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That is one sharp MINI you have. The 18s - Think about doing your own “adventure” thread, and let me know.
As for Albert’s adventures, yesterday was a gorgeous late spring day. Blue skies, light breeze and low 70s for a temperature. So, what else is there to do than to take Albert for a ride up into into the Adirondacks on some terrific MINI roads? It was gorgeous, with the trees all full with their late spring dark green leaves contrasted against the deep blue sky. A little bit of heaven.
Well, the other day I made the mistake of looking at new, 2025 MINI Coopers at the Dealer. Not that I am interested in buying one, just car-curious.
The mistake was learning that the new Cooper S is now over 200hp. Jeeezzzz Albert is only a few HP more than that. I may have to correct that and make that difference more respectable for a JCW. I can’t have a JCW being out done by an “S”.
The 300+ HP of my 2020 Countryman is addictive...don't drive that if you like the feeling of power!
If memory serves me right, back in the day the 1971 Chevelle SS 454 was rated at 425Hp (gross hp). In 1972 the ratings went from gross HP to Net HP. That same car, in 1972, was rated at 270 Hp Net.
Just for perspective.
Yup, I could become addicted to a 300+ MINI. I wonder if there is a GP for sale somewhere? No.
Wife has already told me that if another car comes in, one current one has to go. Not sure I could decide to get rid of any. So no. Dinan, maybe?
Friday Albert took us for a ride into the northern part of the Adirondack mountains to a village call Lake Placid. This area is known as the High Peaks area where a lot of hiking is done. However, for my wife and I this trip was for a quiet weekend getaway to a place called Mirror Lake Inn and Spa. This place is Adirondack elegance of the highest order.
Mirror Lake Inn, main building
Albert, lost amongst the giants
We had a room in a separate building that was right on the Lake. The view from within our room would have one sitting in a comfortable chair, a drink in hand and watching the world go slowly by. The view of the lake from our room
The weather was quintessential late spring Adirondack. Temperatures in the 50 - 60 deg range, overcast with periods of misty rain and clouds covering everything. But that is part of the Adirondack charm. It just makes the fireplaces all the more inviting.
A bit of entertainment for us was watching people training for the up coming Iron Man competition in July. One leg of that competition is swimming. Here that means swimming several laps the length of this lake. Not sure how cold the water was, but I am sure colder than anything I would swim in. Yes, I was more than willing to sit back and watch them do that.
One of several sitting rooms in the main building
Another sitting room in the main building
The food at the restaurant here, The View, was to die for. And we almost did by finishing off four courses that took 2-1/2 hours to get through. Yup, the next morning we both agreed that we over did it, but it was so much FUN!
This was a once in a life time treat for us and when Albert took off to take us home, we both had a smile on our faces and wonderful memories.
Well, maybe not “once in a lifetime”, but you get the idea.
I ordered some really fast tires for Albert from Tire Rack. They were delivered to my house within 24 hrs of placing that order, from CT to upstate NY. Those are some fast tires….
And they are fast, too, on the track. A new set of 215-45x17 Falken RT660s for Albert’s upcoming playdate on 8/2, 3 & 4 at Watkins Glen for 3 days of fun with others of his kind. Why not some 225-45 tires? There is flex in the rear suspension and under extended cornering loads that flex allows the tires to rub on the inside of the wheel arch in the rear. This is with the 215s. It would be worse with 225s and I am reluctant to experiment with whether or not that rubbing would cut down a tire in the middle of 1g+ corner…
Albert is almost ready for this event. He just needs a brake fluid change, brake pads changed out and the new tires mounted and balanced, and he is ready to go. He’s excited!
This event is put on by the GVC chapter of the BMWCCA. Probably the best in the business for teaching how to drive on the track. These events are called High Performance Driver Education and the events have rules and instructors, and are conducted with the idea that we all want our cars to go home in the same shape as the arrived in. A great learning experience, and you don’t need a high performance car or a BMW to participate. If there is someone in the area of this iconic and historical 3.4 mile WGI race track and available on that Friday or Saturday, who would like to see what this sort of thing is about (talk to people, see the cars, the track, etc), PM me and I will see if I can get you in as my guest.
Prep time has started for Albert and his 3 days at WGI. 4 new tires have been mounted and balanced. A 5th, slightly used (OK, half used) tire has been pulled from an earlier used set and mounted on a 5th wheel to be a spare that can be rotated in to even out the tire wear, especially on the left front. That corner will have 3 tires available to rotate in given it being the high wear location. All good.
Next is brakes. I have gone with what I hope will be an upgrade in both rotors and pads… ECS slotted and dimpled rotors, and Carbotech XP20 pads
I know, I know - Slotted, dimpled makes no difference compared to plain face rotors. Maybe yes; maybe no. I don’t know, but I am going to try them. Besides, the OEM rotors that came on the car, at 20k miles and a few track days, are showing their age with a few cracks and maybe some wrinkles. The wrinkles (wrapped) bother me, so new rotors. And the ECS price was reasonable. Not quite the $75 rotors I could have gotten at NAPA, but they don’t look as neat…
The thing is these rotors are massive. The photo doesn’t do them justice. This is like taking a picture of the Big Boy steam locomotive. Yup, you can fit it all in a 5x7” photo print, but that really doesn’t show how big it is. You just have to see it in person to appreciate it. Same with these rotor, which are 1-3/16” thick and 13” in dia and weight in at a hefty 23#. So much for unsprung weight… More mass, more heat that can be absorbed upon the initial braking. Better braking overall.
The XP20s are a bit of a gamble. Carbotech says they have much higher grip than the XP12s I have been using and the street tires may be pushed too easily beyond their limits, meaning having to deal with lockup and the ABS kicking in. I am not sure if the abs is a help or a hinderance out on the track. Maybe I’ll find out. The main reason for going to the XP20 is their higher heat rating. Don’t know how or if that will substitute for the lack of cooling, but I’ll see. If I don’t like them, the XP12s can go back in.
The brake bleed went fine. Pulled several ounces of fluid out of the reservoir, filled it with fresh. Then pulled that out and refilled it again. I wanted to make sure a large percentage of fluid in the reservoir was fresh. I am not sure there is any good way to remove all of the fluid, so this is my next best choice. Then all 4 corners were pressure bled.
Installing the rotors and XP20 pads was easy. Some smart person pulled the rotor retaining screws when the car was new and put never seize on them. The new rotors from ECS are coated with something, including the pad face. I called Carbotech to see if this would be an issue with their pads. The ECS web page is vague about what this coating is - zinc something? At any rate, Carbotech thought it would be fine, especially if I was able to drive it a bit on the street before going out on the track with it, which would wear the coating off.
Oh, these pads are horrible on the street. Squeeeeeeeeaaaaaal doesn’t even come close to describing the noise these things make. no matter how hard or light I pressed on the brake pedal, they would squeal. The worst part was they would squeal louder the slower the car went which meant that actually stopping the car for a stoplight, in traffic, was truly embarrassing 😳
Now, I know, race pads will tend to squeal. The XP12s would squeal, but it was manageable. The XP20s are intolerable. So they are out and the XP12s are in, just for the ride to the track, then they will get changed out to the XP20s. Not sure what I will do for the drive home. Probably just leave the XP20s in. 90% of the drive is on the Thruway, with little (hopefully) chance of needing to use them.
On the plus side, the cold grip with the XP20s is really good, much like the other pads Carbotech makes.
Ok, the question would be - if I am just going to change pads when I get to the track, why not just use the street (MINI) pads for the drive there and home? I don’t know. Carbotech likes to say there may be compatibility issues between the compound of their pads and the MINI pads. But I have done this in the past with no issues that I noted. I guess, the choice to go with the Carbotech pads with new rotors was to keep everything pristine, eliminating any compatibility concerns. Maybe the next time.
Oh, am I sore and tired. Three days of track at Watkins Glen did me in, with a smile on my face. Three days of sun, heat, humidity and rain. Yup, rain, every afternoon. That’s not to say rain isn’t a good thing. It is. What better time to go out on the track, virtually by one’s self? And what a great time to learn the limits of the car and how it feels at its limits. Does it want to push wide in the outer loop (the carousel) or does it want to swap ends? How is it under braking or when it hydroplanes? All important things to know for the track or real world driving. Yup, I have had a car hydroplane at 35 mph on the highway, it was raining that hard. Been there, done that on the track; no problems on the road.
Albert did much better than his owner. He never tired. The Carbotech XP20 brake pads were wonderful. They may have gotten warm (hot actually), but never cried Uncle. They don’t have that “slam your face on the windshield” instantaneous bite of some pads, but they slowed the car down quite well, lap after lap. Better than the XP12s I had used previously.
The lack of camber was noticeable, but not as bad as Smokey with equally little camber and same size tires. I credit the 0.5” wider wheels I can get for Albert for having better tire wear. Overall, I rate the handling of Albert as very good. With my Big Boy pants on, I was able to better or match several drivers of newer M3s through the twisty bits, but they would walk away from me in the straights only to be caught in the next corner. And, no, I didn’t get it on video, so yes “the fish was thiiisss big”
Albert does have an annoying habit of wearing out the inside of the plastic wheel well arches. I first noticed this on the rears, left more than right. Then, this time I noticed it quite extensively on the front left, with a little on the right. Tire rub
I am figuring that this is a result of suspension compression while braking hard and trail braking into a turn with a little steering angle.
I once again did the data training and Albert was able to match his best time of last year; a 2:21 and change several time through the 2 days I was dong the training. From there the coach and I targeted places to work on. Did I improve more? No, but that is not unexpected. There is a lot of muscle memory to over come from years of being on this track. So ultimate speeds were lower while leaning new lines and braking patterns. The fun in track days comes in part from learning how to do laps better, not just doing laps.
Another fun part about these events is seeing the car show of what people run on the track. Just a sample of what was there: Albert all packed and ready to go
Unfortunately Covid has become more prevalent and I packed extra in the way of tarps and pop up sun shades so I could be away from people if I was feeling uncomfortable. It is a good thing MINIs have the capacity of a pickup truck… As it turned out, the spacing in the garage and air flow through the garage was such I felt the risk of catching it was low. So far, so good.
So, I took a garage space:
Albert’s home for 3 days
And Albert’s “lowly” stable mate, a 427 V8 powered Ultima track car.
Ok, I won’t keep you in suspense, the business end of this beast:
This is purpose built 427 ci V8, based off the Chevy LS7 (but shares no parts), making 700+ HP
And, no, I don’t know what the “102” stands for…
It is even more delightful sounding than to look at:
Over the years of going to the track I have accumulated a cash of small parts that are easily lost or damaged doing things such as changing out brake pads. Albert has this wonderful set of very large (for the car’s size) Brembo brakes, with pads that are retained by a simple pin. A pretty simple and elegant design. I have more than once had to change a set of pads at a multi-day event and these pins are removed and then reinstalled in the process. However, the loss of a pin or damage to a pin would end the end the event for me. So I decide to purchase a pair for spares (thanks ECS). They were delivered today.
Brembo caliper brake pad retaining pins
I got a real chuckle when I saw the warning and instruction sheet that came with them… Caliper pin removal and installation instructions and warnings
A 19”x24” sheet of paper, printed on both sides in a tiny letter size, in 8 languages, with 4 lines of instructions in English on how to remove the pins and a corresponding 4 lines of instructions on how to install the pins.
Like I said, I got a good chuckle from this one…
And the pins then went into my little box of spare brake parts.
As for the instruction sheet, I think I’ve got this one. That will be stored in the recycle bin until further notice.
Albert has signed up for another 3 day event at WGI with the GVC chapter of BMWCCA. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, same as before, and with open track on Friday. I already had a couple of tires flipped over on the wheels to even out wear. Surprisingly, even with as little camber as this car has, the tire wear from the last 3 day event was pretty even. I am sure a couple of deg of camber would improve that, but I am in no rush. I am learning the car as is.
That said, for all of you “suspension designers” out there, will adding more camber help or hurt the traction of the front tire that is on the inside of the turn? Here is my thought on this subject… Camber tilts the top of the tire towards the center of the car. As the steering wheel is turned, the angle of the wheel spindle tilts down, causing a loss of camber, this happens on both the inside and outside tires. However, that is only the static change. If I add body roll to the equation, that will reduce camber on the wheel to the outside of the turn and increase camber on the wheel to the inside of the turn, thus reducing the contact patch. Lastly there is caster. Caster adds camber to the wheel to the outside of a turn and it removes camber from the wheel to the inside of the turn. So will adding static camber exacerbate the change in camber on that inside wheel to the point that there is little contact patch to provide much traction at all? Or is there sufficient tilt of the spindle and caster to counteract body body roll added camber plus any camber that I add? Could it be that in the stock design, the tire to the inside of a turn is already riding on the outside of the tread and adding static camber will improve that? Or is it riding on the inside of the tread and adding static camber will make that worse? Should I be adding caster along with camber so I don’t screw up the traction on that tire that is to the inside of a turn? …. Ugh!
My concern is that in a turn like the Toe at WGI, which is both up hill and a hairpin, the inside front wheel wants to spin as a result of having an open differential. The MINI/BMW fix for that is to apply the brake on that side front wheel and I don’t want to make that situation worse. Right now, I don’t know
And for those who what to think about other things, here is a really good pair of videos on roll center
Analysis paralysis? Instead of tuning for one particular corner, tune for the majority, and drive differently through the one outlier.
I am of the camp that believes camber (up to a certain value) and stiffer anti-roll bar are good for a front drive MacPhearsen strut vehicle. The added camber in the front will be dictated by the course. You want the tire to have as much contact as possible with the ground, but that can only be determined by the course, radius of the corners, and driving style. The stiffer front anti-roll bar keeps the loss of camber from body roll in check, and can help with turn in response.
Do you have front strut mounts that allow for adding castor? If not, it becomes a moot point. Castor is one of those things that can bring diminished returns after a certain value. Increased castor helps the steering wheel to self center, helps with adding camber as the wheels turn, but can also make the steering heavy and jerky. Again, this is a value that is dictated by the course and driving style.
All of that is so true. And is pretty much what I have done on my R56, sans the caster. Large front and rear sway bars, stiffer springs and shock, camber plates, poly bushings, LSD. I tried camber/caster plates but they didn’t survive their first track day, maybe another day for caster. I have also taken it one step further by staying, as closely as I could, with the MINI balance of the car in order to avoid handling complications, such as snap oversteer, which I have had with earlier setups. Maybe this car could be quicker if I moved away from its current setup to more of a pure race setup, but I am not sure I would have survived the antifreeze spill I hit at about 103 mph at the apex of T3 at WGI had the car been more prone to oversteer.
But that is my more dedicated track car. Albert is my street car that I take to the track. Right now it is all MINI. No handling mods other than the MINI JCW Pro suspension and the plan is to keep it stock. Part of the fun of that is learning how to drive around its limitations. And, quite frankly, the car handles quite well on the track, not far off where my R56 is. The idea of adding camber to Albert is more to improve tire wear on the track more than to improving handling.
My question had more to do with unintended consequences than anything else. Will adding camber to the front wheels cause an unwanted consequence. Yes it will help the tire on the outside of the turn, but will it hurt the tire on the inside of the turn? If the tire on the inside of the turn (any turn, not just T3 at WGI) has less contact patch as result of adding camber, it could be a loss overall on this car, as it is.
My question had more to do with unintended consequences than anything else. Will adding camber to the front wheels cause an unwanted consequence. Yes it will help the tire on the outside of the turn, but will it hurt the tire on the inside of the turn? If the tire on the inside of the turn (any turn, not just T3 at WGI) has less contact patch as result of adding camber, it could be a loss overall on this car, as it is.
Adding camber will help, up to a point, which was what I was trying to get across in my post. As I understand it, and I do not participate in track days, is that as you add camber, there will come a point where additional camber will not gain you anything. You might just need some trial and error to find that setting for you driving style, track configuration, and car set up.
Adding camber will help, up to a point, which was what I was trying to get across in my post. As I understand it, and I do not participate in track days, is that as you add camber, there will come a point where additional camber will not gain you anything. You might just need some trial and error to find that setting for you driving style, track configuration, and car set up.
You are welcome to visit a track day when I am at WGI…
Yes, trial and error would be possible, but expensive as it would entail a wheel alignment with each change in camber. The issue with MINIs is that adding camber increases the toe-in, which is undesirable for the track. So, to do it this way would take several track events with a wheel alignment between each one.
Remember that the issue I am trying to address is brake pad wear and abuse of the front brakes. If that inside front wheel tries to spin freely then it is putting more heat into already hot brakes when the eDLC kicks in to apply the brake on that wheel to control the spinning. Yes, the real fix to that is to add a true, mechanical LSD. But, no, that is a very expensive card I don’t plan to play.
I was hoping that I could learn some from the actual suspension geometry that would provide some insight into what the geometry of that inside wheel is going through in a turn and how that contact patch is changing. Hence the “mind exercise” question.
My current thought is to go through and take some actual measurements of the wheel when steering input is made. Charlie Thompson has come up with roll angles on his MINI, which has the same suspension that I have. With all of that, I might be able make an estimate of what the contact patch change will look like.
With that thought, I can look up Charlie’s picture showing the car’s roll angle and see if it also shows that inside front tire and what it is doing.
Thanks for the discuss….that helped. Now to chase down that picture.
Bite the doggone bullet and do the Quaife. You’ll make it back due to brake life, and better lap times.
Sorry, preaching to the wise, but…
Cheers,
Charlie
You are welcome to preach; we all can’t be wise all of the time…
My dealer’s shop supervisor said he would do the work. So I have no excuse… Except $$$
FWIW - A really fast time around WGI is sub-2 min. I recently saw a video posted with a street version of the Porsche 992 GT3 and it included data. Sub-2 min lap time. To do that takes a really fast car, with aero, sticky tires and it has to be driven really well. His minimum speed in the Toe (Turn 7, that nasty uphill corkscrew that I detest) was about 65 mph. In my data coaching I was given a target of 60 mph for my minimum speed and I am currently in the high 50s (58-ish). So, the difference in speed is about 7 mph, divided into the difference in the cost of the 2 cars (about $200k) is about $30k/mph. By that really simplistic way of looking at how to improve my speed through that turn by my target of 2 mph, I would need to do about $60k worth of improvement to Albert. That’s considering I am at the limits of Albert, as is (Damn it Captain, I am givin’ it all she’s got!) and it has nothing to do with the loose nut behind the wheel that needs tightening…
Point - This is a tough track even for the best of cars. Also, Seeing the data from that Porsche has me feeling not too bad about how Albert is doing in that turn, eDLC included. Would a Quaife help? Yes. Help a lot? I don’t have a clear answer to that question, for the track. So for now, I plan to look for another JCW who has taken data through that turn and see what is limiting; me or the car, or both.
You are welcome to preach; we all can’t be wise all of the time…
My dealer’s shop supervisor said he would do the work. So I have no excuse… Except $$$
FWIW - A really fast time around WGI is sub-2 min. I recently saw a video posted with a street version of the Porsche 992 GT3 and it included data. Sub-2 min lap time. To do that takes a really fast car, with aero, sticky tires and it has to be driven really well. His minimum speed in the Toe (Turn 7, that nasty uphill corkscrew that I detest) was about 65 mph. In my data coaching I was given a target of 60 mph for my minimum speed and I am currently in the high 50s (58-ish). So, the difference in speed is about 7 mph, divided into the difference in the cost of the 2 cars (about $200k) is about $30k/mph. By that really simplistic way of looking at how to improve my speed through that turn by my target of 2 mph, I would need to do about $60k worth of improvement to Albert. That’s considering I am at the limits of Albert, as is (Damn it Captain, I am givin’ it all she’s got!) and it has nothing to do with the loose nut behind the wheel that needs tightening…
Point - This is a tough track even for the best of cars. Also, Seeing the data from that Porsche has me feeling not too bad about how Albert is doing in that turn, eDLC included. Would a Quaife help? Yes. Help a lot? I don’t have a clear answer to that question, for the track. So for now, I plan to look for another JCW who has taken data through that turn and see what is limiting; me or the car, or both.
Dare I ask what your personal best is with Albert at WGI?
I've amused myself with the Skip Barber car on that track, just to remember Turn 7 more clearly. Sub 2 minutes is one hell of a lot faster than that car can go, but it does roll up 7 at a pretty good clip. 150 hp on street tires, but only 1600 pounds or so.
The thing is - the way 7 drives for me it's a fast entry and momentum gets me pretty far up the hill before I'm back to full throttle - so how much RF wheel-spin wants to happen I wonder? You're in 3rd, right? Down from 4th on entry?
Dare I ask what your personal best is with Albert at WGI?
I've amused myself with the Skip Barber car on that track, just to remember Turn 7 more clearly. Sub 2 minutes is one hell of a lot faster than that car can go, but it does roll up 7 at a pretty good clip. 150 hp on street tires, but only 1600 pounds or so.
The thing is - the way 7 drives for me it's a fast entry and momentum gets me pretty far up the hill before I'm back to full throttle - so how much RF wheel-spin wants to happen I wonder? You're in 3rd, right? Down from 4th on entry?
Cheers,
Charlie
I believe i am at a 2:21 and change.
Your guess on gears is correct. 3rd oui of T6, shift to 4th then back down to 3rd. I have tried a number of lines through T7. Also, a number of braking combinations. In my data coaching it was suggested to hit the brakes pretty hard (at about the 200 marker), then full off at the compression. The idea was to work on maintaining that momentum. That worked pretty well. Improved by 0.4 sec on that turn alone. I have since tried a little less hard at 200 and a very light trail brake after the compression. Felt better, not sure if time was better; no data. In the FWD my best line is to hit the compression about a car width from the right curb. It seems that keeping the steering wheel a little straighter at the compression helps with the angle further up to the apex. Apex is actually a little early. Up to this point I am on maintenance throttle, which starts about half way between the compression and the apex.
Wheel spin come in as I am accelerating out from the apex. There is a lot of “push” as soon as I get on the throttle and it is hard to accurate. So I have to play with the throttle to control wheel spin, push and acceleration. Fun.
I have no shame, else I should not have shared this! ;-)
Here's me reminding myself of the Boot at WGI, which does tickle me among all the iRacing tracks I have met. God save me from doing it in the real world, and all respect to you for applying Albert to the task.
This might amuse you anyway,,, these two laps are only five hundredths apart, but if you watch you'll immediately realize that this is due to improbable coincidence rather than any steely-eyed precision on my part. Try not to wince as I screw up turn one equally by not having any decent points of timing.
Oh well, I was paying attention to the Boot dammit! Can't be bothered to drive the whole damned track!
So in my silly fictitious virtual world, I'm doing short hard braking at the 100 meter board, grabbing 3rd, and catching the compression to use the grip to reach the apex, then being patient.
I note my min speed in 7 is 69, which isn't too surprising given the 2:15 vs 2:21 difference.
So I'm freshly reminded that that is indeed tricky for me, and feels great when done correctly. Of course in iRacing the compression has to be detected visually and through force feedback, as my bum is not involved.
Charlie - Those are crazy fast laps and you are really brave to have taken on the Dallara. Go You!
It interesting that your straight line speeds in the Skippy car are about the same as my R56 Cooper S, yet my lap times in that car are about 2:25. So, you are gaining time in each corner by about 1 sec a turn. Impressive.
Your second video is just crazy. Excellent control.
This is a real clinic on how to drive and the line to take through each corner at WGI.
A few things… Your T10 is about spot on and it is a shame that you don’t get the seat of the pants feeling that one gets in a real car because it is awesome to feel the g-loads in that turn. Even though the g’s are basically the same through each turn, in T10 the feeling comes through differently from any other turn on the track. Don’t know why, but it is.
I like your line through the esses. Your entrance into T4 is spot on; most people don’t know that line. However, hold your track out to be a little later. By tracking out where you are is actually climbing up the track camber. In a momentum car, staying along the curb a little longer reduces that climb and there is a bit to be gained there.
For the entrance to T6, try placing your car about a car width from the right edge of the track. You will see that in the Porsche’s line. What one doesn’t see when driving towards that turn is the track’s cross-section profile in that area. The appearance is that is at a constant angle from one side to the other. However, in a track walk, one would see that the track is relatively flat for about a car width on the right side. As you move to the left the camber of the track increases.
Apex your turns…. Almost all of the turns at WGI have an “apex pocket” right at the intersection of the “track” and the rough curbing. There is a lot camber in each of the turns. Use it. Getting on the curbing will decrease your track camber. Also, most of the turns have an “apex radius” vs a “apex point”. The Porsche’s line will help with this.
Not the fastest car on the track and not my best, but this will give you an idea of what I do…
Your hands are so calm! Even at speed - if I didn't know better I might think 'twas a funeral procession!
Kinda tells me you know the track pretty well.
Around 4:10 in Turn 7 I note entry speed 70, driving up to the apex dropping to 60, but then inexplicably as the car starts to track out up the hill the speed drops to 49 mph.
Data glitch? For Pete's sake that car can pull 3rd up that hill and accelerate. The lateral Gs have fallen from the 1.1 peak so there is some traction available. I'm baffled.
If that is real, I can only surmise that the eDLC is killing the car's progress in the name of some Anglo-Teutonic fixation on wheelspin suppression.
Does the car really bog that badly, or am I being fooled?
Cheers,
Charlie
PS: I'm being fooled! Closer inspection of the digital speedo (ignoring Harry's faux GPS speed) tells the tail. 58 at the apex and then 61+ opening the wheel and accelerating up the hill - that makes more sense!
When I did autocross I came up with the idea that “slow is fast”. I would start out with traction contol full on so it would remind me that I needed to slow down and not push so I could concentrate on learning the course and not make a course mistake. Then I would turn it off and start to bring my spreed up with each successive run. A lot of times my fastest or near to fastest time was from one of those early runs, when I was still “going slow”. Slow is fast.
Out on the track, I learned that a basically stock MINI didn’t like any abrupt action, especially with braking, but also with steering. Plus and mentor taught me to roll-in my steering inputs, like making turns into ellipses. With braking, the car didn’t take well to a rapid weight transfer. It liked the brakes to be “eased on” to get the weight transfer done smoothly, then slam the brakes. My mentor tried to have me go from 100% gas to 100% gas in a micro-second, but the car would bark back - “I’m going to kill you if you do that again”. That was very disconcerting at 120 mph.
So, I worked on slow and smooth.
As for the GPS, interesting catch in the Toe. I am not sure what happened to it. The car’s speedometer should be reading a little slow, if anything, with the 215 vs the stock 205 tires. As I noted my speed reading on the back straight was slow. The car reads a bit over 125 but the GPS is showing about 115. I know that isn’t right. I am using an external antenna that should be more accurate than that. Maybe I need a new one?
Glad you enjoyed.
I hope to get more video when I go at the end of the month. More fun!
05-30-2024, 05:36 AM
Think about doing your own “adventure” thread, and let me know.
