2007 - Open Motoring, My MINI Convertible on the Dragon

[DRIVRdotBE]

Awesome road! Where is it?

[pbartolomeo05]

this is the tail of the dragon on US 129 between TN and NC.

[mtntopcowgirl]

I'll take mine in Black Please *wink*

make it a jcw.. and hold the S... hahaha

I got no business going that fast..

[DaveTinNY]

Great video! I have the sense of motoring on the Dragon now. Thanks! I too have the MINI Cooper (S) and an HD camera. The video I made in my MINI was originally shot in High Def on a Sony 30Gig. It looks great at home on the HDTV but the YouTube video had to be downsized to 100MB. The quality went straight to hell as a result. Oh well, the music sounds good. :-) I mounted my camera through the boot's ventilation grill behind the back seats.  Not as steady as your rigging. Nice job.

[svtoyot]

Thanks, this one's from last year. Check my YouTube page for the ones' titled 2008, those are shot in HD... Still downsized for YouTube of course but if your bandwidth is high enough you'll get a prompt to watch in high quality, much much better!

[banjony]

Im so jealous you are there! I dont get my mini for another few weeks, but next year, I am so there!

[banjony]

How did you mount your camera?

[marktoyot]

I built a wooden shelf that temporarily mounts in place of the rear headrest cushions, and bolts through the roll bar in their mounting holes. This exents up about 8 inches and has a flat platform with holes for mounting cameras. My goal was to get the camera high enough to see the road ahead OVER the windshield instead of through it, and yet still see the cockpit and driver.

[banjony]

Wow! You have some serious hobby there! LOL well, it definately was worth it cause it looks awesome. Cant wait to get my mini and drive that road

[mmatarella]

:-) In a week or so I'll create a new video. I'm at the Dragon now, drove it three times today. New vid camera is HD, and have a wider fisheye lens on it for more 'peripheral vision'. I think it gives more of a sense of being there... More to come.

[460x]

I know this car. He went blowing past me in my F360 Modena.

[mmatarella]

Ha! :-) Funny...

[taytot1995]

How did you mount the camera?

[bagaloot]

Nice run. Thanks for staying right of the yellow.

I have met some idiots that think they need both sides.

[mmatarella]

Thanks! Yeah, I don't understand why people go to the Dragon and cross the yellow and straighten it out. To me the whole point is how twisty it is. If someone wants to drive in a straight line they outta stay on I83! :-)

[7711731]

my best car and color :_

[mmatarella]

:-)

[Alisterwolf66]

I bet you were really good at coloring in grammar school... you stayed between the lines!

Joking aside, well done!

I would love to run my MG through there someday. Seems like a grand way to put a smile on faces.

[mmatarella]

Thanks, I do try. Since I had a camera running I was even more careful and took it easy. There's enough videos out there of folks going too fast and using too much of the road. I thought I'd try to make one that it'd be OK for my nephews (and Mom) too see. ;-)

[Alisterwolf66]

*laughs* Good motivation! But it is genuinely nice to see not every person with a modern sporty car drives like a Fast and Furious reject. Again, thanks!

Oh... in addition to my small collection of classic cars (to include two British sports cars heavily modified '66 Olds), I'm a biker as well. I really hate having to avoid the squids and wannabe racers along Hwy 20 in Idaho.

[FalseTorrent]

Thats what the dragon is for.

[mmatarella]

Yes...

[dlopez8a]

Is this the soundtrack to the "Italian Job"?