So I have been running a fresh set of Nitto NTo1's for track days this season. Season 4 was hot day for the PNW and towards the end of the day I could feel the outside edges of the tires starting to get cupped. I watched my temps all day and made adjustment. I got them very hot a few times. 190's even after a full cool down lap and getting unbuckled and
out of the car as I was by myself. Even temps across the tires al day or I adjusted. I have kept the tires on the same corners for all for sessions. This last session I noticed the cupping and that all the DOT tread is gone on the front. My plan was just to rotate them to the back and see how they do. Hoped to get another 3 or 4 track days out of them. Street tires are showing no signs of the same problem. I doubt tire pressure is an issue as I check every session. All the problem seemed to come from the last track day in the heat where I saw as much tire wear as maybe the first 3 days in total on the fronts. Rears are fine. I run here 9/10 to 10/10th and I have pretty much hit the wall as far as lap times with the car. Stock JCW with just tires and racing brakes. Without a 22M rear sway and X12 brakes she is not going to go any faster. When I am standing on the brakes looking for time I can start melting the X10's. Any thoughts on the cupping on the outside edges on the front only?

 

Any pics of the cupping?

 

Good idea. I will try and get a coiuple of pics this weekend as I am hoping to do another track day on Sunday. You should be able to see it in the pics. You really don't feel it until you really push the car hard in the corners and get onto the edge of the tire were it is wearing oddly. First set of racing tires so this is a bit new too me. Amazed at comparing the back to the front after this last session. I shaved a lot of rubber off the fronts on that hot day.

 

If you do another track day, rotate the tires before the first session and perhaps after each or couple of sessions. Once you cord one, you are done.

 

Fronts that lost all the DOT tread and slightly cupped are going on the back and the rears which look great are going up front. I already changed the markings on them before I bagged them up after the last track day. I mark them with chaulk after each track day along with the final pressures I was running.

 

What before and after pressures are you running/getting for all 4 tires at each of the corners?

It seems front tires might be rolling over but I need to know the pressures and see the pics.

 

Like I mentioned to you before, next time try BFG r1 instead of Nittos.

 

Also, what front camber and toe are you running?

 

I will give them a try next time. These had great pricing and got them mounted on light weight rims direct from the Tire Rack.

What ever she came with from the factory is what I am running ont he front end. Might be time to have the front end checked out.

 

I still like to see the pics and the tire pressures. But it is possibly from understeer and unfortunately the Nitto are normally loud so you don't get enough feedback that you are perhaps going too fast into the corner and experiencing push.

Also it would be wise to get some front camber to help as well. A nice track camber to start with is -2. You will camber plates to get that. And go to a really experienced alignment shop to get everything aligned after the plates as it does matter at 130 mph!

 

I have held off going that far with this car. Sway and plates. My wife sometimes drives the car and I do not want her in something that is going to rotate that fast on her. We know to drive with the throttle and not to lift. The first thing the unexperienced will do is lift.

The Nittos are noisy and I am sure I am sometimes going in too hot into the corner and scrubbing off speed with the push. I am always playing around with different lines and trying different things. The track I am running now is the Ridge in Shelton WA and it a great track for the MINI's.
Tight and technical but pretty forgiving as there is only a couple of really fast corners. At Thunder Hill in Cali it is a much faster track. An instructor told me I need to get down inside on turn 1. I was fast in a higher groove.
I tried it on my next session. Big mistake. I could not hold the outside and ended off going off the track at around 100, headed down hill on wet grass. Short wheel based MINI ment lots of pucker. I guy in a MINI was killed there a few years ago when it hit the track sideways and rolled it many times. I had that feeling. Never take advice from an instructor who drives a RWD car.

 

The recommendations I make should not make the car difficult to handle or unsafe for your wife. I tend to be very cautious. Yes big mistakes that are compounded by others will be problematic.

That not lift thing is for beginners and intermediates. Sometimes you can lift and that is what they teach you at advanced race school. Just know when to and when not to.

I find that a lot of difference in instructor style has more to do with whether they drive momentum cars or high powered monsters. There are also good ones and bad ones. Ones that will try to accommodate the style of the leaner and ones that say it is my way or the highway. Some are very technical and others are more open to experimentation. There is no one line but there is a generally accepted school line. Most cars seem to work well on the school lines but that is not necessarily the fast line or the best line.

Driving instructors with momentum cars whether front drive or rear actually understand the mini characteristics and quirks quite well.

 

You need something like camber plates to give you more camber up front. Stock camber is under -1.0*. You will continue to eat the outside of the front tires unless you get more camber. Tire brand won't matter.

Adding camber will not make the car rotate faster. It will provide more grip since more of the front tire's contact patch is actually making contact with the road surface.


Have you ever considered that you made a mistake?

You do need to him the apex at T1 to run a fast lap at Thill. If you don't hit the apex, you are loosing time.

On the other hand, if you take an early apex at T1, you'll be out on the grass also. then again if you take an early apex in any corner, you'll usually wind up on the grass.