For Immediate Release

MINI Cooper S Race Team Enthusiastic after Test at Willow Springs
(December 2nd, Lancaster, CA)

The Ray Hampton Racing Team conducted a second round of development testing last weekend at Willow Springs in Southern California, involving all three team drivers and both development cars. Although understandably reluctant to divulge specifics, team owner and driver Ray Hampton was clearly enthusiastic and only cited one problem; “The interest and excitement generated by these cars wherever we go is tremendous, which is wonderful for our sponsors and suppliers, but can be a problem when trying to communicate and record drivers’ impressions and feedback in order to decide what to adjust.”

Called the ‘The Fastest Track in the West’, Willow Springs proved ideal for evaluating various suspension components and set-ups. While the original development car ran the same coil-overs and stock alignment settings used in October tests at LMVS, the second car utilized KW Suspension coil-overs and an increased range of camber/caster adjustment thanks to proprietary hardware developed in-house by RHR. The advantage provided by the refined suspension was hinted at by its noticeably lower ride height and born out by the stopwatch, with the KW equipped car improving its advantage over the original development car as the set-up was dialed in based on data gathered during each run.

After running Toyo tires all weekend with the exception of two sessions run on a competitor’s tires in order to establish a comparative baseline, all three drivers deemed them to be very predictable and appropriately sticky, with surprising durability noted as well. That data should be valuable to Toyo, which has expressed interest in supplying the USTCC series next year. The drivers were equally impressed with the super-strong, ultra-light (Kevlar) Suzuka seats from Cobra and the energy absorbing Schroth harnesses installed in the development cars for this round of testing. Other car owners even inquired as to the availability of the seats and harnesses after hearing RHR drivers’ comments about their comfort and effectiveness.

Overall, Ray Hampton and the rest of the team are confident that the MINI Cooper S will be competitive in the upcoming U.S. Touring Car season. Considering that all of the testing to date has been with the cars running at their stock curb weight of over 2,700 pounds and without any frame stiffening, the lap times recorded at Willow Springs provide a strong hint of just how much more performance the talented engineers and drivers at RHR have yet to squeeze out of the little blue cars.

 

Some additional pictures of the team cars (they can also be found in the
Racing and Competition gallery):

 

Very cool!!

Where is Ray Hampton Racing based in SoCal?

Who governs the USTCC? What other cars will be your competitors?

Good Luck!

 

Schedule???

 

Very cool. I gather both cars are spec'd the same, and that what we're looking at in this picture is just a difference in the ride height settings on the KW's?



Also, would you mind sharing information on the other modifications to the car?

I notice the race seats and the yellow film on the lights. Is that for similar purposes as the ALMS cars... to help drivers recognize the faster/slower cars on the track?

What size/type wheels are those and what size Toyos are you running?

Thanks for posting this and welcome to MCO.

 

USTCC..................

 

Thanks, 2minis.

Yea, I'm gonna go to a race or two next year!

Go Mini!

 

Hopefully I will answer all your questions in one post, but if not please do not hesitate to contact me back........

Ray Hampton Racing, Inc. is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Nevada is a tax free state with special provisions for proffesional motorsports teams, including an exemption from the majority of SalesTaxes for proffessional teams, along with no state tax, and no corporate tax. On top of that we have great weather, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and everythings open 24hr.

In 2003 we will campaign 3 MCS in the US Touring Car Championship, and selected NABR races as well as the Open Track Challenge, 7 tracks in 7 days on the West Coast.

The US Touring Car Championship is sanctined by the National Auto Sport Association (NASA). We run against most of the popular imports such as Honda, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Mazda, and others like Focus, Acura, Neon, and BMW. The basis of the series is a power to weight ratio formula of 13lbs per HP as listed by the factory, so the MCS will run at 2119lbs. Modifications are somewhat restrictive on the engine internals, but suspension and tuning are very important. More info is available at
NASA - http://www.nasaproracing.com
USTCC - http://www.ustcc.com

The 2003 schedule is not available yet, but what we do know is that there will be about 8-9 races, with a minimum of 1 and max of 3 on the East Coast, the remainder will be in California, Navada, and Arizona. Keep checking the USTCC website for updates.

We have been approached by minicooperonline to host a forum and continue to keep members updated with the progress of this team. I have agreed, so sometime in the near future we will launch a new forum and bring you all up to speed on verything from the start to present. We started back in July with this program.

The lights have a yellow film on them so they are still usable, but we can signal other cars that are slower. Hope this makes sense to you.

The wheels are FLIK 17x7.5 with TOYO 205/40/17 RA-1 tires that were shaved to 4/32. Really a nice package for track testing. The wheels are available from mini-madness, one of your site sponsors.

As for the suspension, the 75 car was on SPAX suspension and the 76 car was on KW. The difference in ride hieght was about 2.5 in, and we got there with fabricated control arms, new camber set up, and roll center kit, all developed in house by RHR. All of the components that we manufacture for the cars, modifications we make, and components we source, will be available from our online store after the new year, along with the fully range of KW suspension components for racing.

As new components are manufactured and developed we will keep all the members updated, and let them know when they will be available. One of the engines we car currently working on for developement will have about 100+ extra HP......

Best Regards
Ray Hampton

 

Knew I would forget something..........Open Track Challenge, information is available at http://www.opentrackchallenge.com. For the Open Track Challenge we will enter 4 MCS.

Best Regards
Ray Hampton

 

Yes that sure does. Thanks.

Actually, thanks for more than that. Thanks for the very complete answer posted above. It's nice to know someone is very committed to producing products to give us more camber adjustment.

I'm looking forward to reading your updates in the future, and following along as the open track challenge unfolds.

Once again, welcome to MCO.

 

Thanks Ray.

I'm sure you'll have more than a few Mini fans at your races.

Thanks for keeping us posted.

 

>>Actually, thanks for more than that. Thanks for the very complete answer posted above. It's nice to know someone is very committed to producing products to give us more camber adjustment.
>>
>>I'm looking forward to reading your updates in the future, and following along as the open track challenge unfolds.

It was unbelievable the difference to the turn in and track out of the MCS after we found the rear camber settings the car likes. There is alot to said for being able to go through turn 8 at WSIR in 5th gear on the rev limiter, and half way through have to change to 6th, or to enter turn 2 in 4th gear flat, and hold it flat for the entire corner............

Do you follow the OTC? Are you the gentleman that came all the way out from Col. last OTC to see the MCS run? If so you should recognize the 75, it was the 33 in the OTC driven by Pat Hentges and Mark O'Dell.

Best Regards
Ray Hampton

 

No, that wasn't me. That was Jamie Zartman (aka toomanycarz over on the roadfly forums). I met him up at BMW Ofest in Keystone. We both purchased our MINIs from the same dealership (westchester MINI in Elmsford NY).

I followed the online updates that Jamie posted of Pat and Mark's campaign last year. They were great to read, especially since they were driving one of the first Cooper S in the country.

Dave

 

RHR..

The engine you're developing, is it for racing only or with you offer it and or parts for aftermarket sale?

A 250hp Mini would suit me fine! I believe off the line it would scare an M3.

 

The engine as we are developing it is for racing only. The parts will be available to anyone, and what you do with them is up to you, but remember it all works as a package, and if you have to add exhaust back pressure then you will see a corresponding drop in HP.

The engines will be available about mid 2003, after we have completed testing, provided that all is well. It maybe later than that.

As for the M3, we did a similar program a couple of years back with my M3 race car. Bone stock the car had 208RW HP. After we massaged it in a similar manner to what we are doing here, it had 385 RW HP.

I will keep the board posted on the developments

Best Regards
Ray Hampton

 

It was nice meeting you Ray at Willow when you were testing there. The cars look fantastic and sound even better. All of the people at The Streets who I was with were very excited to see the MINI's at all, and seeing them on the track was even better. Good luck to you and the team next year.

Tom Milner

 

Tom, it was nice to meet you as well. Hopefully you can join us at Lowes or Summit Point when we run there next year, hang out and spend the weekend.

If you feel like it slip into one of the promotional cars for a session or two in HPDE.

Best Regards
Ray Hampton

 

I am now a huge fan of RHR. Good luck and I look forward to your planned forum!

 

>>Originally posted by TomM
It was nice meeting you Ray at Willow when you were testing there. The cars look fantastic and sound even better. All of the people at The Streets who I was with were very excited to see the MINI's at all, and seeing them on the track was even better. Good luck to you and the team next year.
>>
>>Tom Milner

Are you the Tom Milner who campaigned BMWs in the Speedvision Challenge? They were quite successful if I recall correctly!

Are you thinking about running a Mini team also?

 

>>Tom, it was nice to meet you as well. Hopefully you can join us at Lowes or Summit Point when we run there next year, hang out and spend the weekend.
>>
>>If you feel like it slip into one of the promotional cars for a session or two in HPDE.
>>
>>Best Regards
>>Ray Hampton

I've made a note to make it out to the Summit Point race for sure. Your offer to get a session or two in the MINI sounds good, but I'm not sure what HPDE means .

I'm the son of the Tom Milner who owns PTG which is BMW USA's semi-factory team. We haven't race in the SPEED World Challenge, but we are next year with 4 M3's. PTG has been running M3's in the ALMS/IMSA/PSCR/USRRC whatever else it was since 1995.

Tom

 

>>I'm the son of the Tom Milner who owns PTG which is BMW USA's semi-factory team. We haven't race in the SPEED World Challenge, but we are next year with 4 M3's. PTG has been running M3's in the ALMS/IMSA/PSCR/USRRC whatever else it was since 1995.
>>
>>Tom

Thanks, Tom for the response. I wasn't entirely sure of the series, but the name Milner sounded familiar. I'll look forward to following PTG M3s next year.

Paul

 

Damn, I've got to start following the USTCC more. I've mostly been following SWC and only look at USTCC's website for updates. Hopefully, I'll be able to attend an event at Buttonwillow or Leguna if those are on the schedule for 03.

Tom: I don't know if this is proprietary info at this time, but will the M3's PTG will run in SWC in 03 have similar setup to the E46 3.2L I6 M3's that used to be in ALMS? I remember those M3's made about 420HP and 300TQ. Also, did PTG build McMillan's and Kline's M3's for SWC-GT? Thanks.

Jai

 

Thanks for the info. I'm really interested in what you guys have come up with for the MCS.


"As for the M3, we did a similar program a couple of years back with my M3 race car. Bone stock the car had 208RW HP. After we massaged it in a similar manner to what we are doing here, it had 385 RW HP."

As for the above - was the M3 still N/A? That's pretty damn incredible if you got that much HP to the wheels N/A.

 

I haven't heard anything about Ray Hampton Racing in a while. Any one have any new information (on the race prep or on the potential for Ray Hampton Racing parts)?

 

I've been wondering the same thing myself. I asked them about a local USTCC event, they said they were not running that series anymore.

They said they were running a Grand-Am Cup race at Homestead (April?). Their website seems kaput also.

I think Nuzzo is the highest profile MINI team these days.