Those BMW's are of course RWD. Their driving wheels do _not_ have to turn. I'm not sure if you understand the huge difference here. No one will put 285s on a FWD MINI and expect to go anywhere but straight. This is for packaging and 'feel' reasons. When you've got to turn your front wheels around a tight track, you're gonna want to have much narrower tires.

It does not matter what car you run, because to be nationally competitive in such a competitive class as SP, you need a whole lot more than a specific set of tires. You need all kinds of talent. Talent is what someone considering national running in SP should be looking for, not 285 series tires.

Either way, you're saying you would be willing to run 285 rubber on the autocross course and do the fender widening necessary and then run 205s or 215s on the street? That sure would look funny.

BTW, I know that there are no nationally ranked MINIs in SP. That is, however, besides the point- it's absolutely not due to the width of the tires . The MINI is not the proper formula for SP without gobs more power....perhaps running a twin charge, but I digress.

 

Which of course wouldn't be legal in SP, but hey

I think Motoring (a national champion) has the "talent" thing pretty well covered

Myself, I think the Cooper is too heavy to compete in FSP, and I don't know if the Cooper S would fare much better in DSP. And frankly, you could buy (and probably setup) an E36 for a lot less, and for my coin I'd rather drive the E36.

 

Hey, if you're serious about being nationally competitive in SP, you've gotta... [consider cheating]

 

Has anyone found a 14" wheel that fits over the stock brakes? I would be very interested in a set for DSP/track wheels.

 

For giggles, I went to TireRack and got weights for 285/30R18 Kumho 710's: 25 lbs.

Then I got the weight for a more reasonable size for AutoX in the MINI, 215/40R16: 19 lbs.

The 16" tire has a much shorter profile, resulting in lower CG and shorter gearing, and having 6 lbs less at each corner (and closer to the hub, too) certainly wouldn't hurt acceleration.

These are the tires I intend to wrap around my SSR's for competition this year.

 

Prepare to win, Ahamos .

 

Keep in mind that the Nationals GSL winning car ran 225/50R16 Avon Tech RA's in the dry. Granted she wasn't the fastest in the dry, but she wasn't far behind, and that group of ladies was the toughest ladies class I have ever seen (Tunnell, Medicus, Rogers, Streilnicks, etc.). The Avons are right around 24 pounds, so the 25 pound weight wouldn't scare me away.

Oh well, unless someone tries it out (which we probably won't see), we will never know, and the Mini's will continue to be underdogs in SP.

Jake

 

all i have to say is... BTCC... Thats British Touring Car Championship...which is pretty much what started the whole euro style trend and larger wheels and stuff like that... Or howabout any le mans race car? they don't seem to be using 16's very often...

Im going to make one request... do not bring up formula 1... their are a ton of reasons why they use such small wheels and tires... i don't even want to get into it...

 

don't get me wrong guys... i understand phsyics and understand why you are running the tires that you are running and things like that... but just imagine how much more power you could put down to the ground with those wide tires... that would certainly outweigh the 6lbs extra... let alone the added grip for the car... should the wheels, lugs, bearings, hubs etc... beable to withstand the addtional load...

 

those guys don't know anything...only Auto Xers do...smaller is better...why would some one want thier car to perform like a touring car...GOSH!!! YOU RUIN MY LIFE!!

 

Guys, again, those are primarily RWD cars! Ours are FWD [until I get my TT 4wd swap!]. The rules are different. Those are also making a LOT more power than an SP autox'er! Especially the Le Mans cars! sheet! Those use larger wheels because they have a lot more low-end torque than our cars do! So, yeah, Tuls, "why I outta!" . In current form, any "stock"-ish MINI will have no benefit from such massive tires _on an autox course_. They will have quite a disadvantage with tossability. By all means, try it out and let us know how it goes. Just don't be surprised if it isn't what you expect!

 

They use such large wheels because they have massive brakes and cannot accomidate a smaller wheel even if they wanted to. Autox is a completely different beast from any other type of racing. Generally in autox, the more rubber the better as long as gearing doesn't take a hit.

Too bad they don't have a 245/40/15 or a 245/35/16. I think that would be the ideal size for SP trim.

 

Well said. It all depends on what type of racing and modification you've done to power those extra loads and those large BBK.

 

WRONGO!

BTCC is/was primarly made of FRONT WHEEL DRIVE CARS! They raced honda accords... volvo 850's s40... Nissan Primeras (our g20 but cooler) etc... Audi was also involoved and then booted for all wheel drive advantage! Sure rear wheel drives are also competing but their still are/were plenty of fwds too

what does larger wheels and low end torque have to do with anything? Im curious... that comment doesn't make any sense to me...

And as far as tossablity... you won't be able to toss it around without racking your brain on your skull! That thing is going to have massive levels of grip!