Bill Howard, BMW CCA
Feb. 17, 2007

Mini Cooper in the floodlight courtyard of Scottsdale’s Valley Ho hotel. That’s “Ho” as in “Westward Ho,” not “Where be the … ?” (Bill Howard photo)
SCOTTSDALE, AZ -- It’s good to be king -- for 40 hours, at least -- when you take part in a new car intro such as the rollout for the 2007 Mini Cooper and Mini Cooper S. Mini took over one of Scottsdale’s nicer resort hotel / condos, the Valley Ho, and Firebird International Raceway for more than a week as it ran through journalists, dealers, sales reps, and regional reps. Mini ran through two waves of journalists and several waves more for dealers and sales reps. In one full day and two partials for journalists, Mini execs overview the new line (day one) and offer up a nice hotel dinner; send you out and about on public roads (morning, day two), give you a chance to drag race, autocross, and lap a road course at Firebird International Raceway (afternoon, day two), then host a name-restaurant dinner (in this case at Michaels, evening); then kick you out the door for another wave, with a paper bag containing a bagel and apple in case the airline isn’t serving. In my case, at 5:45 a.m. so I could get to the Chicago Auto Show.



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