It was a blast, but I don't know if I will go again out of fear of breaking something. The mini rotates really well on dirt. I didn't use the e brake at all. The biggest issue for me was wheel spin. First gear was almost useless, and it was better to shift around 4k or 5k rpm to avoid wheel spin. If I had rally tires it may have been different.

For frame of reference my morning run best was 80.1 seconds and ive never done it before and the fastest car was 68.4 seconds and that was a rally prepped Subaru legacy. Another 2wd experienced driver of an early 90s sentra SER with rally tires and some other upgrades did around 75 seconds. My cooper is bone stock with all weather tires.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jprime84/8090233853/http://www.flickr.com/photos/jprime84/8090233853/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/jprime84/, on Flickr
At the end of the day

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jprime84/8090238322/http://www.flickr.com/photos/jprime84/8090238322/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/jprime84/, on Flickr
So dusty

Here is a video of my 3rd afternoon run. No cones hit, but I did screw up on the back chicane the second time around. It's a rush for sure.

There was a photographer,but I haven't heard from him yet. Will post pics when I have them.

 

That looks like fun, but i wouldn't ever take my own R55S off-road. Your vid is cool, but all those bumps and noises coming from your car made me cringe the whole time, LOL!

 

Most of it was hard packed, not too different from driving fast on a dirt road. I didn't end up with any scratches after I washed it last night. Most of the bumps weren't all that bad, but yeah I don't think I will make it a regular thing. I can't make any of the autocross events left this year so I thought I would run rallycross once to try it out. There was a guy out in a beautiful brand new Subaru wax sti. He was brave for sure.

The worst part was cleaning up last night. Dirty outside and inside, all the door jambs and every little space had a ton of fine dust.

It does make me want to locate a well used Subaru though...

 

Pics

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jprime84/8093668868/http://www.flickr.com/photos/jprime84/8093668868/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/jprime84/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jprime84/8093668758/http://www.flickr.com/photos/jprime84/8093668758/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/jprime84/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jprime84/8093663527/http://www.flickr.com/photos/jprime84/8093663527/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/jprime84/, on Flickr


You can see the rest of his photos from the event here
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151132991518791.446638.661533790&type=1&l=0473720b61

 

Looks like lots of fun. I may try it.

 

Nice shot!

 

This is EXACTLY what mini's are made for. Definitely not made for run flats. What tires were you using? I bet with the right tires (maybe higher profile?) it would be awesome.