Event Photography For World Record Attempt | MINI on the Mack 2017
If you were asked to be part of a world record attempt, would you get excited?
That's exactly what happened when MINI of Grand Rapids asked us to photograph the MINI on the Mack 2017 World Record attempt in St. Ignace, Michigan.
"Records were made to be broken" read a shirt from a MINI owner.
You probably recognize the name MINI Cooper. You may have even seen a MINI as you drive around your town.
You may have even thought to yourself, "They're SOOOO cute! I'd like one, but don't know if it's the right car for me..."
As a company, MINI is owned by BMW which means the cars are extremely well designed and have horsepower like no other.
If you've never driven a MINI Cooper, I highly recommend you try it (visit Shaun Waid at MINI of Grand Rapids).
Beginning early Saturday morning, MINI Coopers from around North America began showing up in St. Ignace, Michigan on the north side of the Mackinaw Bridge.
Then more came. Then even more. They arrived and picked up their MINI swag.
MINI owners love swag for their car. Stickers, decals, hats, t-shirts. You name it, it was available.
MINI owners can be summarized by the statement: "Fiercely Independent". Each of their vehicles is painted, detailed, customized to the owners personal style and taste.
We even found a MINI towing a scooter and a MINI customized to look like an "El Camino" and was appropriately called a "El CaMINI".
As more and more cars arrived, the energy continued to grow. When new cars arrived it was like attending a car show. Everyone wanted to see how other MINI owners had customized their car.
The venue was a sea of red t-shirts and the event was a family friendly affair. Parents brought their kids, friends brought other friends and they were all there to break the world record and head out for a drive across the Mackinaw Bridge.
Cars were lined up and arranged so they could be tallied for the official world record attempt.
Once the count was done, the MINI Cooper Rally was on! The rally headed south and crossed the Mackinaw Bridge twice on it's route.
With a world record attempt underway, spectators turned up all around to watch the MINI Rally cross the Mackinaw Bridge not once, but twice!
Some spectators stayed in one location to watch the parade of MINIs pass, but we traveled to several different locations on both the north and south side of the bridge to capture images.
The rally distance was 44 miles from beginning to end. With so many MINIs together for the world record attempt, as cars turned around at the south end of the rally, other cars were just entering the highway 20 miles to the north.
Yes, that's right, MINI Coopers were driving along I-75 in a line for over 20 miles! (That's what it takes to break a world record)
Following the rally, MINI owners and their guests were welcomed back to the event venue with lunch as they awaited the news of whether the world record had been broken.
Feeding 3000 attendees is not an easy task and the City of St. Ignace did a great job managing the MINI on the Mack event.
With anticipation folks waited to hear whether they were part of a new world record.
George Sharpe Jr, General Manager of MINI of Grand Rapids took to the microphone to let the world know that they had fallen 123 MINIs short of breaking the world record.
While the 2017 event did not break the world record, the MINI community is determined to break the record in 2019.
Many thanks to MINI of Grand Rapids for hosting the event, Van Andel Institute's Purple Community for being a wonderful charity partner, St. Ignace community for being welcoming and to every single MINI owner who showed up in hopes of being part of a record.