Big hello to everybody from australia,

Your mini community is huge and everytime I google info on mini's your site comes up, so here I am.

I joined today and thought I should ask people in the know the best way to get better turn in on tighter bends?

Purchased a mini jcw wc50 edition and have to say I have never had so much fun in a car, I can't stop laughing at how much fun I have behind the wheel each and every time.
The car has jcw sports suspension in it, the medium to high speed cornering abilities are incredible, extremely well balanced and lots of driver feedback as to what the car is doing through the wheel. What I would like to achieve is better turn in on tighter corners as it tends to want to understeer more than i like, I believe the first mod will be to replace the run flat tyres to michelin pilot super sport to improve grip. I don't want to change the rear sway bar as yet, as I find the balance set up is pretty spot on and don't want to make the rear nervous as its a road car 98% of the time.
Thinking of trying a little more camber, so looking at vorshlag camber plates. Has anyone used these or similar camber plates that can please inform me if these are the way to go? Do they change the ride quality? does it add noise or knocking by adding this item? Would be great to hear from those that have used camber plates please.

Appreciate the feedback

 

Welcome to NAM.

Tons of experience and opinion may be found here on this very topic, as the OEM chassis does understeer of course, unless adjustments are made. Which adjustments?

I use Google to search this site by adding "site:northamericanmotoring.com" to my other search words - it works ever so much better than the site's own search.

But before we get into that - whereabouts do you hail from mate? My reason for asking is I lived in South Yarra for a year and spent every Sunday on the Great Ocean Road riding a one litre Suzuki along with a band of wonderful and crazy friends. I wondered if your new car had made it down the coast.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Hey Charlie, thanks for the advice. I tried the google method and yes it does work best. I am located in the northern suburbs closer to the airport. Have not had the chance to go to the great ocean road as yet with this car as I've recently purchased it. Been driving to Phillip island, ballarat gold mines this past week on my holidays, and gotta say I think the next mod will have to be better seats as the standard leather seats make my backside and leg go numb after an hour driving. Next holiday would be great to head to the states.

 

I think you are spot on by taking tires first.

I've a spine which troubles me from time to time, and curiously my remedy for this on long trips to to buckle into the competition four-point harness! This nails me to the seat, prevents any slumping, and seems to ease the fatigue that comes from many miles.

I use the "quick disconnect" system from Schroth.

I find that cornering at any more than about .7 G is damned awkward without the additional support, but even on a straight road they do help me.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Lol I think I will keep the harness for my track car but glad it works for you. I might bring a massouse on my next road trip.
So I have researched and spoken to a couple people about using vorshlag camber plates and this is the way to go, Tyres and camber plates should sort it out. Evolve tune and that should do it. What's the highest octane you guys get at the pump? We get 98.

Cheers Charlie

 

stevena
The camber plates you mentioned will add some additional noise, especially at slow speeds. You may also consider Ireland Eng. fixed camber plates for a street ride. They add -1.25 camber to what you have presently. These are beefier than stock and use a urethane enclosed bearing from a BMW Z series. They will also help to prevent strut tower mushrooming. These are quiet and provide decent negative camber for the street.
If you couple that with a rear sway bar of 19mm or 20mm diameter along with a good set of struts/shocks (Koni yellows or Bilstein) I think you would be really happy with the handling and ride qualities.
Steve

 

Thanks Steve, checked out Ireland eng web site. Think I need to do some more research but from what I've heard about the vorshlag seems very positive. Also noise is not that much at all, I'm curious about this mushrooming I keep seeing on the site. Does this occur on the r56 as well?

 

Hi, I'm in Perth, just the other side of the island (don't tell them how big the island is - they wont believe you!). Welcome and enjoy your drives!

 

Thanks, I'm actually heading to perth today. Love that place

 

Nope, no mushrooming issue with the R56's... at least none I've heard of.

 

Just ordered the vorshlag plates, will update feedback when they arrive and installed. Thinking of ordering the evolve tune today also....yes/no, toss a coin I reckon.

 

I've been using the Vorshlag plates for almost a year now. With my current setup (See signature.), no rattling. I was experiencing bad rattling when I had coilovers, but I later realized that it was most-likely due to the upper spring perches rattling against the bottom of the camber plates. Could have been resolved by paying attention to the ride height and camber.

Only running about 0.9 deg neg camber right now from the race shop's advice. Their recommendation was less camber for a larger contact patch at the drive wheels. Of course, you get more sidewall rollover. Oh well, the "nut behind the wheel" needs more tuning than the car.

Similar to another poster's recommendation, my next addition might be the Takata Drift II belts so I can concentrate more on being light and exact at the controls rather than bracing myself.

Good luck with your setup.

 

On an airplane I assume?

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Another option is to modify your tire pressures. A forum member, Braminator, posted a link to a section fo Tirerack.com that gives a guide to tire pressures based on what you're looking for. For sharper turn-in you're going to be looking for more over-steer. A rear sway bar is a good step hardware-wise, but you mentioned you would rather not go that route yet, so this is probably the easiest way to accomplish what you're looking for short of buying new tires.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=58

 

yep on a plane, there for work regularly charlie.

i haven't worked out what alignment settings as yet, I will let the work shop work it out keeping in mind its a road car and not a track car. Vorshlag replied they are out of stock till 11th feb, so won't have it done till later this month by the time it gets here. I did however order the evolve ecu tune remap, looking forward to seeing the results.