Great thread.

All I could think of when you were behind the M3 was the song by the Playmates, His horn went, beep, beep, beep. (Beep! Beep!).

 

Thanks. I reluctantly launched the Vegas to edit the video files as the fastest lap was broken up into two files on the GoPro. A bit of elbow grease and some patience it is now up on Youtube. I included a few laps leading up to my best time to date. I lost fraction of a second to point the M3 by, and then it slowed me at turn 7, so my time could have been just a hair under 1:36.

 

It is such a luxury to have our track team A/V engineer with us this recent event. He set up this Sony stereo condenser microphone and the audio is better than before. It fits in nicely with Mini's all business interior esthetics . Attention to details. The microphone is hinged flat so it just barely clear the Mini-Fini cupholder when it swings inboards and just right on top of the stereo mic. He said there may be a bit more fine tuning he need to do to reduce the wind buffeting because of driving with open windows at high speed. We would try a custom made wind muffs next. He also pointed out the disconcerting banging from the brake pedal release stop and we will be looking into that.




Oh, and the WB O2 sensor is holding up very well so far with the punishments from all these track events.

 

I have been thinking about the need to keep some record of Mini's performance education. It is not yet too late as the education only begun last year in earnest. There were 2 days back in 2005. I have saved all the wristbands of each event except the BMW club ones that has no band.

Here are all the bands excluding those 6 no-band events.



Recalling tires used on track, we are currently on the last leg of second sets of Falken Azenis tyres.

 

Do I assume correctly that the video in the previous post included this external mic? How does it hook to the GoPro? The sound in that video is quite good through my headphones.

 

Yes. External mic is used as the GoPro is mounted to passenger head rest post so it is in the direct assault of the wind. The Hero 5 Black requires an active adapter that must be powered for the mic to work. The adapter has a built in stereo ADCs. The details are in this old post.

not shown is the USB-C cable providing power to the adapter

 

That's why I have not updated to a newer gopro, I had a couple circuit cards printed so I could split my old non powered mic into my gopro4, one channel goes to the back the other is up front by the cupholder, I can turn up the sound on the front to hear the conversion when I have a copilot. It's unfortunate time never permits me to do much with the video. Gopro is going the wrong direction, reminds me of apple with special connectors.

 

While there are a lot of criticisms with the newer GoPro and I am one. The truth is Hero 3 is all you would need for HPDE or autoX. Newer models do bring enhanced video performance which make little difference if all you care is how you drive and to learn. If you do not have an old model and are not new to the market, you should just buy a Hero 3 used unless you want to spend more and future prove you purchase. I am quite happy with my Hero 5 Black despite the USB-C bandwagon which means you have to spend more money on an active digital to digital active interface. It is exactly the same with the bitching and moaning with iPhone when it transition from the 16-pin legacy interface to lighting. So too is iPhones that has optical image stabilization. They take incredible photos and videos, but sux for using with Harry's Laptimer. The OIS is simply not designed for high frequency vibration and I have no problem with that.

I still have a iPhone 5S that has no OIS, and I might try it on next tract event since I have an external GPS so no cellular should not be a problem with a real GPS that does not rely on fake GPS that is cell towers and wifi hotspots trangulation. The best part is FBI won't find me.

 

Here is one whole track session of Desire getting an education, unedited. We were not driving on the ragged edge but just like a Sunday leisure cruise. We were not killing the tyres except making them sing a chorus though the Wilwood front toy brakes got a good workout.

 

Our track team mechanic performed a thorough post track day inspection of the vital components.

The front tyres had more tread than the rear ones as we always rotate them to ensure even wear the best we can. Both front tyres now are nearly like slicks after 150 miles. This is the first time however, that the wear on both sides are quite even despite a CW track. Also the outside threads that normally get a bad beating are not that bad despite very mild cambers on front and back.

Additionally, Mini didn't get a professional alignment except a couple of quickies done at our facility with jack stands, aluminium bar, and plumb lines. Our head mechanic said, don't bother as the tyres will wear out by Mini trying to get new shoes long before the alignment being not perfect have a chance to do any lasting damage.

I have to agree, and our pit mechanic is spot on. He will get a promotion no doubt.














Next is onto the brakes. First the rear brakes. They are like went on vacation as there is nothing to report.

Not so with the haute fashion Wilwood front brakes. Both side took a toll. The pads were virtually brand new 150 miles ago, and now they are half worn and badly tapered. Like the tyres, this is the first time their wears are quite even despite the CW track, thanks to the trail braking late before and into the tight righties.






here are all 4 front pads showing the tapered wear after 150 miles; this is the second set of racing pads this season; we flipped the pads to even out the tapers


both front calipers was black but now turned purple from the heat


also the crazing on both rotors are now almost even unlike after the last track day


One vexing problem that confounded our head mechanic is the front rotor hats would not stay put. Despite being clamped between the hub and the wheel by four bolts torqued to 89 ft-lb each they manage to rotate until the four holes touches the bolts.

the feeble torx bolt might as well not be there as it'd gotten bent by the immense torque of the rotor WRT the wheel hub





inspection of the suspension bits is a snap using this rubber mallet

 

Have you tried letting harry handle the gopro duties? it'll auto start/stop and import/overlay right on the phone.

 

So the rotors rotated countertclockwise. Do you have DSC? Assume if you did you had it off. I am thinking that the force it took to make the rotor go backwards/counterclockwise would set off the DSC.

 

and my first thought on seeing the calipers was that you had them custom painted . . . . .

 

Are you still using the BP30 pads? The wear looks good and similar to what I see. Unfortunately the pads don’t last long in these cars.

FWIW - I see that same rotation of the brake rotor/hat relative to the wheel hub. I have found that the Torx screw may not always seat correctly. I take care to wiggle the hat as I tighten the screw to make sure that it is fully seated. Even at that, I still see some rotation. What do yo torque your wheels to?

Your tires also look good. You have a ways to go before they will need replacement. I have used tires with that amount of wear as rain tires.

 

It is just the wheel torque vs the rotor torque.

 

I had many misfires that the GoPro didn't record. I also found out Harry's will start but will never stop it which could be a firmware issue with the Hero 5 Black. There is also this pesty external mic with the dongle which I was dealing with. When the camera boots up and the dongle is not power it will revert to internal mic. I decided to keep it simple for a while and sort all these out gradually. The key is to have redundancy.

I am going to mess with the setup at home. Too many pieces of H/W and they get complicated fast.

 

I meant to include these fotos showing front and rear side by side to better see their difference. Before the event the front ones has more tread than the rear. After the event the front ones are now homemade slicks.

I do like the Azenis asymmetrical and non-directional design that I can cross rotate the tyres at will to keep them very even. Yes, I was concern changing the rotation direction but it turns out to be a non-issue as Mini has not crashed and burnt.

 

This is the second set of the fleaBay bulk BP30s. Had I know how good these are I would have snapped up more though I did some risk buys so I am good for a season or two. They are quite gentle on the rotors but wear out quite fast.

I torqued the lug bolts to 89 ft-lb, and the rotor hats slipped. The Torx countersink bolt is just an assemble aid. Both front ones bent, so I swapped them with the one from the do-nuthing rear brakes. They are now too are bent after the 1.5 burrito day. I was going to order new ones that is like $3.50 apiece. I don't think I am going to bother.

I think a rusty hub face might help them from slipping. I think the anodized hat has lower friction static coefficient mating to the steel rotor face. Also depends on the wheel hub face design which can vary who well both clamp the rotor hat. I will try to increase the lug bolt torque a bit but don't want to turn them into torque to yield fasteners.

you can see the clamping surface of the SSR wheel left on the rotor hats. They have pretty reasonable surface area (where matters)

 

Yes that is obvious. My comment has more to do with whether the DSC would pick up the speed change by this counterclockwise movement. The other interesting issue is whether this is a cumulative affect or whether it occurs once the braking force overcomes the bolt torque pressure.

 

Mini is a cute chick car. The Wilwood are fashion brakes so the Barbie purple is most fitting.

evidently Ken is a hot driver

 

I thought the best place to pick up chicks was the grocery store. All those years I should have hanging out at the track . . . . .

 

If you haven't taken the Mini to the track, you should. I cannot wait to explore other tracks once I get the AL trailer. PIR seems to favor high power cars and hard on brakes and drivetrain because of two long straights. It also does not tax the suspensions due to being a flat track.

 

I would kill for a lift. But with my house it is not possible without significantly compromise the architecture integrity. It is not impossible as some of the best designs results from the most difficult of constraints. For now a lift in the garage is only a distant dream and it is easier to move and start over again than executing one that will meet my aesthetics.

I like the idea of just buying enough jack for the tiny car



Since I am not going to stop working on my vehicles I am warming up to the Quickjack. I have a few day left before the $100 discount expires at the end of the month. I need to decide if I want the 5000 lb model vs the just scrape by 3500 model that is a couple hundreds cheaper. I also need to decided if I want a 12V powered one, as opposed to AC pump.

If you want one the discount code in the US is "FATHER", or "DAD" in Canada. Discount ends this month.

I am leaning towards 5000 lb and AC pump.

 

I bit of quick checking of the lift point locations of the Mini and GT4 the BL-3500SLX is out of the question. It should work for the Mini but GT4 jack point spread is 52 inches, which is beyond the 3500 50.5" max spread. The other dimension that one needs to be careful is the swing action of the parallelogram which is a function of the designed lift height vs the contact patch of the tire and the corresponding jack point.

I checked the BL-5000SLX and it should fit both cars. I have seen folks use the Quickjack at the track, but I don't think I will ever want to carry this much to a track. This means 120Vac pump would be my choice instead of 12Vdc.

Jacking up the GT4 without a lift is a major PITA, much more so than with the Mini. I have yet to attempt so this makes the decision easy. I have no disillusion that it does involve a bit of time to set it up each time because of the hydraulic hoses and pump. Each jack unit is 76 lb and they takes some space to store.