Well I did my first auto-x with the cooper-S. Six runs and the times were going down pretty much every run. I started at 52.4 seconds and had it down to 47.523 by the sixth run. I ran in G stock. The class winning time was 44.355, and the fastest car of all was 41 and some odd seconds. G stock was the most populated class with 7 cars total. Everyone loved the MINI. I had people coming over to see it from the time we arrived. People just smile when they see it. It’s the coolest unpretentious car you could have.

I ran 34lbs front and rear. I had a huge problem with wheel spin out of corners. I ran one run with the ASC on. It really slowed me down. All but the last run I never came out of first gear (on a side note you can get 40mph out of first gear). The course was tight and there was only one place where you could even hit second. The mini is very forgiving in an autocross. I never knocked down a cone all day and I should have plenty of times. The mini will literally turn a right angle, it’s amazing.

Wheel spin is a huge problem, several places on the course I couldn’t get any acceleration because I was spinning so hard. Finally I would just hammer it and let it spin until it finally grabbed hold. The car sounded really cool, the tire spinning and the supercharger howling. I had a chance to have experienced drivers go with me on a novice run and again at the end on a fun run. Both got out saying wow so there is plenty of untapped potential there. Understeer was a little bit of a problem as I would drive onto a corner turn and the car would slip, however if I let off of everything it would hook up and hop sideways. One interesting thing was that I pulled the shift **** off on the very last run (fun run). I pulled so hard that the shift **** came off in my hand. Scared me for a second as I thought I had pulled the shift linkage out!!

Questions I have:
Would 37lbs in the front help with the spinning/understeer?
Is the mini redline and rev limiter conservative, or should I watch it?

I think this is going to be a fun season. I can tell that this car is capable of much more than I am. I’m looking forward to bringing the times down over the course of the season.

John

 

Congrats on your return to auto-X. As for your questions, you are on the mark for adding pressure to the end that loses grip first, just change one thing at a time until you get where you need to be. Sometimes it is not the car that is understeering but the driver. I've learned to be more patient coming out of real tight turns to avoid wheel spin and once the front end starts to settle roll on the throttle, sometimes fast is slow. The rev limiter works, it just feels like you have taken your foot off the gas, or when DSC kicks in. Try to stay off the limiter as it can transfer weight when you do not want, or expect it to. Good luck.

 

I run 45# in the front and 40# in the rear... on Falken Azenis and street tires when I'm lazy and don't switch tires... I started out running 40 in the front and still had too much spin so I bumped it up to 45. no problems now

David