Anyone who has read what I post here knows that I tend to be a bit unconventional. I also have a bit of “down time” these days and not taking my MCS to Lime Rock Park. So, I thought I would write al “How to Lap Lime Rock Park in an Unconventional MINI” thread. I won’t say I am the fastest MINI or have the best line around LRP and I don’t know if this will work for you and your car. I only post it for something to think about.

I do track days at LRP; no races. I run in the Advanced groups with both BMWCCA and SCDA.

I’ll start with the car. It is a 2012 MCS that started with the optional sports suspension, which was the base suspension for the JCW of the day. A really nice setup for the track until I experienced out of it. Its upgrades are modest. A 27mm front sway bar and a 25mm hollow rear sway bar, Bilstein B8 shocks, a Quaife LSD and a set of Wilwood brakes up front. No engine mods and the springs remain stock. It has a rear seat delete and a custom roll bar. With the Wilwoods I can run either a 11,75” dia rotor, which allows me to fit 15” wheels, at 11 lbs each, or a 12.2” dia rotor, which I use with 17” wheels at 14.5 lbs each. Both rotor sizes are a custom 1” thick. For LRP, I run 205-50x15 Bridgestone RE71R street tires.

As you might think, with the sway bars, it doesn’t have much off-throttle rotation, but oversteer can be induced with mistakes. I find the handling to be basically neutral but benign and at times a bit of understeer.

Like I said, unconventional.

I drive with the traction control and DTC on, Yes on. I will start with it full on and as the day progresses I may shift it to “TRACTION” mode.

Harry’s lap timer says my fastest time was 1:03.nn. I consistently run in the 1:05s.

I will use these 2 videos for references:

Video #1


In this video I will be looking at the following time stamps:
1) Big Bend Turn 1 0:35
2) Turn 2 0:40
3) The left hander Turn 3 1:10
4) The Right Hander Turn 4 1:28
5) The right dogleg 1:41
6) The left dogleg 1:44
7) The uphill Turn 5 1:48
8) Top of the hill 2:24
9) West Bend Turn 6 2:35
10) The Downhill Turn 7 2:50

This first video is with Sam Posey talking is a really good description of how to get around the track. This is his “home” track, so he should know it. He was the first to break the 1 minute mark around this track, which was in a Porsche race car.

And then there is this video:
Video #2


1) Entrance to Big Bend 1:26
2) The Uphill Turn 5 2:05
3) Uphill top problem 2:20
4) Lining up for the downhill 2:29
5/ Downhill MINI missed apex 2:37
6) Description of LRP 3:22 - 8:02

Before you read any further, I would like for you to view the 2 videos (they are short) and in particular Video #2 from time stamp 3:22 through to Time stamp 8:02. Take note of the details brought up by each of the drivers (Bill Auberlen - BMW - and James Weaver).

I plan to keep this updated and edited as I see comments and to make corrections (I hope the time stamps are right ). Comments are welcomed.

Here you go... Turn by turn - How I drive LRP in an unconventional MINI ...

 

Turn 1 Big Bend

Braking from 170mph (Video 2, time stamp 6:10). Ya, right. Not in a stock engine MCS... 110 - 120 maybe, with a tail wind...

But the braking principle is the same. First video, time stamp 0:35. Stand on the brakes as late as possible (Video 2, time stamp 3:39) and trail brake as deep as you can. On a good day I will be braking up to the turn 1 apex, with my start point at about the 2nd brake marker.

As Skip Barber says in Video #2 as part of his discussion of Big Bend (time stamp 1:26), if you are looking to slow down before the corner, you are doomed. You have to slow in the corner.

The MINI will understeer like crazy if you get on the gas before the apex of a turn. In this turn the MINI is especially sensitive to that. If you straight line brake and the turn in you will be on the gas before the apex and you will have terminal understeer. The distance you have to travel from the left side of the track to the rights side for the turn is too far to carry the speed necessary to not have to get on the gas before the apex. To make matters worse, you will carry that understeer all the way to the apex of T2.

In the MINI, I have not found any difference from where you place the car at the apex. I have run up over the curb, I have taken it a car width or more away from the curb. With the first you will tend to square off the turn in for T2 more. In a MINI that will cause push (understeer), which will slow you. With the latter placement you will tend to have less speed through T1 as you will be taking it less straight. But the turn in to T2 will be a little easier to take as it will be less sharp.

 

Turn 2

This is the most miserable, least fun corner on the whole track for a MINI. In my MINI it is especially miserable, as this corner is tight and there is nothing to help you. With all of the other corners you have the aid of trail braking to load up the front wheel and make the car turn. Not here. Braking is all done and, worse yet, you have a bit of maintenance throttle which puts the weight back. You need to be able to rotate the car with the throttle. And my car doesn’t do that well. A little but not well. But yours might. Try a sharp lift off the throttle for this turn to get the car to rotate. But be ready to catch it and not overdo it.

Watch Video #1, from time stamp 0:40. This how not to take T1 and T2. The entrance to T2 is way too early and the exit will be compromised, badly. A lot of drivers I see will tend to early apex turn 2 which messes up the track out and lining up for T3, the Left Hander.

Oh, another note - if you screw up the exit and look like you are going to drive off the track, just drive straight off. I have seen drivers of 2 cars in one day try to make a correction and stuffed (totaled) their cars into the inside wall. Oversteer can be a fickle thing.

 

Turn 3 The Left Hander

I have to disagree with Sam Posey a little on this one, even though he is the expert. Getting this right is important to getting T4 (The Right Hander) correct. As he says, getting the exit of T4 right is the secrete to making time down No Name Straight. Back up your planning from there. I back it up to the entrance to the Left Hander. Now, Dave Hobbs, in Video #2 Time stamp 6:29, did get it right when he said “don’t make a big lazy esse out of this.

The approach to T3 is from the middle of the track or just to the right side of middle. I straight line brake here. I have tried braking later and trail braking for the turn without success. The car wants to over rotate, oversteer, and send me off into the grass. With the approach, any further than just to the right of middle is lost time from going from the left side at the track out of T2, then to the right side of the track and back again to make the apex of T3. Closer to the left makes the turn too sharp. However, in a race you may need to do this to defend the turn.

This turn has a bit of an optical illusion in that it looks like it should be 90 deg but it is more than that. So, the turn in point is when you feel you have gone a bit too far. In the first video, time stamp 1:10, shows the car having been turned in slightly late and missing the apex. As David Hobbs said (video 2 time stamp 6:29) the trick is to run straight for 3 or 4 seconds coming out of turn 3 to let the car settle. Missing the apex at this point means having to either drive back to the edge of the track which will keep you from having a short period of going straight to let settle the car and that will hinder the turn in for turn 4. Or if you stay out, you will make the turn in to turn 4 sharper and you will be slower.

When you turn in for the Left Hander, keep rolling the steering wheel to create a progressively tighter turn. You should wind up at the left side edge of the track, just before where the turn straightens out. This will set you up perfectly for the Right Hander. Start to roll on the gas here.

 

Turn 4 The Right Hander

If you haven’t messed up the Left Hander, you should already be on the gas. Time your throttle input right and you should be able to roll on more throttle through this whole turn. This is the only turn I have a good visual reference for - track out aiming for the flagging tower.

Remember to apex this turn; be right on the curb. I see a lot of cars missing this and they are loosing time.

The No Name Straight Right Hand Dog Leg

Just down from the Right Hander is the right hand dog leg in No Name Straidght. You will see a glimpse of it in video 1 at time stamp 1:41. Everyone wants to straighten out the track here and run over the curb. But I have been told that is not the case. I have been told that data has shown that being about 1/2 to a full car width off the curb here is faster. But to do this you have to start and plan this line from the exit of the Right Hander, T4. And then you have to plan a smooth transition to the apex of the left hand dog leg.

In the rain there can be a river running across the track on No Name Straight in the area of the left hand dog leg. Be warned and be prepared. It can be deep enough to cause hydroplaning even with good rain tires...

 

Turn 5 The Uphill

Get it right and it is great. Get it wrong and you will be in one guardrail or the other. Too cautious and you will lose a lot of time. I catch a lot of people here because they don’t take it as fast as it can be taken. Go to time stamp 1:48 on the first video. This is a reasonable approach, but it can be taken tad earlier =inherit(see time stamp 2:03 in the second video), which will gain you more speed up the hill and have you with the wheels straight at the top. Following through the video a few minutes will give you a good discussion of how to take the turn, but you will notice that the cars in the video are all “track day” cars and most are running in the middle of the track. Newbies!

The turn in is important. If you are too early on the turn in, you get greedy, you will pay at the top of the hill as you will likely not have the steering wheel straight. It will likely have a bit of right turn cranked into it. As you crest the hill, the car gets really light. When the car lands, with the steering wheel turned, you will head right, right into the Armco (Time stamp 2:20 of video #2).


Not being straight at the top of the Up Hill


Your entrance to the Up Hill is an early apex as is shown briefly in the second video at time stamp 2:05 , which is slightly before the actual corner apex. The compression you get as you get on the incline will bring the car around. With the right amount of speed, you will track out to the left hand edge of the pavement. That is blind so this takes a lot of practice to get it right. Go to far to the left is dirt and it is close to the guardrail. This won’t end well...

The driving schools will start you out with a late apex and have you line up in the middle of the hill to make sure your car is straight. If it is not straight, there will be a big repair bill. You can work from there by moving the car over to the left a little, then work on moving up the apex.

 

Turn 6 West Bend

This is a technical turn, as Sam Posey says in the first video (time stamp 2:35). The video shows a perfect line, one that I have been known to miss. This turn has the illusion of having later tun in than it is. The correct turn in is a little earlier than you might think. In the video there is a double set of cones shown for the apex. You want to hug the curb between those, but not take too much of the curb as it is really hard on the car.

Because of the illusion this turn creates, I tend to turn in too late and miss the apex. Sam Posey throws away 2 turns in this video and this is one of them. I think if you are lookin for tenths, this is one to get right. The track out of this turn is not too bad, but it is flat so take care to not have too much exit speed. If you hit the dirt, have your wheels straight. You can survive getting into the dirt here as long as you don’t panic.

In the rain, this can be a bad turn as there is a river that flows across the track here, in the track out area. If you follow the dry line you will be in trouble as you will push off the track. No mater what, you will get to ride the river all the way down the hill to just before the Down Hill turn. Be prepared.

 

Turn 7 The Down Hill

This is the ride of your life. This is the second turn on the track that is quite unforgiving and, as the guy said in the second video, you need to have your big boy pants on to take it flat out.

The approach is shown in the first video, time stamp 2:50 of the first video, but the turn in that is being shown in the video is a bit early. If you go back to time stamp 2:48 you will see that the driver of the car starts to drift right while he/she is still on the hill. Stop the video at time stamp 2:50 and look to see the placement of the turn in cone on the left and then look to the curbing and where the apex is. Then look at the trajectory of the car. With this early turn in there is no way to properly apex the turn without slowing more. If you don’t slow more, you will push off the the track at the track out. You don’t want to do that as the guardrail comes in towards the track there and you have no run off.

Sam Posey has this turn absolutely right. Look down the track as you approach the turn. Don’t look for the apex. Looking down the track will help you to turn in at the proper point.

The down hill has 4 parts to it. The 1st and 4th are your approach and track out. These are pretty standard to any turn. The 2nd and 3rd parts are how you get it right. The 2nd (after the approach) is the turn in point which is a “breath” later than it appears as you are driving the car. Sam Posey’s description of how to take the turn is a big help to getting it right. Otherwise you will be turning in too early and that will keep you from getting on the gas after the apex, which is necessary to keep the rear planted. If you apex too early and you have too much speed, the tendency will be to lift off the throttle. At the speed you will be at (80 - 90 mph), that reaction will cause oversteer which will send you into the inside guardrail.

I find I have a tendency to creep to the right (like in the video) before the real turn in point, which counts as turning in too early. Stay on the left side until the front starts to compress; where that turn in cone is in the first video. It is there for a reason. The sweet spot for the turn-in point is small, but it is glorious when you find it.

The second part of the downhill turn is to fully apex the turn. That may be obvious, but you would be surprised to see just how many people don’t. See the beautiful MINI Cooper at time stamp 2:37 of the second video; that needs to be better. Just touch the edge of the curb. There is a bit of a pocket there that will help you. Watch the line of the car in second video at time stamp 7:36. Too much curb will send you off the track. Too far out from the curb means a slower exit speed and likely hinder your ability to unwind and get on the gas.

From there it is a long run in a MINI to Big Bend. Take a minute to relax, read your gages (I have a ScanGage II), and to breath. More than likely you were holding your breath while you got through the Down Hill turn. You need to breath...

Please feel free to comment, ask question, whatever...