here is a little vid of my MINI on track at an HPDE at Homestead. i hope "English Chap" views this so he can see how the underpowered MCS performs against cars costing twice as much....i'm pretty sure that the exige that is prominent in this vid is driven by a forum member who used to drive an MCS. while he is clearly faster, he couldn't run away and hide. this is my first event in the solo/instructor group. i'm not the fastest on the course, but i think that the MINI does pretty well.....
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u...071125-001.flv
i'm still trying to get faster, but the car isn't the problem!

 

Nice work...

 

Man those walls are close. More power to the mini and the driver.

 

great driving sir! *salute*

 

Great driving man. What have you done to it?

 

thanks. i have a lot of fun tracking my MINI. the suspension is pretty tweaked: coilovers, adjustable camber plates, adjustable rear control arms, larger rear sway bar, relocated front lower control arm bushing (alta PSRS to add caster), M7 understrut support, MINI cabrio front strut tower braces and a fairly aggressive alignment. Brakes are TCE/Willwoods. 13" up front w/ larger slotted rear rotors (using the stock caliper relocated). Track only pads. the motor isn't modded much so far. 15% pulley, dyno ECU tune and CAI. light-weight wheels (SSR type C-RS) w/ 225/40/17 Hoosier R6's. Racing seats, a roll bar and 6-pt harnesses are next. i'm getting too fast to not keep the safety gear up to par.... i cannot decide between going for more power w/ this car or just getting an Exige as a track car. RMW has some interesting things in the works that could push power levels close to 300 whp! (2.0 l stroker, head, header, exhaust, rotrex supercharger.....) it would be stupid $$$, but a lot of fun.

 

MINI's are tearing up the smaller road courses here in SoCal. For those who can, roll out to Streets of Willow [Willow Springs Raceway] 12/14/2007 and watch the MINI's put many of the fire breathers [high hp] to shame with very consistant 1:28 laps with little effort. I was blown away last month when I checked the lap times. The MINI is a giant killer in the turns!

 

not my MINI this time, but....here is a link to my buddy at daytona
http://www.motoringfun.com/2007/12/11/video-mini-cooper-s-daytona-part-1/

and here is some bonus footage of randy pobst driving the same car....
http://www.motoringfun.com/2007/12/11/randy-pobst-drives-my-mini-daytona/

i don't yet have vids of the fastest MINI on track for the weekend, but he embarrassed a lot of cars.....i'll post here when i get them....

 

Never thought of a MINI as a serious track car...very cool!

 

Nice smooth driving!

 

thanks. there will be another strong showing of track-prepped MINIs at Homestead next weekend. vi man: if you are interested in checking out an event in your back yard, pm me and i'll give you some details. PBOC is hosting their first ever event at daytona 31 oct - 1,2 nov. registration is open and will fill up fast. don't delay if you have any interest in running the full 24-hr course. 5 MINIs already signed up w/ several others expressing serious interest.....a strong MINI showing here would be great.

 

Nice

 

i have been considering buying a car for track duty instead of balling up a $$$ car. i have thought about getting a spec miata ($10k+/-) but wouldnt be very streetable and i wouldn't want to drive a miata anyhow. seems like a waste to have a track only car used once a month or so. so i have considered a lotus elise or a mini that i would also enjoy on the street.

thoughts, comments on the mini vs the lotus ?????? i think you are able to pick up a nice S under $20k vs $30k for a lotus but i have never driven a mini.

 

forum member Shawn C, used to have an MCS and now has an Exige. it is his car that i'm chasing in the first vid. he can give you the best comparison. no doubt that the Lotus is a faster car on the track, but the MINI can be a formidable track weapon. there was one lotus on the track w/ me this past weekend at Homestead.....i couldn't hang. there were four MCS's running in the instructor/solo group. several different instructors came up to the MINI compound and said "you guys are FAST". we don't get passed by cars that shouldn't be able to pass us (miatas, older 3-series and M3's, older 911's) and we do pass cars that we shouldn't be able to get buy (335, GT3, etc). a former instructor in a 993 C4S couldn't quite keep up.

i'll edit and post a link to a vid from last weekend.

here is the vid from a buddies car. we were playing a game of lead/follow. a PBOC official commented that it looked like a track version of "the italian job". a GT3 driver in our group saw this vid and e-mailed the poster. he also owns a MCS. he said that he would have to do some serious modding to keep up w/ us and was impressed w/ our pace. enjoy.....

http://www.motoringfun.com/2008/04/2...nd-2008-recap/

 

is the lotus worth the extra $10k+ ?

what sort of mods needs to be done to make it a nice track car and costs ?