Hello,

I'm looking to purchase a used Mini as a 2nd car for weekend backroad fun (occasionally take the wife) and 2-3 HPDE's per year.

What features would you look for?
What is a need to have vs. a want to have?

I plan on installing:
Megan Coilovers (I like the camber plates) or Bilsteins and springs
Rear sway bar (what size? I see 19mm adj. in generally, but much bigger in this forum)
BBK (Wilwood or Detroit Tuned)
Lightest wheels that will fit in wheel well (unsure if 16 or 17in platform (15s not aesthetically pleasing to me) is best for overall performance, tire selection, BBK clearance, spacers? what size rim will fit?)
Are adj end links and control arms a big performance gain?


For me no sunroof (save weight) and LSD are pretty high on the list.
I am unsure what all the electronic traction control does. If it can all be disabled great, but is there any electronic traction control that cannot be disabled and hinders performance in an R53 or R56?

Heck maybe the stock LSD is not worth it for modest gains, just go aftermarket? But installing an LSD seems like $$$ for install to me, especially if the car has a decent clutch.

I would like to run somewhat modest neg camber for backroads/HPDE for extra cornering, but not burn through tires regularly or affect straight line braking stability.

I appreciate any help for the newb. Thanks.

 

The biggest decision is whether to get an R53 supercharged or R56 turbocharged Cooper S.

Try test driving both and see what you think, they drive differently. Mod wise the R53 has been around longer and there are a lot of things that are easy to do that work. In that case a 2005 Cooper S with manual transmission and OEM LSD would be nice but hard to find. You can add a Quaife LSD without changing the gearing or flywheel, if there are many miles on the MINI then you can get a new clutch when installing the LSD.

For any used R53 with miles on it, check all of the suspension bushings and front control arm bushings and engine mounts. These all need to be replaced. If the supercharger has a reduction pulley from the previous owner, the SC can be worn out. A 15-17% pulley is a common upgrade as is an ECU tune. Cat back exhaust, front camber plates adjusted to max negative camber, rear 3 hole 19mm swaybar, rear adjustable lower control arms for mild negative camber (about 1 degree less negative than the fronts), and short shift kit. Before you buy any upgrades try contacting Way at Waymotorworks and figure out a budget and a plan to your madness.

I don't know if you really need a BBK although the wilwood brakes are cost effective and don't limit wheel sizes that much compared to very large brakes. Upgraded brake pads, brake fluid, SS brake lines are good with stock brake rotors (add slots if you want).

For HPDE you want-
Good racing harnesses- check out Schroth for both front seats.
Good comfortable lightweight helmet
Good driving school like Evolution school before the track events
Durable R compound tires like Toyo R888 or Extreme Summer tires
Max out front camber to -2.4 or more, rear camber to -1.4, this is not that bad on street tire wear unless you drive a lot of miles per year. You can also mark the camber settings and move them for track vs street use.

Adjustable end links attach to the rear swaybar to allow fine tuning of load when doing corner balancing, they are stronger than OEM links but don't make you go any faster.

 

I wouldn't use a harness unless you also have a roll bar. I've seen what happens when a MINI rolls at high speed, and its not pretty. In this case neither occupant was in a harness, and they walked away. However, the roof was caved in, to about the level of the occupants shoulders. If they'd been strapped in with a harness I hate to think what would have broken.

I have a harness I use in Bertie for autocross, when I take Bertie to the track, I'm not going to be using the harness. However, a CG Lock is a good compromise.

 

Thank u very much for the advice, I really appreciate it.

From what I can find, I have found a good deal on a 2007 R56 w/ LSD and no sunroof, so this may very likely be my platform. I have ridden in both and this car has a new clutch, so I would not install an aftermarket LSD alone w/out other work needing to be done.

Handling... though "feel" is part of it and part of the fun, I guess lap times are more important to me given the same variables (yeah I'm not racing, but I'm a more analytical guy vs. feel. I suspect either car will be fun to drive well). From what I've read the R56 is lighter and a stiffer chassis, so perhaps it would take less in the aftermarket to make it handle. The same would go with the brakes as they are bigger on the R56. Perhaps there is less need for stiffening braces on the R56 vs. the R53, thus less $?

Straightline performance...The R56 is a bit lighter so that cannot hurt. And while I find a lot more engine performance mods available for the R53, aren't they needed to get the same output as a slightly modified and tuned R56 (though the tune is more expensive than an R53) with it's torque advantage from the get go? I hope the R56 would be cheaper to reach a given level of performance here as well.

Does anyone know what stock camber can be reached F/R on the R53 vs. R56? (maybe for my liking struts and springs are fine, or struts springs and camber plates, or full on coilovers, who knows)

The other question burning me is given u can fit your brake setup inside the wheel, do most folks pick 16in (less rotational mass, but not as stiff sidewall) or 17in rims (more rotational mass, but stiffer sidewall) for a weekend car that does a few trackdays a year? I guess I am a little vain in that 15in rims would be out for me, and also on the highway gearing wouldn't be so fun.

 

Ok, I've read stock camber for the R56 is "not much." so camber plates with coilovers or shocks/springs or Megan Racing Coilovers with integrated camber plates will be the way to go.

Any further advice on my post above? Much appreciated!

 

I've been able to get 1 degree of (negative) camber on our JCW. We only managed 0.7 on the Coopers. Even maxing out that out seems to help a lot with the tire wear, so its probably good for grip. From the factory it was inconsistent and about 0.5 degrees.

How experienced are you at HPDE? If you're just starting, I'd suggest not modifying the car and see if you find you need anything. If you've got experience you might have some things in mind already. For us (both me and the wife do the track days), we managed with a largely stock car for several years, its only recently we've been needing to make changes.

The only change we made for our first 20 days or so was changing the wheels. We got dedicated track tires and their attendant wheels. I have different priorities on the street and the track, so it makes sense to have dedicated track tires, and it keeps your street tires round.

The only other mods we've needed to make is brake pads. We started to wear pads too fast. Once we couldn't get three track days on a set of OEM pads, we upgraded to EBC Yellowstuff. They worked for a while, then we couldn't get three track days out of a set so I'm looking for something harder.

Again, the cars have been completely stock otherwise and have woked fine and we have seen no need to modify them at all. The Cooper is going to get a suspension makeover for autocross competition, so it'll be interesting to see what difference that makes on the track.

I've found that sidewall makes very little difference to performance. Tire compound seems to have a much bigger influence. We went from 205/50-16 Dunlop Z1* to 205/55-16 Bridgestone RE-11. Our lap times improved a lot, but that may be because the Z1s had been heat cycled to death. The taller tire helped put the gearing into a better range to match the track.

We had to move to 205/45-17 (still RE-11) for the JCW (16" don't fit) and I had a hard time matching my previous lap times in the Cooper-S (which had an LSD). The driver is probably the limiting factor there, my wife got a lot faster in the JCW. Going to 215/45-17 (partly for the higher gearing) Bridgestone RE-11A my laptimes have got significantly worse.

If you wanted to go fastest, I'd guess the 07 with LSD would be a good start, very similar to our 08 with an LSD. It has a better power to weight ratio, and a much better torque curve. Its faster and easier to drive faster. Though the brakes might not hold up long term. We'd just started wearing through Cooper-S pads in one day before we upgraded to the JCW.