Whenever I fit something new, I always try to do it in a package of components that all work together. For now I've decided to stick with this one, have fun, and try to beat my last lap time record at the track.

 

if you stay in the "D street" class it limits your budget because you cant mod anything but tires & brakes and one swaybar.

STX bumps the cost up, but still a stock motor I think they let you run a piggyback though, if they make a JB4 for mini not sure

 

The autoX event I've joined here in Chile is called SoloRace. They mentioned it began in the US so I'm not sure if you've heard about it.

For categories, it's kind of messy but they separate you depending on your engine size and if you go some mods going on...especially if you are lowered. I was bumped up to the 1.600 modded class and got my butt kicked . A mini club member has his R56 GP in that same category and managed to get first....well because he's driven professionally his whole life and because his GP setup is insane.

Thing is, I want to be competitive and not let my car limit my times once my skills/abilities...hopefully....get better with time . Which is why I was going back and forth with the R53 idea. I've also been told that in order for the R53 to be as fast as the R56..it has to be heavily modified. I'll get more into that when the time comes though, for now I'll enjoy this guy and motor on!

 

OK if you want to really have fun and go hard at this start looking for an r56 n14 with a blown engine or some front end damage, this will be a car to build out as you get the basics down, the thing that would build a real ripper is turbo boost controller for comp, you set it to on or scramble, then run your rpms 3500 minimum going to redline and add an lsd this is murder for your car and clutch so you can do this with a streetable set up but not a daily driver, Oh once you have whip lash acceleration add a hydraulic emergency brake, its a bit silly but it will whip the rear end around and timed right on the power down is fun, the downside is learning to replace a clutch disc and rebuild a turbo not bad jobs with practice.

 

Dude, I dunno, I think you should keep the auto JCW and get a boring daily.. just have fun with paddle shifters... I'm in the manual now and sometimes when I watch videos of guys at the track, I'm like, "Oh ya, they don't have to keep taking time for movements in changing gears" watch WRC and it's mostly paddle to keep both hands on the wheel.

 

SoloRace, cool! A buddy of mine, Roger "The Real" Johnson, was a tour guide for a bunch of racers from Chile who came up to compete at the SCCA Solo Nationals. He mentioned that hotshoe Eliseo Salazar helped to set up SoloRace, so it sounds like you have some famous competition

The best advice I can give for someone new is to work on your driving until you feel the car is limiting your abilities, not the other way around. By that time, you'll know what you want your car to do and can make changes accordingly. Autocross does have a unique skill set that takes some time to develop, and it can be frustrating at times, but you will improve!

Also, if you can, have a more experienced driver codrive your car. You can learn a lot by driving with someone faster than you. Hope this helps!

 

Driving=Fun

Competitive=Cars needing more attention

Just Remember That the Factory builds cars for the masses they are generally well built but not designed for what you will be doing. Doesn't mean you cant do it....

Automatic and or Dual Clutch gearboxes are almost impossible to rebuild or modify no LSD if its not in already,, because of electronics are hard to swap,, changing gear sets etc,,,, They are super fast. Manual Gearboxes like everything else need mods and tuning even the old synchro boxes can get super polished gears and teeth fast shift sticks ect a tuned synchro box is neat and not to be over looked,,, for autoX trick gearing is something to really think about. Also its worth learning heal toe,,, it makes you think ahead and get timing perfect.

If its nice out,, get a cup of coffee sit and really look your car over. FWD right, but look where the axles run just behind the engine now think how your car works when braking and turning where the mass pivots look how the parts go together where they will flex how the front and rear wheels relate how is that rear toe changing?,,, imagine the engine wound up the wheels twisting. As you drive you adapt to the car but also you can adapt the car to you each decision relates to this bond

 

there are autocross classes that do not allow any modifications, that's what I do with my JCW, D-street only allows tires and 1 swaybar

 

Small world! Yeah, I'm lightyears away from reaching that level of skill but I'll keep at it. And I've been absent for a bit on this thread because I've been giving it some thought of where to go from here. And I concluded the same thing you mentioned. I need to reach that point where the car is limiting my abilities. Only then is it justifiable to switch for a major ugprade that can help me be more competitive.

The only tiny detail that always pushes me back on the "change your car limbo" is that if I think of going further about modding my car (stripping more interior, roll cage, etc) I would cry...a little haha. It also has HarmanKordon and I know most kick out the stereo system out for the weightreductionbro .

But for now I've decided to keep it and keep going at it. Maybe like kingkoopah mentions, keep this one and get a boring daily because I do put a bunch of miles going to and from work. Besides, keeping this one and getting a daily is kind of extending my budget for cars . I kind of wanted to sell this one to cushion the blow of buying two cars (project + daily).

As always, thanks for the advice! It is very appreciated! I'll keep this thread updated! Next SoloRace event is on the 30th and got another Mini Club Track DAy on the 19th of November!

 

Still waiting for the manual swap post in this thread... it'd be more fun!

Well...and wheels (lighter weight), shocks, brake pads, and catback

Diminishing returns on those in order, of course, but there are those that take it serious enough to really max out a Street-class car.

 

I have my jcw with all allowed mods, but they are pretty much what I would do to any street car.

scca rules suck, the jump from STX to FSP is really dumb

 

Well, unless you get the magical Wilcox tune.

I ran with the camber plates at Sebring Raceway. They may a great deal of difference but I need more than -2.2. And desperately need an LSD.

I may have to run the car as is with no tune in STX for state champs

 

That's the way to do it, IMHO: add things you would anyway. I've totalled up what guys have spent on mods for a car for, say, an ST class, and it's gotta be the worst ROI possible in all forms of "racing".

I much prefer BMWCCA classing for Minis, at least in my region.

 

Hi all,

Been a while. But as always, keeping this thread alive.

Finally have some time to drop off the mini to get the last bits of 2017 installed. Here is what's going in:



IE Front Fixed Camber plates
Purple PowerFlex Front Control Arm Bushings
H-sport Rear Lower Control Arms

I'll update once I have it back and give it a test!

 

Any news?

 

Technically JB4 is not legal since it manually raises boost.

No tune that raises boost is legal in an ST class. But it's hard to find a tune that doesn't, giving FRS/BRZ guys a little advantage unless you get the magical Wilcox tune.

 

Stx allows piggybacks that indirectly add boost afaik

 

Hi all!

Just a week away from my second TD event! After installing the front camber plates and rear control arms the negative camber gained up front was another world haha. However, it was very misaligned...I did get to try -2.3 camber on one wheel for a bit though 😅

I had the car aligned this weekend and boy was it all over the place. I settled for -1.8ish up front and -1.8 in the back. Car feels a lot more stable now (on a straight line it would steer right because of the -2.3 on the front left wheel).

Everything will be put to the test next Saturday. Although I feel my tires will be a weakness because after taking it through some known curves, it tends to slide a little. I'll definetly upgrade my street tires from Max Summer to Ultra Summer when the change comes. Extreme Summer I think its too extreme for daily driving...besides being really expensive tires.

Aside from that, I'm hopefully getting a custom made rear strut brace installed this week and I had my OEM steering wheel wrapped in suede. Give it that racecar touch 😂


I'll post after the track day and the future plans!!!

 

Like the steering wheel...
Nice, really nice
Paddle shifters - are those new?

Yup, need to have everything aligned properly. About the max you want to go for daily use is about -2 camber in order to not get into tire wear issues. The -1.8 up front should be good. I would go with a bit more in the rear, though; -2 to -2.25 camber in the rear. But, hey, that is just me playing it safe...

 

I dunno why people like the rear to "rotate" my car spins if the front tires are warmer than the rear it's getting old quick

what is max rear camber for ax/track you guys would run? no daily driving

little vid from yesterday, busy weekend, took 1st in STX at NCCAR then did my first ever session at VIR sunday, wanted to try it out before I book a full weekend, already signed off for solo/orange group after just one session

 

Thanks! and the paddle shifters were always there (I have an auto remember )

As for alignment, I was recommended to go less negative in the back due to the lack of weight. (seats deleted and in general the mini has most of the weight in the front).

My local "guru" for mini advice runs his GP2 with -1.5 max rear camber for ax/track with 0 toe. This is a dedicated track-only GP2 by the way. He even used street tires in the back two weekends ago at a Solo Race event so he could "drift" into corners haha .

hope this helps

 

I'm at -2.5 up front, tire probe shows nice even temps, I've not probed the rear yet because the wear was not an issue back there but now I'm drifting too much

I did an AX saturday and the first 2 laps I almost spun every time I was off throttle going into a decreasing interval slalom, typically the 2nd and 3rd cones

 

Yea off throttle over steer is useful until it becomes a handful

 

Rear camber for autoX is going to be different from that for the track.

For the average track person, they are going to want more camber in the rear than a person for autoX. For the track you are going to want a neutral car with little off throttle oversteer. This would mean a less aggressive rear sway bar and more rear camber.

Remember the rear of a MINI goes through a camber change and becomes more positive when the weight moves forward. This plays into the decreasing interval slalom. The back gets jacked up more with each swing of the car, each time loosing more of the camber and it then lets loose and there no catching it.

For autoX, a more aggressive RSB and less camber in the rear will allow it to come around. But as you have experienced it can be a handful when unwanted.

This can be adjusted by driving technique. Simplistically put: Gas on - the front will tend to push and the rear will stay planted. Gas off - the front will come around and the rear will tend to swing wide. The trick is to know how much and when to do each. And if I knew, I would write a book...

You asked what people run...I have -1.5 deg camber in the front and -2.0 in the rear. The sway bar balance front to rear is about the same as the JCW suspension, only a lot stiffer. I really like it on the track, but there are places I would want a little more off throttle rotation. But, each time I come upon a car slowing down through the esses at WGI I am reminded as to why I set up the car the way I did. There is no good place to slow down in those turns and you enter them flat out. If you lift at all you have a good chance of spinning the car at 105 mph and bouncing between the guardrails (which I have seen happen). Not pretty...

For autoX, my setup is mediocre at best. Great in long turns, pushes like crazy when the wheels are cranked over really hard. Someday I will crank the RSB to full hard (from full soft) and see if that helps.

 

on my ax car I have a big rear sway, but on my track car I went spring instead, 9kg/mm front 8kg/mm rear and stock swaybars

I did not like how the car reacted to corner curbs with the stiffer sway that's why I went spring instead