This past weekend, Sept 29-30, the local Road Course, Motorsports Ranch in Cresson TX was host to a National BMW-CCA Club Race in support of the 2007 Oktoberfest in Fort Worth TX. Along with the Club Races there was a Club Race School scheduled. A few weeks before the event the regional club found room in the schedule for a set of DE sessions on both days. The DE was by invite only to Soloed drivers with a limit of 25 participants. How could I pass up a discounted DE with the promise of longer then usual sessions, so of course I signed up.

The Saturday drivers meeting was short and sweet. Since we all are experienced drivers a lot of the formal presentation not required. Looking around there 14 of us on Saturday. A varied mix as usual, mostly BMW's with a few Porsche's and 2 Mini's. This looked promising, only 14 cars, that leads to lots of nice open track. With plenty of time before the first session I prepped the Mini, getting the harness's adjusted, tire pressures set and obtaining 5 gal of 105 octane after running the tank almost dry of regular 93 octane pump gas.

The appointed time arrived and we lined up under the covered grid. Once released to track I started my warmup lap where in the first turn the back snapped around. Greasy track? Thre looked to bit a rubber off line from the racers so I stayed on line. Took the green flag and starting increasing speed, in the first corner the back started around again, gave it some gas and spun the fronts. That was odd, I didn't give it that much throttle,. Took it easy for a few laps pointing a few faster cars by and then tried to pick up the pace. I had no grip, the front would push and spin the tires under acceleration, the rear wanted to come around when pushed. This was not going well and after another few laps of the same I came in and sought advice from the local shop located at the track and the Yokohama reps there in support of the Oktoberfest.

Advice was varied, one says up the rear pressures, one says drop. The local shop offered to take pyrometer readings after I came of in the second sessions. Bumping up the rears a little I went out for the second session session, not any better, Ran half the session and came back in for measurements. The rears were not getting up to temp.

These tires, Hankook Z212 224/45-16 have been my track tires all season. Still have lots of tread on them but with approx 40 on track sessions the consencis was they were now bricks. Played with pressures some more and ran the third session. No better, still sliding all over the place. Still very easy to light up the fronts. Came in early again and called it a day. This was somewhat disappointing since we were getting longer then usual sessions. 30-35 min instead of 20-25 and the group was small.

In the garage I have a set of Kuhmo Escta 700's in 205/45-16 that I bought used. They still have lots of life so after a dinner with family I went out to the garage at 10pm and swapped the Hankook bricks for unknown Kuhmo's. Took a quick spin around the block just to be sure they were not dead too, gave the Mini a quick wash and preped for day two.

Another beautiful day on the horizon I drove the 70 some miles to the track on the Kuhmos. They felt fine but then again it mostly highway. Talked to others with or that had Mini's and pressures and adjusted them accordingly. Todays drivers meeting was even shorter and there were fewer participants. With lots of time before the first session I went and talked to the folks Club Racing a Mini.

With a bit of trepidation since I had no experience on these tires I lined for the 1st session of the day. There were only 10 cars in this session. Went out and worked to warm the tires. The green flag was thrown and I took off at about 3/4 speed for a lap. The tires stuck, each lap I pushed a little more probing for the limits. Never did find them that first session, these tires just stuck and stuck. The smaller size did change my gearing where before I was able to exit a certain turn in 2nd and shift as I entered the straight I was no hitting the 8k limit soon after the apex. The smaller tire made me change the way I drove the track. Experimenting with different gears I found better shift points and started to pick up more speed. All to soon the session ended, even thought it ran 10 min longer then a standard session.

Looking at the crayon marking on the sidewalls I adjusted the pressures for the second session. This session had fewer cars. Again I slowly picked up speed in the corners looking for the limits. These tires are incredible. My first experience on R compounds with the Mini and it was going well. Each lap I was able to go in a deeper and carry a bit more speed. It was like learning a new car and quite enjoyable. These tires never lost grip building my confidence lap after lap. I played with some new lines carrying more and more speed. Eventually I found the point where the tires would start to slide, this was very controllable and soon I was able to predict the amount of drift. Each session had fewer and fewer cars allowing for some long periods where one was lapping alone. For me this was wonderful, I was able to concentrate on learning the tires and not worry about some of the much faster cars being on my tail constantly, like the track only GT3 that was able to lap me 4 times in one session.

All in all it was a great weekend with more track time then usual. New used tires were quite a learning experience. I'm not going back to the street tires and have sold the spare set.

Thanks to the Lone Star Region of the BMW CCA and the national org for letting us run between the racers.

 

I'm trying to improve my writing if you don't mind some feedback would be helpful...

Do ya'll enjoy reading this stuff? Why or Why not.

Is there enough detail, to much?

Should I keep writing about my track days and what I learn?

Would you like to see graphical output from the data logs with commentary?

 

 

Nice report, I use Toyo Ra1s and Hoosier R Compunds , both work very well, I believe the Hoosiers fell a bit more like a street tire, less roll ?

 

gnatster: keep the reports coming! once bitten by the track bug, it is an evolutionary process for all of us. narratives such as yours might speed the process for others. i first took my MINI to the track in stock trim w/ S-lites and runflats. now, bbk w/ track only pads, many suspension mods, track wheels w/ Hoosiers, and 12 weekends of seat time. i love this hobby.....

 

Yea keep it comin! I like reading about this stuff, and I'll start contributing as well.

mb

 

I will second, third and fourth what was said above, good information for many who may not have the time or budget to learn what will work and what will not, great feedback.

One thing I will add, is having other minis to play with makes it much more fun. Bean and myself along with 2 others in our local group play about 4-6 weekends a year at DE's.

We all started out stock on runflats, then upgraded to better pads, then upgraded to street tires, then to track tires, then to track suspensions and R compound tires, so we have all seen the transition for each of us.

and it is loads of fun to play in DEs when everyone can enjoy and have 3 or 4 minis out on the track together.

In fact Bean and I have had other participants at the tracks come up to us and say how much fun it was to watch the two minis go at it on the track.

A very nice compliment to each of us.