I was going to buy a ticket for $200 for the outfield zone 4 but i snapped this up when it came my way.

 

Nice. The whole F1 experience is really something. Enjoy

 

Well I had a great day yesterday at LRP. Patroons and Connecticut Valley BMWCCA teamed up to put on a great event. They are working on a new format that is a bit better for upper level drivers. They now have an A-Solo and you can be pre-checked off for going out solo. They have also gotten LRP to get some better flaggers. There were a lot of times for possible trains, but the passing flag was flew quite a bit and there was the threat of being black flagged if you were holding people up...

Hey, it was great to see Tank and Zre there. Thanks for showing up. Both of your cars are really looking good. It is amazing the work the 2 of you have done. Zre - let us know how that seat of yours works out.

The day started out with rain, rain and rain. But all is well when you have a MINI and RE71R tires (the best in the wet and dry). The day dried up and became steaming hot. Other than my usual high oil temps and lumpy brakes the car behaved really well and had fun passing quite a number of upper level cars. If I can get the the video with my clunky computer or by some other means, I will post it.

As for the brakes. I thought they were good to go, but by the time I got to the track I was feeling the lumpies again. The first couple of laps would be smooth and then it would return. I have new rotors for my next event and will check these over the best I can for either deposits or for being warped. I suspect now that they are warped.

There is nothing conclusive to say about the brake ducts that I put in. LRP is not so hard on brakes that the ducts would be a major player in brake performance. But the main thing I was looking for was that there no fitment issues under the dynamic loading out on the track; everything seemed to fit well. The thing that I did notice was that my pretty well worn brake pads had almost no additional wear and I noticed that the brake dust had been blown out and it coated not only the wheel (the usual) but I could see it on the tire. If the less worn pads and dust on the tires are any indication of more air going through the rotors and cooling going on, then , maybe, the ducts are working the way that I planned. If they are, than it means that I am pumping a bunch of air through the brakes. The air is being directed at a spot that is at the base of the rotor vanes, so it should also be doing a good job of cooling the wheel bearings.

For WGI, I am going to put the dust shields back on. These will be the full ones, not the ones I ventilated to get air into the vane area. I am hopeful that dust shields will trap at the the base of the rotor vanes and not let it escape. This should force more air through the vanes. At least that is my theory and I sticking to it...

 

Interested in hearing how your theory works out. Will let you know how the seat and carbotechs workout.

 

Have fun

 

Say hi to Veggivet

 

Seated the new pads in running around the neighborhood at 4:30 this morning, hopefully got them bedded properly. Should be good weather tomorrow unlike Saturday morning!

 

Enjoy your day tomorrow.
You will like those pads.
Ya, good weather is always nice!

 

Thanks, and thanks for the shipping the brake ducts. BTW does one design fit both sides or are they mirror image?

 

Picture perfect day at Lime Rock this afternoon, with a nice contingent of MINIs. It was great meeting zre, and seeing gkp as well. Track was nice and sticky all afternoon, and there weren't any stoppages at all! I didn't even see anyone spin out. The car felt very good, but it was a faster than average INT2 group, so I was giving a lot of point byes. Have my sights set on a full day schedule on October 10th, and then another 1/2 day (my preference) on October 29th. After reading the posts above, probably a good time to have my brakes checked! Here's a shot midway through the left hander.

 

First off it was great to meet veggivet and gkp along with another mini owner. Had a Saleen S7R in my group unlucky that he had a wheel nut come off and didn't get to run all day, but the good news is he only passed me once. Thanks for the advise of shifting to fifth gear under bridge works out well. Great advise from both veggivet and gkp.

The seat is great, it really ties you to the car and no worries about moving around. Would recommend for everyone. Had an issue with pad build-up on the rotors, have to talk to Carbotech (I guess I did not bed them in properly) but I did not have the balance issue as before, so the pads and the larger rear disk did the trick. Played around with tire pressures, second session was a little loose in rear, but corrected for third session.

Overall was a great day, I definitely have to get more seat time so I can become smoother and brake later to carry more speed to lower lap time. Practice, Practice, Pactice.

 

You're spot on, zre, nothing beats seat time to improve lap times! Can you make the October 10th all day session? Or the 29th? Or both?

Glad the earlier shift to 5th helped out to increase your turn in speed at the downhill. That is my favorite corner at Lime Rock! No brakes needed, and I try to enter at 83.

I hope you were able to remove my drool from that gorgeous Recaro seat.

 

I am going to try to make the 29th, would like to do the 10th but probably not.

Checking my app I am entering about 80 mph, need to pickup a little speed. Would like to try the fourth gear through Big Bend to see how that works.

I need to change my seat back to the stock one and will then give the Recaro a detail cleaning.

 

 

Spoke with Carbotech, because their compound is not iron based the pads were fighting with the brake pad compound embedded in the rotors. Therefore the deposits on the surface. Solution is to prepare surface (sand clean) prior to changing compounds or have dedicated pad/rotor setup for trackdays.

 

Eddie07s will likely weigh in here, I'm sure.

 

All opinions are great, since I know I have a lot to learn

 

Eddie07s has a lot to share! He is much more mechanically inclined than I am, for sure.

 

Got to love the way that Blue MINI looks on the track. Nice picture Veggi
Sounds like you had a great day and that your car did well. Glad to hear the event was good and that you're getting a few more days in. Better late than never...

 

I feel bad not meeting up with all of the MINI crew. But with my luck I would have brought rain...

And it sounds like everyone had a great time. Doesn't get much better than that. And as for that seat... zre - I put dibs on the next used one you find! I'm jealous

If you guys are shifting to 5th on the downhill, you must be flyin'. I'm in 4th with smaller tires and not shifting to 5th until I am on the straight. Go you.

I feel like I jinxed you with the pads and rotors. Sorry to hear you had problems; especially since I pushed the the Carbotechs so hard. I had heard about the potential for issues with the Carbotechs but never had any issues my self and never really ran across any posts where people actually said they had problems. Most people just cited what Carbotech says about not mixing and matching.

With my stock brake setup, I ran the XP10s on the track and the stock MINI pads on the street. They seemed to be compatible. With the Wilwood I ran the XP10s on the track and Carbotech 1521 on the street (not thrilled with that one; would go with the AX6 for the street if I was to do it over again). But, given that the 1521s, XP10s and AX6 pads are Carbotech compounds, I believe they are all compatible. However, in all cases I either bought the pads pre-bedded or I bedded in the pads on a very long hill and they got stinking hot by the time I got done. Then I ran the car for a while to slowly cool everything down. I don't know if that made a difference or not. I do this with all my pads. I am not sure why I had brake pad build up this last time out, except that maybe things were getting a lot hotter than the past.

Hope you can get the rotors cleaned up and can get the pads to work the way that they should. I still think they are the best pad out there.

 

Thanks for the comps, Eddie07s, but I think ALL MINIs look great at Lime Rock! Now that I've been re-infected with the track bug, what's your track schedule looking like for the rest of the season? I'm sure zre will be happy to sell you that Recaro since my drool is all over it.

 

No 4th gear thru Big Ben....you'll not get the launch out of it that's possible with 3rd. Plus you'll then have to downshift anyway....

LRP is ALL about momentum so don't give it up.��

 

Hi S-Driver! We were talking about you and your crazy MINI rebuild on Tuesday. Rumor has it that mid-engine MINI is itching to break out of its cage and run wild. What's the update???

I ran laps both ways: 5th to 4th, and 4th to 3rd. You are right, it felt a little faster doing the track in 3rd & 4th gears vs. 4th and 5th, but I'm also factoring in stress on the engine. I guess if I was a better driver, I could double downshift from 5th to 3rd going into Big Bend.

 

I think I would have to pry that seat out out of tightly wrapped fingers long after zre is no longer able to drive, drool and all, before I got a shot at it.
I did get to sit in it.

As plans would have it, I am at WGI the first weekend in October then I am done. After that is a lot of family stuff followed by skiing. Sorry to have missed you guys.

I skip-shift from 5th to 3rd going into big bend while trailbraking to the first apex. You need 3rd for exiting T2 and getting through the esses. With the shorter tires I run out of RPM if I try to stay in 4th down the front straight.

 

Great feedback from everyone, after I spoke with Carbotech I understand the issue with changing compounds. I have run the normal pads, BP10 front, Reds in rear since the track day and they are cleaning the rotors up. Will scrub the pads with emory cloth to finish cleaning. Best idea would be to use Carbotech street pads for every day use.

If you want to try the seat, I can let you use it since it is set up to exchange out with the stock seat and has all the electronic sensors so you do not get any bad codes from the air bag system.