Wow – what an initiation for a brand new MINI!

As hundreds of MINI owners prepared to hit the road in San Francisco this morning (Sunday 27 July) at the start of MINI TAKES THE STATES 2014, one couple of MTTS Motorers had literally minutes to get to know their brand new MINI Hardtop (F56).

Ahead of Wendy and Max Haner, of Asheville, North Carolina, lay a 5,200-mile 14-day epic trek through 18 states and 15 cities, yet this was to be the first time they had ever driven their new MINI.

Wendy and Max, who are ‘going all the way’ on the rally from coast to coast, collected their pristine new MINI from MINI of San Francisco just two days earlier, after it had been shipped there from their dealer, Century MINI in South Carolina.

They only had time to have some vinyl graphics fitted to their MINI before driving it 12 miles to Golden Gate Fields for the start of the epic cross-country rally.

Wendy, VP of Tar Heel MINI Motoring Club, said: “We thought that there was no better way to quickly get to know and enjoy our new MINI than taking it straight out on MINI TAKES THE STATES 2014.”