How does the Cg-Lock work? I looked at the video but I am still not sure how it works.

 

How about this?

http://www.bigminiday.com/

 

Or October 2, 2005, that's a Sunday.

http://www.thunderhill.com/html/driving_school.html

 

Dkstone......I totally agree with you, I can't wait to continue to learn and improve! In fact I learned a ton this time!! And please don't get me wrong, I plan on doing upgrades, they're just not going to be in the order I had planned.

Which is why I initially posted this thread. After spending the day with profesional race car drivers they stressed brakes and suspension improvements first, then the power upgrades, and most of us initially always think we have to get the power up first.

I might only have one real track day under my belt, although I grew up in Germany where the track is virtually everywhere, but that day is more than probably 90% of most Americans.

So...like I said, if you haven't had any track time or instruction, you will benefit much more from that, than the 15% pulley I know you are thinking of buying!

Do the pulley and all of the go fast mods after you learn how to take advantage of their improvements!!

And a quick story Phil Wicks shared with us. Back when he was driving the original cooper S stock and racing he shared his lap times and how they planned to add tons more horsepower and suspension improvements during the offseason to improve his times.

Next season Phil goes out with all of the added HP and suspension improvements, and his lap times were slower than when his S was stock.

His new BEAST was exactly that, a complete beast to deal with and drive, and a lot of what makes fast lap times is being smooth and consistent.

OK...Please don't be discouraged to MOD your car, just give yourself the advantage of knowing the first thing about driving before you do!! Peace!!

 

I had been considering going to a Phil Wicks MINI driving school near Jupiter, FL on the 30th. Your post solidified my decision to go. It is a 3 1/2 hour drive from here so I would have to drive down the previous day. Found cheapest motel room would run about $80 . I just couldn't justify that after plunking down $200 for the tuition. Drat it! Maybe catch one closer to home at some future date.

Ben

 

Hey impulse, have you thought about just doing one of the two days. That is usually half the cost, $100, and sometimes he will let you even do a half day for $50. If Phil has a phone number on his website, call him and tell him your situation, and I know he will do all he can to help! He's a super nice guy, and he loves MINI enthusiasts!

 

I have a CG-Lock. You attach it to the top part of the seat belt clip (this while its in buckled position...when you're driving the car) then loop the belt int he CG-Lock, slide the slider to keep the belt in place and its ready to go. Just buckle up and tighten.


QUestion for the rest of you guys, does having a 22mm sway bar make the ride more harsh? I make a 230 mile drive nearly every week so this a big concern of mine.


JC

 

Swaybars are designed to reduce body roll. They work by tranferring load from one side of the car to the other side as the body attempts to roll, thereby resisting.

So... In bumps that are experienced by both rear wheels at the same time, the swaybar will have no effect at all. In bumps that are experienced by one wheel or one wheel at a time, the sway bar will stiffen the corner experiencing the bump.

In general, larger/stiffer swaybars are much more mild in their effect on ride than stiffer springs/shocks. I would expect the effect on your ride quality in your daily commute to be insignificant. However, it will make your car much less inclined to "push" or slide the front tires when you're to attempting to turn.

 

eMINI - Sounds good! I think i'll give it the 22mm a try. Is is hard to install? picture sf installation?


JC

 

gavin, tell us more about how the school was set up. Classroom sessions (not Phil talking about his racing experience), driving session schedule, who were the instructors, how were they assigned to you, etc.

I had attended a school of his at Carolina Motorsports Park last year and was not impressed, though I have heard that he's working to improve his instructional program. The best things about it at the time were that there was GOBS of track time, and the price. It was sponsored by MINI of Charleston and was only $175 for 2 days!! Don't think you'll see prices like that again from him, even with sponsorship from a MINI dealer.

For those of you that are interested, you don't need a MINI specific school to get the most out of your MINI. There are many excellent organizations through which you can get well-run HPDEs. BMWCCA is a good place to start, join, get assigned to your local chapter, you can choose an affiliate chapter for an additional nominal fee. As a whole, the BMW chapters run excellent schools. NASA, the Mid-Atlantic region specifically, runs well-organized events with fantastic classroom instruction, and are a great value. There are other NASA regions that also do a nice job, Northeast and Ohio/Indiana come to mind.

MINI of Towson will probably do an event at Summit Point in the fall, as they did last year. Last year was only open to their own customers but they didn't get as high a turnout as they would've liked, so I've heard that they'll be opening it up to other MINI owners this year.

www.bmwcca.org

www.nasaproracing.com

 

We (Hoosier Chapter BMW CCA) just held our annual Rites o' Spring at Putnam Park Road Course, near Indianapolis, this past weekend, and as has become usual we had a number of Minis. PPRC is a relatively tight track and so doesn't put lower horsepower cars at much of a disadvantage. There will be another BMW school at PPRC in May and again in August, as well as at other tracks around the country by the various local chapters. You get full time in-car instruction plus classroom. Well worth a try.

Neil
Chief Instructor

 

Ya..the track time was plentiful, and very beneficial, as getting to know what our cars are cpable of is very important in this safe environment. NOT on the street!!! We did have 2-3 classroom sessions with some basic principles explained and how to correct for certain situations, what the most important factors of being fast are, etc., etc.

Not tons and tons of indepth classroom information, but remember this was a first time group I was with. I'm sure more and more will be revealed in future sessions and non-first time groups.

A lot of my instruction was with a guy named Jim Watson, a long time Porsche guy, sitting next to me as we are flying through turns and learning about the apex of turns, utilizing the whole track, on and off throttle application, braking, again, being smooth, following lines, pointing the car, etc., etc.

The groups were set up in many different ways. There were some sessions where it was just two different Novice groups, the first timers, and those with previous experience, and then we had sessions with the intermediate and instructor cars out there too.

A good blend I thought, and at the end of the day some solo track time, which was just amazing!!

Next time should be even better as Phil is putting me in the intermediate class, so I look forward to a whole new learning curve. That class has all of the Porsches, Vipers, Vettes, Lotus, etc., not to mention the faster MINI's and BMW's.

I plan to do a whole lot more LEFT hand out of the window signaling of course!! :smile:

But I look forward to some more indepth instruction and experience, as the Novice group, even those that had previous track experience, were more in the way than anything.

I'm sure the INTERMEDIATES will be saying that about me soon!!

Anyway...there are tons of great schools out there I just happened to go to this one first, but if given the opportunity would not hesitate to try others.

 

Hi all,

Just chiming in. I had my first track event recently with the NJ chapter of the BMWCCA on the Shenandoah circuit at Summit Point. I had a blast and learned a lot.

My classroom and in-car instructors were great. I was floored by the performance of my stock MINI on the track when driven by a professional.

BTW, the Shenandoah circuit is very technical and the MINI does very well.

Smoothness is the key.

 

For those of you in the South, there is also All Mini Track Day held in College Station, Tx. Next event will be in July.

Just Mini drivers so you don't have the intimidation of the exotics, especially for novices.

www.allminitrackday.com

 

Hope this doesn't end up to be a double post. The one I sibmitted a few minutes ago apparently got lost in cyberspace. Maybe I pushed the wrong button. Anyway I wanted to thank you gavin7777 for the suggestions about attending the driving school. The session in Jupiter is only a one day event. I will investigate some of the organizations that have been suggested on this thread. Would have been nice to have that experience under my belt when I go to the MINIs On The Dragon event May 5, 6 and 7. I took GB up to NC last October when she only had 440 miles on her and drove the Tail of the Dragon a couple of times. Was a Blast! Looking forward to it. Last time I checked there were 375 people registered. I assume that means well over 200 MINIs in attendance. Should be awesome.

Motor On!

 

I'm also looking for a 22mm rear sway. should I have Helix do it?(NO experience w/ DIY)

-Paul

 

Eric just installed a 22mm sway bar for me, go for it! He'll do you right.