The car is done, pictures will be posted tomorrow.

Sorry for the delay, I have just been super busy with work.

Drew

 

Hey Drew, that's ok. As you can see we kept your thread alive with a good side discussion....
Glad to hear you got the car done. And to get it done so quickly is great!
Looking forward to more pictures and to hear how this weekend at WGI goes (hope I got that right).

 

There are two options for the r52.. Way suggested using the H&R bar at 27mm https://www.waymotorworks.com/h-r-fr...0-r52-r53.html, but I am curious why the matching hsport wouldnt be a good option? Since this is such a pita (and expensive with the alignment after) install, I want to make sure I'm choosing the right bar, and only doing this once.

This is the hsport bar: https://www.waymotorworks.com/h-spor...-sway-bar.html Way doesnt list specs (shame on you lol) but like Eddie says, Outmotoring lists it as:1-1/16 in. (27mm) Hollow. Rate Increase Over Stock Front: +16% and +27%. (Does anyone know the rate increase over stock for the JCW FSB so I can make an accurate comparison?)

I did notice that the hsport has two adjustment holes and the H&R has just one. :( Its unclear to me how to compare the two bars on stiffness over stock. If the H&R is solid, its looks like thats going to be a huge increase over stock.

Sorry for the Hijack Drew, its over soon, I promise! Looking forward to your pics..

 

 

I found this online:
Cooper: 22.5mm Front and 16mm Rear
Cooper S: 24.0mm Front and 17mm Rear
JCW Cooper S: 24.0mm Front and 18.5mm Rear

I probably screwed up this math, but it looks like the hsport bar would be an increased rate of 8% and 13% (a number for each hole) over the JCW bar, which sounds good. Does anyone have an idea of the rate on the h&r bar? I cant find any info on it.

 

If the R53 came with with a 24 mm bar and Way says that is what you have, would then the percent increases for the Hotchkis bar would be what they list? The 16% and 27% increase, which is what you are looking for.

My apologies once again, I thought the R53 came with a smaller bar. RealOEM gives it as 24mm as you state and as Way said you have in your R52. Part of my confusion comes from the R53 and R56 having different thickness sway bar options.

The 27 mm solid bar that Way has (which is what I have) will be about 60% stiffer than what you have now. I believe that there is a 26 mm bar for your car (sorry don't remember who makes it), and that will be about 37% than what you have now.

I hope I got all of these numbers right this time...

 

 

Hello everyone,

The car is very well at the Glen. For people saying it would feel dangerous, it felt more stable than ever. This was also with hard trail braking and really getting the rear out into 1 and the entry of the bus stop. My set up on the car was key and all my parts worked perfectly. I just want to thank my shop for helping me out and making the car awesome. With their Grand-Am winning background, I could really tell that the car was set up just how I told them I wanted it.

Also for them coming out, having your own Race Engineers at the track was huge. I could give them all the feedback I had and they were able to if needed make the adjustments that suited the car best.

I got passed a lot as expected. Most of my run group was New GT3s, GT4s, Cup Cars, ACR Xtreme vipers and Turbos and other heavy metal. Also, I am in the most advanced group where most people run Hoosiers. In the corners, the mini held its own. I could get into the corner deep, hold the apex, early throttle and track out. The straight line speed was good but nothing special. I was 30MPH faster down to the bus stop in a new GT4 on Hoosiers.

The Ohlins was smooth as ice. We adjusted the dampening to the 5th setting out of 10 and the rear felt very planted. Overall it just felt good. It ran 24 sessions and did brilliantly at all of them. I beat the bag out of the car and drove it 6 hours home and now to work and it seems fine. I will continue to tell more as the year goes on. I have 2 days at Club motorsport, 3 days at Palmer, 2 days at NHMS and 1 at Cannan coming up so it will be good to see how the car handles the abuse.

Overall, the car is fine. I beat the bag out of it and will continue to do so. It does not feel unstable at all. The need for a front sway in the front is minimal at this time. The rear sway acted beautifully with all the other suspension parts. If anything I felt more of the Ohlins working instead of the sway bar. The rear of the whole car just felt so planted everywhere I turned.

I have a call scheduled with Brian from Ohlins later this week to give him some feedback, I think he will be excited. Next upgrades are Recaro Sportster CS, custom half cage, CAE shifter and Schroth Harnesses. Also, I am going to look into Giro Disk for my car. I drove a 997 GT3 with them and GT4 and loved them. I do not know if they make a set for my car but might be worth it for them to make a custom set for the Mini.

Forgot to take pics at the track. Was really busy helping out with the Porsche Club the whole weekend as well as hanging with my friend who flew out for the event.

Drew

 

Thanks for the update, sounds like you had a great time. Kill them in the corners.

Nice, just had the Ohlins installed here and can't wait to get it to the next track event. Springs have settled a bit. Might adjust the rear a little softer on the dampening, it is pretty tight the way it is now. But they ride very smooth. I think the R58 JCW was a full grown go-kart with the sports button on before, now feels like a MINI GT3RS and it wants to be pushed even more. The front handling is super precise and the slight drop looks good. They looked so nice before they went on it was almost too nice to put on the car But I believe the car is much happier now.

 

Instead of CAE go for Coolerworks shifter you will enjoy it, I have one on my car it is as smooth as butter,and short on shifting beautiful quality to add.
Ben

 

 

Gorgeous
have fun.

 

 

 

I have to ask my engineer that. And I did not time myself, we are not allowed to have timing devices on the Windows in PCA. Very very serious. I did run Low 2:10s in the GT4. From what I got the car was doing 2:19s-2:21s dependant on traffic.

 

 

They were fine. In the dry no noise and in the real bad wet they did well too.

Drew