After be away from any tracks for a decade, I decided to get back into thing yesterday with a mid season autocrossing event with the SCCA Ohio Valley Region. I autocrossed for 10 years back in the 90's then went to tracking for 5 years mostly at the beautiful Mont Tremblant original F1 course and 14 turns.

Built the JCW up for autocrossing and felt really good. Car performed like a champ even on Michelin PSS tires which aren't made for track purposes. After a couple runs, it would slide around quite a bit so will need to get a second set of wheels with Hoosiers to get better times.

I was put in STX class with suspension, brakes, and engine mods. The car handled extremely well with the ST XTA coil overs on middle damper stiffness and NME rear sway bar set at 3 of 5. The rear was predictably rotating nicely even though there were some understeer left, especially in the sharper corners where the front tires didn't bite. Lift throttle oversteer in those corners helped the quick turn-in and mashed the throttle to get the front to bite better.

Since I've been away for 10 yrs, I was also grouped with the novices for the day across all classes. I started the day at 57.xxx seconds and worked down to a respectable 48.361 seconds run. That resulted in 2nd place out of 19 cars in the group (all classes) in raw timing and 4th of 19 when accounting for the 1 cone penalty (only come I hit all day). It was such a blast and showed me how much I've missed competing...

 

Awesome job, car looks great !

 

And looked good doing it. I cone dodged for years before my first track day and never looked back. It would be fun to do it again I bet. Been awhile.

 

Both are different challenges of course. Autocrossing isn't easy and most people laugh at it until they try it for the first time. Always funny to watch the noobies with big V8s like Mustangs and Camaros. They all got outrun by my little Mini on Sunday as they ran in the 51's and 52's. I was surprised to see how much they understeer. C7 Vettes were doing pretty well in 48's (same as my best time). The best cars were Subaru BRZs and Honda S2000s running 42-44's on track tires.

We have the last season event at Mid-Ohio for PDX track day and will get 140 mins of full track time on October 9th.

 

Ok I've decided on NME RSe05 17x7.5" wheels ET 45mm (same width and ET as my street 18" NME RSe10 wheels. Will need to get Hoosier A7 215/40/17 or 225/40/17 track tires...can't decide which size since I'll need to clear the coilovers and add a 2nd 4mm spacer for total of 8mm on each corner - to move the wheel out a bit since the 215 or 225 tires will be wider than my street 205/40/18 Michelin PSS.

ECS - Any thoughts on doubling up 2x 4mm (already have one 4mm from you on now) vs going with 1x 8mm spacer?

 

RSe05 FTW!

I run 215/45R17 Michelin PSS with the RSe05's and 8mm spacers from ECS with my KW V1's set about halfway. These will work great for you

That said, perhaps someone can chime in about running spacers on spacers. I would be apprehensive as it adds a weak point, plus adding the chance of having balance issues with yet another component added to the wheels.

 

Hey, welcome to the MINI addiction club
There are always mods to make

As for tires and wheels...I have a set of 225-45x17 Toyo R888s that I run. With a 38mm offset wheels they rubbed the inside of the rear wheel well arch, through the plastic and up against the metal. Front fit fine and had clearance to the stock MINI sport suspension springs. With my 45mm offset wheels these tires still clear the front springs (~1/4 inch) and the rears just rub against the plastic wheel well liners. If you have stiffer springs than mine, you may not push the wheel up far enough to rub. You'll have to check. Hope this helps.

And here's another autocrosser's thread you might like:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...kin-powah.html

Keep us posted

 

I'm running PSS on my 18" NME RSe12 wheels and don't find the PSS working well for autocross. They slide quite a bit, though not as much as other street tires. I was running 36 psi front and 32 psi rear cold at the event. Temp was 70F.

I tend to think same re. spacers. I can get a set of 8mm just for the events and out the 4mm back on when done.

 

Which wheels do you have? I was looking at the Enkei 17" or Kosei 17" both with 38mm ET but only come in 7" width not 7.5". I wasn't sure if 225 width tires will be fine with 7" width wheels. Is that what you're running?

I think 45 profile will not work for me because my car is lowered with ST XTA coilovers so the higher sidewall will cause problems for me. Yes my springs are stiffer than stock and are linear rates. I have no rubbing whatsoever now with the current NME RSe12 18x7.5 45ET and 205/40/18 PSS with 4mm spacers for the street. They were rubbing the lock rings on the front inside before the 4mm spacers.

 

Both sets of wheels that I have are 7" wide. The 38mm offset wheels are Enkei PFO1s; beautiful and light weight (~15#s ea) (and there is a set on NAM market place right now - no, not mine). The 225 R888 are a bit wide for these wheels and in hard cornering they roll over past the side markers (I don't have enough camber for them), but the 215 Dunlop ZIIs are perfect on them. The car really likes the 38mm offset too. So those wheels with the 38 mm offset and the ZIIs is a really nice combination for me.

I would suggest dumping the PSS tires for a set of the Bridgestone RE 71Rs. This is the hottest thing in autocross right now. My Dunlop ZIIs perform almost as well as the R888s both in sheer grip and response and the RE71s are better than the ZIIs. When the R888s are gone, the RE71s will be my next set.

 

We dont prefer to double up spacers. I perfer one solid spacer if you can. Its up to you, seen people stack them before, but you will need those longer wheel bolts that are on the 8mm set. First, I would see if the 225 would clear the inner strut body first or measure of much room you have then take half of that 10mm gain on the tires, plus flex of the sidewall.

If you find its takes an 8mm you can get a different set, people will buy the 4mm off you if you put them up in the for sale thread or keep them in the future if you pick up another set of wheels , I have 5 sets of wheels between two MINI JCWs


Sticky tires make a huge difference over normal high performance summers on the track. You will notice loads more grip. But it will throw rocks and pebbles, so make sure you painters tape behind each wheel , and on the rear side skirt , also in front the rear wheel arch and have fun at the track, been doing it here since 2004.

 

Autocross is much harder than HPDE events.

 

Yes I like the PF01s. I've had a set of 17" before on a prior a Honda. The set for sale on NAM is 45ET so won't work for me. My PSS are daily street tires on NME 18" wheels so I use them for normal driving. That's why I'll get a track only set.

Thanks for tire info but cannot find the RE 71Rs or ZIIs you mentioned in 215/40/17.

 

Having just moved from a high HP 1996 Trans AM to a '12 Coupe JCW, I concur. I did only trackdays as I knew that the Beast would not do well in autocross. I am about to research what autocross clubs/groups are in my area. I am looking forward to challenging days! I think that my JCW will allow me to do both well! What a treat!

 

Nice car! Like the wing!

 

So based on my calculations, I can go to 17x7 ET38 and 215 size tires no problem using the existing 4mm spacers to clear the front coilovers. Only tires in 215/40/17 I can find that are track tires on TireRack are the Kumho V710 R compound that came stock on the GP2. Will give that a try.

Yes, the entire front end of my JCW and lower half of car are all clear filmed with Xpel Ultimate. That helps big time from those peoples and crap. The one cone I took out left a nice black mark on the right sill but a quick micro polish wipe and poof gone ;-)

 

Get an adjustable rear sway like mine from NM Engineering or other makes and will do wonders getting rid of the understeer typical of FWD cars.

 

Thanks. That's the factory carbon fiber wing that came with the car new courtesy of the dealer.

I'm putting just the wing up for sale in about a week or as soon as my GP wing arrives from UK. I'm selling just The wing since I need the stock pepper red base above the rear glass.

 

Yea its pretty are to see the CF JCW wing, not too many people ordered that option.

 

Hmmmm, Tire Rack has the ZII Star Specs in 215/40/17...
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....Z2SS&tab=Specs

I may have missed it, but why not the 215/45/17?

 

Somehow I missed it so will look at it again via your link so thanks!

215/45 will be taller than I want and will rub based on where I have my coilovers set which are cornerweighted already. I don't want to mess around with raising them and have to cornerweight again whenever I switch back to the 18" wheels for daily driving.

 

Ah ok...that's because the ZII are extreme street tires and not R compound track tires I'm looking for in dedicated track tires.

 

Ok after some more research and caculations, I've decided to go with the Enkeir RPF1 17x7 43ET and ZIIs 215/40/17. The RPF1s are good at 15lbs light and combined with my existing 4mm spacers will be perfect for my coilovers setup.

 

This should do quite well for you. The 43mm offset and the spacers will give you choices to make adjustments. However, I found that the 38mm offset works really well with that tire; 39mm should be as good.

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