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You could also set the rear camber to about 0.5 deg less than where it currently is at. This would help to loosen the rear a bit and help it to rotate. My caution, as you know, is if you loosen the rear too much, it will want to cause the car to swap ends at the wrong time...
So Gollum will be back tomorrow, with the tweaked alignment, fresh rubber, and shining - I cannot wait.
However Jeremy, a member of the unofficial pit crew for Gollum at Mini of Peabody has sharp eyes - for which I am grateful.
He spotted two issues that I am now having to seriously contemplate.
The first is that the RF axle inner CV joint boot appears slightly abraded and is weeping a bit.
The second is that the fancy motor mount at top right is also weeping, and may have cracked.
So we'll have to sort that out.
BMW does not sell any component parts for the RF axle on the F56, unlike earlier models where the rubber gaiters and seals were available. To repair that abraded rubber part costs approximately $1,000.
The motor mount may also be expensive - I am unsure of the guesstimate I received and will not repeat it until I am certain.
Suffice to say the combined effect felt a bit like a hole in the boat, to quote Sinatra.
But my compadres at MoP will take this matter up with Mini and perhaps I may be spared the full damages, we shall see.
In any event, take note that even a loved JCW F56 at 71k miles may have some surprising weaknesses. Time will give us all a better picture.
Cheers,
Charlie
Last edited by cmt52663; Aug 20, 2020 at 04:27 PM.
I am doing minor adjustments to my JCW and tweeking my driving a bit at a time. I decided to remove the 5mm wheel spacers in the rear and go from a 5mm up front to a 7.5mm... am keeping the 225/45/17 YOKO A052s in the rear and have gone to 235/45/17 YOKO A052's in the front. I am AUTOXing this SUNDAY at COTA in Austin and will see how it feels. Wider front track and more rubber up front...the added .4 Overall Diameter shouldn't be a problem and in fact might make 2nd gear a bit higher speed ... I tend to hit the Rev Limiter and going to 3rd is not always good timing...
Darby, I'll post the alignment sheet later today. I am most curious to compare our two setups.
And yes I am jealous of the 235mm tires. ;-)
Cheers,
Charlie
Height Fr 565mm 565mm
Height Rr 570mm 570mm
Measurement from Fr Tire (outside) to the Fr Tire (outside) is 68.25" ... 7.5mm spacer and 235/45/17s
Measurement from Rr Tire (outside) to the Rr Tire (outside) is 66" ... No Spacer and 225/45/17s
Last Alignment was Front Camber -1.6 vs -1,9
Front Toe Out was -0,05 vs -0,05
Front Caster was 3.6 vs 3.6
Rear Camber was -1.8 vs -1.7
Rear Toe out was -0,01 vs -0.02
Front Struts set at "7" and Rear Shocks at "9"
Running this weekend and upping tire psi to 37 front and rear to start (Yoko A052s) ... still working on psi and minor alignment and Strut/Shock adjustments
Gollum handles even better, if that's possible. New front A052 and a slightly more aggressive alignment did the trick. Thanks Eddie for the tip on caster.
I however had a mediocre day.
1T stu 13 Charlie Thompson 2018 Mini Works Hardtop Green 56.694 56.056+2 56.710+1 56.373 56.483
Five runs. No improvement! I swear I tried differing approaches to an unusually fast course, but no matter what - a 56! On another day I had a 55 in me, easily, and I bet Brian could have had a 53 out of Gollum on this course.
It was the first course in more than a half decade that I knew would require 3rd gear - before I took the first run.
Gollum was into 3rd in each of the three legs of the course, and it was an easy choice - we'd have been on the limiter for over a second otherwise, in each section.
Downshifting into low speed elements isn't something I've practiced, and I found the distraction made choosing my braking points difficult.
Overall, the car was great - the driver, not so much.
But a good day, nonetheless.
Cheers,
Charlie
Ready to run.
Gate duty! lazy man's job...
Last edited by cmt52663; Aug 24, 2020 at 03:51 AM.
I made some changes to my setup and driving and it paid off big time. As for driving I concentrated on exact line and not overpowering thru the course and wasting time understeering ,,, the setup also did the same for me.
The biggest change after adjusting the suspension setup and alignment was this: I removed both 5mm spacers front and rear and only added a 7.5mm spacer up front (making the front track wider) and then ran 235/45/17 Yoko A052s up front and kept 225/45/17 Yoko A052s in the rear to widen the front track even more!!! Front is ~ 68.25" and the Rear is ~ 66.0" in the rear. This really reduced understeer and helped the rear end rotate a bit more to also reduce understeer. This was a short course...fast and precise. I also settled on tire pressures of basically 37psi front and rear which the A052 seemed to enjoy.
My Times: 33.208 / 32.788 / 32.688 then adjusted my throttle response and tightened up my lines 32.440 / 32.267 with a couple more runs the 31' would have been expected
An example of improvement was a comparison of times with a National Champion times in his Honda Type R is DS. I have been crawling a bit closer every AutoX with earlier improvements and time behind the wheel but have remained at least 1.4 or more seconds behind the Type Rs at our events...
Fastest Type R Times: 32.894 / 32.257 / 32.097 / 32.013 / 32.193
I do have to say that the Staggered Tire Size made a big difference IMO
Charlie
Glad the caster worked for you.
And thanks for posting your alignment.
Darby...
Where did you measure your height from?
Height Fr 565mm 565mm
Height Rr 570mm 570mm
Sad to say, but for a track setup, I was unsuccessful with the fitment of the NM wheels, even with 215-45x17 tires. I shredded the left side rear wheel well liner and was rubbing on the wheel well arch in the front left.
That said, the Falken 660 TW 200 tires punch way above their weight class. At about $139 a tire for my 215-45x17. Very sticky. I am happy with them for a track tire. Although I understand from an endurance racer the Yoko A052s are the faster tire.
Last edited by Eddie07S; Aug 24, 2020 at 06:28 AM.
Reason: Missed word
Darby...
Where did you measure your height from?
.
Measure from the bottom lip of your rim to the bottom edge of your plastic fender flair. On a 17" rim these numbers are pretty ideal...on an 18" wheel you would add 1/2" or 13mm to the numbers.
I find it a bit puzzling you are haveing such fitment issues with your tires???
To make it even more strange, it is only on the left side.
However, I have a theory about that. I will start with, I had a similar issue on my R56 with 225-45x17 tires; same wear area. It occurred on the same track; Watkins Glen. There is a turn there called the Outer Loop (T5); a carousel. It is a pretty high speed turn with 10 deg of banking and it spirals downward. I believe the compression on the left side of the car is huge at greater than 1g (which the data says I am at), and the compression is worse in the back than the front. Whatever there is for bumperstops in those rear shocks (JCW Pro) is compressed beyond expectations. I will post pictures of the wear on my Albert thread when I get a chance. The tire is way up inside the wheel wells when this happens. Fortunately there is no contact with metal. I also know that the the JCW MINIs that ran in the IMSA ST class ran 225-45x17 Continental race tires, and they got them to fit. Not sure how... And they ran at Watkins Glen
My other theory is that WGI was designed to find every flaw in a car’s design and make the worst of it. I know of no other track that can do to a car what this track does. It found this one.
My ride height is 576mm. So I am a bit higher than you. Note, the outer diameter of these 17” NM wheels is larger than the stock JCW wheel. So care needs to be taken comparing ride height number to stock wheels.
However Jeremy, a member of the unofficial pit crew for Gollum at Mini of Peabody has sharp eyes - for which I am grateful.
He spotted two issues that I am now having to seriously contemplate.
The first is that the RF axle inner CV joint boot appears slightly abraded and is weeping a bit.
The second is that the fancy motor mount at top right is also weeping, and may have cracked.
So we'll have to sort that out.
BMW does not sell any component parts for the RF axle on the F56, unlike earlier models where the rubber gaiters and seals were available. To repair that abraded rubber part costs approximately $1,000.
The motor mount may also be expensive - I am unsure of the guesstimate I received and will not repeat it until I am certain.
Suffice to say the combined effect felt a bit like a hole in the boat, to quote Sinatra.
But my compadres at MoP will take this matter up with Mini and perhaps I may be spared the full damages, we shall see.
...
To my delight and amazement, Mini USA agreed to spare me the cost of these repairs entirely.
So the motor mount and axle are on order, and repairs will ensue forthwith.
I admit that over the last sixteen years I have done a considerable amount of business with Mini of Peabody, but I am still astounded that Lance made the case to Mini, and corporate agreed. I am very, very grateful.
If I grinned any wider I do believe the top of my head might fall off.
Cheers,
Charlie
PS: The right rear ate a sheet metal screw yesterday, and Jeremy plugged it today to spare me another pair of A052s. I seem to be springing leaks frequently in the last week or two - hopefully that does not continue.
Email sent to Mini of Peabody management. Earned!
------------------------------------
Dear John,
I wish to recognize the consistent excellence of the Service Team at Mini of Peabody, and express the appreciation I feel due to the long, delightful, and rather extraordinary relationship over the last seventeen years.
After four Minis, four tenths of a million miles, five regional NER SCCA Autocross championships in four different classes, over a dozen trips to the Tail of the Dragon, and over a quarter million dollars in business it’s tempting to take this relationship for granted, but that would I think be a grievous error.
Within the last year, I’ve challenged the team to do competition preparation on my 2018 JCW, and the result is the best autocross Mini in New England – sporting a Quaife LSD, JCW Pro coil-overs, custom camber plates, wide rims and tires, and extra horsepower from the Dinan Elite. All of this tuning has been flawless, and demonstrated the depth and dedication to quality that has characterized the team’s efforts from the outset.
The latest accomplishment is the replacement under warranty of the passenger side axle due to a leaking inner CV boot, and the replacement of the passenger side motor mount due to premature failure. Jeremy spotted these issues during routine maintenance, Lance made the case to Mini USA that these were warranty issues, and Mini USA agreed. I was thus spared over $2,600 in maintenance costs, and my JCW was restored to the perfection that has been our consistent goal.
I have trusted my life, and my competition success, to Joe, Joel, Jeremy and the team for many years, and look forward to many more. The Mini products have given me innumerable grins, and the partnership forged with Mini of Peabody has made that possible, and secured my loyalty and heartfelt gratitude.
So thank you!
Kind regards,
Charlie
------------------------------------
Gollum is perfect again, and the next race is August 20th...
You are so lucky to have them as a dealership. I hesitate to have anything done to my JCW as I know of no one I trust to do the work and my dealer won’t do it.
Wondering where your shift point is...even with the MarioKart RPM Tune the Mini dies off just before 6000 rpm...about 60-61 mph. Some courses that affects times. I am thinking of short shifting at 5700 rpm...gives me faster times at the drag strip when I short shift...
Wondering where your shift point is...even with the MarioKart RPM Tune the Mini dies off just before 6000 rpm...about 60-61 mph. Some courses that affects times. I am thinking of short shifting at 5700 rpm...gives me faster times at the drag strip when I short shift...
I have run up past 6000 in first and in second my JCW and have hit the rev limiter a number of tines when I first got the car. Each time I ran up that far it would start to loose power and then not go any faster. Hitting the rev limiter was so subtle that I didn’t even realize I was up that high in rpm. It just wouldn’t go any faster no matter how hard I pressed on the gas. And that useless tach we have didn’t help; if it is sunny out I cant see the top of it. After a few times of that happening, I paid closer attention to it and I realized that the power is being cut above 6000 rpm and it tapers off until it hits the redline at which point the limiter kicks in. I seriously think the ECU is kicking in and eliminating any usefulness of being above 6000 in the first 2 gears.
I'll short shift or not depending on the course - I don't worry about maximizing power because my car is traction limited in the bottom two gears.
So I just make sure I do not rush the shift, and do not spin the tires.
Cheers,
Charlie
Yep 1st and 2nd gear with tunes power (Even with a WaceTrac LSD) cause pretty major wheelspin in 1st and 2nd, I actually tried the first level of traction control (instead of holding down the switch to deactivate BOTH). the run felt a bit easier and was within 1/10 of a second from some of my earlier runs. I just need to get better throttle control and keep the power available when I can use it to my advantage...
Yep 1st and 2nd gear with tunes power (Even with a WaceTrac LSD) cause pretty major wheelspin in 1st and 2nd, I actually tried the first level of traction control (instead of holding down the switch to deactivate BOTH). the run felt a bit easier and was within 1/10 of a second from some of my earlier runs. I just need to get better throttle control and keep the power available when I can use it to my advantage...
My car is pretty incapable as a drag vehicle, so I don't try. Between the fact that the revs fall very slowly, and the weight goes to the wrong end, it's a mess. I have to hurt it to get a decent 60' time, and I do not like to hurt it.
Damn things stops and turns like hell though, so whatever.... ;-) 3rd gear roll on ain't too shabby neither!
My car is pretty incapable as a drag vehicle, so I don't try. Between the fact that the revs fall very slowly, and the weight goes to the wrong end, it's a mess. I have to hurt it to get a decent 60' time, and I do not like to hurt it.
Damn things stops and turns like hell though, so whatever.... ;-) 3rd gear roll on ain't too shabby neither!
Cheers,
Charlie
All things being clear...Minis are much better Road Race Cars than AutoX IMO. First of all the Mini JCW is in DS instead of GS...and STU instead of STH. FWD vs AWD Ect... They should bring back the STF Front Wheel Drive Class but I will say the new Regional/Divisional XS-A amd XS-B Classes are more doable... XS-A Fwd cars get a 2500# weight setting
And that useless tach we have didn’t help; if it is sunny out I cant see the top of it. After a few times of that happening, I paid closer attention to it and I realized that the power is being cut above 6000 rpm and it tapers off until it hits the redline at which point the limiter kicks in. I seriously think the ECU is kicking in and eliminating any usefulness of being above 6000 in the first 2 gears.