I will be taking my 2005 MCS to a couple HPDEs this year. The first will be a BMWCCA school. An open track day later in the summer, and possibly another BMWCCA school in the fall. All of these will be at Brainerd International Raceway. This will be my first official track events. I have attended a BMWCCA Car Control Clinic, and was able to get in some touring laps at the Nashville Super Speedway.

Since my car is a daily driver, it all comes down to balancing those needs with the needs of track use.

Current mods:
15% pulley
DDM CAI
Engine damper
TD Pro Race 1s
Kumho Ecsta SPTs
Koni FSDs

My immediate focus for track prep is brakes. I've settled on ATE Typ 200 brake fluid, and stainless lines (probably). Due to steel wheels for winter tires, BBKs are out. So I'm going with OEM rotors (Brembo or Zimmerman). For pads, I'm looking at Carbotech products. My plan is to use their Bobcats for street use, and swap out the fronts for the track events. Two of their pads make sense, XP8 and XP10. Carbotech recommends the XP8s based on the car's horse power and tires. Several track guys locally recommend erroring on the side of more aggressive pads.

I also plan on flushing the manual transmission fluid.

I'll save the possibility of a rear sway bar until fall, or next season.


Thoughts? Recommendations? Something I've missed?

Thanks for your insight.

 

you seem to have most of it thought out pretty well. my only advice is to add some front camber. a weekend of track driving can destroy a perfectly good set of street tires......ask me how i know! i use track only brake pads, but i increased the Cf in proportion to the tire grip. i now run hoosier R6's and very aggressive front pads. too much pad, without tire grip, is a waste. can you say abs. a stiffer rear anto-sway bar will also help conserve tires by decreasing understeer. it is cheaper than tires. seat time is the most important when starting out on the track. the strengths and weaknesses of the car will become apparent as you gain skills and start pushing the car to near its limits. have fun. greg

 

Thanks Greg. So one vote for XP8s.

How would I go about adding front camber? Is it something I can do at home? Or does this fall into next season.

I'm expecting my tires to be shot by fall, if not sooner. They have been used for one summer, one car control clinic, one trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Dragon area, but no track days.

 

I forgot to ask. To harness or not? Is it something more for season 2?

I've been reading all of the discussions here and elsewhere, about various clubs starting to prohibit the use of 4 point harnesses, or any harness not going through seat ports. I would hate to spend the money and then not be able to use them. For the BMWCCA events, whatever I use, I must provide for the instructor too.

I talked to the local PCA safety guy last night. He said their club is moving down the exclusion route. Basically, they will be requiring racing seats to be able to use a harness. He is trying to fight it, though, as he realizes that will start to exclude the hobbyist track people.

 

front camber can be added by either a fixed camber plate or an adjustable camber plate. the downside of fixed plates is that when installed, cambe may by different from one side to the other. adjustable plates cost more, but allow a better alignment.

harenesses: a CG-lock will normally get you through your first season with minimal expense. as you get faster, harnesses almost become necessary. one cannot have soft hands while holding on for dear life. it probably won't become an issue until you move to R-comps, big brakes, more aggressive suspension setup etc.

most important is to get on track. $1000 spent on seat time is worth $3000 spent on "upgrades".

 

Should I expect to wear out my current tires at the first two day event? I just need to know what to expect, expense wise.

Would the Hankook Ventus R-S2 Z212 be a better choice once I wear out my current Kumho Ecsta SPTs?

 

I'm a big fan of the Hankook RS2 z212 as a cheap track tire. But, I have no experience with the Kumho SPT, so I cannot compare the two.

And about harnesses, don't worry about it now. A CG-Lock sounds like a good idea, as it is cheap and has no real downside. The next step up would be a Schroth 4-point - these are not without controversy. After that, you pretty much need to go to race seats and a harness bar, roll bar, or roll cage. None of those options are cheap, and they all have serious implications on the streetability of the car.

The rest of your plan sounds spot-on. Have fun!

 

No, you should expect to see some wear but I would be very shocked if you wore out a set in a single DE. The fronts, in stock suspension trim, will show some outer edge wear. Proper tire pressure can help.
The faster you learn, the faster you drive, the more you will wear tires. If you continue to track, you will need to deal with the front camber. At that point you will probably want some tires just for DEs.

 

Thanks for all of the information.

At the car control clinic last year, I set tire pressure to 35 psi all around. It worked out very well.

Are there typical settings for track events? Good places to start?

 

you will not destroy a set of tires in your first DE. it takes several weekends to be able to accomplish this feat. stay relaxed and remember that this is what we are doing for fun! you will know when it is time to steer toward a track oriented set up.

greg

 

I 2nd my buddy's comments - unless you are very familiar with the course you are going to, the car you will be driving in, the conditions of track driving etc etc.

you will have a few goods weekends to get to that level, then you will need to start upgrading.

 

Here are suggestions from our site

http://www.mvptracktime.com/id72.html

Mark "Feff" Pfeffer - MVP Track Time

 

The first time I took my MCS to the track, all I did was flush the brakes and put EBC Yellow pads all the way around. The runflats are not optimal, but for one weekend I wasn't concerned about wear.

After that first weekend, I bought a second set of wheels w/Falken RT-615s. Had the car at Mid-Ohio twice in pouring rain and a 3-day at Putnam. There is still alot of good tread left, and I was rotating the tires between days. With the stock suspension settings, at Putnam in the dry, my car liked to have 38# cold in the fronts, 32# cold in the rears. The fronts would get up to 42 when hot and my best times around putnam were in the 1'28" range.
At Mid-O, the rain kept things cool, so I started w/ fronts at 35# cold and 32# rear. I could never get an accurate measure of warm pressures there.

I'll second that comment about $$ for seat time vs mods, but go so far to say that $1000 for seat time is worth more than $10000 in mods. Last september I was running in Group B at a PCA event. There was a Cayman S in that group with an aftermarket suspension and Hoosiers. I was turning faster lap times in my MCS. Quite a few drivers would come up to me after a session and ask about my mods b/c they couldn't believe a MINI would be so fast

 

I love those comments - both Bean and I run many of the same events, and most have been with PBOC - so there are many Porsches and M3s out on the track with us. Usually once or twice a track weekend someone will come over to our area in the pits and ask us what the hell we have done to our cars and most cannot believe that they are mostly stock powerplants, but brake and suspension upgrades and that much of it is driver.

One guy that likes to hang out with us drives a C5 vette and points us by as soon as he sees us in the mirrors because he knows how fast the MINIs are.

I was lucky enough to run at Daytona in December with Audi club of OH, while I was talking with a freind in another pit, someone from Audi driving a new TT came over to ask where I was, and what the heck I had done to it because once he pointed me by he could not stay anywhere close to me on that big track!

 

what LgEnf said is true. we now have 3 MINI's running in the solo group (mct is the other and we had one more before Minatic moved away), one racing W2W, and another instructor, pace car driver as well as others who participate less often in novice and intermediate groups. we don't surprise people as much anymore, since we've been out there for a couple of years and others know that we are pretty fast. we set up camp together and support each other. the other comment that frequently comes from other track attendees is: "you guys look like you are having more fun than everyone else!" i love my track time, and would do it if i were the only MINI out there, but i really enjoying spending good times with good friends. enjoy your track experiences and report back often.
greg

 

It is harder to drive a slow car fast than it is to drive a fast car fast.

Here are the things i think you need for your first year of DE's

-brakes bleed before every event
depending on your driving style you might need to bleed your brakes mid-day. Not the first event but get a pressure bleeder soon. The MINI's brakes are not track adaquate. If you end up doing alot of track events you will need to get a big brake kit. Don't do it the wrong way by upgrading pads, rotors, lines, bushings, brake cooling. You will spend hundreds of dollars on that while you could have spent a little more and gotten the BBK from the start and been trouble free. I learned the hard way.

-Rear swaybar
Most cars have built in understeer. a fat rear swaybar will lessen that. In doing so you will now be able to rotate the car in turns by lift-off-oversteer (learn that at the track). This will also reduce the wear on the front tires since they don't understeer as much. about $200 bucks and you can do it yourself in an hour.

-track tires
Driving your daily driver on the track is fun and those of us that can't afford a seperate track car it is a necessary evil. What you will also find is that the ride quality of your street tires will turn to crap after your first event but return to pre-track quality after a few weeks. The build up of rubber and uneven wear on your tires makes your car feel bad until you've worn all the build up and nasty unevenness off. The best thing you can do is buy a second set of cheap wheels and put the cheapest street tire you can find on them and use them for the track. It is a silly idea to spend that much money on sticky rubber and light wheels for DE's. There is no check at the end of the day for the HPDE champion. You will learn tons more car control on crappy hard as a rock street tires. The only thing you get out of expensive street tires or R-cmpd tires is the ability to go faster so when you go off track you'll hit the wall harder. Also your instructor will appreciate it.

Second year

If your doing more than 3 weekends a year there are a few other things you might want to consider. If you're only doing a few don't bother with upgrades.

Camber in the front and rear

I used to adjust my camber before and after every event. It sucked. I now have my car at a agressive street setup/mild track setup. It's just a hassle to keep changing it and i'm pretty lazy.

seperate brake pads for the track.

Yes, i'm still lazy but there is no pad that is good for the track and street. I used OEM like pads on the street and XP10's up front and XP 8's in the rear. Now with the BBK i still use stockish pads on the street and nasty tear the rotor apart pads on track.

exhaust

The only reason i got an aftermarket exhaust is that i couldn't hear my car on track and i'd miss upshifts. With the windows down and a helmet on you can't hear much accept wind noise at anything above 100. When you learn how to push your car to the limits of traction you don't want the rev limiter messing with the balance of your car at high speeds. A shift light may work to but i got my exhaust used for $100. Couldn't pass it up.

Traqmate

If you can afford one get it. Excellent learning tool. but for a $1000 buck you might have to pass or make friends with a buddy that has one.

OK, that's enough ranting for now. Have fun at the track and listen to your instructor and go for a ride with them asap.

 

Bluesmini, what camber/toe in did you settle on? I'm leaning toward doing exactly what you did--just trying to decide what's a reasonable camber/toe in for both the street and track.

 

Great stuff! Please rant more - it's educational

And just to echo what Bluesmini has said - In my second year of doing more than just a few events a year (last season), I had the alignment setup for aggressive street/track, and I added the RSB. These tweaks made the stock suspension extremely capable for my level at the time, and while I was improving as a driver, the understeer wasn't a limiting factor since the car was much more neutral.

I'll still be on the stock suspension this season, too, but that's more because of money than anything else.

Hmmmmmmmmmm I've read that somewhere...

mb

 

Excellent guidance - I could not have summed that up any better

I'll also reiterate the importance of getting to know the other people at these events. I've driven in enough events now that people recognize me and remember my name when we're at social events or different tracks. I've had people offer to let me use their trackmate or lap timers for a session. I'm planning on going for my PCA instructor lisence at the end of this season too, and knowing all the other instructors and event organizers will help to this end.

Track time is a great time and there are always great people too. I cannot begin to explain in words how excited I am that Spring is just around the corner

 

I'll add one more thing to your list of things you will need for your car.

VIDEO CAMERA

simply down and dirty way.

take your video camera in to Home Depot or any hardware store, go to your aisle with nuts and bolts, see what bolt fits into your mount (ALL CAMERAS ARE THE SAME THREAD) so this set up will work for anyone.

Now go over to the materials section, grab a section of 1/2 inch aluminum channel, it's basically square pipe.

now for like $5 you have all the materials needed for a camera mount

lift up your headrest, mark the channel where you need to drill it and drill 3 holes, two for your headrest and 1 for the camera.

Trust me you will want video footage of your runs, you will watch it a bunch, and you can learn from it also. You may not remember everything your instructor tells you while you are driving, this is a good tool.

 

what he said about video cameras is a good idea. I've got almost everyone i've done. As my times get faster of course i erase the older ones. I'm pretty sure i put a thread on here a few years ago about how I made mine. mine goes between the two back headrest so you can see a wider view and the speedo. Mine has never come out of my car although it can with 2 wingnuts.

Camber

I'm not sure what the camber numbers are anymore. the fronts are as far in as you can get them with aftermarket springs and webb camber plates without the springs touching anything. The rear is just a little more (-) than stock. I used to have it very aggressive but it make the car do the VW squat (lift the inside rear wheel) and that really works the front tires to much.

 

Bringing the thread back a bit, but that picture in my sig was my first "track" event in the Mini about three weeks ago. The course was a majority of left turns, and my driver side tire got DESTROYED in the 3 7minute sessions we had.

I " " track because it was track/autox...you did 6 turns on the road course then came into a small area and did 4 turns between cones...it was a fun setup, then we did individual timed laps afterwards.

Besides a 19mm rear sway, my car is stock. I attributed the destruction of the tire to not having an LSD. Basically my theory is that with mostly left turns I was unloading that driver side front tire pretty often, and when unloaded at such high cornering forces it probably spun a little heating it up a lot faster. Then, after getting cooked, it just started to delaminate itself...does this hypothesis make sense? I just couldn't see it being caused due to my lack of front camber plates as the pax tire looked perfect.

Items on my list are:
Motul RBF600
TSW Camber/Caster plates
TSW Springs
Quaife LSD

eventually, a BBK.

As for tires, this is my DD so I'd like something that would last at least 18k miles if that is possible in a sticky tire. If not, I'm used to replacing as often as 8-9k (rears on an S2k)...My size will be 215/45/17 my considerations are RS2's, RE01r's, Direzza Z1 Star Specs, and maybe Rt615's but I think those would overheat for me on a road course. Wet traction is not a concern, basically life/stickyness/cost those are the main contributors.

 

if you are going to continue with track days, you are going to need to get into a set of track only tires, something in an r compound, that is the only way you are going to keep tires on the mini if it is a daily driver. Street tires are not made for track events, if you are pushing, then you are killing your tires.

you can get a set of OEM wheels cheap on any MINI forum, then pick up a set of RA1s or some other cheaper R comp. In an event two weeks ago, one of our instructors that runs a JCW 05 MCS - he runs a Pirelli I believe and was getting about 14 weekends out of his set.

 

You'll have to elaborate on "destroyed".

If you're wearing out the outer shoulder of the front tires much more quickly than anything else, you need camber plates up front.

 

It was the out side edge all the way in to the middle of the tire, it just overheated and chunked off till there is probably about .1-.3mm of tread depth left. I know that I need camber plates, I'll be getting one of TSW's first camber/caster sets. But wouldn't not having an LSD also be a contributing factor to cause this? I was running 38psi cold all around that event, fronts hot were ~ 43psi rears hot around 39-40...