Good catch. You are right that I meant to say understeer that I notice quite early at the track. Three are a lot of things to be tweaked on this car and I have not done any.

Those numbers on the right most column remains a mystery. It may be data from real live driving on some track so we should just ignore that.

Here is the HP and Torque chart of the car. As long as the HP is increasing you generally want to defer up-shifting until it begins to drop (at about 7400 in this case) - taking into consideration of where the next taller gear falls at on the chart. HP is just a function of torque times RPM.

 

I tried to find a 3D map of ORP. It is not a high speed track so give cars like Mini a more level playing field against high power cars. It is a 2.3 mile track with 140 ft of elevation from min to max, which makes it most interesting. The track sits on the high plain at 2200 ft above sea level.

I found a local newspaper's article of the track's development by the grass root visionary, how in his search for a suitable and viable location would resulted of the track in Grass Valley, Oregon. The article mentions each lap has 400 ft of elevation changes. It must be tallying up the rise and fall of elevations over the race course that has a min and max difference of 140 ft. No wonder the lap time is so long for a 2.3 miles track.

here is the official track map; North is top as a map should be oriented


this is the only 3D map I could find; the left hand side is North


I only just realize the track is faster when driven clockwise, which I also find less challenging.

 

No discussion of the Porsche GT4 performance without making reference to it on Nordschleife. This is one video that sold me the car. This is my reference video of what the car is capable, driven by Christian Gebhardt. I infer it is an implicit Porsche's promotional video of the car's time at Nordschleife.

 

Here is one session from the first day with the Porsche out on the track for the very first time. I am very glad that by then I have some wet track experience with Desire, as well as the confidence gained with spending quality time with her on tracks especially at ORP once. I would otherwise feel too much is at stake with the GT4's virgin voyage on such technical track. The day started with a wet track with some showers.

All the GoPro videos from the day resulted in no sound as I didn't know the USB power adapter overcurrent tripped resulted in the external mic module not functioning.

I am quite sure this track is faster in this CW configuration over the CCW.

 

I continue to like the looks of that track. It seems to have a nice flow. Maybe a bit better in that direction.

In the GT4 video at Nordschleife, the driver has an odd way of looking to the right. He turns his head so far it looks like he is looking out the passenger side window.

 

I have never noticed Christian's head right bias, and you are right. There are certainly there but I wonder how much is due to the exaggeration because of where the wide angle camera is mounted. Also the track is CW, despite it is a very long track of 24 km.

Driving this track is like roller coaster without the wheels that prevent your cart from defying the law of gravity. By that I mean the wheels that are held by the I beams of the roller coaster track that do not allow the cart to lift off from the track. You have to know when to take advantage of the suspension compression and when to be aware of when the suspension extending. This applies to braking and turning. You have to know the line to take long before you eyes can see the track ahead. Any hesitation means lost time or worst, going off track.

 

I came across this photo that I haven't post and I a kinda like it. The nostalgic autumn last track day unless miracle happens.

I drove to the bitter end and I gave the corner working the cut (the throat that is) hand gesture to signal I was done for the day year and they can go home an hour early. My unambiguous universal hand signal worked.

 

I have driven "The Green Hell" many, many times... on Gran Turismo 6. Very difficult even without the fear of injury and death. And you are right. You need to be very aware of where you are likely to leave the ground and in some places which wheel or wheels will leave the ground. Supper fun though. I have a virtual R50 moded similarly to how my real R50 is. I should change the gear ratios in the game to match the gears in real life. Either way, if I were to take my R50 the Germany and drive the 'Leife and if the game is as accurate as is seems to be, there is no worry that the R50 will ever leave contact with the road in any place - a little light a few spots but still on the ground.

There was, for a while, PIR as a track to drive but the online support ended and thus access to that track is no longer available, I think. My lap times on the game and from rough timing from videos were within 1 second of each other, obviously faster on the game as there is no fear of injury, death or damage to car. If I were able to relieve myself of those fears, I may be able to knock off a full second off my lap times. Sadly, I like being alive with all my bones as they are and don't have the budget to repair my R50 every time I go off track or hit a wall.

 

I have never played the Gran Turismo. The game sure looks very lifelike realistic and the video is stunning. I am unconvinced however with the realism as a simulator. The first step is to have realistic steering, seat, pedal, and gear shifter with feedback. These alone are not exactly easy or cheap to furnish. The next level would be much difficult to simulate the G-forces, and accurate car dynamics. I am glad to see the tech media VR hypes has subsided of late. Many companies has scaled back or abandoned their over-promised and under-delivered VR alpha-wear products.

BTW, any more thought as what would replace the R50?

 

As far as simulations, it's okay. It is a reasonable approximation to really driving. I have a steering wheel/3 peddle/6MT set up. No actual seat though, a folding medal chair and a very small "desk." It, oddly, does "teach" you better techniques. What it "teaches" is very translatable to real life.

As far as a replacement to the R50, ND2 Miata RF GT-S. That may be as soon as March or it may be never... the Miata isn't inexpensive anymore...

 

I am not up to speed with the recent Miata offering. It may be just me wanting a track ready car. Instead of offering a foldable "hard top" I wish they would just make a coupe with fixed roof so people don't have to get a roll cage/bar installed for tracking. I just don't care for convertibles for various practical and safety reasons. Look at the gen 1 on the track, all have hardtops. There are a lot of very good cars to choose from including the Civic R, but it is far from cheap. Subaru BRZ and the Toyota branded counter part seems to be good choice as long as you don't feel it severely underpowered. For me I can't see that I prefer any of these over the R53 for how fun it is to drive.

I would like to drive Nordschleife but have no disillusion that you have to put in ample seat time there to have half decent lap time. Driving on a tourist day is just to say I'd did it and means squat.

 

The hard tops on the Gen 1 Miata's are just fiberglass clip on tops and offer limited to no real additional protection in a roll over, it's all the bar/cage under it.

The R50 needs a lot of work... the transmission is starting to make noise, again. The motor will need a rebuild in the very near future. My coil overs need to be rebuild or replaced - back on the factory originals with about 85K on them. Thankfully I saved them just for this expected rebuild/replacement to keep the car on the road. She needs new window regulars, a new drivers lock regulator and at least one new wheel speed sensor, perhaps more in that area as the flat tire and ABS lights are on. BTW - with the ABS light on the ABS still works. If I go the route of rebuilding my R50, I think I would drop it on a transport truck and send it RMW and have Jan do all the work to get the car to the 160 whp that would want. But that would be around $25K in work with all the engine, transmission, suspension, exhaust and labor - I can't imagine Jan being cheap. I'd probably have him do all the work on the things above and have him put a half cage in the back as well and it would have to keep all the emission controls to keep it fully street legal - though here in Oregon, the state will put a regular license plate on an F1 car. The laws on this are really funny. You can drive a vehicle for "not for road use" on public roads provided it is for testing and tuning. You can drive your not for road use car on public roads to and from a race track provided that you live less than 90 miles from the track. If I had won the $1.6B lotto, I would have bought an F1 car, put a plate on it and "test and tune" the snot out of it at night around the owners of the construction companies homes that are responsible for not completing the work on the Beverly Cleary School on time... But I digress...

Most car clubs require SCCA regulated roll over protection with 5-point harnesses for both front seats if there are two seats but the Tire Rack sponsored and SCCA co-sponsored Track Night in America track days... don't and they are $50 to $100 cheaper... You just have to love irony, don't you?

As far as driving the Nordschleife on a tourist day, I respectfully disagree. I know one person that did drive it in his MINI when he lived in Germany. When you ask him about it, his face completely changes. You can see him reliving it. I think that it would mean something.

 

To be very honest, I suffered from buyer's remorse with these 8" wide wheels, and then mortgaged the house to buy the NT01 tires too. I had nightmares that they cannot be used without some major fender modifications . I procrastinated and finally bit the bullet to have the tires mounted. There is no going back now as I own them.

this is what nightmare is made of - huge fenders shoehorned in to cover the ridiculously big donuts



Here is what they look like. Yep, when you want 8" wide wheels the tires bound to hang outside the fenders. The wheels are 15"x8" with +25mm ET. The tires are 225 45R15 Nitto NT01.

these wheels are drop dead gorgeous in gun metal grey


I am hoping that the suspension travels are less than 1.75 inch or so - please don't tell me I am wrong


I like the aggressive stance and this Mini is no poser


I only drove around the blocks so not really tested yet.

 

 

I checked that when I first ordered just one wheel to check.

I just went and checked again. Plenty with the Koni Yellow. I suspect even coilovers would be fine too as there is between 3/4" to 1" of clearance from the wheel and tire side wall to the strut.

there is almost an inch from the rim; the top of the tire sits well below the lower spring perch (remember this is 15" 45 AR tire)

 

Well, just when all went so well and I discovered the lip of one wheel has a bend. I was at a lost as how can it be with brand new wheels in boxes that was never open. Going through all the possibilities I thought it may be tire shop machine caused it. It was pushing closing time so I took the wheel to the tire shop which I recently found and really like. I wanted to show it to them and see what they think. In the back of my mind I thought there is a possibility that the bend is from the manufacturing process. I want to keep an open mind not to jump to conclusion and wrongly accuse an innocent party.

Discussing with the tech as well as the owner I am convinced that the tire shop didn't cause it, as the mounting process cannot had caused it. I had them dismounted the tires and there is no sign or mark which could have caused the bend. The owner said that they had seen brand new wheels that are bent before. So my recourse is to return to Amazon.

I didn't want to run the risk of waiting for months should Amazon stock depletes, so I grab one right away that is $9 more. And that is the last one they have so my hunch is spot on.

looking closer the bend does look like caused by flow forming and no one noticed it





I know the bend on the lip does not affect the trueness of the wheel as the shoulder where the bead sits is true. Such a shame. I am trying to take this in stride (not under the pressure of an upcoming track event). The only thing that I am a kind of stress is Amazon may think I am a scum and return a wheel that I bent.

Poor Desire is sitting in the driveway with only 3 wheels. A three legged mini hog.

 

For me I much prefer the gun metal grey. Here are the 7" in black and the 8" in gun metal. The gun metal (matte grey) gives better definition under most lighting. The black generally results in just a black glop especially a photo taken by inexperience photographer.

7" in black - and this is taken in ideal lighting condition


8" in gun metal grey has delineation for the wheel and tire without the need to put a red pinstripe

 

I laughed when this Rock Auto order arrived. Most people assumes the company sells cheap parts only. But if you have some insight in the auto parts and OEM industry you can enjoy significant savings by shopping around. This order is for the OEM oil filter for the Porsche. I order these as I know and trust Mahle, as well as Rockauto's integrity that they don't sell counterfeit parts knowingly.



so far Mahle has held up with their quality in the era of rapid globalization and rush to the bottom reduce manufacturing cost; the same cannot be said about Mann and many German brands


this looks awfully similar to the MINI OE oil filter construction


These oil filter were made in Austria - which might as well be the Deutschland - as history would attest.

 

Winter is coming, but there will not be any snow tires for Desire. In fact she is winning the tug of war and edging closer by the day to become a full time track animal. Which daily driver gets a set of most impractical wheels and tires in the 11th hour to winter? In case you missed the posts these are 15x8 wheels with Nitto NT01 that is almost slicks with a few slits to meet the technicality of what constitute a DOT (dead on track) road legal tire.

We have had an amazing October and so far November. I was secretly hoping for an unscheduled club day at ORP, but to my relief it appears we have past the weather window. For the coming months there are the videos of this season's track event to savor and relive. Actually I woke up in cold sweat last night that I am ill-prepared to take advantage of the discounts that may be had with "Black Friday" and the holiday season's reduced prices, especially when it comes to the Porsche. It need quite a few things to get it track equipped.

today is the first of one wet day but the next few days still look fairly dry and mild for November



To name a few for the GT4:

• a half cage
• a 6 point harness set for used with the half cage
• a front control arm kit from Tarett
• some extension kit form Tarett for the rear suspension to achieve the needed camber for the rear
• a set of track wheels and tires
• a more the less full body paint protection (to be installed by me)

And these are just the bare minimum.

As for Desire the list is equally as long albeit at a fraction of the cost. A lot of service to be carried out before May rolls around.

List of things Desire needs:

• investigate and find the root cause of front end tremor triggered by hard braking from high speed
• increase cambers front and rear including installation of a set of Vorshlag camber plates
• a new set of longer lasting set of racing brake pads - Desire has destroyed a set of BP-30 every two track days
• replace the supercharger that has been screaming hell and murder this season
• getting around to install the ByteTronik 550cc injector and begin the remote tune that I paid for; this has been put on the back burner due to the supercharger issue this season

The fifth Konig Dial In 15x8 wheel arrived yesterday. It appears to be the last one at Amazon as well as Konig's inventory until if and when the next shipment from China arrives - my guess is spring due to the increased cost in the name to make this already great nation great again. I infer that these wheels were not exactly flying off the shelve for whatever reason. There were 5 when I order the first to check dimensions. In the end I bought all 5, and one is going back to Amazon due to manufacturing defect. Thankfully the last one is good so Desire is now sporting a set of 225mm Nitto NT01's. Like the saying goes she is all dressed up but nowhere to go.

the three legged flying hog waiting for the 4th leg to arrive


Having taken the GT4 out to the track only further validate how amazing this little car is. As expected the Porsche is at the next level but the Mini holds its own. As my driving improved this season I can see its potential in keeping up with much higher power cars in the hands of lesser drivers in a tight course like ORP, even with almost no mod engine nor tune - only a 15% pulley.

I do not see my love for the down to earth Desire to diminish that now I have taken the GT4 out to the track. On the contrary, I grew to love this little car ever more, especially with the experience of owning a Porsche GT car.

 

any issue with the cheap wilwood rotors? Mine cracked, these have 1 day at NCCAR and 1 day at VIR, they cracked at VIR. I've never had a set crack like this before, only had crazing that eventually connected and ran out to the edge. I'm going to the next step up rotors with curved vanes

 

 

Hawk makes rotors that fit the wilwood setup? I was not aware of that

 

My right rotor finally cracked in late Sep after 4 sets of BP-30 pads. This is from the original 12.2" BBK. I never got around to install the cheap replacements as by that time I decided to go to 15" wheels. I have come to conclusion crack front rotors is an unavoidable fact with R53 tracking, unless you go to 17" wheels with brakes with greater thermal capacity.

strangely I expect the left rotor to go first but not - as all the track driving was at PIR where the left front takes most of the beatings and abuse



I took the brake temperature of the GT4, and the pad temperatures are much more even between the front and the rear. The FWD Mini's rear brakes do so little in contrast. We are asking the front wheels/brakes/suspension of the Mini to do a lot, and yet it is only may be 200 lb lighter than the Porsche, which has discs sizes of large pizza.

 

they are definitely a consumable I went through 4 or 6 sets of front rotors this year, I get 4 days out of pads and 6-8 out of the rotors. The crazing got most of them this is the first time I've had them crack near the hub. I have one more pair of these cheap wilwoods then I will try AFCO rotors, they have more metal between the friction surface and the hub like Eddie07 mentioned

 

Here is the left front and you can see the crazing is quite extensive. Also can be seen are some long radial cracks developing.