MINI-Motorsport and the MINI-Team spent the day testing at the track on Friday - as you've probably seen in the pics and videos.

Here is some of the information we gathered.

There were four cars there, each with a different set-up. The four set-ups were:

1) Stock except for Kumho 712 Ecstas and an intake
2) Stock suspension with intake, Borla, and Azenis tires/Rotas
3) Rear swaybar, H&R Springs, intake (Pipercross), Magnaflow, Euphoria tires/S-Lites
4) Rear swarbar, H&R Springs, intake, Borla, Yoko AVS tires/X-Lites (V-Spokes)

Some very interesting information came out of the testing.

I drove all four cars, over more than fifteen laps each, so the data was consistent.

The first thing that surprised me was how much more the suspension mattered than the tires. Both cars with the springs and swaybars were consistently 2 seconds a lap faster than the Azenis tires. They were a further 2 seconds faster than car 1.

Fastest time of the day was a 1:22 in car 4. The tires and intake overcame the horsepower advantage of the Magnaflow with the Pipercross - but not by much, a little less than a second.

The difference between the cars with stock suspensions was extreme. The most notable differences were turn-in, power application, brake dive, and transitions.

The turn-in and power application are from the swaybar. Here is a good shot of the stock vs. swaybar equipped cars:



Swaybar equipped



Stock

Look at the difference at the front wheel. That made it very difficult to apply full power.

The brake dive and transition roll are from the springs, and while I didn't notice a huge difference wihtout the springs on the street, on the track the difference is very noticeable. There is a set of S turns in the back straight that are fairly high speed - about 85mph - and that's where the roll transition was most pronounced.

As far as power was concerned, there is no doubt that the Magnaflow car was the most powerful of the cars, but with the run-flats, it just wasn't as fast. I was actually surprised at just how well the run flats did though. They are definitely not as sticky, but they are predictable, and provide good grip. They were the slickest of the four tire compounds, but they also communicated what the car was doing the best.

My favorite tires were the Azenis, but I was surprised by how much. I really think the Yokohama AVS tires are a great deal - but the scream like a cat in heat at the limit - screeeeech! The Yokos were sticky, held up well, and transitioned nicely. They are also about $75 per tire! The Azenis tires made up for a lot - total lack of any suspension work, and yet they were only 2 seconds down. When you put that in context with the Kumhos, which I also enjoyed, that is huge - that tire was 4 seconds down on the suspension equipped cars! While the Kumho felt sticky, it faded slightly and the tread pattern isn't conducive to track days - it looked pretty torn up at the end. It would be a great street tire though.

Car 1 had only the intake, and was definitely noticably down on power from the rest of the group, especially out of the hairpin. You smoothly put your foot to the floor and just waited for the power. We unfortunately didn't have a fully stock car on friday, as it would have been interesting to see just how many seconds difference can be made in the intake alone. What this tells me is that the intake is great, but is optimized when used in conjunction with an exhaust - even if it's only the Borla there is a significant difference.

The biggest improvement that made itslef obvious as a neccesity is the brakes. Fade was the biggest problem during the entire day. It was 35-40F and the brakes consistently faded after ten hot laps. The next test will include pads, fluid and perhaps rotors to see what improvements can be made without investing over $1000. Then we'll test the Big Stuff. We are going to try ATE and Motul brake fluids and securing which pads we'll work with on Monday.

I must say as a side note that I was very impressed with the improvements of the MINI-Team drivers. None of them had ever been on a road course, and by the end of the day all three of the other drivers were just 2 seconds off the times I had set in their cars. We are going to have a pretty potent team after a few more test days and some autocross testing. Great job Dave, Kelly and Brad!!

There is some more data being analyzed, so more will be coming.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Randy
720-841-1002

 

Awesome report Randy.

 

Randy - you must have had a blast driving four different MINI's. The pics of the car with and without sway bars shows so much difference. Great post.

 

The pick shows alot but they can be bias (Early turn in, speed, driver, late turn in) etc. The numbers and the pick though, they show alot. thanks Randy

 

Excellent information Randy, thank you. If you need a stock car for testing next time, I'll be more than happy to volunteer mine I'm just waiting in the wings while you guys figure out the best mods, then I'll want the full treatment All of the work you are doing is appreciated.
Cheers, David.

 

>>The biggest improvement that made itslef obvious as a neccesity is the brakes. Fade was the biggest problem during the entire day. It was 35-40F and the brakes consistently faded after ten hot laps. The next test will include pads, fluid and perhaps rotors to see what improvements can be made without investing over $1000. Then we'll test the Big Stuff. We are going to try ATE and Motul brake fluids and securing which pads we'll work with on Monday.


I recently took my MCS to Road Atlanta a couple weeks ago with conditions similar to this (35-40F) and let me tell you that this was a HUGE probelm for me. In your belief, do you think a pad upgrade will solve this? (I hope) Or do you think the brakes will require new slotted/drilled/etc or bigger rotors? Thanks for the report!

 

Randy--Thanks for the excellent report.

Regarding the brakes, the dilemma is that there is no one pad that is perfect for the street and track. True track pads don't work well enough when cold to be used on the street. There are pads like EBC Redstuff that are a compromise for street/track but probably aren't up to a full Road Atlanta type race. Their Greenstuff pad is highly regarded for street/autocross and reduces dust. Hawk and others also have various types, but you have to decide on how you'll be using the car. An all out track car does need different rotors, etc.

You probably noticed that there is not much front end dive when braking but the rear does squat down. The MINI seems to have more rear braking proportioning than you would guess. The Helix performance people have noted this and reported that the rears generate a lot of heat- really necessitates upgrading the brake fluid.

 

I was quite please with how my MINI did on Friday (both in Randy's able hands and in my own). By the end of the day I felt a lot better about my line selection and less tentative than in the morning.

Friday made one thing very clear to me: The BMWCCA autocross season is going to be very competetive amoung the members of TeamMINI. :smile: I would imagine Randy will consistently put down lower times, but I'd like to think that by mid season there might be a chance for each of us to have learned enough to close the gap down and possibly even pull out a win. Should be fun regardless.

 

Great report guys.

I took my S to Summit Point WV for a high performance driving school last Nov. It was cool and wet. I ran with the Kumho Ecsta 712's, Rogue intake, & Borla exhaust. Before I went I upgraded my brake pads to Porterfield R4S and went to a high performance brake fluid at the same time. I experienced no brake fade. I have since gone back to the stock brake pads -- partially because of the reported issues w/the Porterfields.

On an autox course the runs are so short that brake fade is not an issue -- I agree though that if you are going to road course a Cooper or S one should look at upgrading brake pads and fluid - maybe even rotors if you are going to do it a lot.

I'm suprised that the suspension made such a difference in your test. I would have thought the tires would make the most difference, then HP, then suspension.

 

What were the issues with the Porterfileds? Were you unhappy with their performance once you were back on the street?

 

(Don't know the specifics)..but the Porterfields do not have the stock "clip" on the back...thereby allowing them to jam into the rotor durring use. It happened to someone so MINI-Madness pulled them. Called Porterfield and was told the pads were "prototypes"...yet they sold a big bunch of them to Madness...you don't sell prototypes...you give out one. Bad situation. Best to wait until someone has access to the clips (or use the ones coming off old pads).

R