First off, I had a wonderful time with my MCS at PPRC this last weekend. There was one other MCS there in the instructor group. It was my first event as a group B student, so no instructor requried. However, I did have the other MINI instructor ride with me for some of my sessions. The balance and feel is quite different from my 914.

Anyhow, tonight was the first chance I've had to swap my stock pads back onto the car for daily use. I was really tired of the screeching. I noticed on the track pads that they did not wear evenly. They were more worn towards the outer edge of the rotor (pad is thicker the close to the center of the rotor, if that makes sense). Side to side wear was practically even, but on all four wheels the pads exhibited this uneven wear.

I had rotated the tires front to back sunday morning before my first run. Happily, the run flats held up pretty well. They do get a little 'greasy' once hot, but they fared much better than some other cars on street tires. In particular, there was an '07 Mustang GT with only a few thousand miles on it running on stock tires. After two sessions the treads were "chunked" all the way around. I believe those were BF Goodrich tires.

There was a large number of crazy-fast cars, even in the B group. More Turbos than I had ever seen before. Same for GT3s! I got a couple passes on a GT3, but those were always early in the session so I think he was just warming up his tires. The instructor MINI was riding with me Sunday morning and we were slowly catching a heavily modded last-gen Supra Turbo. He tells me over the intercom, "Let's have some Supra for breakfast". Needless to say, I got him

The last session of the day had groups B, A, and Instructors all running together. I was the only FWD car. All of the Porsche big guns were in A, including two full-fledged race cars. It was kind of exciting to have a train of GT3 and 997 Turbos scream past me, but as the session wore on I was spending alot of each lap driving my mirrors and that was very stressful. I didn't enjoy feeling like the moving chicane, so I pulled in 10 minutes before the end of the session and called it quits. It turned out to be overreaction on my part, as a couple drivers complimented me afterwards and wondered why I pulled in early. I got a couple of comments about driving it well, and that I had the three-wheel motion going on through some of the corners. Everyone seemed to enjoy that.

It was a very fun time and I consider myself lucky that I have an MCS as a daily driver that is a competent track alternative

 

Nice write-up! I did Putnam last year with the Hoosier BMWCCA chapter. It's a great track.

 

i have the same "problem" w/ uneven pad wear. i have a 13" TCE/Willwood bbk. i called todd, and he informed me that this was to be expected w/ the calipers in use. his suggestion was to switch the pads (inside to outside) half-way through a track weekend. i haven't done it, however......i just replace the pads after the weekend....good job of getting on the track and bruising some egos. MINI's are a lot of fun on the track.....greg

 

I'll have to take a picture and try to show. Wear on each side of the rotor was even, but at all wheels, the pads wore more as if they were being pressed against the rotor unevenly. The floating caliper pressing in like a C-clamp would make things even. My situation appears more like someone was using a vice-grip and more clamping was occuring near the outside edge of the rotor. Near the outer circumference, the rotor is blue while towards the center there is light rust as if no braking was occuring on this surface.

I'll try to snap a photo of the pads to show this better. Reading my own descriptions, i'm not sure I'm conveying very well

 

I understand your brake pade wear description, but have no idea what's causing it or how to fix it. :D

As far as the "moving chicane" problem goes... don't worry about it too much. My experiences mirror yours. You feel like you're causing problems, but as long as you let people go at the next opportunity you feel safe, people usually come over and let you know that you did a really god job letting them past. Sometimes I'd feel bad because I only felt safe letting one or two cars go past on a straight, leaving another car behind until the next passing zone, but the drivers of the fast cars almost always understand and don't get bent out of shape about it.

Just don't leave sombody stuck behind you for a full passing zone for no good reason.

 

mudfoot: i'm sure that you are experiencing the same pad wear issues that i am having. todd (TCE)'s explanation went over my head (i'm short), but made sense.....call him for a more detailed answer.....i won't try to speak for him here on this forum.....

 

Out of curiousity, are you running brass caliper bushings? Would they help?

 

My MCS is totally stock, so unless the bushing you refer to is a factory part, then no I don't have them. Does this relate to Bean's comment?

 

I have them on my car. I was told they would help the pads wear evenly. After one track day at Mid-Ohio I'd say they are.

 

We may have talked... (I was in the indi blue cooper). My father-in-law, Rob (#65 instructor w/ Corvair trailer) mentioned a MINI there had an uneven wear problem. But the bushings mentioned are the fix, they'll take the play out of the calipers.

I enjoyed the "tour" time to flog mine around (while dangerously close to an empty fuel tank).

 

I didn't know he was your FIL. Rob was my instructor last year when I had my 914 out. I've been wanting to follow up with him about his 912 progress. We talked for a bit at the Saturday dinner.

If I end up tracking the MINI more, I'll install the uprated caliper bushings.

Yes, those lunchtime touring laps can be fun. Hopefully next time, we will see you registered!