisoz2002]

Quote:

Originally posted by AussieMini
The One will never be brought out here.

That was impression too Danny

cheers.....Neil

[LUV2MINI]

I quiet like QLD Miniacs
what about
Mini-serious
Mini-E Club

[CooPz]

At the risk of sounding 'basilish' hehe, maybe we should concentrate on having the child before we worry about naming the child? So far we haven't even discussed what everyone is in favour of, starting a new club joining an old club joining the BMW club as a division of them, etc.

I don't want to turn up to this meeting next week with none of us having any concensus on what we hope to achieve, maybe we should all discuss now what we hope to get out of, and give back to a club, I know for some it's just to protect ourselves so we can keep doing what we do 'having fun' for others it's a whole social thing, for yet more it's a powertrip(no names mentioned but you know and so do we who you are) So lets get it out in the open and chat about what we want. Please?

[jasemini]

Yes indeed we need to discuss a common goal and directive for our new club. I am all for a NEW mini club.
What do I feel our club could offer BMW in return for their support?
Firstly we would welcome prospective buyers the chance to experience the MINI in a different environment to the dealership test drive as invited guests & passengers on our MINI runs. Secondly we could offer our support by attending and displaying our cars at fuctions and events held by BMW dealers. We'd could also use the dealerships as meeting and start points for our monthly runs, a bunch of gleaming MINI's and happy owners has got to make a dealership look good on a Saturday or Sunday morning. Links to dealers websites on our site. We could rotate these links monthly to keep all dealers who offer support happy.

What would we want from BMW in the way of support?
Financial support in the form of insurance premiums and asisstance in start up costs. Invites to driver training and track days. Regular publicity in their dealer newsletters. MINI merchandise like Flags or Banners to put up at our runs when we have picnics in parks etc. A place to hold our monthly meetings, the dealerships have already offered this.

What do I want from a Club?
The chance to meet people who share my passion for NEW MINI's. The chance to go on runs and outings with those people. To learn more about my car and to enhance my driving skills through driver training and track days. To have fun with my car.

What I DON"T want from a Club
To be frowned upon because my car is not the pure version of a classic car or the poor cousin to a luxury car. To be involved with people in a club who act in a manner that is unacceptable to the majority of the group or the public. To be involved in a club that experiences political in-fighting, backstabbing or power trips. A club that gets too large and then becomes less personal. Imagine trying to organize 100 minis on a run? what a nightmare, too much work required.

I also propose a 100 member limit to our club with annual reviews of this number based on applications. I propose an initial membership fee of $100 which would inlcude a cap and a shirt. (we could produce these for less than $50 combined) The annual renewal of membership should be $50. Our Annual Insurance costs should be covered by one of the BMW Dealers and in return for this they would get an online banner on our site and we would fly their flags and or banners (supplied by them) at any of our outdoor picnics or shows. I would also happily combine with the classic MINI clubs if there were car shows of sorts on at Southbank or local fairs etc, as long as we can operate BBQ's etc for fundraising. These may be issues that I'm thinking of far too much in advance but they need to be considered.

Should we have a get together somewhere to discuss these, I know Danny had his breakfast last Sunday but perhaps we need to do it again prior to next Wednesday.

Cheers
Jase

[CooPz]

Jasemini, you don't say much worth listening to, but when you do damn you are articulate! I agree with 99% of what you have there so I won't bother retyping all of that again.

Most people know my views, I want to be able to keep doing what we have been doing under the safegaurd of an insured club, I have no interest in becoming member 500 of another club as to be honest I am more interested in hanging out with the great bunch of people I have met here.

and I agree lets keep the political stuff for the home, I don't want anyone to feel left out, we're all equals with equal value and opinions. Some soft spoken people will get railroaded if we don't all L I S T E N.

Thanks again Jase, well put.
J

Anyone else?

[jasemini]

AAAWWW GEEE COOPZ, thanks for the compliments but no I still wont sleep with you, speaking of which if I don't split and grab the MRS I'll be knocking at your door.

Cheers

[brisoz2002]

Well.....my 2 bobs worth again (the mention of the old currency dates me know).

I guess we have all been members of some sort of club before, be it sporting, community or whatever, and seen the divisions that can occur, and so I am quite content with what we have. A nice group of people drawn together with one common thread, who love their Coopers and like to socialise with likeminded people.

A few points raised already escape me. Why do we need to be so heavily involved with BMW and the dealerships? As far as I am concerned, they owe me nothing, and why should we feel the need to do favours for them? And what is this insurance thing you talk of Jase? Surely we all look after our own, or are you talking Public Liability? If we need some sort of PL Insce under the format of a club, surely we would better to remain as we are. Just a simple little clan of Cooper owners. That way we can be a little selective in who we have or not have in the group. (I just typed 'club' but thought better of it). Do we really need to go the 'full hog'?

Hope I haven't upset anyone in saying my bit....but this is a forum.

Neil

[swamos]

Quote:

Originally posted by brisoz2002
And what is this insurance thing you talk of Jase? Surely we all look after our own, or are you talking Public Liability? If we need some sort of PL Insce under the format of a club, surely we would better to remain as we are. Just a simple little clan of Cooper owners. That way we can be a little selective in who we have or not have in the group. (I just typed 'club' but thought better of it). Do we really need to go the 'full hog'?
Neil

Neil, believe me, if we could stay as we are it would be quite simple. Unfortunately, even the run we had the other week put both Danny's and my house in jeopardy. Unfortunately, if someone had an accident, and they wanted someone else to blame, they could have turned on Danny and/or myself for whatever reason. We could potentially loose everything we have just defending it, even if we weren't proven to be at fault.

On our first run in December we had five cars, and you could possibly have got away with that, but now we are getting ten plus, and people I don't really know personally I'm not prepared to risk it anymore. That was the last time I will organise a run without a club backing me.

Unfortunately I don't think Jason's ideas of limiting membership of any future club to a number N would really work. In a club it's very hard to do that sort of thing, or even determine who joins. You've just got to take the good with the bad. Everything else he said was great

On to my thoughts about the club... I think it's got potential If you want it to grow strong we need to appeal to all the people who buy MINI's. That means appealing to the guy who bought the S and loves a fang and some trackwork to the 20/30 something lady who loves their mini, but would be more interested in social outings rather than a mountain blast.

That bit is where we need the dealers. We need them to house the meetings, to offer a discounts on servicing, to run tech nights, to do include us in their mailouts, and to include a memebership form with each new MINI that leaves the showroom. They also need us to increase enthusiasm for the brand, to be a renta crowd at open days, and mostly, Love our Mini's. With care, it could be a symbiotic relationship.

The other option is we just make a little club, and keep the membership to people who we know, and not make any attempts to increase membership. The club then is simply a liability limiting device for it's members. While I would prefer a conventional club to this scenario, it would mean a fraction of the work for everyone involved, which is always a good thing.

After much deliberation I am starting to lean towards the new club route at the moment, as I think there is less political baggage. The last thing I need in my life is more club political hatred that I didn't even cause A club that comes with out baggage can create any alliance it wants, be it with the BMW club, or even the MOC. Whatever, it's options are open.

The biggest issue at the moment is does everyone want to keep it small, or do you want to see how it goes, and encourage it to grow into something Big?

I agree that the best thing we can do at the moment is talk about it.

Serious Steve signing off......

[JugMan]

What about just everyone signing Indemnity form before a run? or to do that do ya need a club?

Jug

[swamos]

Quote:

Originally posted by JugMan
What about just everyone signing Indemnity form before a run? or to do that do ya need a club?

Jug

Unfortunately, it just gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling. If it comes down to the crunch in court, they don't mean much.

Ever seen those signs in car parks saying that they are not liable for damages?? If the car park can be proven to be be negligent in some way, they are worth nothing. They just stop people who are unaware of their rights under the law from acting.

[warped]

Queensland currently gets the vote for the most organised MINI state

I have to admit until it came up in discuss I had no idea of the potential liability involved with organising a simple get together of like minded individuals. I would have to agree with swamos after watching and reading this thread over the last couple of days that a new club with a more selective membership would probably serve the initial members (everyone participating in the thread) the best. The logical extension of this would be to create a national Australian MINI2 club assuming that state boundaries do not impose a significant obstacle ... would this not serve to meet the needs of all concerned?

Personally, I have found this board to be the most helpful and socially active that I have participated in. While I an in the unfortunate position of still waiting for my MCS to be built I wait for the day when I have my car and 2000Km on the clock

Keep up the great work people

Cheers
Steve

[AussieMini]

What I would love the most is to just keep running informal MINI runs as we have been for that past 2-3 months.

I would rather do this because I have just as good of time when we stop for a chat, have something to eat and take the ****** out of each other (in a friendly way) as most friends would in a social setting. All this of course would be in an ideal world.

But unfortunately, as everyone has pointed out, we need to form a club to protect the person on here who starts a thread starting with "Hey let's go for a run to...."
Because as Swamos highlighted it is this person who could be found legally liable in the event of an accident on the run. I don’t want that. I can’t afford that either. Therefore I won’t be posting such a thread in the near future and one of the only reasons I am heading out with Swamos on the MOC run this weekend.

As a current member of three other clubs the last thing I wanted to do is join another one. More monthly meetings, more paperwork and more politics - which is what I absolutely hate the most.

But in reality we have to form an incorporated club to protect any of us from these woes.

Swamos and I were certainly worried about legal issues when we went to Montville two weeks ago, but as with everyone else we just wanted to go for a run to meet others in their new MINIs and give them a bit of a squirt around those great mountain roads. I can’t wait for the next one either.

I also love, as I said, the social aspects of what we have. How many other people would drive to the Gold Coast with 30 minute’s notice at 8:30pm on a Sunday night to meet a just as mad-keen MINI owner who drove from Sydney just for run? Come on CoopZ, Swamos, Snoopy and Boo, I know you’re listening.

But anyway, I agree with CoopZ, we have to get some clearer direction before we go back to BMW and I have made no secret of the fact I am for a new New MINI Club. We called that breakfast last weekend to air these things and four MINI drivers turned up with three leaving wanting to form a new club from scratch. Maybe if others came they would have sort other direction? Not sure. But the only reason, in my eyes, we have to consider forming a club is to protect individuals from legal liability.

The only other option we have is to just meet spasmodically and make sure only four or five of us at a time get together. In other words, no more big(ish) runs. Which I am more than happy to be a part of as well.

I just want to drive my car and hang out with other MINI owners for fun.

But again, at the end of the day, if it comes to forming a new club I am in favour of a fresh new one.

[cjay]

Great to see so much input about the new club and such detailed posts, obviously you guys can type much better than I can.

I think Jase's post just about says everything I would have. Limiting the number of members would be difficult though.

If Mini Garages (BMW) are happy to give us support in the form of funding for insurance, discounts or driver training days etc I think it is worth doing. We should be dealing with national or area managers rather than sales people when we meet with them.

We defiantly need to be covered by insurance, while I can't see any of the current group ever going after a fellow MINI pilot the family of a lost or damaged MINI pilot could take action. Any new person who has an accident on a uninsured run may also find the need to take the car and house of who ever started it in legal costs.

I also think the club should start from scratch and for new MINI's only. At the risk of sounding like a new MINI snob I'm not that interested in the original Mini, if I was I would be driving one of them and a member of the MOC club. As for a name "Queensland MINI2 Club" sounds good to me.

It would be great to hear from some of the other people who have been on runs, are most people from the last run online or are they just lurking in MINI2?

[swamos]

One thing we can resolve is to always keep it FUN. Even a largeish club can be run like this. The other car club I'm in has 60+members, and we meet in a workshop once a month, talk about cars for an hour, do dull political stuff for 20 minutes (if you blink you miss it) and then talk about cars for another 2-3 hours. If everyone is prepared to pull their weight, you really can make meetings very informal.

Just on Warped's comment about QLD being the most organised state, I believe the heirachy is currently watching all this unfold, to see what happens. They think it's a really good idea, having been bitten by the classic clubs (world wide, not just in Brisbane) inability to cater to the needs of MINI members.

[cjay]

We could always call it the "MINI Drivers Never Sleep Club"

If we have a 4 am run at least there will only be 3 of us....

[jasemini]

We could bounce these threads around all day but let's take some decisive direction. It's appears the majority of us would like a NEW MINI Club as oppossed to joining one the existing mini clubs or the BMW Club. Who can meet at a pub somehwere on Saturday lunch/afternoon for a chat. I know this may be doubling up on Danny's breakfast last Sunday, but let's try again we'll take notes and do up a proposal for the initial meeting at Brisbane BMW on Wednesday night. Danny seems to be leading this charge and I'm happy to support him and give him as much info as possible for this meeting. I'm happy to pull my weight (it's bloody heavy) to get this thing going. Insurance coverage is the first order of business so we can all still have fun without legal worries. I got a huge buzz seeing all those MINI's on our last run, so I imagine that you guys who went on the first runs with 5 cars where blown away by 13 cars. We all love the MINI otherwise we would have bought WRX's or GOLF's. Let's take the ball and run with this NEW MINI CLUB and help people like us love and enjoy their MINI even more. It'll require some effort but everything I have said or done with this group has been fun so it will be worth the efffort. Feel free to call me on 0413 871453 and if we get a decent response to this call for a meeting then we'll be ready to rock.

Cheers Guys
Jason