Hello fellow enthusiasts,
On August 7 & 8th, I raced my #53 Cooper S with the BMWCCA club race held by the "Lone Star" chapter.
The race was held at the Motorsport Ranch, southwest of Fort Worth. Great track for the Mini, off-camber turns with elevation changes.
There were approximately 24 cars total, including an assortment of Porsches from the Texas PCA.
I was the only Mini racing against 7 E-30 M3's plus several E-36 325's as well as some nice vitage 2002's.
The Mini held it's own and finished 3rd in "JP" class on the first race. Second race I was in 2nd in class when I ran out of gas on the last lap, dropping to fith. There were some very fast drivers in those E-30 M3's that were 2 sec. / lap faster...need to push harder!
Race three, more bad luck...power steering went out around lap 5, had to drop out.
Overall, it was a great weekend, the race was well run and without any significant incidents.
Looking forward to racing ther again....next BMWCCA race will be at TWS in November.
Sincerely,
Paulo

 

Good job!
A couple of questions:
1. Did your power steering come back? I've had mine go out ont he track, but it came back after a cool down. I ned to verify that the fan is working properly.
2. Do you have coilovers? As I read the rule the front (or is it rear) spring mount needs to be fixed. I don't know why they have this requirement, but I guess the slution is to find your proper set up them weld the mount to the shock's thread so it is fixed. What did you do?

 

Yes my power steering came back once the car cooled off. However, my mechanic at the Mini dealer said the fan felt rough as if bearings were about to go out.
There is a new type of fan motor with a protective screen that is standard on all 04 models. The dealer ios going to replace my fan with the new type.
As for my suspension: I have the original proposed set-up for the "spec-Mini" series that never happened. H & R lowering springs with the Koni adjustable shocks. No coil-overs, have installed power-flex urethane bushings everywhere I could; control arms & adjustable rear sway bar.
Up front I install HR camber plates to save tire wear, I think the the car handles very well.
What do you mean about welding the springs to their perch...never heard about that requirement, where did you read that?
You can contact me at: paulosdiniz@aol.com also.
Regards,
Paulo

 

From BMWCCA Prepared class rules, see 2C&D:

2. Suspension

A. Adjustable front camber plates/slotting to achieve suspension settings is allowed. Pick-up points cannot be welded or machined for adjustment purposes.

B. Rear camber adjustment is allowed. Suspension components that control rear camber may be replaced with aftermarket components to provide this adjustment.

C. Height adjustable front coil-over setups mounted in the original location are permitted.

D. Rear springs are free but must be mounted in the original location. Adjustable rear spring perches may be used to adjust ride height so long as they mount in the original manner and location. Height adjustable rear coilovers are allowed only in cars originally factory equipped with coilover suspensions.

E. External reservoir shock absorber systems are allowed. External reservoir shock absorber systems are not allowed effective January 1, 2005.

F. Shock absorbers with adjustment capability other than compression and rebound (“double adjustable”) are prohibited.

G. Suspension bushing material is free. Bushing material does not include replacement of bushings with spherical bearings or rod ends such as Heim ends. Solid bushings are allowed if they are fixed in place and allow rotation only in a single plane or axis. Spherical bearing type upper strut mounts are allowed. Sway bar link connectors are free.

I looked at the Grassroots Motorsports MINI articles, it looked like they had welded their coilover perch so that it was fixed. I have LEDA coilovers, it would be nice to be able to use them, as is.

Good information about the power steering fan.
THanks