I've had it for six months, and even autocrossed once, but this was literally the most fun I've ever had in a car. Well, driving anyway. And that's saying a lot.

All of the roads that I've ridden bikes on for years I could throw it in there at entry speeds where it required mental effort not to back off. Really beautiful, long sweeping turns with lots of run off where you can approach the limits and go over without fear of hitting something or someone. (There was no traffic, and two lanes in my direction with a lot of room for error.)

This car is *unbelievable*! I continued to raise the ante and each time was surprised. Toward the end nothing seemed unreasonable. Even at the limit the transition on or off throttle wasn't intimidating, and the poor tires gave a lot of notice. Even the autocross (much slower and tighter turns obviously) wasn't this much fun. I covered about 15-20 miles of twisties of every description. Decreasing radius banked blacktop that unfolded from behind trees to tight asphalt switchbacks with no shoulder.

What really blew my mind, though, is how much better traction I got out of corners, and in general, than during autocross. I was running 34# cold (or when I last checked) that was about 37-38 warm. The tires just never gave up.

I'd get a little movement during left-right transitions, a little weave, but once settled in they held. When I autocrossed, and ran higher (38#) pressures I literally think I spun at least one tire completely around the course.

I still had little shoe polish marks on the tires from my last autocross, and they're scrubbing to the edge of the tread and a little beyond, but nothing alarming. The rear tires not at all.

So naturally I'm wondering if the conventional wisdom is correct about higher pressures when you're running run-flats. I pushed the car harder than during the autocross--though I'm not expert by a longshot--and now am wondering just how much time I lost from wheelspin. I even had very little spin out of corners.

They do sometimes feel squishy, like they'll let go or something, but beyond that I can't see the downside.

Finally, just something funny. I took my brother up the second day after telling him how much fun it was (I'm a glutton.) In the beginning, he says "I'm thinking--there's no way we're gonna make this turn! Oh sh*t!" And we barrel through and on to the next one. I let him drive for a section and he was laughing like an idiot the entire time, and babbling about newfound respect for the car.

Ah well--back in the city, and straight-line stop and go driving. I'm interested to hear what the real autocross folks have tried with the runflats. I don't feel nearly as badly about these tires as I did.

Jeff

 

Cool Jeff... sounds like you had a great time...

No Idea about the pressure of the runflats in autocross.... I will say that the lower speed of auto-x and the much tighter corners will produce wheel spin vs mountain runs... something to try at the next auto-x event eh.... High pressures on street tires is the norm but since runflats have such stiff sidewalls you may be right that slightly lower pressures could give more traction. BTW I will have my Cooper at the June 1st event at Turner... YAY

 

I'll have to test both. Some of the stuff was very tight, but a lot of it is banked, so it's difficult to draw comparisons.

It definitely *felt* like I was getting less wheelspin. I had a moment and rotated tires front to back today. There was a lot of wear on the fronts (sheesh) already and I haven't kept up with it.

I can't wait to see what you're capable of with the MC in H stock. But then again, it'll show just how poor my times are!!

Jeff