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Joel, Tom, Mark, Luis, Dave, and all of Gary's MoP Team that acquired, prepped, and launched Gollum IV - I thank you.
I am besotted, enamored, captured, clad and held by this 4th and most extraordinary Mini.
This is the story of our mutual seduction, beginning bright and early on this past September Tuesday.
Gollum arrived with 9.6 on the odometer and by Tuesday had 450 gentle miles. A precautionary oil change and the installation of the Schroth Quick-Fit system took only a few hours at the MoP shop, despite the need for some creative tailoring of the driver's side headrest to admit the passage of the belts.
A little careful whittling...
And then south and west from about 10 am, out the Mass Pike, down the endless and sometimes tortuous I-84 seeking the relative calm of I-81.
One might say "plus ca change, plus c'est le mem chose" and the familiarity of the F56 chassis would bear that out, but there are also differences!
Gollum runs 75 mph at 3k RPM where the previous car took only 2,500 RPM. The new car started at 17.2 mpg, and as we ate the miles that changed to 28.2. The little B38 predecessor cheerfully returned 34.2 mpg.
Gollum pulled harder in top gear than the B38 in 4th. Short shifting the two bottom gears became a habit, as 1st gear can spin the tires and smack the red-line in no time, and even 2nd flies by in what seems the blink of an eye.
Where the previous car wanted to pull to 60 mph in 2nd, this one wants to hit 75 in 3rd - all without more than 4k revs and in one heck of a hurry. The gears are far closer and the final drive is much taller, and I eventually came the right adaptations and adjusted my habits accordingly.
I always stretch the 1st day on a long road trip, and did so in this case, pausing for a bit of sustenance and pushing down to Virginia through 12 hours of rain. With the fresh Bridgestones and the friendly and grainy surface of I-81 hydroplaning was not an issue although periodically visibility became a challenge. Pulled forward by the prospect of better weather and the increasing beauty of the Shenandoah Region we persisted almost until Harrisonburg before taking the first night's rest.
And that persistence was rewarded Wednesday morning, as we arrived at the wonderful establishment of Jane and Dennis, at the northern end of the Dragon, around 11 am on Wednesday.
I had slept little overnight, and driven far, but the excitement of our arrival overcame sober judgement and fatigue. Pausing only for welcome conversation with my friends I unloaded cleaning supplies, polished up the car, put the bags in the room, and headed South to Deal's Gap for Gollum IV's inaugural run.
The previous day had been a wet one on the Dragon, but by mid-day Wednesday we had a dry and sunny day and light traffic, and Gollum leapt to the task before him while I cautiously assessed the balance of the handling and watched the tire pressures climb from the effort.
We spent about four hours on that first afternoon, and I was well pleased with the differences from May when last I traveled that road.
The JCW runs the road in 3rd - pulling out of the 30 mph hairpins like a train and rocketing up the rev range to 4,000 rpm - reaching over 70 mph in only a few seconds and compressing the road into a near video-game experience.
Where the B38 would go, the JCW would go much faster. When the B38 slowed, bluing the OEM brakes back in May and revealing an odd and sometime inconsistent pedal, the JCW slows harder withouut trace of bluing and with a feel and consistency that made me very grateful for those four-pot Brembos.
The JCW, with the same special parts for negative camber and the symmetrical alignment, turned as well as the B38 although the tail stayed relentlessly planted despite tightening lines and lifted throttle. The B38 would move the back axle a bit more, which I prefer, and so I expect the NM 25 mm bar will be helpful, as several of you have suggested. The car does not understeer however, and in all cases where I needed to tighten a line Gollum willingly complied, without any complaints from the 215 mm RE-71 rubber.
And thus, spent and in good cheer, we tucked up for the night at the Dragon Pit, after mounting the GoPro on the roof in preparation for Thursday morning.
And here, dear friends, is Thursday morning's first run. No-one on the road but a red squirrel and some fog. I hope you enjoy.
The rest of Thursday was just a good old fashioned wallow in the people, the other bikes and cars, the breathtaking beauty of the Smokies, and the intoxication of a truly wonderful car doing what it was designed to do.
Some times slowing down helps, and the grin says it all.
Thanks to the talented photographers from both 129 Slayer and Killboy.
Thanks to Bridgestone for the traction!
Thanks to Dennis and Jane for the marvelous hummingbirds!
But there comes the last run of course...
Time to go home...
After a better night's sleep Thursday night we were raring to go at 5 am - waiting for coffee, and waiting for a decent hour so I could thank my hosts and head North up towards Alcoa City and I-81.
Another long day ensued, reaching Pennsylvania after about 10 hours, and leaving only one more tank of gas before the approaches to Boston and ultimately the return from one paradise to another.
Gollum IV and I are both broken in now - he with 2,800 miles on the clock and I with a permanent grin and complete confidence in this mighty little beast.
Next, we'll go back to autocross. That will be the ultimate challenge of course, but I fear not and look forward to the last two events in the New England Region calendar.
So on return from the Dragon, Gollum and I are having our first falling out. A tiff.
It has to do with tire pressures.
You see, when we were on the dragon I set tire pressures hot, after a proper run - and they were close as dammit to 40 front and 44 rear. Optimal from my experience with the B-38 (same tires and springs).
Curtain falls, curtain rises. It's now Massachusetts, morning tempurature 56 degrees.
Surprise! The fronts are down to 31..5 psi, although the rears only fell to 37.
And Gollum is irritated! I get "Max speed 80 mph" warnings on the center console, and an alarming icon on the speedometer - all very dramatic!
Furthermore, and most seditious, Gollum switches OFF the "DSC Off" state which is part of my start-up drill as soon as I hit 2nd - apparently in concern at my obviously reckless abandon at setting pressures thus and then presuming to DECLINE stability control.
Thus we vex each other.
And so I bend, and add two pounds to the cold pressures on the front axle.
So far Gollum is not impressed.
Stay tuned - because with a pressure shift of 9 psi from 46 to 80 degrees a cold pressure that does not offend the computer is possibly going to generate a max pressure of 45 psi or greater which is NOT good for the RE-71 on this chassis.
From my experience and what I understand from my cousin with his M2 the TMPS doesn't seem to have an upper limit and the lower limit is 10 psi below where it was last set. So if all of your tires are at 36 psi cold, and you set the TMPS at that point, you shouldn't get a warning until you get to 26 psi and you should be able to run your autocross pressures without issue.
Not sure it matters to the conversation, but I run 38 front and 36 rear. I was up to between 41 and 43 after the Dragon. I'm not running sticky tires though. Goodyear Eagle F1 A/S.
Gollum is now about 3,400 miles old, and the jury is in.
Best Gollum ever.
The car can poke around Cape Anne at low rpm, but also rip into the short straights on an autocross course, or the slightly longer passages on the Dragon, or roll on in top gear with real authority. The price of power is 28.3 mpg at a lifetime average of 45 mph, where the B38 returned 34.2 at an average of 41.6.
The gears are short and closely spaced - a dramatic departure from the B38 drive train. However last Sunday I found 2nd tall enough for the Devens course, without ever running out of revs.
The brakes are simply the best I have ever driven - great consistent pedal, no tendency to lock, no blue disks, no smoking pads, and granting me the confidence to go deep and still make a good turn-in. Compared to Gollum III the brakes are the greatest improvement.
I'll now admit that despite the firm chassis, I will be replacing the OEM shocks with the excellent Bilstein B8 units, and installing the NM 25 mm rear bar. The Works chassis has more roll than Gollum III had, and the back axle stubbornly refuses to dance, even when provoked.
My return to the NER crew, and Gollum's debut, occurred on a 92 degree day with barely a ghost of a breeze to offer comfort to the sweltering volunteers and competitors.
over 150 drivers came to race, including many who earned trophies in Lincoln in the preceding weeks.
Some cars had an innovative approach to ventilation...
Alex and Shane, driving the Exocet - which had an outstanding stereo system to entertain the courseworkers.
Gollum bent cheerfully to the task, hampered only by the rusty driving of yours truly.
We took only three runs, took a 3rd in class, and then the heat convinced me that discretion was the better part of valor in this case. So I did my starters duties in the afternoon and then packed up for the day.
As a test and tune it was a great success, and taught me what I needed to know about the winter's preparation for next season.
As a reward for Gollum, and to complete our bonding process, I subsequently headed north out of the sweltering heat this week, and took the passage through the White Mountain National Forest. After Kancamagus Pass, Bear Notch, Crawford Notch, the Mount Washington Valley, and then Franconia Notch.
We're still learning each other, if you will forgive the rampant anthropomorphism, but I can conclude that I am quite happy on the dark side!
Ouch! Man, you've got no luck at all! Didn't you just get it out of the body shop? You might think about investing in a motion/impact activated dash cam.
I was at the golf course the other day and watched a guy back into someone in the parking lot. I was trying to guess what he would do. He pulled back into his space, wrote a note and left it on the windshield. I don't think this is the norm any more.
09-11-2017, 04:13 AM
