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MINI United, October 28th, Misano, Italy.
I wandered off at the expense of MINI Ireland to a little known village at the top right of italy called Misano. It has no airport, and no known attractions or merits ... except ... a HUGE RACE TRACK :-)

I drove to Dublin, collecting Graham from Morrisson Motors along the way, and stayed overnight in the vastly overpriced Great Southern Hotel. A quick flight to Amsterdam with KLM (Like AerLingus, except the staff are human, and there's in flight meals), and then a connecting flight to Bologna over the very picturesque alps, and we were in Italia. Our group split at that stage, the jounalists heading off in courtesy MINIs, and us heading off in a Bus. We stayed in a just built superb hotel on the beach front, literally looking out onto the Adriatic Sea ... after being in Turkey a few years back at the other side of the sea, it was interesting to be on the alternate side this time. We headed quickly out on to our first night at the MINI United Village. The theme of the event was to show off many different types of MINI, to see great bands and DJs, to try local food, to watch the final of the world John Cooper Works Challenge on the track, and to try some advanced driving tricks on the track. I'll let the pictures tell the rest!

First MINI we saw. A convertible Classic, with a matching trailer ... cute!

The beautiful swimming pool between the back of the Hotel and the Adriatic Sea beach front.

The square garden in the middle of the Hotel grounds, waterfall, and waterpaths traversed the sunburnt grass.

The signup entrance in the Main Marquee, but as VIP guests, we bypassed it :-)

The interior of the Main Marquee. This is where the rampant alcholism took place. We met everyone here from MINI owners, to fellow Dealers all the way from South Africa and Russia. There were cars in here, bands, DJs, two restaurants, a lifestyle shop, and a huge central bar. To buy anything, you had to exchange your cash for white poker chips with MINI stamped in the centre. A nice touch.

The White Lounge Restaurant.

The Black Lounge counterpart Restaurant.

Guido! The man who's more connected than the ESB, head of Marketing for all of MINI Europe.

Righto, that's me, in the cheapest helmet available about to hop into a mystery MINI for a taxi spin around the Misano circuit, but the best bit was who I was going to meet.

Rauno Aaltonen. Some of you regular readers may remember I had a MINI Event last year in Barcelona with the launch of the MINI Cabrio. Rauno was at our table for dinner, and my taxi driver the next day. Rauno was the winner of the 1965 European BMC Rally Championship. As soon as I hopped into the car, he smiled, and called me "The crazy drunk Irishman from Con Padro" - the race track in Barcelona. At close to 70, he's still a damn fast driver, and over took many of the cars on the track.

Here he is, you wouldn't believe the speed we're doing in a corner, and he's calm, and composed.

Well, you wouldn't believe the speed he was doing, so I took a photo of that too ... let me tell you, it's almost impossible to take a picture of this when the car is being joustled about.

Some of the classic MINIs on display. Here's the fashion designer Paul Smith's take on a MINI - his trademark vertical stripes are evident.

Unfortunately, the Kate Moss MINI was shown at the worst point in her career, and to make matters worse, the car was painted in fine white lines *snigger*.

The John Cooper Works pit area showcased all their new products, most of which were fitted to this demo car. Unbelievable. I wanted it there and then. It had everything from the new Leather Dashboard, to the 18" Alloys I'm fitting on my new '06 Cooper.

The MINI XXL Limo, what you don't see here is the rear portion clips off to reveal a hot tub.

An aerial view of the entire event. MINIs as far as the eye could see, and a lot more beyond that too.

All the John Cooper Works Challenge cars and their teams preparing for the Weekend's racing.

The Irish MINI Dealers Alcoholics Association, and some cute little girls from England, one's a MINI Dealer, and one's a Doctor. I'm saying nothing more :-)

The launch of the John Cooper Works MINI Cooper S GP Lightweight € 40, 000 Edition. This was a focal point of the event, and I want this too! 218Bhp, and a lot lighter than a standard MINI. Exclusive alloys, body kit, no rear seats, no sound dampening, no rear wiper, insanity at it's best!

Mike Cooper (John Cooper's Son) in the middle, along with departments heads from MINI Marketing, and MINI Engineering.

The Chopper on the go all weekend, for € 35 you could get 15 mins up in her. I got to take the controls which was interesting! This is a shot taken with my 350d, I was impressed the blades were stopped when I looked at the shot.

Some of the more interesting cars on show in the surround area of the event. This one's made by Italian coachbuilders Castagna. Give them a donor MINI, and enough cash and they'll build anything (Including the Limo you saw above), they built this pickup/beach buggy combo. Horrible, but strangely appealing too.

Here's the same little classic car was spotted at the start.

Possibly one of the most expensive modified MINIS out there. It's owned by a 17 year old, his family have a business in Germany only tuning MINIS. The Lamborghini door conversion was only the tip of the iceberg. You know when you've been Tango'd!

The hot car wash girlies. If you asked nicely enough, these girls would give your MINI a sponge bath.

One of my favoutite photos, the DJ Sonique performing. She came out, did about 4 songs (Her 4 that were in the charts) and disappeared. I'd expected her to be on for much much longer seeing as she was the highlight act of the weekend, but she disappeared after about 30 mins. Des said she was a good kisser though :-)

So, that's the event, there are lots more photos, but these are the more interesting ones. The event is probably going to be bi-annual as to not bore people, and it will be in different cities around the world to encompass as much of the MINI Community as possible. There are other events happening this year. Mizen to Malin 2006 will be on again, and the International MINI Meeting (IMM) is on in Poland this year. I'll be at that one for sure!