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While MINIsOnTop is not a fundraising event, we’ve given nearly $75,00 to charity since 2004. Proceeds from MOT2012 will be donated to two very worthy causes that past MOT-ers will be familiar with:
- We will help grant wishes for children with life-threatening medical conditions through the Make-a-Wish Foundation® of New Hampshire. To learn more about the Make-a-Wish Foundation® of New Hampshire and some of the heart-warming wishes they’ve granted, visit www.newhampshire.wish.org.
- We will continue our support of the world-renowned climate research conducted at the Mt. Washington Observatory with 6.288% of the proceeds in honor of the mountain’s elevation – 6,288’. To learn more about the Mt. Washington Observatory and all of the super-cool things they do, or to take a peak at the view on top of Mt. Washington right now(!), visit http://www.mountwashington.org/.
Open your calendar app and save the date – the 10th annual MINIs On Top is scheduled for June 23, 2012!
We know you’re anxious to sign up. We’ll do our best to launch online registration even earlier this year, most likely in late February by mid-March. As always, it will be first-come, first-served. Therefore, we strongly recommend signing up for the MOT announcements list and/or following the event on Twitter (MinisOnTop) so you’ll be notified when registration opens, among other things.
After another great year in 2011, the Attitash Grand Summit will be our base hotel. The Attitash is a timeshare hotel and resort centrally located in Bartlett, NH between the Kancamagus Highway and the Mount Washington Auto Road. Please call (800) 223-7669 to book your room and be sure to ask for the MINIsOnTop special rate. Please note: the special rate is not available for booking online.
Stay tuned! We’ll post more information for you soon.
Want to help this year’s MINIs On Top live on? We want to feature photos and videos from folks who were there here on the site. If you’ve already got them uploaded to sites like Flickr, SmugMug, Picasa, Photobucket, Vimeo, YouTube or Facebook, leave a comment with a link. Please make sure they’re visible to other people without an account for that service (yes, there are some of us that don’t have Facebook accounts!). If you don’t already have them shared publicly, we’ll be happy to host your top 20 or so photos and videos here on MINIsOnTop.com in our gallery.
We’re also looking for write-ups of the event! Autoblog sent a reporter (Jeff Glucker, I believe) so keep an eye on their site for coverage soon. If you’ve found other articles or posts (or written your own!) let us know. We’ll have a summary post soon.
 Going… 
Going…  Gone! And just like that, another MINIs On Top is behind us. It was an amazing amount of work for Sarah, Richard, and all of the volunteers, but it was worth it to see so many MINIs and their owners smiling, hanging out, and having a great time. And we got to see a sunset that was nearly good enough to make up for not getting one last year!
You’ll be hearing quite a bit more from us in the very near future, but we didn’t want too much time to pass without making sure you knew how much the success of this event means to us. So thank you!
Remember how, just a little while ago, I was telling you about the little bit of good we’re able to do thanks to our awesome sponsors? I know what you’re thinking: “Helping others is neat, and all, but what about me?” Well, if all that kibitzing and burning of dino juice wasn’t enough fun for you, you’d better snug that belt up a little more tightly!
After a long day of driving (or maybe even several days of driving) you’ll have a chance to chill out at Attitash on Friday night with the return of a perennial favorite, Sundae on Friday! Our friends at MINI of Manhattan have stepped up to bring you the best sugar high this side of Vermont. Grab a scoop and party like you’re in Times Square! The ice cream starts getting served in the MOTORoom at 7:30pm, but don’t wait too long, ’cause everyone screams for ice cream.
Nobody likes to motor on an empty stomach and let’s face it, Saturday’s a pretty big day of motoring. Once again, we’re happy to bring you the Saturday morning breakfast, courtesy of local MINI powerhouses (yes, you can be small and big at the same time!) MINI of Peabody and the opening-soon MINI of Bedford. Follow your nose to the source of the bacon, once again at the MOTORoom from 6:30 to 8.
By the time you make it back to Attitash on Saturday evening, you’ll have seen one of the most spectacular sunsets of your life and/or experienced some truly epic weather at the top of Mt. Washington. There’s also a chance that some of you will need help releasing the grip-of-death from the steering wheel, door handle, or the driver’s right arm after the exhilarating drive down the mountain. Well, get ready to unwind and turn this mother out with the mothership connection, the folks responsible bringing those funky little cars we love so much to the USA, MINI Eastern Region! So put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come back down to the MOTORoom at 9pm for the party on the mothership. Dig?
Can you believe MINIs On Top starts tomorrow?! Months of planning and excitement culminate in just a few short hours! And you’re totally set, right? The car’s packed, the tank’s filled, tire pressures are checked, manufacturer-nonspecific portable music device loaded with motoring tunes, your blinker fluid’s topped off, and the muffler bearing’s snugged down tight. You are ready to motor!
Continue reading Are You Ready?
You might think MINIs On Top is just about a gazillion small, quirky cars and their even quirkier owners getting together to kibitz and burn up dinosaur juice on the wonderfully twisty roads of New Hampshire around a very large pile of granite. But you’d be wrong. Continue reading Thanks to our sponsors!
 Pete and his son Matt, MoT 2003!
| Name |
Pete Basiliere (NHRef) |
| MoT Participant Since |
the very first one and every one since |
| My responsibilities at MoT this year are |
Organize the Observatory Tour |
| I volunteer at MoT because |
Great fun for a great cause |
| Car Stats (Year/Model/Colors/Name) |
2002 (“Play On”) MCS R/W with body side stripes, rally lights and numerous window stickers (don’t we all?) |
| Car Modifications/Distinguishing Features |
Supercharger pulley, CAI, ECU remap, Borla exhaust, Pat’s suspension bits, Kozei wheels |
| Best thing I’ve done in my MINI |
track days at NHMS, track days at Watkins Glen, track days at Virginia International Raceway and numerous Arctic MINI runs, and . . . better stop now . . . |
| Best thing I’ve done in my MINI |
Took my daughter Katie, in her bridal gown, to the wedding accompanied by six MINIs decked out for the occasion |
| Favorite Motoring Road |
any race track hosting a driving school (exercise your MINI legally, folks!) |
| Favorite Driving Song |
Convoy! |
| Favorite Garage: |
can’t say enough about Greasy’s Garage |
| Driving in my MINI makes me feel |
like I’m having fun, which I am |
| Oh! And One More Thing |
MINIs can make you into a driving school addict – I now own a 1997 BMW M3 because I wanted more horsepower on the track. I am on a team racing a $500 325is in The 24 Hours of LeMons (with our own Brian Lalor and Theo Matthias) because driving schools are fun but real racing is an absolute hoot! |
The MOT Observatory Tour is a unique insider’s look at the world famous Mount Washington Observatory. The 1-hour tour takes 48 people (three groups of 16) into the working area, crew quarters, the turret (where you can really feel the full force of the wind or see for miles and miles in every direction) and the weather museum. Meet the observers who work there around the clock, in all kinds of weather, and ask all the questions and take all the photos you want.
A small number of spaces are still available. Each one costs $5 per adult in addition to the cost of other MOT events.
If you’re interested, send an email to NHRef@aol.com with your name and the name of the others who will be riding in your MINI. Indicate which people are age 12 or over.
Whether this will be your first time on the tour or you would like to go again, send that message ASAP.
Everyone who submitted their name by the June 9th deadline will be going on the tour. The remaining spaces will be allocated on a “First come, first served” basis.
 Theo and "mini" Cooper
| Name |
Theo Matthias |
| MoT Participant Since |
2004 |
| I first heard about MoT |
from John Secco, former Cemetery Commissioner of Stoddard, NH |
| The first person I met at MoT was |
Ed (Maxamini) Smith |
| My responsibilities at MoT this year are |
Yankee Candle Caravan, leaving the bike at home, not locking my keys in the MINI, remembering my own name. |
| I volunteer at MoT because |
it’s good for the soul to pay it forward; especially when charities are involved. |
| Car Stats (Year/Model/Colors/Name) |
’04 MCS JCW, Liquid Yellow, KOOPAH |
| Car Modifications/Distinguishing Features |
Old fart behind the wheel being tolerated by a beautiful and patient woman. |
| Best thing I’ve done in my MINI |
Track day at Loudon. |
| Most unusual thing I’ve done in my MINI |
(I can’t really divulge that!) |
| Favorite Motoring Road |
any country road with hills and curves in a county too poor to have radar guns. |
| Favorite Driving Song |
The Supercharger by Tritec |
| Driving in my MINI makes me feel |
like I’m about to be arrested. |
| Oh! And One More Thing |
Has anyone figured out those little incomprehensible icons on the laundry care tags sewn into clothing? I give up — they look like hieroglyphics to me! |
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