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With MINI UNITED around the corner I decided to prepare the car for the Long MINI Adventure

First up was an Oil change at 10,000 miles only because I think 20,000 miles for an oil change is too long.

I had the MINI Dealership to 60 point Check on my JCW

Next up was a set of new tyres. From the factory my JCW had Dunlop SP Sport 01s which were summer runflat tyre and to me quite skittish in the wet.

I wanted all year round tyre and given it rains virtually all the time in the UK. I needed a tyre that would have grip in the wet.

After looking at all the brands and tyres available for my JCW, i went for Uniroyal Rainsport 2 (nonrunflats) on the advice of the tyrefitter.

Straight away the ride of the car improved significantly, lower road noise and better turn in.

Strange the car felt lower and looked lower. Apparently this is due the soft tyre walls on non runflat tyres.

Another thing i did whilst i got the tyres done was filled them with Nitrogen. The reason behind this because air has water in it and other elements from the atmosphere so tyre pressure would fluctuate with temperature.

The benefits of filling your tyre with nitrogen is that it wont fluctuate with temperature so tyre pressure stays consistent, in turn this gives even tyre wear and increased mpg.

Not bad given it cost £1 per tyre

As I would be driving through France en route to MINI UNITED I would have to apply to various EU Laws and having to drive on the wrong side of the road.

Here are things you will need and do:

  1. Drive on the wrong side of the road
  2. GB stickers
  3. Warning Triangle
  4. Fire Extinguisher
  5. High Vis Vest from Driver & Passengers
  6. Spare Bulb kit – Dont need spare bulbs for Front Xenon lights only
  7. For All front lights need to be repositioned so they don’t blind people – UK we drive on the right so they beam is angled differently
  8. Travel with all insurance documents and Photo driving license (log book if you are not the registered keeper)
  9. Speed limit 110 KMH (70 MPH) on motorways and sometimes 130 KMH (80MPH) – 30KMH (20MPH) Less in the wet
  10. Speed camera detectors or sat nav speed camera warnings are illegal
  11. Legal drink limit is 0.5 mg/ml
  12. Breathalysers will be compulsory from 1st July 2012 – You need have a breathalyser in the car
  13. When Overtaking dictate and level the dictator on until you have overtaken
  14. France has toll roads therefore have some change or buy Liber Tag (Allows you to drive throw tolls without stopping and you can pay the bill after a month with a discount)
  15. All times such as travel documents, insurance and safety equipment must within hands reach and not in the boot

I wanted a bit more noise from my JCW so went for ITG Filter. I wanted to keep the car looking standard so I just changed the panel filter only. The ITG Filter allows the air to flow more freely which in turn gives a few Bhp but nothing to shout about or real gain in performance. However after fitting the filter I got more Pops n Bangs and more induction noise from the Dump value & Turbo : D

My Xenons didnt need adjusting and cool thing was that on the MINI you can switch over to KMH by changing the setting via your indicator stalk

I brought a EU Driving pack with had all the stuff I need all in one bag which made life easy off amazon for £25 Delivered

I decided to upgrade my JCW exterior light as i would need spare bulbs anyway.

I brought some Chrome/Silvertech sidelights and indicator bulbs to get rid of the egg fried look. They look chrome/silver but when you indicate they flash orange.

Next was the Front Fogs as i didnt like the yellow light they gave off so i brought some Ice Blue Xenon HID Fog lights which give off a brighter white light.

I brought the Aero wipers as they look cool and they actually remove the water off the windscreen much faster

I brought suction mount for the HD Camera I brought for MINI UNITED : D

Finally I brought some sexy metal pressed number plates which i think look sooooo COOL

I met the wonderful Christine another JCW Owner on the Surrey New MINI forums who had spare room in villa for MINI UNITED. I jumped up and grabbed the room as the Villa looked fantastic from the pics plus it was only 10 minutes away from the Paul Ricard Circuit where MINI UNITED was happening!!!!

I joined the new Surrey New MINI Club (SNM) to which I am now a proud member & supporter (AM_AUTOS) – www.surreynewmini.co.uk

Everything was now set for MINI UNITED!!!

Next Post – The Road to MINI UNITED

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