I am finally getting ready to track the GP2.

Local Mini dealer quoted me a little over $400 to lower it (3 hours because they have to remove the wheels.... , and do a realignment).

Is it in line with what other members experienced?

Please keep me posted.

 

Yikes!

Cha-Ching

DIY

First, a bunch of questions: Is the car new to you? How many track days do you have in total? How many track days on this car?

How is the alignment right now? I you think it still the way it should be (not pulling left or right, etc), then forget the dealer.

If I remember correctly, there is only a bit more than an inch of ride height adjustment on the GP. Personally, I would only drop it about 1/2 inch at a time to see how it changes how the car performs on the track.

You should have the shock adjustment wrenches with the GP. First put the car on a flat surface and measure the height of the car at the lip of each wheel well flare (write it down). Jack up the car; best to jack up both the left and right sides in the front and then the rear so when you make the adjustment the sway bars don't interfere. Remove both wheels. There will be an adjustment ring on the barrel of the shock and under that a locking ring. Loosen the locking ring and screw it down 1/2 inch. Then screw the adjustment ring down to the locking ring. Then tighten the locking ring up against the adjustment ring. After doing all 4 shocks and you have the car on that flat surface, remeasure the height of the car to those same 4 spots to check that you have it lowered evenly.

Lowering a MINI adds a little negative camber to front and rear wheels. This is a good thing basically. Front camber is not adjustable, but don't need to as added front camber is really good.

If you are new to this whole track thing, then added rear camber is good. But even if you are experienced, the amount of added camber will be minimal and can be dialed out later, after you learn how the car handles.

Lowering a MINI, just 1/2", adds a little bit of toe-in. Not the best for the track, but it won't hurt as it is only a little. If you are handy, you only need to screw in the tie-rod about 1/6th (one flat on the tie rod) of a turn to correct this. So for $400 the dealer is basically removing wheels, lowering the car, putting the wheels back on and resetting the toe-in.

Have fun with your GP

 

Honestly I would just take it as is first if you haven't tracked it before and make a plan for future days as it is really good out of the box.

Also doing a rear sway bar would be more value than paying to have it lowered.
https://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-rear-sway-bar.html

 

I had the car for 3 years now. I put 27000 miles, and 3 sets of tires. But no track day yet.
I just completed an track initiation on COTA, and enjoyed it so much that I need to do some more.

I think WMW is right. Let's try it as is first. At least we will have a baseline...

 

if you keep doing hpde you'll want to add more negative camber, the outside edge tire wear really sucks with almost 0 camber, not to mention the grip loss

 

 

I had to run -2.5 on street tires to get the temps right

 

Another vote for keeping the ride height but for a different reason - body roll is great for giving you a sensation of cornering forces. A super stiff and flat car will go from gripping to slipping more abruptly than one with a touch of roll. and that isn't a characteristic you want for a track day.

 

I have not found that to be true, your brain feels the G force just the same, and grip to slip does not come more abruptly on a properly setup car, in fact it comes on more gradually

 

The physics are simple - when you are at an angle you feel a slight component from gravity in addition to centrifugal force as the two components of the force vector. Without the lean, there is no gravity component contributing to the cornering forces felt. Also, body roll causes a gradual decrease in camber and therefore a gradual decrease in grip. Granted, this last one also heavily depends on how your tire responds to camber changes, but in general this is the case.

 

also wanted to add, mini's corner on the bumpstops, with softer springs & slalom sections or autocross with slaloms I found the back and forth will cause the car to lean onto the bumpstops too quick and when it does the effective springrate shoots way up, it'll cause the rear to step out suddenly

The GP2 may not have issues with this as they come with the kw's dont they? I'm not sure what the springrates are on the factory gp2 setup

 

Rolling to the point of the bumb stops is a WHOLE different animal for sure, haha.

 

Even with 8kg/mm springs I still get body roll, this is a 1.2 g corner with 200 tw tires

much less than my other car, but there's still body roll none the less

 

on the track you will be on the bumpstops in corners, these things only have a couple inches of travel till they hit

 

So it sounds like the original suggestion of NOT dropping the ride height is the right move then. The last thing OP wants is to be lower (ie closer to the bump stops) with the same spring rate

 

with the KW's that's true, to lower them you are reducing travel

 

The Gen II GP came with Bilstein coilovers. I think they are based on the B10 coilovers they sell but with GP specific springs (hope I got that right). The springs are pretty stiff right out of the showroom.

Interesting discussion about body roll. On a MINI the loss of camber is most pronounced on the front which will tend to make it understeer. For a beginner, this is probably a good thing.

 

Hey, do you know this guy?

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...7&goto=newpost

 

Nice mods!!!
I hope to.get mine set up!!