So my wise friends at Mini of Peabody just gave Gollum a clean bill of health, and a check ride confirms that all is splendifourous. An interesting glitch that apparently can sometimes affect the B38 - addressed by numerous software improvements, but also by the following parts:

11-36-7-608-788 "Adjustment Unit, Inlet"
11-36-7-608-789 "Adjustment Unit - Outlet"

Numerous Gaskets, seals, and clamps, and also:
11-36-7-620-689 "VANOS Central Valve:111050"

Thus the occasional rattle on cold start is healed, and the variable exhaust camshaft timing mechanism is functioning as designed.

No charge, and performed by someone who has my complete confidence.

Now let's go racing, and no excuses!

Cheers,

Charlie

PS: I met a delightful gentleman while picking Gollum up from service, who had just returned from running his GP at Watkins Glen for a few days. I give him credit for cojones as that is a fearsome track, and I've also a fresh respect for the GP having had a tour of his (including a nice set of Proxes 888s).

 

The unofficial crew chief for Gollum - the honorable Joel - predicted that I would notice an improvement in driveability as one of the effects of the software upgrade done yesterday.

Yep.

The B38 has always wanted a patient upshift - as the ECM does not drop the revs quickly and the flywheel mass needed for the triple compounds this effect. The result has been that I've adapted my driving style on the street to accommodate a lazy up-shift under most circumstances. I normally allow the better part of a second to rev match to the next higher gear and get a butter smooth transition.

Even so, unless I'm smooth with the throttle application as I engage the next gear Gollum would offer a brief burp before resuming acceleration - and this has disappeared!

That means I can be slightly less attentive and still get the "limo driver" smoothness that I prefer when putting about and changing gears.

It's subtle, but much appreciated - and it has shortened the up-shift time by a few tenths, which is nice.

All improvements welcomed!

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Charlie,
In my '12S in sport mode , I had the same sensation, if I wound it up in a gear, the revs would drop very slowly( probably smog related). I just quit driving it in sport mode.
In my '15s, I gave in and bought the sport auto, and you know the "rest of the story".

 

Charlie,
I am probably aging myself, but I can think of a lot cars that have had this. I really think it's a smog related problem.
I had the wonderful experience of driving Formula Fords at the Bob Bondurant School at Sears Point in the eighties and the revs had to drop to shift the old Hewland gearboxes. And by the way, after takeoff, you never touched the clutch.
High first gear, and a close ratio 4sp. Shifting was heaven. I think that is one reasons I like the sport auto so much, it shifts as fast or faster than an old Hewland.
As always, just keep it coming. Your reports are really fun to read.
Sincerely. Don

 

Registered, tech'd, stickered, and three course walks...

Now to drive it in my head twenty times, and feel the rhythm of it.

And get a good night's sleep!

Running first heat tomorrow, so the course could well be wet as early showers are predicted.

I am glad the new tires are up front.

Cheers,

Me

 

Saturday dawned with the weather already cleared off to the East, so we'd a dry day to work with and not too much heat on the runways of Moore Airfield.

A great day's racing with many highlights - time prevents a proper account but here are a few...

My first run was a kaleidoscope of misadventures beginning with a spot of bother on the 1-2 shift. The course required a hard left off the line followed by a hard right immediately thereafter, and yours truly went for 2nd with quite a bit of right turn still happening - and curiously enough that caused me to want to shift into reverse rather than 2nd as a slightly lazy right hand was pushed laterally by the forces of the turn. No I did not engage reverse, but 2nd seemed to take an age to achieve.

I then left the first slalom in a massive tank slapper as the cold rear tires decided to chasten me for aggression too early in the run, which flustered me enough to miss my line entering the first big right-hand sweeper onto the main runway. When the pointer cone on the driver's side points AWAY from me I know I'm a dummy!

Aw shucks, but I stayed on it and had a good look at the course for the remainder of the run - scoring a DNF but at least knowing where my mistakes were.

No GoPro, no sololive peeks, and no conversation during my 1st heat runs so I could focus all my attention on replaying the course and improving my plan, and that seemed to help as my 2nd run was half decent, and the 3rd run (although rather sideways early on) a couple of tenths quicker still.

So the National Nerves - a plague that always affects me - seemed to quiesce a bit faster than usual and I came away from the day surprised and delighted to have withstood the onslaught of fast Focus ST drivers by a slim margin.

But now, going into Sunday morning, those same talented competitors are no doubt mightily displeased to be pipped on day one by an upstart underpowered Mini and will be loaded for bear.

So - today should be a real challenge...

Wish me luck!

Cheers,

Charlie

PS: Day 1 results are here for G Street.

PPS: Kimsoo raw timed me in her Formula Junior B kart - after spinning on her first two runs, but I am getting used to that!

 

It is apparently too late already to wish you well, but congratulations on second place.

 

Thanks very much - that's my best ever performance at that level in over ten years of autocrossing. I had Matt by two tenths after day one, but I strongly suspected I was poking the bear and that was so...

Note that his third run was 70.691 - but he nicked a cone in the last segment of the course. If that raw time had stood he'd have spanked me! That raw time is quicker than Danny Kao's D Street run on day two, quicker than anyone in C Street, and quicker than all but three of the best day two times in B Street. Matt can really drive that thing!

But Gollum served me well, and the mad experiment of running a 134 horsepower three cylinder Justa against the Ford Focus ST with its impressive 245 mm tires and 250 horsepower seems improbable, but no longer outright daft.

I wish Matt good luck out in Lincoln - he and Nick Babin, and Andy Woods (who brought his immaculate Celica to spice the mix), and without exception all the G Street competitors are great folks, and the mutual encouragement and sportsmanship in the class was heartwarming.

I'm proud that when the dust had settled my friend Barbara took 3rd - which underscores how quickly she in progressing going from her C4 Corvette to the Ford Focus ST, which is quite a change as you may imagine.

My bones are too sore at the moment to spin all the tales of the day, but I'll toss a few off the top of my head:
1. Yep Kimsoo raw-timed me again - and to do that she had that little cart up around 60 mph. Words fail.
2. Bill Goodale took yet another National top spot in his home-built A Modified car, with which he has taken a Nationals jacket or two I suspect. Bill is my hero because he's even older than I am, and a hell of a lot quicker. I want to be like him when I grow up.
3. Grant Reeve, the fastest Kiwi driver in the US that no-one knew until recently quietly beat Sam Strano - and Sam is NOT easy to beat...
4. Billy Davis, driving the lightning quick CSP Miata damned near overtook his Mum on course, as she was wheeling the less modified Miata of Rob MacAlpine - almost, but not quite thankfully.

The weather was flawless, and Gollum ran beautifully all day - what's not to like?

All the results from both days are here. The SoloMatters.com event write up is here.

Cheers,

Charlie

PS: The GoPro decided to get stuck in "updating" mode this morning, as I did indeed intend to use it - but nope.

Here however is a more exciting ride than I could have shown you - courtesy of the aforementioned Kiwi!

 

Lol, SoloMatters.com Saturday has me apparently driving a '99 Civic Si - is that because a three cylinder Mini could not possibly have kept up?

Too funny.

Charlie

 

Last Wednesday I got bored, having been on a sort of vacation for a few days which consisted mostly of trying to do things that I had yet to do, and which needed doing. In other words being somewhat dutiful.

I can only take so much of that, and the siren song of the F56 soaked into my brains and I found myself northbound towards Franklin in the White Mountains at the odd hour of 6:30 pm, just late enough to avoid the commuter crawl up 93 from Boston.

That put me at a nice pub just in time for a beer and a burger, and well positioned for a good night's sleep adjacent to a lively brook where my lodgings were simple but suitable.

And that in turn set me up for a memorable tour of the best roads New Hampshire has to offer, starting at 5:30 the next morning.

I just gave Gollum his head and let him go as he pleased, and by the time noon had arrived he'd taken me twice over Bear Notch, twice over the Kank, once to the top of Mount Washington, and once through the green and magic tunnel which is Route 113 ( a road closed during the winter, but not destroyed by the frost for some reason ).

In the valleys a cosy 75 degrees and sunny, and on the summit a howling 55 mph gale at 38 degrees. A startling contrast.

But the strongest impression of this excellent wander was the largest black bear I have ever seen - and I've seen a few 'cause I raked blueberries in Maine once as a kid -who I startled out of the road about halfway up the North side of Bear Notch on my first pass.

He popped up as I rounded a corner, and while I was stopping the car he was lumbering to the edge of the that narrow road and down the shoulder to turn and look reproachfully at me from the safety of a little clump of hardwoods on a ridge about fifty feet from where I stopped.

He had to have been 350-400 pounds, and a beautiful creature.

Gollum ran flawlessly all day of course, entertaining as heck on the ascent and the descent of the Washington summit, and never lacking grip, power, or brakes no matter what we got into.

I've pictures, but due to an issue with my account (This user's primary usergroup is also listed as a secondary group for this user. Please change the primary group or remove the secondary group.) I cannot access my gallery - sorry about that! I've contacted the webmaster, and if this cannot get sorted then I may have to stop my conversations here after almost a decade, which would make me very sad.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Well, in for a penny - in for a pound I guess.

Gollum III is now registered for the National Solo Finale in Lincoln.

Hopefully the two day Evo school coming up this month will tighten the nut behind the wheel (again).

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Any thoughts as to adding the power flex bushes to this set up will be more of a good thing

Or bring a world of pain re damper clearance if running wider rubber ?

 

I regret that I have no experience with the bushings, so I cannot help.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Gollum and I have just weathered two hot days of Evo School - the single most valuable investment I have ever encountered in the search for autocross excellence. We did the Phase 2 school on Saturday, and the Challenge on Sunday.

The courses were the same, which is good - some of the instructors were the same (Ron, and Mark Daddio) which is excellent.

The results were better than ever.

Ron and Brian actually got me talking on course - an exercise which I had previously found distracting and annoying, but which this time catalyzed the theme of looking ahead and kept me from the occasional target fixation which is the bane of a flowing run.

The Phase 2 course features some fast straights culminating in tight elements which blues the brakes and left some cars smoking, but also helped my tendency to brake late for speed which although perhaps helpful to F1 drivers seeking a passing opportunity is usually a bad idea on course.

The Phase 2 course also helps with patience and speed management, again by mixing fast and slow elements together including tight loops and turnarounds.

All of which prepared me for the Challenge school - where a longer course is used to initially reinforce the Phase 2 lessons, and then tape is used to block the lower portion of the windshield for several backwards runs on the then familiar course, which most certainly demonstrates the truth of looking ahead.

Just for my own benefit - the essence of that lesson is simply this - where the car is located, and the speed of that car, is determined in most cases more than 60 feet from the element that lies ahead. This means that the decisions which shape the outcome, whether a slalom, a chicago box, or a fast offset, are all taken before the element is actually traversed. Since this is so, the tape that blocks everything within 60 feet should not make any difference to the outcome.

Miraculously, this is true. Initially (and I have done this exercise twice before) the act of driving with a taped windshield requires acts of faith, but the result in this case - as before - is a clean run with no loss of speed.

It damn well guarantees that the driver isn't staring down over the hood wondering whether the car is an inch or a foot off the apex of course, 'cause the driver cannot see at that angle!

And of course the culmination of the challenge school, having swapped places with a great driver in the morning and had patient and personalized coaching, is the challenge in the afternoon where one of the talented instructors has two runs to set a time in each students' car and then that student has to beat the time.

Some do, some don't.

In this case my familiarity with Gollum in conjunction with the excellent coaching of Mark Daddio on Sunday morning left me driving well, perhaps better than any time so far this year.

Anyway, neither Mark nor Jinx beat me in my own car which is a good feeling.

If I had such great coaching before the Champ Tour, perhaps I'd have found the two tenths I needed for the top spot.

Now my task to to remember all the lessons, and maintain the confidence, all the way until September and the finale at Lincoln.

But for all you budding hot-shoes out there, remember this! The Evolution Performance Driving School can make you faster for less money than any other investment available.

Cheers,

Charlie

PS: I was delighted to make several new friends - each of them a very capable driver and very good company. Notable in this category was Commander Milo (a.k.a John) wheeling a lovely Audi R8 which he takes to one Evo School each year as counterpoint to his successful road-racing career, and also Gopal (our Novice Champion from 2014) who rented a Toyota Camry when his V6 Mustang fried the ECU on Saturday morning on the way to the school. Now I have seen Gopal and Mark Daddio flogging a rental car to great effect on a demanding autocross course, which spectacle was delightful in the extreme!

 

One thing that has not changed in my experience with the F56 is the excellent brakes. On Saturday the Evo Phase 2 course required braking from over 60 down to less than 30 each run as a long straight culminated in a VERY tight element.

Gollum's disks gained a nice light shade of blue, but never smoked and never faded (they did get a bit stinky at times), and remained confidence inspiring throughout the day.

Sunday's exercises also contained two hard braking areas, again bluing the disks each run.

At the end of Sunday I thought the pedal had dropped a couple of millimeters when I went to leave the event, so I paid rather close attention during the drive home but the point of engagement appeared to recover within only a few minutes.

Today I took the car to Mini of Peabody and invited them to have a hard look, and to freshen anything they didn't like.

At almost 27k miles I would not have been surprised to find a set of front pads and disks might be warranted, as I learned to replace these components every 30-40k miles on the original R53.

Nope! Joel my virtual crew chief said they've 7-8 mm wear left, and look fine, and no action is justified.

Perhaps I worry too much? But at least I know the car remains perfect, which is exactly my goal.

And this Sunday it's back to the course for another NER Regional event, where I do very much hope that my Evo education will remain fresh, relevant, and effective!

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Thanks for the last post on your brakes. It puts me at ease a little. I ran my 2014 F56 S for the first time at a solo event with CCR-SCCA at a location called black lake which is at Michelin's proving grounds in SC. After pulling into the paddock area after my final run, I literally thought my car was on fire and started looking for flames. It was apparent that things got a little warm. Well, I took her to my local MINI dealer this week and asked them to look things over. The technician asked me what had I been doing that the brake rotors looked like they got a bit hot but were fine otherwise. Our next event is next week and I'm looking forward to see if any ill effects exist.

 

That must have been some course!

Cheers,

Charlie

 

I've a story about three bears to tell, but one which does not involve Goldilocks.

The first two were obviously young'uns, although they appeared to have reached some size - perhaps 150-200 pounds.

They were poised behind the guardrail at the left edge of the road, one with its paw over the edge, clearly contemplating a short sprint across the empty road. The other was glancing over its sibling's shoulder, perhaps having some reservations about leaving cover for the short amble to cover on the far side.

The road was not entirely empty of course, and as I started to stop the car the bolder of the two changed his mind and slipped that paw off the edge of the steel, and turned back - leading the other in its wake.

The third bear appeared an hour or two later that same morning - still early, and still in the cold and still of the Presidential Range. I had done the Kank at 5:30, and Bear Notch at 6:00, and turned north on 302 only to be overtaken by a slightly dusty Subaru Legacy with a friendly dog on the passenger side that periodically licked the driver's ears as we hurtled northwest.

The pace was surprising, beginning with the Subaru forcing his way past Gollum in the quiet downtown that ultimately thins out to the fast sweepers that traverse the northern edge of the tallest mountains.

After letting him pass I watched from a comfortable distance behind as the driver flogged that car away from the rising sun as though the devil was in pursuit, bending it into the fast corners at such a rate as to lean the whole chassis at remarkable angles, but not apparently upsetting the dog in the slightest. Perhaps they do this every morning?

The third bear was very young, and very small, and committed to crossing from right to left without the slightest hesitation. Fortunately his scamper was timed well and he had reached the safe lane before the Subaru arrived, without even a wink of brake lights.

I stopped of course, and admired this little cub as he ploughed up about fifty feet into the short undergrowth on the high side of 302, and turned to look at me with the native curiosity of his species.

He couldn't have weighed 100 pounds, and my quick stop was triggered by the instant assumption that the mother bear must be close at hand, but she was not. I hope that little one was not orphaned.

So after many years of travel in the White Mountains without seeing any of these creatures, I have now come across four in three weeks. I do not know what this may portend, perhaps nothing.

But I do know that I would rather see them in the wild, than in the cages and swings of Clark's Trading Post on Route 3 up near Lincoln, as although those captive bears clearly like the morsels of ice cream that they earn from their trainers during a show, they pace like all wild things in captivity when they are not performing.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

What is it about autocross that draws me in, compels me, motivates me, delights and confounds me?

It must be a powerful force, as I respond now even in the midst of a month of medical leave granted by a wise doctor who knows me well, and justified with the diagnosis of severe depression.

And yet on the heels of the loss of my mother, then my father, then my dear elder sister on the most excruciating and intimate terms, and in a time where I seem to care not for a profession which has summoned my passion for decades, I can still focus on an autocross course. It is extraordinary.

Perhaps it is my life long fascination with motorsports, beginning with Pierro Taruffi, Juan Fangio, Prost, Senna, Stewart, Andretti, and so many more.

Perhaps it is the morphing of that fascination onto two wheels - inspired by Barry Sheen, Mike Hailwood, Kenny Roberts, and the immortal Joey Dunlop.

Maybe it is the eighth of a million miles I have spent on two wheels challenging my own limits on the Great Ocean Road southwest of Melbourne, or north of San Francisco between Mill Valley and Point Reyes.

Perhaps it is the essential challenge of finding the limit of what is possible versus what is desired - the grey area where traction is barely sufficient to preserve control, and desire meets fallibility.

I gave up motorcycles on the day that I felt the Lord had given me the benefit of the doubt as many times as I deserved, if not more, and then redirected my reckless search for adrenaline to four wheels instead of two and confined my desires to the relatively safe domain of timed courses as opposed to wheel to wheel or public road adventures.

And yet that primal desire and the satisfaction thereof has not been sacrificed. Extraordinary...

I cannot defend the nobility of an endeavor which in it's structure is no more than parking lot racing, and an attempt to master an artificial challenge which is ephemeral by design.

But yet it draws me, and demands my best, and summons all that I have, even when I am at an ebb.

I suppose the athletes that struggle with the cruel winds at Saint Andrews, where even a ball in repose on the green is not safe may have their own tale, and I respect that - but only as affirmation of the eccentric afflictions that we humans are capable of. Mine is not golf.

And thus I report to you with modest glee, that I have weathered yet another regional event. I must in all honesty admit that the lessons of the Evo School were nowhere in evidence in the morning runs - indeed my driving reflected little looking ahead, little confidence, and in general was a mess.

Since I had admonished myself that in the spirit of the National Tour I had but three runs to prove my worth, the day was an unmitigated failure! I had, after three runs, nothing to show. I coned one, DNF'd the second, and coned the third!

I left my friend and competitor the worthy Barbara in 1st place after the morning, and had to credit her sincerely for the win in those terms.

But even though we had 165 competitors, and even though we had our share of delays, the worthies that comprise NER managed to accomodate 988 runs between about 9:30 am and 5:00 pm, and thus all had three runs in the morning - but three more in the afternoon.

So with this grace I was able to perform a cerebral rectectomy and finish at the top of GS once again - with Barbara about a second slower when the dust had settled.

Barbara will have her day - and perhaps will be a GSL Ladies Champion at Lincoln - I hope so - but the thing is I raw timed Kim Soo!

Why you ask? Why could I outrun this tiny lioness with her FJB cart and her indomitable determination?

THe answer may not be found in her heart - which is flawless, nor in my skill, which is limited. The answer was simply the number of teeth in her rear sprocket, which was too large for the course (a fast and flowing one) and which permitted the lovely and boundless 2nd gear of Gollum III to pounce on the faster portions of the course at which points poor Kim Soo was flat to the floor and wishing for more performance.

So I cannot celebrate, but I can grin a little. My understanding of the realities of the situation did not prevent me from chiding here a bit, nor did she take my joke amiss. She knows who is the faster driver.

Cheers,

Charlie

Results here.

 

It is truly a pleasure reading about your adventures, Charlie. Please enjoy your travels toward The Nationals and Beyond.

Have fun,
Mike

 

Thanks very kindly Mike.

All the best,

Charlie

 

My wife lost both of her parents and a son in a relatively short span. You do indeed have a wise doctor.

 

Words fail.

 

Not too surprisingly, I am getting around 10k miles out of a pair of Bridgestone RE-71R tires... The pair that went onto the front at 19k miles, and moved to the rear at 23.5 miles, just came off. They were evenly worn with flush wear bars.

But they sure are good while they last - really blurring the distinction between street and race tires, which could re-spark a bit of debate...

Plus ca change, plus c'est le meme chose - n'est-ce pas?

Bien tot,

Charlie

 

So Rob graciously let me sneak in to a Miata club event today, and another participant had taken #13 - so I ran #113.

The course was so long, that it turned out that if I could run a lap in 113 seconds I should be happy.

I did (but it took 5 runs - out of 7 to get there) and I am.

And tickled pink that Barbara showed up in the Focus ST and finally beat me!

We lied shamelessly to each other going into afternoon runs, with my holding a pair of 114.2s and praying she could not go any faster... I told her it was siesta time, and she pretended that she couldn't summon any focus in the PM.

Then she ran a 113!

By the time the dust had settled I had beaten her 113 with a faster 113, and then she beat that, and then I coned trying to beat that!

Neither of us were going too slowly I reckon, and so I hope she's as pleased as I am... This might wind up being the beginning of a great rivalry - as Paul Z. and I had for a year in H Stock.

We might wind up being hammer and tongs, or judy and punch, or scilla and charybdis - who knows?

Anyway - too much fun, and thanks again to the Renegade crowd for a great event.

Cheers,

Charlie