It's not too wide, but it's definitely different from a shorter, stiffer sidewall on a 16". I did play with the tire pressures at my first event in this setup, going from 40/40 hot and ultimately i was around 36-38 hot in the front and 40 hot in the rear. i think for this instance more air is the way to go. i think one of the above pictures shows how much I was rolling over tire-wise.

Not really many suspension tweaks I can make in HS for the Mini. Eventually when I get an adjustable RSB and dampers I will be able to mess with the settings more, but as far as how the car currently stands I don't want to mess with any toe or anything, and not really many other changes I can make.

In the other thread, Charlie seemed pretty happy with 42/48 on his R1R's with same setup, so I may try something similar (maybe 40/45) for the next event and go from there, see if I feel any better about it.

Thanks for the input

 

4th Event in the Mini - I was in the second run heat, and unfortunately, it started raining as soon as our second runs of the event began. The Z2's were touted to perform well in the rain, so I was fairly confident. However, I struggled to maintain grip, as the tires would cool down all the way to cold temp (and never hit operating temp) as there were long waits between runs.

I was duking it out with a Mazda2 at this event - he had hit a 57.9x on his first run which was dry, and his fastest wet was a 58.0x. I forget what my first dry run was, I think it was a 59.x taking out 3-4 cones. I wasn't worried at that point, because I do usually go fairly slow on my first runs. As soon as the first runs were done though, the sky opened up - the wind alone caused us to pause the event, moving cones and knocking down timing equipment, and even the porta potty we had at the event. Post-wind, we had a literal downpour that kept us waiting for another 20 minutes or so. I eked out tenths each run, having a near spin on my 4th run and still clocking a 58.2. Confident I would knock that time down by at least half a second by fixing the back end of the sweep and not spinning at the final slalom, I prepared for my last run.

Unfortunately, I somehow just got completely, completely lost on the last run. Totally missed a good chunk of the course, and gave up after that. I'm not sure what happened, perhaps I just lost focus. I worked registration this morning, so I was only able to walk the course 1 full time. Anyway, my fast run of 58.2: definitely some areas I was planning to fix on the 5th run, but it didn't work out

 

Looks like a lot of fun especially with the wet surface. Practice, practice, practice - the more runs you make the time will improve! Great vid!

 

thanks - there were a few glaring mistakes i wanted to fix on the last run but sadly i DNF'ed

 

Just a minor update - in lieu of the next AX event being canceled, I decided to take the strut tower defenders off to clean the strut tops (sandy/grindy noise last time I tightened them down). Were pretty dirty. Also, I wanted to check if there was any signs of the doming/mushrooming that caused the dealer to install the STDs in the first place - couldn't find it.

Pass side before:



After wipe down:



Driver's side halfway through:



After:




Some other shots:

 

That's a good looking little beastie I do believe.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

terribly slow update but: the mini's been running reliably for the past few months. I've won HS in my region pretty consistently, but frankly that doesn't say much. I usually index overall somewhere in the mid 30s out of 80-100 people, but a lot of that is because I chose not to go with the street tire modifier (0.98) for HS, even though I'm on street tires. May not sound like a lot but its so tightly packed that, with the street tire multiplier, I'd consistently be in the mid to low 20s as far as index goes.

Changing the oil today after ~6k miles and around 60 autox runs, so I think that's about right and the oil was pretty black as I drained it. I'll change the spark plugs soon as well, and purchased a car cover for the Mini - parents handed me down an automatic 07 Corolla with ~160k miles, and the Mini has been relieved of its DD duties!

Two runs from each event this weekend:

There's a lot of little "clean up" to do - I need to set up my lines a little better so I can enter and exit corners more optimally, slaloms can be tighter, etc. I don't believe there are any "major" errors, just need to work on better lines, better execution etc. Without that I've somewhat hit a "wall" at this point where I can't get much faster than where I am right now.