Let me note that I'm the original owner of a 2006 JCW (R53). My car threw a check engine light a few days before my trip to Streets of Willow Springs, however, so I decided that the F56 loaner I received would work for my track day...

The loaner was a 2014 MCS automatic. Looks like it had the stock 16" wheels with some Hankook grand-touring summer tires (195 width). So definitely not like my 06 JCW 6-speed (which has ST coilovers, front camber plates -1.9 deg, adj rear arms -1.3 camber rear, BFG Rival 215 width tires, etc.). But I figured it would be a good experience to try it out on the track, even knowing the stock suspension/tires were going to be limiting factors.

Anyway, I'll cut to the summary -- it was a lot of fun. I was able to get the car to rotate well with trail braking and/or throttle lift as appropriate. In fact, I was pretty much tire-squealing around the entire track, and sliding the rear end around most tight turns. The front end definitely pushed much more than I'd like (i.e. needs more neg camber and better/wider tires to start with), but it was very controllable and I surprised myself how well I was able to get it to rotate consistently around turns and follow the race line well.

The engine was also a nice surprise. The low-end torque definitely helps on corner exits, especially considering I was fighting the automatic on the correct gear sometimes, and I don't know the right shift points that well as I'd only driven the car for about 1 day before the event and it was my first time on this track. (Of course I had it in manual shift mode, but with DSC off and DTC enabled it still will upshift sometimes right before I hit the lever to shift up...) Apparently holding the DSC button down for >10 sec will completely disable DTC and stop the auto upshift at redline, but I didn't discover that until my third session and decided not to mess with it at that point.

Overall result was that I never had anyone come up behind me unless I was stuck behind someone not giving point-bys. I also had no issues passing a Honda CR-Z, Audi A6, BMW M3, and a few others. I'll be honest, though, and admit this probably had more to do with it being my second time on a track relative to many folks in my (beginner/novice) group being on for their first time. I never ended up going off track or spinning out, but was definitely pushing it to the point where I almost lost it once or twice (i.e. just about right ).

So how do I like it compared to my 2006 JCW? To me personally, I'd say there's no way I'd ever trade in my R53 for an F56. While I like the power in the turbo 2.0L in the F56, I don't really like all the electronic "helpers," sport modes, etc. in the newer MINIs. My R53 seems more "pure" and simple, and has more road feel IMHO (I realize it's apples and oranges when you compare a stock 2014 to a 2006 with extensive suspension mods, though). Finally, while I don't mind the back of the new F56, I still can't get over the front end. For some reason it looks like a surprised fish that swallowed it's bumper... (Please don't flame -- just my personal opinion here.) I think a full blackout on the grill and grill surround might help, maybe.

My two cents anyway. I figure folks in this forum may feel differently on some of my opinions (as this is a 3rd gen forum), but hopefully you'll find the observations interesting... I definitely feel the urge now to save to get some engine mods for my JCW (camshaft, tune, header)... need more low-end torque...

 

Wow... they let you do that with a loaner car? When the dealer receives the car back, it's going to feel different, right? lol. Thanks for the insight though.

 

Great write up. I would have to agree with you after doing a day at the IMS with the Miles Ahead program. The 1st gen certainly provides more feedback then the 3rd gen, but it is still an emmensely fun experience to drive the F56 on a track. Hoping for some modification/handling updates to arrive for our new F56 before next summer.

 

As an owner of a modded R53 GP and an F56 Cooper I completely agree with you!

From the first time I drove an F56 I've always felt they are by far the easiest of any of the MINI's to rotate...its great. The chassis doesn't communicate as much as the prior gen's but its nice being able to get the rear to come around with simple throttle lifting in stock form.

 

thanks for sharing! just curious, did your loaner have the sport suspension? It is significantly better than the standard or DDC option. Also, all I heard out of that whole story is "with better suspension and tires the F56 will be awesome"

 

I checked the fine print in the loaner agreement form, and it didn't say anything that might prohibit taking it to the track.

Also, it was only my second track day and I was in a beginner group (with no passing for the first two sessions), so I'm sure I didn't beat on it as hard as more experienced drivers might. If you look really closely, you can see the tires took a little punishment, but otherwise it looks and feels just like it did before.

 

I don't know if the car had the sport suspension, but I suspect not. It definitely needed a stiffer setup -- I was getting some pretty significant rear end squirming under heavy braking (i.e. after the straight).

ThumperMCS -- what do you think of the engine mods on the R53? Does that help a lot in making the engine feel closer to something like an R56 or F56 with more low-end grunt? That's probably my one main complaint on the R53 is the lack of power at low revs...

 

Nice review, as an R53 owner whose MINI has a few mods I found it most interesting reading about your F56 track experience.

Thanks

 

Do they make one of those clip on things by Berger(Burger?) Tune like they do for the R56 and F56 engine models? I forget who makes it but they are cheap, install in 3 minutes and work pretty good they say. Now we know why one is adverse to purchasing a Mini loaner. I made sure my JCW was not used as a loaner before I bought it. It was 9 months old with 90 miles on it!

 

"Apparently holding the DSC button down for >10 sec will completely disable DTC"

That could go into tips.

 

So, for someone who never took my R56 to the track, but definitely plans on autocrossing my new F56 (for fun only, not looking to turn it into a dedicated track car, but definitely going DP-back exhaust, BMS plug-n-play tuner, maybe some other stuff) It sounds like a few items would be needed to turn this car into a real track monster:

sport suspension
some good sport tires (i got the 17' wheels which from research seem like the best balance between quickness/weight compromises and skid-pad performance)
maybe a rear swaybar to help with your body-roll and tail wiggle you mentioned?

Other than that, I was thinking maybe 5-10mm spacers all around and maybe a 1" lowering kit?

 

If it was me, I'd suggest going with coilovers as you can adjust and readjust the height on each corner to what you want/need. On my R53, I originally went with JCW springs and Koni FSDs... it rode nice, but in the end I realized I wanted to get rid of more of the wheel gap. I ended up putting on ST coilovers (along with camber plates and adj rear arms). If I'd done something like this the first time, I would have saved some money for other things. (Only tradeoff is that coilovers and adj camber plates may ride a bit stiffer than stock -- up to you whether that's OK)

A bigger rear sway bar will help the car rotate more. I'm not sure whether that's as "no-brainer" an upgrade on the F56 as it is on the R53 (as the F56 already rotates pretty well in my limited experience), but it might help. I think in general lowering the car and stiffening up things will help a lot. And don't forget the front camber plates -- that's a key upgrade needed (IMHO) to try and reduce front end push at the limit and help save the outer edge of your tires during aggressive driving.

Finally I'd go for wider wheels and/or a different offset rather than spacers. Some folks I talk to don't mind them, but others swear they're dangerous. I personally run 5 mm spacers on the front for my R53, but that's only because I need it to clear rubbing on the strut. I wouldn't run >5 mm spacers based on talking with others on this.

I'm sure others with F56s can provide more/better comments...

 

^hit the nail on the head with the suspension. Most going to the track will really want adjustability of their damping, ride height, and camber. Also, spacers are perfectly safe if they're hubcentric when neccessary. That said, I'm still planning to run wider wheels/tires with a more aggressive offset as opposed to spacers.

 

I absolutely get your meaning on the offset vs spacers... I really wish that MINI gave that kind of data about their wheels when ordering (or at least that I had known where to find that info if they do give it).

As for wider wheels, I saw a consumer reports test that showed identical skid-pad performance between 17 and 18 inch wheels despite the 18 inch wheels being wider, even with the same exact tires (manufacturer /model). Something to do with the better skid performance on the outer wheels on 18" meant a slight amount of extra weight being taken off the inner wheels, meaning less effective contact there... I don't know, science. But they tested this on a Golf TDI I believe and determined that for that size vehicle, the extra bit of wheel width was not helpful and just added weight.

Anyone totally disagree? I mean there does have to be a point of diminishing returns, and one of actual negative returns for that matter... just curious if people sitll like 18 and 19 inch wheels on MINI's or not.

 

No it will never feel like an R56 or F56...and that's why its so great

But yes its a completely different car with the cam/header/injectors/tune. 231whp and 195wtrq...nearly flat torque curve and pulls strong all the way to 7250rpm, its fun . It's funny, my 3 cylinder F56 probably puts down more peak torque, but for a very short time down low. Having 195 spread out throughout the rev range, makes for one fun and quick car.

 

Funny, my wife is from Madison (Go Badgers!) and we also are corgi owners.

I can't wait to take our base model F56 to the track. I have a stupid amount of fun with it on the street. I'm also a former R53 owner and have a dedicated track car.

 

There's really just something special about the R53 handling wise. It just feels better. They lost it in the R56 and the F56 has gotten worse in that regard. Luckily virtually everything else has improved (aesthetics not withstanding).