MINI Race

[Kiwigav]

Sitting in the basement of BMW New Zealand are the cars used for the Celebrity Race at the Australian Grand Prix. The are destined to be crushed, but are coming out one more time for a Celebrity Race here at the V8 Supercar weekend, 7-9 November. I hope to be able to post some pics here of the race.
Here's hoping they can be saved from the crusher and put to some use, somewhere! what a waste. The reason is that they are pre-production cars, made before 'certification', so can't be called a Mini!

03 BRG/W Cooper
73 BRG/W Clubman GT

[dsakko]

Can they be sold as race only, or are these covered by laws which say that they must be crushed within so many days of manufacture?

I'd like to think that there would be some people around who would like to have a spare Mini just for racing. I know I would.

[IML337]

Boo investigated this ages ago and was quite firmly told that cars would not be sold to the general public under any circumstances as the cars are VERY early builds and BMW don't want cars that "early" floating around. They will definately be crushed...

[Kiwigav]

They had to be taken out of Australia to avoid taxes, duties etc. or be crushed and they were built before the MINI was 'certified', so being pre-production they're not actually (legally) MINIs. Same deal here in NZ - they have to be destroyed. Unfortunate, but nothing will save them. At least we'll get to see them once more.

[robbo mcs]

Hi,

Boo was well and truly onto this ages ago, and got short shrift from BMW.

Also, the M3s from BMW driver training get the same treatment. Crushed! Makes one weep.

Pity the poor bloke who has the job of crushing the cars.

Robbo

[jaydub]

Quote: Originally Posted by robbo mcs

Hi,

Boo was well and truly onto this ages ago, and got short shrift from BMW.

Also, the M3s from BMW driver training get the same treatment. Crushed! Makes one weep.

Pity the poor bloke who has the job of crushing the cars.

Robbo

Oh my... The thought of Minis being crushed is just sickening

However, are you sure they still do that to the BMW driver training cars? Quote from Geoff Brabham when I asked him on a course in May this year: "The courses don't screw up the cars...we whack some new brakes on and sell them, hey, nothing else is wrong with them!"

I was asking as I was hoping to pick up an M3 on the cheap...but he said they were worth pretty much market value.

Then again, maybe he just doesn't know the real fate of the cars?

[swamos]

Quote: Originally Posted by robbo mcs

Hi,

Boo was well and truly onto this ages ago, and got short shrift from BMW.

Also, the M3s from BMW driver training get the same treatment. Crushed! Makes one weep.

Pity the poor bloke who has the job of crushing the cars.

Robbo

There seems to be a trend of sorts, anyone that has anything to do with MINI Aus get's shafted

[eltel]

If I was a 'celebrity' and I knew that the cars were not going to be used ever again, I think I'd play 'Destruction Derby' on the day, and do a bit of 'crushing' myself.

Bear in mind that these are the same cars that were in the Australian 2002 Celebrity Race, all in red, and it was publicly announced over the PA that the cars were never to race again and were to be crushed in Germany.

They were resprayed into different colours, and trotted out again for the 2003 Celebrity Race. Obviously they were not crushed in Germany in 2002. I think they may have gone to Canada for a Celebrity race before the Canadian GP this year.

Seems like BMW are getting as much publicity out of them as possible before they are torn apart somewhere in Bavaria.

The 2004 Celebrity Race will be in BMW 318ti's from memory.

[alistaircooke]

Quote: Originally Posted by swamos

There seems to be a trend of sorts, anyone that has anything to do with MINI Aus get's shafted

and talking of trends....there seems to be a current trend of MINI's being crushed at the moment. (just read about dfour's unfortunate incident).

Maybe we should set up the demolition derby and invite a certain offender along in his "pride and joy".

now that's something I'm sure a lot of us would pay money to see.