DFWGP, where in DFW are you located?

 

Harry's says he got his time down to 2:14:48-you can watch him here (I have no idea how to embed video so I'm just linking to my Vimeo site):

http://vimeo.com/drhorst/review/80707041/891b19ac84

We had one a little faster without video, but I never got to 2:13. We could run very consistent 2:14-16, probably got about 40-50 laps in 3 sessions. Second was cut short by almost running out of gas after starting on a full tank. It was that much fun. Here's a 20 min video that's a little long unless you're in it, but there are a couple of good moments for GT owners. First part is GoPro on my roof, John's GT is #5 (I need to get some numbers-what's the good place?) second part is on John's roof (you can see his hood) and last part is from the side of mine-my favorite view so far because I'm in it.

http://vimeo.com/drhorst/review/80728379/80d7353223

Observations after a second time out:
1. I'm not a very good driver, but it doesn't really matter in this car. It's so neutral at the limit that you can spend the whole day there safely. The GTs could run with anything until you got to the 911s, Corvettes and track cars (except this GT3 that I ran down at 15:38) Watch how much I recover under braking at the end of the back straight. I am aware that I probably couldn't handle a GT3 any better than this guy did, but he was trying and I will forever have video of a GT getting a wave by from a GT3. A car like the GT is a blast at the track, because a mediocre driver like myself can run at the limit through every turn without being terrified.
2. You can see how hopeless something like a Camaro is at 17:40. He was definitely not happy about the hatch showing up on the tail of his American Muscle (For the record, I love Corvettes and Camaros and 911s, but the GT is a lot of fun in this scenario) at the end of the straight. He wasn't gonna wave, but he can't come close to shaking me through the subsequent turns.
3. The Rennline pedals were a great improvement. Not so much for heel-toe action, but the brake feels a lot more solid at 115 mph. Heel toe is vastly improved however.
4. Grippier brake pads would help, mostly for feel now, because I'm still not using all of the brakes yet. Only one episode of fade all day, but they were smoking after every run.
5. The Yokohamas were great, but slid around a lot more than the Kumhos as expected. I don't think the NM wheels make a whole lot of difference in times, but I'll put the track tires on them in the spring and I'll bet I can drop a couple of seconds. John was doing great on GP1 stock wheels with the original tires, showing that I'm probably unnecessarily obsessive and they can probably just be grouped into track or summer at this level (also that John's pretty fast).

 

Thanks for the kind words but don't sell yourself short. There were many laps where you were gaining distance on me and I couldn't close the gap. It was great fun running with such closely matched cars!

Next open lapping day at High Plains Raceway (weather permitting) is scheduled for Dec 14th. I for one, would like to see the track packed with MINIs!

 

Ordered just now. forget the dyno, lets see if it knocks a couple of seconds off my time without a LSD. Might be able to get out 12/14, if not will have to wait a bit to find out.

 

Not sure if this post belongs in the category of track torturing or if it should be it's own discussion thread......

First off, I love driving the GP2 on the track! I've been out to High Plains Raceway east of Denver four times for a total of about 500 track miles. Total mileage on the car is about 10K.

My last track day ended when I heard the telltale rasping of metal on metal from my left front brake. Although the inside pad had worn through to the backing plate, the dashboard warning light did not come on.

Apon inspection by the tech at the MINI dealer's service department, it was discovered that all of the front pads had worn unevenly. Each one was significantly thinner at the trailing edge than it was at the leading edge. The difference was such that the wear sensor in the middle of the pad was just beginning to touch the rotor while the backing plate at the trailing edge was already grinding into the rotor.

This is my first experience with such large brakes and pads but I'm shocked that the wear differential would be this dramatic. Questions for those of you more experienced with this type of brake. Is this typical? Would this happen with better pads? It there a design flaw in the brake mechanism?