i went to the local racetrack sonoma raceway and saw a gang of mini coopers on track and thought to myself should i take the jcw and what is needed ie better tires ? better suspension , hows the big red brembos work ? , my wife has a 16 jcw stock with rottiform 18 inch wheels with summer tire dunlops , i absolutely love it it is so fun to drive fast . i currently have a 911 turbo highly modded with gt3rs suspension mcs coilovers nitto nt01 widebody etc etc and is a great car but to be honest i cant drive the thing its simply just to fast for my abilities im sure any other fast driver can drive it alot better then i . so i want to steal the mini from my wife for a day and try it . what should i look out for with the mini ?
fast driver can drive it alot better then i . so i want to steal the mini from my wife for a day and try it . what should i look out for with the mini ?

 

you should look out for low oil and boiling your brake fluid.. track cars dont run 20 or 30 weight oil and do use a higher temp brake fluid along with high temp pads.

 

Take the course at the MINI Motoring School in Thermal, CA before trying it. They use stock MINIs with Conti's. They also teach you how to drive and brake them and keep them off of the guardrails. Good insurance. You get hot laps with an instructor in another car.

 

You should have a backup car because something will happen to your Mini. Dont race your daily driver

 

The JCW is a track capable car in stock configuration. Do you have the dynamic damper option? There are some relatively inexpensive tweaks that can make it better dependent upon what you are willing to spend and how much you want to modify it. Most track options will make it a less desirable street vehicle as far as a comfortable daily driver is concerned. A good sway bar will help and possibly coil overs. You can add a plug and play module to increase the horsepower and torque for about $400. I have the NM module and I am pleased with it, and a lot of the forum members espouse the Dinan and there are others as well. It will give you about a 30 horsepower boost with corresponding torque numbers. The JCW PRO exhaust or one of the aftermarket exhausts will add about 8 horsepower and better sound that can be switched on/off.

 

thanks for the reply and yes it has the dynamic damper option . i will look into those suspension tweaks and mods but then again its not my car , my wife would be upset if i build a track toy out of it but who knows i might love the car that much and modifications must be done . lol

 

Ah, just get the car to the track and have some fun...don't try and set the non-racing world on fire and you should be fine...seriously! I took my virtually stock F54 to a track day this past spring to see what it could do and learn its handling limits in a 'safe' setting. I had planned on running the OEM Pirelli's, but a pothole changed those plans, so I was running BFG Comp 2 all-seasons. The only modification I did for the event was change over to Motul RBF-600 brake fluid and Power Stop Z23 pads up front to prevent any pucker moments at the end of the larger straights of my home track, which I didn't have. I knew my Clubby wouldn't be anywhere near my Mustang's track performance, but it wasn't as far behind as I anticipated, even with the 'squishy' all-seasons, it held its own for a DD. I probably knocked off 5000-10,000 miles of life off my tires, but that wasn't much of a concern for me, the smile at the end of the day was well worth it. You will also want to fully disable your VSB & DTC, as the ECU will likely get 'confused' a bit at some point and take some evasive measures or throw up an alarm. My VSB was immediately a no-go after just 2 turns with flashing lights, so over to DTC and it was OK till about 1/2 way through the first session when it threw a 'chassis' error up on the screen till I backed off a bit. The remaining sessions of the day were with it full off and no more errors came up.

Here is one of my session videos, you can see additional ones on my channel too:


If you don't have much/any track experience most organizations will required an instructor to ride along, even if you have some, I still recommend getting one to ride along. Their advice will generally be helpful and can help make your on-track experience that much more enjoyable. There is always something to learn/adjust every time you go out on the track.

 

You won't really need to do anything with the brakes on the JCW as they will do just fine for initial use, also with the dynamic damper system it will also be fine. For the initial run just put it in sport mode and open the exhaust if you have the PRO exhaust, and see what you think. It is a fun, stock, track car and after you drive it hard, which is how it should be driven you will be able to ascertain the deficient areas for your use. Once again the plug in modules really up the horsepower and torque for a minimal investment and they can be removed at anytime. It only takes about 15 minutes to install one and even less to remove it. I have had the NM on mine for over 3 years and and 38,000 miles with no issues.

 

..DD pads.. polymer brake pistons ..OEM fluid.. a proverbial trifecta of ****ery. Hope whoever races on that formula can stay out of the guardrails and other drivers vehicles! Only thing worse than wrecking your own ride, is wrecking into someone elses!

*Dont take chances w/ brakes on the track! FFS! Stopping is more important than pretty much everything else!

 

Hence the reason I swapped out pads and fluid. My former DD was an '06 2.5i Legacy Wagon (i.e.- non-turbo, AT) and it held its own up against 'sports cars' on the track and that was with OEM Yoko A/S's and pads, but again with Motul brake fluid. I figured the additional HP with the F54, it warranted a pad upgrade even with the A/S tires. Of course the kind of track layout can dictate different upgrades, so it doesn't hurt to go to a track day as a spectator and see what folks are running and ask questions, since most folks at an HPDE are usually friendly and enjoy sharing their knowledge/experience/advice.

 

I took my 2017 to the track two weeks after I bought it, still completely stock. It was a ton of fun, and it's perfectly fine on the track without changing anything.

However, I would say Tires > Sway Bar(s) (the front and rear Eibach kit is amazing) > Springs/Coilovers is probably the best way to start, in order of importance. Tires will make a drastic difference.

 

Try it stock on an open track day and drive your drive. There is always a chance for accidents on the track, but the same applies to the highways. Get to know the mini and then if you want more consider modifications, coil overs won't work with the DDS, but you can do other modifications for stabilization. If you really like the track after some initial runs you can start the modifications and go from there. Or, you can do what I plan to do. Light track duty and a lot of highway twisties. If the bug really bites you wait until next year and go for the GP!

 

thanks guy for your helpful suggestions but i am retiring my current track car the trusty 911 and finding other options i was given a fwd race car and i keep blowing up motors in the civic im pretty sure im going to retire that car as well , so i figured i will use the wifes mini and fwd platform imo is so much harder to drive then the gt2 its a science how to get that thing around the track and i love it . the challeges it presents is what i love about , the way the rear drifts or rotates is a whole new learning curve for me . i will leave it stock

 

If you have the opportunity take the Phil Wick's class, it's a blast and you will learn a lot. The Miles Ahead program that was offered at the Indianapolis Speedway was a hoot as well. However, it is no longer offered. We used our R56 JCW with Phil, and the first time at the Speedway we drove F56 S's and the second time with F56JCWs. We liked them so much we ordered one and it has been a hoot. I wanted to keep the R, but the boss said no. I should have stood my ground as the R was more nimble, but the power and comfort of the F series is amazing. The F series GP should really be a hoot! Have fun with the mini, you will want another one after you get to know it. Great little funmobiles.

 

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=youtube+mi...ai=hQvtoIKbA0M
You use their JCW's.