I see that! Hard for people to forget a Mini There are many chief instructors that come to the Glen, I think of Todd, Pat and Clint off the top of my head. I think I do recall Todd using the term "uphill" in a driver's meeting so it may indeed be him.

 

At the start, I don't plan to do much. The car is designed to be track capable out of the factory so I want to understand what I have before I start modifying. The manual gives recommended camber/alignment specs for track use so that gives you an idea of how much they had tracking in mind when they built the car. If you have nothing to do some snowy day, take a look at this video:

Also, I was encouraged by how much engagement I get from paddle shifting. It was a pleasant surprise. Before deciding on the ATS-V, I spoke to a Corvette driver at LRP who just went to the C8 after years of a manual Corvette. He said he doesn't use the paddles on track, he just lets the transmission (in track mode) do its thing. I'm anxious to understand how that all works out, too.

Should I be talking about this on NAM????

 

Some snowy day, when you have time on your hands, look at the video link I sent to gbuff.

 

Sure, why not?
Thanks for the vid, I'll check it out. Some of the Corvettes have multiple modes (i.e. Track, Track Plus, etc) and the people I know who have the cars with that setup love them.

 

Snow day? For skiers, the saying goes - “No friends on a powder day!”

No watch a video then. Climb in the Jeep and head to the mountains…

Just watched the video. Wow, amazing what they have done with that car to make it track worthy. I was impressed with how track worthy my JCW is from the factory. This Caddy takes that to a whole new level for a street car. Curious, though, it has a true automatic not a dual clutch. It must work.

Hey Gbuff - how about a MINI GP3 for your next track rat? It has an 8 sp auto and 302 Hp…. No more point bys.

I would say, put a set of race pads on the brakes and have at it. You will be a life time learning the limits of the car as-is and no mods. Enjoy!

Maybe I could catch this car if I put a Dinnan tune in my JCW…. Hmmmm

 

Sounds good, especially with no mods, if I had that car that's exactly what I'd do. Pads, tires, fuel, GO! It took me almost 30 years to put camber in a car
I still don't understand why they don't put that motor in the JCWs but they do put it in the Countryman, it simply defies logic

 

That’s because it took you 30 years to figure the car out… Or was it, that was the time tires got to be expensive?
Seriously - I loved that sports suspension. It was a while before I made changes to it.

And the Clubman All 4 JCW. But that car is something like 3600#. And many $$$

Not sure why not in the hatch JCW. Originally it was because the stick couldn’t handle power and the JCW still comes with the stick. So, why not offer it as an option with the automatic only? Don’t know. Too much effort for them with little return in sales? Maybe there are afraid the rest of the car won’t handle it. Brakes, wheel and tire size, suspension, etc would need to be up graded with it, like has been done to the GP. However, it does seem that MINI has missed the mark there in the field of hot hatches that are out there.

As it is, the Dinnan Elite tune takes the engine to about 270 hp. Power to weight with that is better than the Clubman. So, for about $600 one can have a very quick MINI. However, It still won’t match the GP3 which is lighter weight and more power. The GP3 is also suited better for the track with bigger brakes, wider track, tires, suspension, 8 sp auto. It will beat most ‘60s/‘70s muscle cars in the 1/4 mile. I haven’t put one in my JCW as I am not sure I have enough brakes for the extra speed I would have. I already feel that they are marginal at the end of the back straight at WGI. I would also need to put in a true limited slip dif so the eDLC (electronic LSD that applies the brakes on the front wheels in a turn) won’t burn up the brakes. Can’t make any go faster mods without having to make other mods…

 

Actually I DID figure it out and once I did I didn't want to change it But good "extreme" tires today are a lot softer and wear a lot faster than those of even a few years ago so I figured I'd give it a shot. If the car handled better with the plates that would be a bonus, and the jury's still out on that. In my limited time with them at the end of last year the car did feel better, like the entire tire (!) was clawing the pavement as opposed to half of it

 

Yeah, I know you figured it out a long time ago. You have been the talk of the WGI garage for a long time, being out with the big guns and impressing the “fast truck” boys at G52 and Kajota. You were the inspiration for me to run my JCW pure stock (OK, only with MINI OEM upgrades). As the saying goes - it is better to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow….

And, yup, that is what you will find with the camberplates. I’m sure you will get those figured out in no time. Just something you do.

Enjoy the holidays!

 

Lurker chiming in…….

nice ride GKP! Was talking with Mr Walker about it a couple days ago….glad you sold the Mini quickly and too a suitable person.

I read all your post (most of the time) and feel so out of touch with what’s available in the Mini world.

And NAM is a PITA with all the pop up ads constantly hammering you.

merry Xmas guys!

 

Thanks Eddie, you too, I won't forget your 2:21 at the Glen last year any time soon either

 

Merry Xmas S, great to hear from you

 

The V has the same setup — a track mode and, within that, 4 or 5 submodes that reduce the babysitting a bit at a time. The manual recommends submode #1 for less experienced drivers or when learning a new track, #2 is for more experienced drivers, etc. Again, an indication of how they had tracking in mind when the car was developed.

 

Thanks, I thought of you the other day as I was driving up Rt 25 past where (I assume) you live. Merry Christmas to you, too.

 

Great to have you chime in every once in a while. You are aways welcome to pop in at a SCDA at LRP and visit for a bit.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

PS - Just sign into NAM to get rid of the pop up ads.

 

I think it's very possible that you're going to really like that car Once you get used to the size/weight of it you'll be flying

 

Speaking of flying… Tomorrow is the first day of spring and SCDA’s schedule is about to start at LRP…

Is anyone going? I am still trying to get in a full season of skiing in. February was missed for one reason or another, some of which were the snow conditions. So, I have not thought much about heading out to the track…

Except…

That I ordered a new set of K-Mac camberplates for Smokey to replace the ones that broke last season. This time I got the Stage 2 track ones on the promise that they still had the front spring offset so -3 deg of camber can be achieved with the stock spring.

On the plus side, these are really nicely made.

On the negative side….

Ugh! No spring offset on the set that I got. Unfortunately the pictures pictures and the ones I got are 2 different things. Depending on where one looks, there are pictures of 2 different designs of these things in the product descriptions and what I got appears to be a 3rd iteration of this design. With out the spring offset the max neg camber that can be achieved is about -2 deg.

Worse yet, the design is 90 deg out from what it should be. The long adjustment should be for the camber adjustment and the short should be for caster. But, the assembly instructions show the long leg of the triangle formed by the mounting bolt to be on a fore-aft line instead of the across-the-car direction. When mounted in the car, this results in the short adjustment being for camber and the long for caster.

How they got this wrong, and have been selling them for all of these years and this hasn’t been noticed and/or corrected is beyond me. But the Stage 1 plates I first tried had the same issue. So, it would appear that they missed it on all accounts.

As for returns, I am not sure. The place I bought them from (not going to identify, yet) says they are “special order, no returns”. But I am going to push on that. I am also going to contact the manufacturer to see what I can learn from them.

The trials and tribulations of modding MINIs….

In looking at various camberplates, I found a set on EBay for less than $200 that I may try. I know, I could try Vorshlag, but I am leery of having to cut the strut tower to fit the adjustment screws. Plus they use custom spring perches with stock springs, with no offset, which means a max of -2 deg. So not worth the money. With the EBay ones I may be able to use the offset spring perches that came with the K-Mac plates I currently have.

Plus the EBay ones come in different color. Very important for better handling.

More to come. In the meantime, enjoy and motor on.

 

I have been keeping an eye on the Saturday weather for two weeks because I want to do a Control Clinic before I take the new car on the big track. But weather looks poor. So I'm now shooting for SCDA 4/22 or possibly a FCP Euro AutoX day.

Your camber plates are quite the saga! I hope you get things straightened out. See you soon, I'm sure.

 

Well, you could always do a car control clinic on the main track, as long as you're running with your snow tires! 😉

 

Hey VV good to hear from you. We are rolling along around here.
Ya know, you are always welcome to join for lunch in the Park

Car control clinic on the main track? I can speak from experience LRP is a high consequence track….

GKP has the right idea for his new car.

Speaking of which, I am looking forward to seeing this new beast of a car.

 

I've seen more than a handful of drivers, Elivan and Ian included, drift around many of the corners...but they always kept all 4 tires on the concrete on the straights. 😳

I'm planning on checking out some vintage racing on May 31st/June 1st with VSCCA. We'll see if a Mini can take home the Empire Cup.

 

Years ago I did a car control clinic and got to ride shotgun with Elivan on the skid pad. The experience imparted new meaning to the phrase "car control".

 

After a lifetime of light sport cars and FWD hatchbacks, including 16 years with the R56, there's no way I go near a track with the new car without first understanding what the heck I am driving. Given my current age and the length of time I keep cars, I expect this will be my last fun/performance car. In deciding what to get, I realized that I have never owned anything close to a muscle car and that's how I ended up with the ATS-V. (The platform is the same as the Camaro and the specs are very close to the M2). One thing I learned already is the need to be MUCH smoother on the accelerator and brake. The Control Clinic will help with that for sure. I have a harness installed, a track alignment and race brake fluid/pads. All I need is the weather to cooperate. I hope to see you soon!

 

I think I would've thrown up.

Fine instructor I'd make!

 

Silly but serious question: Can you fit 4 tires into it?

I'm married to my Minis but they are both aging (as is the driver) so entertaining other thoughts, just in case...have thought about a new Mustang GT but I don't think I could fit 'em all in there. Not interested in towing a tire trailer either, if that was the case I'd bite the bullet and get a Cayman.