This year we chose to go back to a GREAT location, Wytheville, Virginia as the base for our 3 day driving adventure and Mini 60 birthday party. It's located near some amazing mountains and rivers setting the scene for some breathtaking drives. As with all of our CMU events, we like to drive, and that's what we'll be doing. We will have drives each of the three days with plenty of stops and things to see. Add in the nighttime activities, and you have the most amazing classic Mini event in North America! But wait, there's more! This event will also have the famous scavenger hunt, International Mini Film Festival, themed fancy dress contest, swap meet, epic silent auction, and Hot Wheels racing!

With this being the Mini 60, we expect this to be our biggest event ever! We'll have Mini friends flying in from Australia and the UK, as well as some driving down from Canada, and of course Mini owners from the entire east coast and mid west. Please note the registration deadline if you want to save some money and get some limited cool things. A lot of us will be going to the Mini 60 in England so we need to get this all wrapped up before we leave, hence the early registration date.

Regarding the International Mini Film Festival... If you haven't started to produce your award winning short film, get on it and have a chance to be famous around the world, and win some cash! Note, you can win cash just by entering. You don't have to be a Festival winner to win cash! The winners will be seen and judged at the International Mini Meet in England. Then the Festival will be played at our event. Go HERE for the film festival info. Note the deadline for entries is June 30, 2019.

If you haven't been to a CMU event before, we do it differently; we like to drive/cruise a lot and see all around the beautiful area we're visiting. With this being a CMU event, you must be a member to enter a Mini. Membership is free! If you are one of the few that hasn't already joined, go to the join page and become one of the over 1,400 members! As with all of our events, this is for everybody, but all of the drives/cruises/anything is only for classic Minis, variants, and Mini based kit cars produced from 1959-2000, no exceptions. (The period following "exceptions" is to end the sentence and to also say "period".) There's always room to ride in someone’s Mini if you come in something else. We don't leave anybody behind! Not even the couple coming all the way from Australia...assuming they bring the staff cool Australian gifts. But then I'm sure those coming from England won't be outdone by the Auzzies... It's a pride thing. I like chocolate and long walks along the beach...

For those of you that don't know someone that has been to a CMU event to hear how amazing it is, the following should help you with your decision. But, beware, when you come to one you'll be counting down the days until the next one, and we only do it every year and a half!

MiniWorld Magazine - The Mini 53 - Here's the full printable story.
"Imagine a two-hour twisty cruise with 70-plus Minis, followed by white water rafting, then another unique twisty cruise... memories to last a lifetime. "

MiniWorld Magazine - The Mini 51 - Here's the full printable story.
"As a follow-up to the landmark Mini 50, CMU surpassed themselves with the Mini 51 "
"Everyone witnessed the truly unforgettable sight of the endless line of Classic Minis twisting through the mountain curves."

MiniWorld Magazine comments on our Mini 50 event.
"Many people who went said it was the best Mini event they'd ever attended."
"The event set a new standard for USA Mini meetings..."

Mini Magazine also comments on our Mini 50 event.
"... it raised the bar of what should be expected of a show in North America."
"... can't wait for the next CMU event!!"

If that's not enough, see our Mini 50 and Mini 51 stories!

Typical view at a CMU event, but you can't see the other 75 Minis in front of the Moke!
For the Mini 60 there could be 100 Minis in front of the Moke!

We always base our events at a campground with an affordable hotel nearby. There is nothing like the campground atmosphere for our nighttime activities and to start our drives. So far it has been KOA all the way. Great locations and great people. This KOA is the same... Unfortunately this one isn't as big as some of the others we have stayed at, so while there is plenty of room for tent campers and motor homes, there are not that many cabins. By the time you read this the cabins will probably be gone. But don't despair about staying at a hotel as they are close and there are two to choose from, but book early!

Host Campground Wytheville, VA KOA website This is once again a beautiful KOA with a very friendly and helpful staff, along with a game room featuring a bowling alley! They are looking forward to seeing gaggles of Minis and making our event a success! Please note to be respectful to the property and KOA staff. That also means NO speeding.  Go HERE for the CMU KOA pricing/information. Note, there are no more cabins left.

The International Mini Film Festival
Win some money and worldwide notoriety! $250 1st, $100 2nd, $50 for 3rd. If you don't finish in the top 3 you can still win $100 by just entering a video! Start producing your video now and have it submitted by June 30, 2019. The videos will be seen and judged at the International Mini Meet in England and then shown on the BIG screen during our Mini 60 Friday night party!
Go HERE for the information/rules.

Thank you Bob Cox for the GREAT artwork!!!

Hot Wheels Racing at the Toe Joe Raceway!
Seriously?!? Yes! Have some fun and win some money! There's two ways to race, a fun race class where we supply the car, and the Pro Series where you modify and bring a Hot Wheels classic Mini to compete. Yes, you read that correctly. We did this at the Mini 59 with some exciting racing and happy cash winners! Special thanks to Justin and Wilver for all of their time to run this fun event!
Go HERE for the information/rules.

Jason Pigg, our last Pro Series champion, built this amazing award for the Mini 60 Pro Series Champion!
He made this using a carbon fiber brake rotor from a 2016 24 hours of  Le Mans French race car called a Ligier. The center is cherry wood with a clear finish (no stain). The small Minis are HO scale railroad train cars he found in Japan. This award not only tells time, it represents a lot of time, creativity, and work that Jason put in to it. Thank you Jason! Who's taking this home?!?

Scavenger Hunt
Following the Thursday morning drive and lunch, we'll have the famous scavenger hunt. We do it differently than any other club in the world, unless they copied our fun creation of Minis going in every direction. Justin Handy and Cole Gentry did an amazing job setting up and running the last couple, so we are thrilled they're going to do this one! Get ready for some fun, classic Minis going in all directions!

Friday night Mini 60 party!
The drives are a lot of fun, but our Friday night parties are a blast as well. We will have a swap meet, silent auction (epic stuff!), fancy dress contest, beer tasting, Hot Wheels racing, showing of the International Mini Film Festival, and a catered dinner. For the past 10 years we have had a BBQ catered dinner. But for the Mini 60 we're going all out for a real nice dinner, for just $2 more! Here's the menu: Parmesan crusted chicken breast, beef burgundy, red skinned mashed potatoes, seasoned green beans, tri-color pasta with pepperoni and black olives, red velvet cake, and apple cobbler! Wow! Then of course we'll have the Mini 60 B-day cake!

Friday night Fancy Dress party
We have been doing a theme at the past few events and it has made it a lot of fun. So, we're doing it again! In celebration of the Mini 60, the theme is 1960's England. Known as the "Swinging Sixties", a youth movement emphasizing the new and modern. A lot of things were happening in England in the 60's, everything from the Mods and Rockers, mini skirts, to the Beatles. Feel free to be creative! There will be a 18 and over contest with a $50 Mini Sport USA gift certificate, along with a 17 and under contest and prize.

Mini 60 event shirts
CMU event shirts have become known around the world! See the official Mini 60 shirt  HERE. These shirts and zipper hoodie sweatshirts are only guaranteed  available via pre-purchase on the registration form. We may have a few extras for sale at the event, but to insure you get the size you need get your registration in on time. Order one, or two, or three or more, and they make great gifts!

Drives, drives, drives...
We are very lucky that one of our best Cruise Masters, Chuck Gaines, lives in the area. He will be putting the drives together for all 3 days! When you see him, give him a BIG thank you!!! If you see him after the drives at the end of the day, he likes beer.

Mini 60 on Facebook!
If you use FB, go HERE to join in the Mini 60 banter... Meet up with someone and travel together. Yes, FB has some benefits!

Registration
Registration is open!
Entries must be received by Mail on or before September 30th. We are now accepting Paypal as payment as well as the usual checks and money orders. If you use Paypal, please send the payment as Friends/Family to save the club the fees. Please print and mail in the entry form. Include a check or money order if you aren't using Paypal. Go HERE for the registration form.

Schedule
Here's an overview. Wednesday night - registration. Thursday morning leave for a drive, lunch, scavenger hunt, nighttime ice cream run. Friday morning drive until around 3, 5 on party time until late. Saturday morning drive, back around 4-5, followed by a closing get together around a campfire with a DJ from 6:30-9:30.

Important: New to CMU events!
As many of you can imagine, when you get 75-125 Minis in a long line/cruise, things could happen. Due to the growing size of the event, we took a close look at safety. We concluded, to keep everybody informed at all times regarding road/traffic/Mini problems during the drives, 2-way radios are now mandatory. Below is an example of what we ran in to the last time in Cherokee. It went from clear to this fog around a blind corner.

If you don't have a radio with sub channels, you can rent one.  The rental of a club radio/charger is $15 for the event. The registration form will have a place to order the rental or to let us know that you have one. The club uses channel 7 sub 9. If you don't already have a radio and want to purchase one, we'll save you some research and give you the magic answer away from all of the misleading promises on the packages! It's all about power and all of the "affordable" radios have the same amount. So, here's the main difference to look for... You want a radio with GMRS channels as they are about twice as powerful as the basic FRS channels. Power is distance! Go to Amazon or Google and search for "GMRS Radio" and start shopping. Most come in a set, so split it with a Mini friend (make sure it has 2 chargers)! It's a safety issue and the cost of a radio is nothing compared to what could happen if you don't have one....... Please note that the radios are for this purpose only, no chatter, no "Oh look a chicken"!

Cruise groups!
We tried something new at the Mini 56, two drive groups, and perfected it at the Mini 57 and 59. It was a HUGE success each time!!! Being at the rear of a 75 Mini line means you're almost always trying to catch up. But you put yourself back there so you could go slow... What to do?!?! We'll have two drive groups that do the exact route, the "Spirited" and the "Touring". There will be a Cruise Master to lead each group. The Spirited group will leave first and the Cruise Master of the Touring group will start directly behind the last Mini of the front group. The difference will be that the Touring Cruise Master will re-start the pace, a little slower. The time difference to the lunch break and then back to the camp should be around 15-30 minutes. This worked GREAT at the Mini 56/57/59 and solved so many problems, but you still have to pay attention and keep up with the Mini in front of you! Stay together! DRIVERS MEETING!

Supporters and Sponsors
If you would like to help make the Mini 60 the biggest and best event to date, we could use your support. Simply put, the more money we raise, the more money we can spend on the event. We keep the entry costs down so everybody can afford it. We have a title sponsor (Mini Sport USA) to help make the event happen to our standards, but we always like to embellish and add to it. If you would like to support the Mini 60 with either cash or merchandise (for the silent auction or giveaways) please contact Mike Guido.

Thank you sponsors!
Their logos are links, visit them and see some great Mini stuff!.

See their 400hp AWD Mini!

Special thanks to:
Rhonnie Guido XOXO
Rob and Gail Woelfle
Cruise Master Chuck Gaines
Cruise Master Laurence Vooght
Scavenger Hunt Masters Justin Handy and Cole Gentry
Silent Auction Masters Malcolm and Linda
Hot Wheels Masters Justin and Wilver
Jim Watson leaves no broken Mini behind!!
... and everybody else that's making this the BIGGEST and BEST North American, 3 day Mini adventure!