[minigal]

hi all

i have been cruisin in florida and wondering where people get their kicks driving their MINIs here. where are the twisties?
thank you and happy motoring year!

[minigal]

.... and i did try to take skyline drive but found out it was closed once i got to it other than a bit of mountain driving getting there, i pretty much had to drive I-95 all the way. once in florida, i took A1A. thanks to my radar detector, i was able to not fall asleep at the wheel observing the speed limit
the highlight of my trip? getting here i love this car!!!

[AprilWhine]

Sorry Minigal, the closest thing to twisties in FL is dodging sinkholes.

[bcbeme]

Yer best bet are the on ramps and off ramps, 9 turns (595-441 interchange, beware of cops on friday night), SR 27 for high speed runs, and the airport. Not the main part of the airport but the roads that feed it. Take us 1 past the airport then take a left at the light right before dania, follow back through there. This is a bit confusing but it is the best set of roads I found in my 3 years there. Also snake road off alligator alley towards the reservation.

[Smokey 4]

Runs from Leesburg towards Jacksonville. Turns into Hwy 17 halfway there, not really twistie but nice rolling hills (well for FL) with a few turns mixed in. Posted speed is 60 (I think) but I was pushed by locals doing 70 for most of the route.

If you really want twisties, take a slight detour: take I-26 through Columbia SC and up into Asheville NC. You could spend a year driving these roads!

Wouldn't be to far out of the way you could head north via Hwy 19/23 to Bristol TN and pick up I-81 north bound.

PM if you do come this way, I've got nothing to do this weekend!

[Dom]

Minigal,

I've just moved your thread in here to get a bit more notice



Dom

[minicoopersgirl]

where are you in Florida or are you still even here?

[minigal]

thanks for moving the thread dom, i did not know how to...

smokey...thanks for the tips. not ready to leave yet but will make sure to let you know if i do take the route you are suggesting

i am still here minicoopersgirl, in west palm beach but moving around as i am working on a project involving most of florida. as i said in my florida postcard post, i saw a red MCS parked in a residential area in pompano beach and thought it might be yours. if so, congrats, it was spotless. it was around 24th street if i recall, residential area. i am going back there eventually as i have arranged a photo shoot with my dog on a jetski (yes, that is part of my project )
where do you get your kicks in your MINI here? i have not found many twisties but A1A in the middle of the night is nice.

[Kevlar]

Unfortunately, Florida is very "straight-stop-turn" and when you do manage to find one decent curve... there is normally somebody in a Ford Excursion doing 10mph trying not to tip over right in the middle of it.

That being said... Ft.Lauderdale airport is fun, but make sure you drive through it once to make sure there are no police on patrol through there ... don't ask me how I know this

[Keith]

Quote:

Originally posted by Kevlar
Unfortunately, Florida is very "straight-stop-turn" ....

The trick is to skip the stop. A MINI in Florida can be fun by driving at a steady 40mph - including the 90 degree corners between the straight bits

[minigal]

a MINI can be fun driving in florida but only with a radar detector. i have never seen so many cops anywhere else. gee, they are even in grocery store parking lots!

[minicoopersgirl]

Quote:

Originally posted by minigal
i saw a red MCS parked in a residential area in pompano beach and thought it might be yours. if so, congrats, it was spotless. it was around 24th street if i recall, residential area. where do you get your kicks in your MINI here? i have not found many twisties but A1A in the middle of the night is nice.

Well, no that wasn't me. I have Dark Silver. Might have been Jeremy. Anyhow, I can't tell you of any roads to take around here. I don't get kicks driving on Florida roads unless it is a race track!! See you in Orlando!

[MGB Boy]

Quote:

Originally posted by minigal
hi all

i have been cruisin in florida and wondering where people get their kicks driving their MINIs here. where are the twisties?
thank you and happy motoring year!

Roads only twist if they need to go around something, no hills usually means no twisties. Flat state = Straight roads. Come to Vermont, we specialize in twisties...

-Ricardo

[cooper4us]

Quote:

Originally posted by MGB Boy
Roads only twist if they need to go around something, no hills usually means no twisties. Flat state = Straight roads. Come to Vermont, we specialize in twisties...

-Ricardo

I love Vermont (Been to Burlington, Montpelier and St. Johnsbury) in the summer, but you can have it in the winter .

This is one really cold place. Even in the dead of summer, nights can go down to 50F-60F, but it is beautiful with the gree mountains scenery, almost desolated roads and plenty of twisties.


In Florida, you can try State Road US27 if you want to have a more interesting motoring experience than say riding along I-95 or the Turnpike.

[MGB Boy]

Quote:

Originally posted by cooper4us
I love Vermont (Been to Burlington, Montpelier and St. Johnsbury) in the summer, but you can have it in the winter .

This is one really cold place. Even in the dead of summer, nights can go down to 50F-60F, but it is beautiful with the gree mountains scenery, almost desolated roads and plenty of twisties.


In Florida, you can try State Road US27 if you want to have a more interesting motoring experience than say riding along I-95 or the Turnpike.

I like to think that the winter just makes us appreciate the summer more. We don't take it for granted like some might, instead we revel in it. Savor it while it's here. Then again, we revel in winter too, mainly because there's not much you can do about it, so you go out and enjoy it. People in places like Minnesota and Scandanavia know what I mean. Have winter festivals, that sort of thing, make the most of it. Burlington has one of the coldest Mardi Gras parades in the country, although the temperature makes it a tad less unruly than the genuine article in New Orleans (you can pretty much rule out "flashing for beads" when it is 15°F outside). My brother does the Penguin Plunge for charity every February, it's great fun to watch the Coast Guard crew, dressed from head to toe in big orange cold-water survival outfits, cutting a hole in the lake for the idiots to jump into. It's all part of the natural mechanism to adapt to living in a place where the National Weather Service routinely posts forecasts like today's;

Tonight: Snow Likely
Saturday: Occasional Snow
Sunday: Chance of Snow Flurries
Monday: Chance of Snow
Tuesday: Chance of Snow
Wednesday: Chance of Snow

-Ricardo

[Smokey 4]

Makes me want to drive out to Grand Isle, and using the hand auger open up the ice fishing shanty.

Lived in Richmond until I was old enough to leave, just kidding! I still love it up there, mostly in the Summer!

[Burton's]

Minigal,
Have to agree with Keith, not using the brakes around the corners, and accelerating out of them, is about the best you can do in Florida...unless you want to chase Aimee around the track!
Just got our Cooper last week, almost 800 miles on it....lovin' it.
Jack

[minigal]

i never apply the brakes in a corner or twisty. in fact i accelerate all the way through. the problem is i always catch up to the slowpo in front of me and the end of my curb ends up in a heartbreaker. it is most frustrating and i can see how the only way to get real satisfaction behind the wheel in florida would be on a racetrack.
by the way, i have been looking for race car driving shoes but found nothing in my size (5). anyone might know if and where i can get me a pair?

[MGB Boy]

Quote:

Originally posted by Smokey 4
Makes me want to drive out to Grand Isle, and using the hand auger open up the ice fishing shanty.

I spent much of my childhood doing that very thing, my grandfather's farm was on the east-facing side of Grand Isle, Pearl Bay on South Hero. Many a winter day was spent slowly turning into a human ice cube while out ice fishing. One of those activities that is much more pleasant to reminisce about than to actually do...

-Ricardo

[Smokey 4]

Quote:

I spent much of my childhood doing that very thing, my grandfather's farm was on the east-facing side of Grand Isle, Pearl Bay on South Hero. Many a winter day was spent slowly turning into a human ice cube while out ice fishing. One of those activities that is much more pleasant to reminisce about than to actually do...

We were on the West side (still are) in the "gut" part of Lake Champlain, about 1/2 mile south of the drawbridge. Cleaning the lake pump’s foot valve in early April and diving down to unhook the boat's mooring chain on Halloween weekend rank right up there in fond memories (not)!

Back on track – Many a nice road for motoring, through the Richmond, Hinesburg, Underhill and Jericho hills. But Vermont uses more dynamite when it lays out their roads then North Carolina, here they just follow the low ground when trying to get from town to town.