3/8/10 Update:
Subject: [AMVIV] AMVIV is just a few weeks away now!
Hi everyone. I guess I should apologize for not sending much out recently, but time has been at a premium for me lately.
As I type this, AMVIV is only 17 days away. Wait, what?!? 17 days?!!?!? AHHHH!!! So much yet to do and so little time!! But don't worry, we'll be ready for you.
There are a few things I need to tell you about as the wait shrinks. In no particular order, here they are:
Aliante has had a few cancellations on the group rate, I heard this afternoon that there are about 10-15 rooms available. If you want one, try NOW and you might get one. The link is here but I just tried it & it didn't work. Hopefully, it'll be fixed 1st thing in the morning.
The Las Vegas SCCA chapter is putting on an autocross event at the Las Vegas Speedway on AMVIV Saturday. The speedway is only about 10 minutes from Aliante, so it will be MUCH more convenient than Pahrump was. Details are here, and they have a $25 coupon for 1st time autocrossers here. They would like it if you could preregister to speed up the checkin process, they aren't doing prepayments.
This year, once again, we will be having a new detailer on site to make your MINIs pretty and shiny, in case you don't want to bring your entire detailing kit with you, or if you're like me and can't find the time to keep your MINI as clean as you'd like to. The company is Paradise Mobile Detailing and they will be on the top floor of the parking garage next to the Vendor Village.
Thursday, March 25th, the full day run will be going to Calico Ghost Town near Barstow, California. We would really like any of the California people who may be going through Barstow on Thursday to try to meet us at Calico around 1pm for the 1st ever giant AMVIV photo op. Calico has a huge parking area that we're hoping to fill with MINIs in some pretty patterns for some cool pictures from above. The Sin City MINI Club did a trial run there in February with 16 MINIs are it turned out pretty good, we're hoping to improve with YOUR help.
As in past years, there will be an art/photography show during the Friday evening Meet The MINIacs Mixer", assuming anyone takes part. I have not yet received ANY expressions of interest in being part of the show, so if you fancy yourself a photographer, and I KNOW some of you are GREAT photographers, give me a yell so I know if we're going to have any art to display.
As we did last year, we are putting on a judged car show for charity. And just like last year, the proceeds will benefit S.A.F.E. House which is a charity to help battered women and kids. That's where the similarities to last year end, however.
This year, the car show will be onsite at Aliante Station, in the valet lot at the opposite end of the property from the parking garage where the Boot N Bonnet show takes place.
This year we will have 3 judges who are respected members of the MINI community and who know MINIs inside and out.
This year we have skipped the "cutesy" categories and have 6, much more traditional, categories. Best Cooper, Best Cooper S, Best Classic Mini, Best Convertible, Best Clubman and Best Of Show. If you have a Cooper S Clubman, you can choose if you want to enter it as a Clubby or an S, but not both. My thought is that you would want to enter the most restrictive category you can. You'll have less competition in the Clubman category than in the Cooper S category.
Entry fee will be $20 paid directly to the S.A.F.E. House volunteers who will be onsite, but your MINI MUST ALSO HAVE AN AMVIV 7 REGISTRATION NUMBER ON THE WINDSHIELD.
The cars will be open to the public for viewing for free, though obviously, donations to S.A.F.E. House will be gratefully accepted. Checkin for participants will start at 12:00pm on Saturday and the show will end at 4:00pm. The judges will be doing their thing from around 2:00pm to 3:30pm. The winners will be announced at the free "White Roof Radio LIVE" event in the Access Showroom at Aliante Station on Saturday evening from 6pm to 9pm. If you can't make it there for some reason and you hear that you won, come to the Sin City MINI Club booth on Sunday morning to collect your trophy.
Please note where the "Vendor Village" is located on the top floor of the garage and don't park in these reserved spaces unless you are a vendor. This year, the garage is MUCH bigger than Palace Station's garage, so there should be no problem with a couple of hundred MINIs being on top of the garage without taking the vendor spots, so please do the right thing from Tuesday on.
Another new thing this year is that Desert MINI, the only MINI dealership in the Las Vegas area, will be opening their sales, parts and service departments for extended hours during AMVIV. Sales will be open 9-9, Thursday through Saturday. Parts and Service will be open 7-6 Thursday and Friday, and 8-4 on Saturday.
Registrations have climbed slowly to 212 as of 7pm this evening. That's about where we were last year at this point, we always get a rush of last minute registrants. Now is the time, the last minute is fast approaching! Pre-registrations will close on the evening of Thursday, March 18th, so if you want to guarantee you get your size shirt, or if you want the shirt and hat combo (which saves you $5), or you want to have a cheap, hearty breakfast before heading home on Sunday, go ahead and register now.
I guess that's about it for now. Later this week, I'll send out my annual "what to bring to AMVIV" checklist email, and I'll include whatever important info I forgot to include in this email. I know there's something I forgot to tell you here, because there's ALWAYS something I forgot to tell you.
Anyway, see you in 2 1/2 weeks.
Andrew Agro Ross.
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