Well, I finally did it. I ordered a 2006 JCW GP. If you don’t know what this is, it’s the fastest, most exclusive MINI to ever come out of Oxford, England. I guess technically this particular MINI will have Italian heritage because it is to be built by The Bertone Group in Turin, Italy. Bertone is the same company that brought us the Lamborghini Countach LP500 in the early 70s (pictured below).

Maybe I’m crazy but the specs and the price of the GP MINI were too much for me to pass up. I am not, however guaranteed to get one of these because I’m currently sixth on a list at the dealer and it’s rumored that each dealer will get five or six. My fingers are crossed that at least six GPs come to Kansas City.

By the way, the GP stands for Grand Prix to reflect the rally racing heritage of the MINI. The full specifications can be viewed at MINIUSA.com.

My anticipation for this MINI could be exponentially greater than the last time I went through this in 2003. We shall see. I’m focusing on work which is overwhelming at the moment and, for now, that is a good thing.

Much more to come - especially in regards to the oft asked question, “Will you keep this one stock because of its rarity or dress it up and mod it out?” A devious grin is overtaking me as I type…

It looked good at the store but Dr. Pepper Berries and Cream tastes like Robitussin.

Think about it, but don’t drink it.

That is all.

Being April 1st, the urge to spin tales of adventures in trading my MINI for a Hummer were squelched by the feeling that the whole April Fools blog post has been played to death so instead I bring you an update and hopes for more regular posts.

I finished my second Signature Series MINI last month. It’s pretty much the same design as No.1 but this one is a Cooper S and has a few tweaks to the design.

Also among about 20 MINIs completed in the month of March I installed a red checker top with added embellishments to the sunroof wind deflector and matching checker mirror caps.

Here’s my first A-Panel design. I know it’s nothing fancy but now I’ll be able to do any design in this area on the MINI.

Finally, I traveled to Las Vegas last week for AMVIV and to watch the Webb Motorsports MINIs race in the first race of the North American MINI Challenge. Along with my fellow MINI boradcasters I am a co-sponsor of the WMS cars in this year’s race series. The really good news is that our cars came in first in their two respective classes. Randy Webb, in the first picture with co-host Don, Db, Burnside came in first overall in the MINI unlimited class. Brian Black, in the second picture below, came in first in Class 4 of the Challenge series. It was a real thill to have Randy come into the winner’s circle carrying the checkered flag and then proceed, in perfect driver form, to thank the sponsors including Whiteroofradio.com. I’m sure we’ll see Randy and Brian in a few more winner’s circles before the season ends in October. We hear that some of the races will be televised on tape delay this year and we have hopes for live broadcasts of the races next year. I’m all geeked out with excitement beinig a co-sponsor of a race team and especially the best MINI race team out there. Way to go guys!

I’ll be back with more news and photos this week.