I really like the ST41. It is very linear from cold to hot. Great proportional modulation. I was totally blown away how nice they are. Alas the Raybestos linings are currently in short supply and I was told they are moving their facility and has no ETA. I have not inspect the rotors closely yet. I expect I will need a new set for next track event. That's what we get for driving the Mini like horse thieves running from the law.

I am telling you, each time I go out and improve my skill the more I love this little car that is fun wheel drive, with the fun wheels doing triple duty - accelerate, braking, steering, and giving much higher horsepower cars the run for their money.

 

Early on I had an experience with a change in brake pads in the middle of an event, from a street/track pad to a true race pad, and had the same reaction. There I learned the importance of finding a great pad for the track. It instills confidence in the whole car, throughout the whole track. You go faster on the straights for a longer period of time knowing that when you do brake later it will work the same way every time. Then you find that not only are you braking later, you find that you are naturally trailbraking into the turn and gaining even more speed and shortening your times. It is easier to hit your marks and constancy is a key to quickness.

It is great when those more formidable cars succumb to the prowess of the MINI. Go You!

On a side note, I have been looking for race pads for the JCW. You would think this wouldn’t be too hard to do being Brembos and they might take the same pad as other Brembos, but no. Given your test, I will look into the Raybestos. Thanks for the info.

 

Here is one short session from the past weekend. Most of the videos later that day suffered from audio malfunction of the external mic. I used left foot braking consistently in the same turns where trail braking and minimizing the time coasting helps.

 

This one is from early in the day and I think my time was slower. This one has sound.

 

Keeping the flying hog is getting to be very expensive. I compiled a long list of parts that are needed before the next track event. I inspected the brakes and the rotors are on the way out already. These are $130 directional tiny teeny weeny 11.75" dia toy rotors! and Desire has been eating them like potato chips. She likes them crunchy. And for the tires, she says she like them marshmallow soft and sticky .

fat **** Mini Hog the trailer queen is getting very expensive to keep



I pulled the ST-41 pads to inspect. These had circa 280 track miles on them from this weekend. They wear much better than the BP-30 and relatively even. I did flip them upside down after 110 miles of driving the first day. I was expecting the outside pad to wear out more but there is no evidence of that. May be the cooling is better with these Konig Dial-In wheels with their outboard spokes. They appear to have one long track day of life left so another set is on the way. With these Wilwood 4-pot calipers flipping the pads at the end of each days is a ritual now.

 

The marshmallows show up already from Tire Rack. It would be so nice if other parts arrive as fast. These are a set of Toyo R888R. It was my first choice for the 8" rims over the Nitto NT01. The problem with the Nitto is the 6.3/32" thread depth. The Toyo is 8.1/32" so hopefully would last a bit longer.



so happy to see the deeper thread



Additionally the Toyo is easier on the pocket book for the hog farmer.

 

I love it...
The fatter the better. Those R888Rs look really nice. I would do a moderate first session with them to put a “gentle” heat cycle into them. Let them cool and then let them rip. That will also get the release agent off of them without you sliding off the track.

As for the pads - That is what I have seen. Usually one or two stay thicker than the others. I collect up all of the thicker ones and make a set that will last a day or 2. Looks like you have a winner with those pads.

 

Wow. I edited this post to upload the missing photo and I lost a bunch of text due to fat fingers. Hard to remember what I wrote before.

The NT01 and R888R are very similar tires. The former has only 6.1/32" thread depth so is like a pre-shaved race tire. The R888R has 8.1/32" thread depth which would last longer. Both are 100 wear. The R888R has wider drainage channels and very pronounce and a very wide longitudinal channel. It explains why it performed so well in the wet when I rode with my Miniac track junky. I measured the tire wides and they are too nearly identical.

here are the two tires side by side



this is the NT01 240 miles ago



I learnt about mold release agent once with a set of new tires that I installed. I took a fast corner at the first opportunity and nearly crap in my pants. New tires will even feel squirrelly cruising on a straight highway for a few hundred miles.

With the NT01 I eased them in the first few laps as the ambient was very low in the high country. I need to read up more about heat cycling.

 

Desire lives by next track events. I have learnt not to be overzealous signing up too many in close succession. There is always parts that need to be procured and time to service them. Here in the left coast most parts takes a week to arrive from the right coast. When installing the new axles I took time to inspect the suspension, steering, and brakes carefully. Among them is the cracked rubber boot on the left front outer balljoint. It has all the sign of aging crack rather than from mechanical damage. Strangely the same balljoint on the right side is fine. With just a couple of days before the track event I reasoned the balljoint is fine as there is no sign of leaking grease, so I chose to drive with it as is.

Mini ran really smoothly during the two day track day with the DSS bargain basement axles. No more vibration or post braking tremors. It was a huge relief to not worry an axle might just break at 100 mph. Even with luck no crash and burn the damages a broken axle can do is substantial with that kinetic energy.

the cracked dust boot on the outer balljoint


I planned on taking care of it before the next track event. I have been busy procuring parts to get Desire ready before the next event. Here is a punch list of things to replace or have on hand.

• additional set of Konig Dial In 8x15 wheels with new tires (Toyo R888R)
• a spare set of Wilwood 11.75" rotors with hats ready to be swapped at trackside
• a new set of Raybestos front pads ready to be swapped at trackside
• a new set of R53 OE equivalent rear rotors to be swapped at trackside
• a new set of semi track rear pads to be swapped at trackside
• replace piston dust boots for the rear calipers
• consider increasing the negative camber on the rear wheels for more even tire wear
• read spark plug colour as a routine check
• check air filter

 

Good to hear the axles worked well.

Smart to bring spare brake stuff to the track.

 

It is amazing how all these extra stuffs creep up on you. I started going to track days thinking that I would just go for a day and if I always keep the car maintained I don't need to bring anything except a tire pressure gauge and a torque wrench. That was OK for a while as I wasn't taxing the brakes or tires. Soon that changed and slid into the slippery slope of life on tracks Desire and I we did.

I now realize the only way to get the most out of the tires and brakes is to have a set of backup ready to swap in when the current one reaches its end of life. Good to the last drop!




I was forced to threw away some tires that still have a bit of life left but not comfortable would last the whole track event. Now I would carry one spare set of wheels and brakes at the ready. Who knows, the rack has space for 2 full sets. I am extremely pleased with the trailer. At full capacity as I planned, it stays within the specified towing capacity of the 2500 T1N Sprinter camper.



Speaking of fun wheel drive axles. I saw this guy with a well used Acura swap a set of axles at the track in frigid weather in under 2 hours with minimum tools.

 

Maybe hire that guy the next time...

It is amazing what I have seen people fixing at the track. Probably the best I saw was a radiator change. An Instructor I know of brings a small shop, including a set of those lifts you have. He does have several clients for whom he maintains their cars. So, I guess that makes sense. I have done several rotor changes.

Hey, your MINI looks like it is sliding off the back....

Yes, I know... But you could back it in...

 

Full disclosure: I know very little about towing things but.... backing the car on the trailer, I would guess, would put too much weight too far back; away from the tongue; which would cause the trailer to be way too out of balance and sway around like a cracked out drift king.

 

I was just thinking that if you backed it in, you would put the car’s cg at the same point it is right now, so it wouldn’t change the handling. It would just look like it wasn’t falling off... But it may just look like it is going to be driven off to traffic coming up behind it...

 

Desire sits so far back on the trailer may look strange but it is the optimal spot for the trailer setup. When a car trailer first came into mind to be towed by my 2500 Sprinter based motorhome I nearly dismiss the idea being too far fetch. You see the T1N 316 Sprinter has a mere 154 HP and 243 lb-ft 5-cylinder engine. It has a GVWR 8,550 lb and the motorhome configuration has a nominal weight of circa just slightly over 8,000 lbs. Per the very optimistic spec the towing capacity is 5,000 lb and 500 lb max tongue weight.

T1N Sprinter base specs


Westfalia James Cook motorhome spec


A quick math check of the total maxed out road train weight = 8,550 lb + 5,000 lb = 13,550 lb; to be handled by a 154 HP / 243 lb-ft engine/drivetrain!

So the 5,000 lb trailer budget is the best case max limit. For most car trailers the trailer weights around 1,200 lb and up. This Tralex 8045 has the most useable deck length for the total trailer length, and yet weight only 910 lb. Most modern performance car weights around 2,800 lb to 3,200 lb. This does not leave much for the ancillary equipment like spare tire for the trailer, tools, fuel containers, and extra sets of tires. Beside the shorter Trailex this is the lightest trailer that will carry the Mini or the Porsche without getting too close to the towing limits.

The Mini has to sit this far back as it is front heavy (Desire has a big head) being fun wheel drive to maintain a nominal tongue weight of about 250 lb. The Porsche weight distribution is nearly 46/54 being mid engine so it sits much more forward. I set up the ancillary equipment of the tailer to accommodate both and not have to move them. The balance of the trailer is simply achieve by the placement of the respective cars. There is only one thing that need to be changed when I switch cars. It is the front wheel chocks of the tailer which takes 2 minutes to move.

here is with the Mini



here is with the Porsche without the need to relocate any of the ancillaries



The actual weight of the road train with the Mini, a set of 15" wheels and empty fuel jugs are:
Motorhome = 8,250 lb
Trailer = 3,900 lb
Total road train = 12,150 lb

The Porsche and the Mini are nearly identical in weight (within a couple hundred pounds) so on paper it would seems that I have 1,000 lb of towing capacity left. It is best not to get too close to the absolute maximum especially for such an underpowered engine.

Loading the Mini **** forward would move it forward WRT the trailer deck to achieve ~ 250 lb tongue weight, but the big **** rear hatch will interfere with the tire rack.

This trailer tows so well that the time that you really notice is pulling hills because of the extra 4000 lb you are winching against the gravity.

 

Ya know, it is just that the MINI looks lost on that “big, huge” trailer. It seems that even being towed on a trailer, MINIs can bring a smile to one’s face... So cute on there... Motor on.

 

A bit of self-assessment for myself and Desire. It was only about 6,000 miles ago that we begun our exploration of track driving. We started off as why not put in a couple of thousands of dollars to make the city runabout a bit more fun since I acquired the GT4. I was going to give Desire to one of my family members but none wanted it due to the manual gearbox. I have such strong emotional attachment to the Mini so I put in a couple of thousands of dollars - actually $1,700 and I was so surprised the transformation with just the suspension alone.

speedometer reading in September of 2017


speedometer reading this weekend at ORP


Desire today still has the same very limited performance modifications, with the exception of the Wilwood 11.75" front brake kit and wider set of wheels and tires. As Desire is the main city runabout I reckon we put in may be 2,000 track miles in our co-journey. We've both grown and now more mature. We are more composed and faster but know only two tracks - PIR and ORP. There are still so much to be learnt and explore before I would think that I outgrowth this little fun wheel drive car.

Just in this past weekend the lap time difference between earlier of the day and later of the day was close to 10 seconds of a nominal 2-minute track.

this is a video from September 2018 at PIR

this is a video from this past weekend at ORP which is a much more challenging track

I am a bit bummed that I would be driving mostly at ORP this season and most of my local R5x track buddies would likely not. It is like a lone dolphin leaving the pack to explore the world and try to bound with strangers of the dolphin and orca families. Be still, the beating heart of the little street car named Desire that yearning to grow. Something we both learnt is not to overdrive. overdriving can be very expensive and can ruin an otherwise great days of fun.

 

Like all concerning parent you never what your baby to suffer from high fever. An accurate thermometer is a must have equipment. I parted with my hard-earned money and bought a tire thermometer. More specifically a pyrometer that is thermocouple based. My main concern of shopping for one is finding one that has very low thermal mass probe tip. Eventually I would think that I found one with a well designed probe. But like most things you cannot be sure until you test it out yourself.

I have been eyeing this one from Joes Racing Products that is very reasonably priced, and has a well designed probe. By this I mean the probe that you can reach in the wheel wells and probe a few spots of the tire with relative ease. I like this one as it has a 90-degree probe handle.

All the vendors on Amazon has jacked up the prices by $30 since early March. I found Summit that has not jacked up the price and I always like the company so ordered I did.

I put a HF DMM next to it as a size reference - everyone has a HF DMM right?


The quality of this pyrometer exceeds my expectation given the price point. The thermocouple probe lead is nicely jacketed. The probe is smaller than I expected which is a bonus. As delivered the probe tip is about 1/8" long which I think is just about right. It came with a 9V battery installed which surprised me. It suggest the off quiescent current must be very low - which is good.

The first thing that I checked is how responsive is the probe to slight change of air current. It responses very fast even if I just walk around. Blowing at the probe the temperature immediately changes. All looks good! Actually I didn't expect it being so responsive.




Next I go and test it on Desire's rear tire. The rear tire is partly exposed to the gentle sun today, so I should measure slightly higher temperature in the sun than the part that in the shade. So was my idea for a quick test.

As soon as I piece the thread with the probe the reading stabilized immediately. It reads 83F in the shade.


The portion that exposed to the sun reads 89F and also stabilized immediately.


A delta of 6 degree F seems reasonable given it is an afternoon sun in the spring. It includes a storage bag. Additionally the meter is in a 5-sided protective shoe. At this price point this pyrometer is a winner. BTW, you can set it to read C, F, or K. The model is 54005 if you are interested.

Here is the one page owner's manual.

 

Nice!
Not quite your average meat thermometer.

 

I made a point of bringing the Thermapen to the track for used as pyrometer, but I ended up only monitored and adjusted the pressures through out the days. To my surprised the tires worn much better than all my previous experiences.

Before the track days this season reflecting on the rapid tire wear, I was a bit depressed that we have outgrown the Koni Yellow and Swift springs combination and will have to move to coilovers. The wider new wheels and tires have made big differences. I also driving better lines and more aware of not to needless scrub the tires from induced understeer.

 

Sometimes small things bring delight. The spare parts begin to trickle in. Our track team manager is a cheapskate and he shopped for bargain basement parts like the axles. And he found these cheap rear rotors but at least they are Raybestos. We were going to go with Zimmermann but these days the German brand can too made in China.




at this rate soon Desire would soon have majority of communist China contents


there are just no slots, no drilled, no coating, no vanes, no thrills utility grade rotors


So with extra brake rotors and pads we plan to bring to the track we looked for a secure place in the motorhome which every cubic inch of storage has to be fought for. We discover these cleats I fashioned to secure the spare water tanks can serve dual purpose. This black tote box fits perfectly in them to restrain it from moving about. It is also bias to the passenger side which is in need of more weight. This will be a perfect place to carry the spare rotors, pads, and may be ever a few power tools. I had made a rule of no power tools to the track and seems that slippery slope is winning again.




With towing Desire so far I could only bring 4 fuel jugs. For the Porsche I can bring 2 more in the front boot because we always bring the Costco tote box in Desire's boot. By making some rearrangement I thought I could fit a couple of jugs in Desire and have them secured. Well, it turns out we can carry three!




I also added a new feature to the motorhome. I made a switch such that the rearview cameras may be switched on without ignition on nor the need to insert the key. This allows the monitoring the precious cargo on the trailer while parked and dried camp in unsavory neighborhoods.

 

Glad Desire and his new shoes are working out for you and that is great that you are finding the sweet spot in you line and driving. In gaining my skills I realized that the “slower” I go the faster I am. My fastest lap at LRP was during an early day session with DTC full on. I thought I was driving “slowly” and just getting myself warmed up. I have heard Pro race car drivers say a similar thing. Nicely done.

 

Desire drove with gusto this past weekend and received a lot of praised from the turn workers. They were entertained by the little car that could and so willing. Too bad my other R53 track buddy was a no show and Desire was left to play with bigger boys.

You know I have meant to comment on these wheels potential fitment on the R56. I see no reason why they would not. These wheels being 8" wide with 225 tires they protrude outside the fender lips but no rubbing as long as you don't slam the suspension. I reckon they should clear the slightly tighter R56 rear trailing arms as I have a set that I haven't install.

I have a thought on left foot braking with R56. Did you tried it with traction control turned off? I have a habit of always turn off the ASC on road or on track so I don't know what the ECU/vehicle handling control may do with ASC on. It did do stupid when I spun the front wheel on Quickjack trying to diagnose the drive axle, but I immediately recognized the overbearing nanny and told her to go home and mind her own business. It is hard to imagine BMW that pride itself of manufacturer of "driver's cars" would crippled one's ability to do left foot braking.

today's homework assignment is to work on the bad *** Porsche

 

Desire is obese!

Desire sat on her *** all winter and gained weight or just gotten wider in the butt. It is something that I didn't notice until today. I tried to dress her to protect from the harmful UV rays but I couldn't figure out why I couldn't pull the dress down as in the past. You see, this is a tailor made dress that used to fit perfectly without any slack. At first I thought it was just that my technique has gotten rusty. Then I thought the tow hooks at both front and back are taking extra space. Examined closer I realized the problem is due to the 8" wide wheels and 225 series tires. They hang out between 0.5" to 0.75" off the fenders and that is enough for the OE outdoors cover not to fit. I supposed I can pull harder and force it to fit.

 

Your cover fit is a bit on the tight side. Maybe, like the way they are make some pants these days, your cover needs an elastic waist band...

As for the left foot braking, I don’t recall trying it with the DTC turned all the way off. I’ll have to try it. I’ll let you know what I find.

I have tried to fit a set of wheels like yours; same size wheels and tires. They were a friend’s and even he didn’t think they would work as they seemed to hang out further on my R56 than they did on his R53. I have rubbing well into the wheel wells with my 225/45-17 on 7” wide wheels with a 45mm ET.. I know the 225/45-15s are an inch smaller in radius, but my suspension movement is more than that. I haven’t tried them for fear of them hitting the edge of the wheel well arch and damaging the tire.