Hey all I ran a track day with hooked on driving yesterday at Laguna Seca.

First time tracking in the JCW Coupe. It was awesome. I'm probably a "decent beginner" driver so I know my line isn't perfect and I could have shifted/got on the gas earlier in some spots. I wasn't as slow as some of the guys that have never tracked but I'm not the fastest either. Overall this car is great on track.

The only "mods" I have done was to have the factory JCW suspension kit installed, Bridgestone RE11 replaced RFTs, Hawk HP+ pads, and ATE higher temp fluid. The pads felt good and worked well however I haven't pulled them from the car to see what shape they are in. I did have some weird deposits on my rotors after using those pads (see the brake forum if you know what that is).

The JCW suspension is great, I really do wish though that I had tracked without it first to be able to know the difference from the factory sport suspension.

The tires I had no problems there. Great tires hooked up nice and I didn't leave that much tread at the track.

Luckily my coach for the first 2 sessions of the day is an R55 JCW owner. He gave great advice on the racing line and overall car control at Laguna. He also gave me great advice on tire pressure for the RE11s. Most eye opening though was the coach ride I had with him. His car is bone stock brakes / fluid and he would have dusted me on the track. He just knew exactly when to apply throttle/brake also knew exactly how to load up the front tires by applying firm brake before some of the turns. I would feel the back get a bit light load up the front outside tire then he would accelerate out of the corner nicely. Great stuff to feel rather than just be told or watching on a video.

Anyway a fun day and we even got a rain session. Check it out

 

Nice video fjork_duf and thanks for sharing it with us!

You were fortunate that your instructor was also a MINI owner cause that made your schooling all the more 'personal'. Great info he passed on to you and the seat time you got with someone who knows your car was invaluable.

Good luck to you in your future 'On-Track' adventures!