Driveway Austin

 

Had some nice weather to get the toys out of the garage yesterday. We attended the MFEST Meet N Greet in Austin TX. It was a HUGE turnout. Easily over 1k cars there.

 

Here's another shot from the front 3/4 angle. The fitment looks super aggressive from behind the car but it looks just right from this angle IMO

 

because blue bonnets

 

I also competed in a local autox this last Saturday. My only goal was to not come in dead last as I had NEVER autox'ed before. I wound up placing 11th overall out of 44 drivers. Not too shabby! Pretty sure I can do better now that I sorta understand how to read the cones.

 

Did my 2nd autox ever today. Had fun even though we only got 4 runs. Sitting here awaiting the results to be published!

Edit: 1st in my run group (NDS) and 2nd out of 43 novice entries.

 

some pics from my fun on Sunday:

 

Nice stuff going on over here!

Coilovers are a must. They will definitely help make the wheels and tires look even better. It's a bit too aggressive for me, but with a slight drop, they will look just right! What other plans do you have for the MCS?

Not sure if it was posted, but did you get the BMS tune? If so, how'd you like it? Waiting for mine to get here!

 

I will eventually drop the car but right now I'm devoting more effort to my car projects. My e30 is still getting too hot, I haven't even diagnosed the blown motor on my e34, and I have a newborn baby on the way within the next week. I have not tuned it yet but that will happen eventually as well. I'm kind of hoping that if I delay it a while longer the JB4 will be available and I'll just skip the stage 1 tune all together. This car was never supposed to be more than a fun daily but I can't ever leave cars alone. I have clocked over 15k miles on it already.

 

How did you end up with the JCW front but not the sides? Or am I not seeing that correctly?

 

^because deer

 

Oh, bummer but looks good.
Did you have to buy it from the dealer and was it painted?

Annette

 

I took it to a high end body shop and they worked with MINI directly to get all the parts but this was before the JCW body kit was on the market. It took a long time as I was the first person to do this and it took a lot of going back and forth from the shop and MINI to get all the required parts. I'm sure now it would be easier.

 

Random, how much body roll on the F56, more or less then the R56, I know the R53 is very flat stock on auto X.

 

So when i test drove an f56s with the standard suspension it had more body roll than my wife's r56 justa with standard suspension. I ordered mine with the sport suspension and it rolls slightly less than my wife's did and significantly less than the f56s standard suspension. I'm quite happy with mine and if it weren't for the unsightly fender gap i would just upgrade the rear sway and call it a day.

 

Thanks for the info, I felt the R56 without sport rolled more then the F56 without sport. Looking forward to driving F56 with active suspension. Looks like fun on the auto X.

Here you go:

http://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2014-Cooper-F56-S-3_Door-B48A20A/Suspension/Sway_Bar/

 

^lol thanks. It's on my to do list but my e30 and e34 need a LOT more love right now than my MINI.

 

Also, if anyone was curious I weighed my car with a full tank of gas in it.

 

AThat's not the JCW body kit, that's the regular car. The JCW front has no fog lights, just cooling ducts. It's way different.

 

That is the JCW front. Its a bumper cover. You can install the foglights with an "S" model like the OP did here.

 

^correct. You can chose between vents and fogs. I quite liked my LED fogs so I wanted to keep them.

 

I stand corrected. How come no painted side skirts? Did you just not buy/install those pieces? I assume the JCW body parts were after you bought the car.

 

From what I read in a prvious post in this thread, the OP hit a dear and had to replace the front bumper. And in doing so the OP was quite possibly the first MINI owner with the new JCW front bumper.

And since it was just front end damage I am assuming the OP did not feel the need to replace the side skirts at that time.

 

As mentioned above, I hit a deer and damaged the "S" bumper cover so I just went ahead and upgraded to the JCW bumper cover. I like the JCW side skirts and I may add them one day but I plan on leaving the rear bumper as is. I like the "S" rear better than the JCW rear.

 

sorry i've been MIA for a while. My wife had our Baby girl on 17MAY and on top of that I brought my e34 project home.

anyway, if anyone was curious about tread life on the RS-3s I am ready to replace my fronts at 8k miles. Not too bad considering there is a 30 min track session and 2 autox's included in that 8k miles. I'm willing to bet under normal driving only you could get 10k out of them. The rears are still fine. I'm going to replace the fronts with RS-3s and then when all 4 are ready to be replaced I may try out a set of the new Kumho ECSTA V720s.