MCS at Fontana Report
#1
06-06-2003 | 10:10 PM
Thread Starter
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6th Gear
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 1,731
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From: Anaheim, CA
Day 1:
Talk about David versus Goliath! That sums up the MCS effort at Fontana! The cool thing is the car is fast even with minimum mods to the suspension and engine (full roll cage of course). They were able to run most of the first full practice, delays at drivers registration prevented running the full time.
Second practice went fine with both drivers getting seat time. Times were rougly 1 -2 seconds off the fastest cars in ST-1.
Third practice was not so kind. The supercharger belt tensioner broke with obvious consequences. Cause of the failure is not clear. Fortunately the car was able to coast into the pits where it was pushed back to the garage. Double fortunately we able to but one (and a spare) from Universal MINI in Universal City. It was dark by the time the car was back together and running.
So spirits are high for more practice and qualifying tomorrow. Oh yeah, the race is Saturday as well!
Talk about David versus Goliath! That sums up the MCS effort at Fontana! The cool thing is the car is fast even with minimum mods to the suspension and engine (full roll cage of course). They were able to run most of the first full practice, delays at drivers registration prevented running the full time.
Second practice went fine with both drivers getting seat time. Times were rougly 1 -2 seconds off the fastest cars in ST-1.
Third practice was not so kind. The supercharger belt tensioner broke with obvious consequences. Cause of the failure is not clear. Fortunately the car was able to coast into the pits where it was pushed back to the garage. Double fortunately we able to but one (and a spare) from Universal MINI in Universal City. It was dark by the time the car was back together and running.
So spirits are high for more practice and qualifying tomorrow. Oh yeah, the race is Saturday as well!
#2
06-08-2003 | 01:15 PM
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6th Gear
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 1,731
Likes: 0
From: Anaheim, CA
Day 2:
Qualifying was shortened for Competition Associates due to another broken supercharger belt. Veskos lap put them in midfield for ST-I, not bad. Belt was replaced along with some other tweaks.
The car ran well for the race. A couple of pit lane infractions slowed things down. One penalty was served during a yellow, so that was a good break. About six laps from the finish the damn supercharger belt broke again. A heroic pit stop put the car back in with minimal time loss. Alas, that belt lasted only another two laps and the race was finished. They did end up in front of a Z4 and two Lexuses, however. Pretty good with a fraction of their budget and manpower.
The good news is that the car has lots of potential. The belt issue will be solved, the length of the belt is critical and a second long belt was not available for changing. Then other areas can be optimised.
Competition Associates consists of Ron Parker (crew chief) and Vesko Kozarov and Pratt Cole drivers. They recieved pit and technical assistance from the folks at Diamond Racing, Tracy, Ernie, and Cy. There was a couple who also worked on the pits, but I did not get their names. Yours truly did some critical gopher work and other stuff.
Pictures will follow, but don't hold your breath.
The MINI drew tons of attention.
Lots of MINI owners and well wishers who wanted the car to do well. After the race, a member of a podium finishing GS-II team offered a one-to-one trade of a Firebird with the MCS!!
There was very sweet classic Cooper, silver/B with a maroon interior. The owner was the president of Brumos, a heavy hitter in sports car racing. The Mini was his toy. Some local MCS owners got in some track time during the Saturday lunch break. It was non-competitive, no passing allowed. Very cool to see them.
_________________
Treasurer, SCMM | paul@scmm.org | Future MINI owner: OREO, black on the outside, white in the middle!!.
Qualifying was shortened for Competition Associates due to another broken supercharger belt. Veskos lap put them in midfield for ST-I, not bad. Belt was replaced along with some other tweaks.
The car ran well for the race. A couple of pit lane infractions slowed things down. One penalty was served during a yellow, so that was a good break. About six laps from the finish the damn supercharger belt broke again. A heroic pit stop put the car back in with minimal time loss. Alas, that belt lasted only another two laps and the race was finished. They did end up in front of a Z4 and two Lexuses, however. Pretty good with a fraction of their budget and manpower.
The good news is that the car has lots of potential. The belt issue will be solved, the length of the belt is critical and a second long belt was not available for changing. Then other areas can be optimised.
Competition Associates consists of Ron Parker (crew chief) and Vesko Kozarov and Pratt Cole drivers. They recieved pit and technical assistance from the folks at Diamond Racing, Tracy, Ernie, and Cy. There was a couple who also worked on the pits, but I did not get their names. Yours truly did some critical gopher work and other stuff.
Pictures will follow, but don't hold your breath.
The MINI drew tons of attention.
Lots of MINI owners and well wishers who wanted the car to do well. After the race, a member of a podium finishing GS-II team offered a one-to-one trade of a Firebird with the MCS!!There was very sweet classic Cooper, silver/B with a maroon interior. The owner was the president of Brumos, a heavy hitter in sports car racing. The Mini was his toy. Some local MCS owners got in some track time during the Saturday lunch break. It was non-competitive, no passing allowed. Very cool to see them.
_________________
Treasurer, SCMM | paul@scmm.org | Future MINI owner: OREO, black on the outside, white in the middle!!.
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