Hi all,

Just wanted to ask how you guys (and gals) would build up a 2002 R53 Mini Cooper S for a daily driver that also sees the track 5-10 times per year? This is how I have started to think that I would build my car :
15% pulley
Bilstein PSS10
stiffer sway bar
lighter wheels with r-tires (for track days only)
Sparco/Recaro type chair
practice as well as trackday clinics

Further down (when not daily driven):
cage
five point harness

Do you guys think that I have overlooked something? The 15% oulley I justify in the sense that I probably won't need a new program in the car. I do have a little previous trackday experience so I am not a complete novice. But I do realise that to become quick I need practice, input (from instructors), and also a decent setup. So please let me know if you think I need to add/delete something from this setup and what you would find useable. Thanks for any and all answers,

Best Regards,
Alex

 

You're going to need lots of front camber so if the Bilsteins don't come with them you're going to need camber plates. You'll also need rear lower control arms to dial out some of the negative camber in the rear from lowering.

Don't forget brakes!

An oil cooler wouldn't be a bad investment either.

 

V10Climber,
thanks for you answer. Brakes, ofcourse. I have these on my list, forgot to list them. The ones I have been looking at are Zimmerman rotors with EBC Redstuff pads. This in an attempt to not have the change out the calipers. Is this a good idea or should the calipers be uprated?

Camber plates, ok I hadn't thought of these. That goes for the lower control arms as well. Thanks for the tips and I will look into these.

Oil Cooler - That too is probably a good idea.

Best Regards / Alex

 

Brake pad choice all depends on how comfortable you are pushing out on the track. Redstuff pads aren't going to cut it in the slightest. You'll need yellowstuff minimum and possibly upgraded brakes depending on how fast you are. As you get faster you'll start reaching the limits of factory stuff. How quickly you get there is up to you. But having to alternate fast laps with slow laps because your brakes can't keep up is no fun.

Front camber is going to be really important because without it you'll prematurely wear out front tires on the track.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using NAMotoring

 

Hi V10Climber,

thanks for all the tips, highly appreciative. You are 100% right about the factory brakes being underdimensioned for track use, maybe I should just bite the bullet and go for a brake upgrade directly.

I will also look into front camber. How many degrees in the front is recomended?

Best Regards, Alex

 

Honestly your alignment will depend greatly on your suspension setup. Stiffer springs will allow for less dynamic camber change so you could run less static camber. More caster also means you can run less static camber. Since caster in the mini isn't really adjustable you're stuck with spring rates. If you're running relatively sane spring rates it's going to pretty much be the case that you want to run as much camber as you can possibly get. I would say if you could get -3 that would be a good starting point. More would be better but I'd be shocked if you could get more than -3 on the front of a mini. -3 degrees of camber is still far from the point where you'll start to see diminished braking ability because of excessive front camber.

 

Best place to start on your alignment is 2 degrees in the front and 1 in the back. slight toe in front and 0 toe in the back.
Your stock brakes for fine for track days to start with. Use Carbotech XP10 front pads and XP8 rears.

And we also make and sell almost everything you need to track your MINI - http://www.sneed4speed.com/mini-r53-supercharged/

 

SneedSpeed,
thanks for youe answer. I was under the illusion that the stock braking system was underdimensioned. Using Carbotech pads is something I have read before on here, but do you recomend upgrading the rotors to something else or keep the discs as the standard ones?

Best Regards,
Alex

 

We have found that the stock type rotors work great. We sell the rotors that we have found to last the longest for the cost.
http://www.sneed4speed.com/sc-brakes...eatured&page=3

 

Bump - Mopack whats your build looking like so far?

 

Rennfahrer555 - Sorry for late answer, I have been out of town on business.


Anywhoo, my track build hasn't really come too far yet since I am out of a garage at the moment. We are in the process of buying a house and once that has been established I can stop dailying the mini and go full board with the conversion. So sorry that I don't have better/more interesting news than that. Have a good weekend.


Best regards, Alex