Just to clarify, the rubbing I was talking about was between the car body and the springs. That would be with the stock springs or stock-size springs and you have -2 or more camber.

As for tire sizes, I was able to get the 225-45x17s to fit but I think I don't gain anything with them, traction-wise, and I lost on gearing and weight (tires are taller and heavier). As for traction, putting the tires on 7" wide wheels seemed to pinch the tires and they didn't perform well that way. Lastly they cost more. I ran the Toyo R888 in that size and I am able to do better with my 205-50x15, RE71Rs.

As for show, you can't beat those big, fat, gumball R888s showing from the back side of the car.

 

I bet. Yeah I thought about the extra weight being a downside as well, thanks!

 

for autocross try to go to as small a diameter as possible it means a lighter tire and faster acceleration due to gearing, also gets you into the right rpm range faster, a light small wheel tire combo will maintain temps and lowers the car without more change to the roll center height not that I overly worry about that, I like lifting the rear wheel sometimes, there are downsides to small tires but more at higher speed road racing

 

Adjustable links with the 25 mm sway bar:

http://new.minimania.com/part/G2NMS5...56-R57-R58-R59



Eibach Plates:

http://new.minimania.com/part/G2NMS2...Eibach-R56-R55





Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.

 

I need that bar on my r53! do they make one for it?

 

Yep!

http://new.minimania.com/part/NMS205...ks-R53-R52-R50

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.

 

I used a Recaro XL Pro Hans seat at the last HPDE day. Fixed mount, and interchangeable with the stock seat by removing the 4 mounting bolts. (Added all the electronics so I did not get an error code for air bag). I also have a roll bar with the Schroth Pro-fit harness and Hans device. With the seat installed I felt more planted in car and was able to lighten up on steering wheel grip in corners. Made the day more fun. Eddie has seen the setup I have so maybe able to comment on it.

I would suggest it is definitely an upgrade to use the race seat.

 

very cool, also for front? I need one there worse than for the rear

 

Zre has done an enviable job with his interior upgrades. This seat has the HANS sides for head restraint in an accident and it has very high bottom seat sides for support in turns. This is one nice seat. Interesting is that it is an XL but it is still a bit snug and I would not consider that I have a big butt. Also, I could get in and out with the stock steering wheel. I have driven a car with a seat like this and ridden in a number of cars with this kind of seat and can say that zre has understated how great these are.

I like that zre has set it up so it is easily removable and that it has no seatbelt warnings. However, a lot of event promoters require equal seat for an instructor and they require a roll bar and a 5 point harness

https://www.google.com/search?q=reca...AF3CVqBr43M%3A

 

Thanks for the compliment. I do use a 6 point harness and plan on obtaining a similar seat for the passenger side if I can find a similar price to what I paid for the driver's side. But since I do solo HPDE events, mostly, I do not need the other at this moment. This does restrict going to new tracks that I hope to do next year.

 

Thanks ZRE! While the Recaro XL Pro does look amazing, I think its a bit too much for a daily driver . I do have Sparco seats available locally, I was wondering if you had any experience with those and if you could recommend a model for daily driving/track/autox purposes?

I'm pretty much set on getting the Schroth Quick Fit Harness

My autocross and track day organizations here in Chile aren't as regulated, so I may be able to get away with just having one race seat and the other one OEM....it does look ugly though haha... but I do ocassionally take people to work and I think that with a fixed seat and a harness setup they would be inclined to taking a cab . Besides, if I really want to go crazy, at the time of the track day I would take the passenger seat off just for the day to take advantage of the 24kg weight reduction because weightreductionbro

 

I found the seat used at a local Porsche race prep shop. Great price since the FIA date is soon to expire. May have to get the seat re-certified, but not for HPDE days since there is no regs on seats certs.

 

Not for an R53

http://new.minimania.com/NM_Adjustab...n_Instructions

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.

 

Hi guys!

So my first Auto-X event is done! Had a lot of fun, waaaay different than a track day, and lots to learn. . I feel that I have the car...but don't have the guts to push it to the limit . Heres a video of one of my laps:


But I am hooked on this new culture. Next Auto-X date is in a month, hopefully we can push it a bit more. I'll have my camber plates, bushings, rear control arms, and semi slicks set up by then....all its missing its the dam driver .

Now I'm also a limbo of considering getting a track/autoX/weekender focused car and having another daily. My daily drives to and from work on this mini is very taxing, as well as these events . However, budget wise....it doesn't allow to have an awesome ride as a daily and an awesome ride as a track car. Its gonna have be a boring to death daily and a prepped car. I was thinking about a R53 Cooper S because I'm in love with the supercharger noise. But I think it will get very expensive to start with and with mods (some of mine are interchangable, but not all) R53 Cooper S MANUAL worth it as a track/autoX/weekender?

Heres a bonus clip from my first track day in August! Enjoy!

 

Oh and this happened (I painted my tire letters and a photographer in the club loved it so much I had my own photoshoot )

 

So now do see why setups wheels etc can be so different?. Ask around about a place to slide the car and find some wheels that are done bald at a tire shop 100x4 rims are common. Its not perfect but it will get you an idea of how the car handles up to and beyond the limit you dont need to go terribly fast at first. As a dedicated car you have more options it doesnt have to be pretty, maybe it even shouldnt look good, you can strip it out and still keep it street legal etc. I struggle with the dual use car partly because its the hardest most challenging set up......

I would get some 16 inch or even 15 in wheels and make up a performance brake setup to work... then get high profile touring type tires for daily work drives, Get a good jack, and click type torque wrench, and a nice breaker bar and with some practice changing out tires is sort of fun it connects you to how the car is doing it kind of a ritual. I used to keep two sets of tires and rims in an apartment in NYC late night drives through empty financial district, Engine block coffee table. got to do it once.

If you dont have a garage start asking around where you can work.

 

one word of caution with 15" wheels, the big brakes wont fit, the JCW/r56S brakes are as big as you can go in the front, I have 1MM between wheel and caliper

 

Thanks Eurel! Yeah, at the end of the AutoX event I did a couple of hard turns to find the limit...the car handled pretty well until it slid completely. I just need to reach that point without losing control in between cones or staying inside the track . I do have the space to keep stuff at home so that won't be an issue and I was also considering a jack and wrench to start switching sets of tires from street to track/autoX

I'm still going back and forth on what to do and keeping it under budget. The moment of truth will be when I go get the 60K kilometer maintenance done ( 37k miles) (at 30K miles currently), which will be soon'ish with how much I drive this thing. My mechanic told me that after the 60K, the mini tends to become a bit of a pain (thermostat, water pump, etc), so I'll see how he finds it and if he says to let it go or keep on going .

Yeah, I'm set on keeping 17s because of the JCW caliper as well.

 

There are wilwood kits about that can go 15 (find rims first), don't loose the 17's just get yourself some options, I can change up wilwood brakes and tires in no time. even going 16 for daily use can help. While low profile tires do many things well, higher profiles shouldn't be ignored for just fun carving. I can go out on 16's and run much rougher roads even dirt that I wouldn't try on good sets of 17's,

Practice sliding on purpose is slightly different but important as you can find what gets the car to slide and what you can and cant do in a slide, that helps you get a feel for being at the limit in some ways more than just staying at the limit, its hard to do at an event unless its a skid day. Also slides in different conditions are all well different, you need to keep at it. I was watching Senna's documentary again, in the rain he could run a whole race in a slide. Limit is just a controlled slide in a way.

 

Thanks Euler! I'm going to try and find some lightweight 17" wheels. Changing brake kits without ever changing wheels is a bit out of my league hahaha but I'll start working on my own little by little

 

Hi all,

So I need someone to talk some sense to me. I'm in between selling my current car 2012 Automatic MCS JCW Mods with 30k miles and getting a boring daily and a R53 Cooper S for track/autoX/weekend purposes or keeping my Auto with a boring daily because 55 daily miles will get very taxing on my current mini really soon...especially with taking it to track days and autoX events frequently.

The reason for wanting to sell my current mini is because its an Auto and its too much money for a track/autoX/weekend car for my current budget. Besides I already expierenced being limited by my Automatic transmission at my AutoX event.

So what should I do? Keep my auto and get a boring daily to not harm my track car or sell my current mini, get a boring daily, and get a dedicated track/autox/weekend R53 MANUAL for cheap (I think I could also get away with swapping some things on my current mini to the R53...to make the build faster and cheaper)

Thanks in advance!!!

 

As long as one runs two cars cant hurt,,,,, just be sure to have fun. Can you get two Mini's then you can share wheels and tires, or honda civic/fit etc they use 100x4 offset is close. I love Mini S but going NA can be a smart move it means a bit less can go wrong but the super charger is nice,

 

I daily drive a old e39 540i/6speed half the time, and my wifes x5diesel the other half, my track car is still street legal so I can drive it to work if I have to, the e39 is getting old, and 225,000 miles on it so having the track car is insurance.

In case both are down I have the 135i, or the jcw or the truck too, I have a problem :(

 

Thanks for the feedback Euler! The Fun Factor is key

You are not alone mega! ...and that's a lot of options to play around with .

I went to my mechanic yesterday and he advised that if I stick with this one and daily drive it and attend almost all Track Day and AutoX events in the futre (which I plan to...once every two months I think would be an approximate frequency)...he said it would be more expensive than having a boring daily and a dedicated track car (still legal to drive to work and on weekends like yourself mega)

..but then again, my car just looks so good ughhh! And we didn't talk about leaving this one for track and getting a boring daily.

 

If you dont drive it, and stick it in a good garage, in 20 years it will be a great find for someone. Cars should be driven hard,,,,, and fixed/worked on. Actually try and be proactive and think ahead so when you do work you get to things like the water pump, watch for sales pick up parts you know you will need, ask about for parts cars, when hunting down something a bit loose in the front end consider doing the whole thing,,, that sort of stuff. If you plan to get out to events that much you will likely need to set up a good work shop,,, space for yourself dont skimp on this, go all out,,,, its maybe even more important than the car, it can be small but you have to want to be there so it has to be nice. Oh get rollers so cars and things can move about...

Since this is all a bit new for you can you add a vw bug or gen1 watercooled nothing nice a real project where the parts are plentiful and inexpensive something to take apart all the way without having to use it for work or track,,,

OK Ive gone too far but still,,,,,, Cars are fun