Round one of the future of HS was embarked upon this past Sunday (11/2) in which yours truly in my 2012 Cooper faced off against Eric Simmons and Dave Corsaro (the 2014 F Street National Champion) in Eric's new Fiesta ST.

It must be said that they were on new ZII Star Specs whereas I was on 100+ run, almost 10,000 mile "regular" ZII's. I haven't liked these ZII's at all compared to the Z1 Star Specs I used in 2012 and 2013 with great success. These ZII's never felt like they came into grip, or would do so inconsistently... One event they felt good, another, I felt as if they still had mold release on them!

After realizing nobody would buy these tires used once the ZII Star Specs were announced, I decided to run them off the car and haven't taken them off since mid-March, even if I had a month without an autocross. I hate them and can't wait until spring to decide on something else.

As for the course. NOTE: It was perhaps 50*F and windy to the point that gusts were over 40mph. Tire and pavement heat were nonexistent. It was fairly simple, as the video below will highlight from Eric's car on one of Eric's runs. In particular:

• There were a number of 180* turns which the MINI and apparently the FiST dislike.
• There was one 4 cone slalom at about 30 paces each. MINI loves that and the FiST seemed quick through there too. Nom nom.
• A few slower, tighter offsets tried everyone's patience.
• However, there were at least three (3) major, for a MINI, acceleration zones where the broad torque / low lag 1.6L EcoBoost just ate the MINI.

http://www.roadraceautox.com/showthr...esta-ST/page13

In the end, based on the information above, I lost by a little under a second. I coned away a run that was .16 faster, but cones count for a reason! I had no co-driver on such a cold day whereas Eric and Dave drove together and they still struggled with tire heat; and as mentioned above, my ZII's suck. Am I making excuses? No.

I lost, but I am looking forward to this weekend, where, if the weather holds out, I'll face them again in hopefully warmer conditions. Either the MINI will improve, or I go down in ablaze of glory.

Kyoo, if you jump ship, sell me your Bilstein & JCW shock/spring combo for $200 because I can't buy another car so I'm dedicated to this battle.

Here are the full run by run results:
https://axwaresystems.com/axorm/file...-nov-2_fin.htm

Here's the summary of fastest runs:
https://axwaresystems.com/axorm/file...-nov-2_sum.htm

NOTE: This was a NASA-based autocross, so classing is done by points along with base parameters that are different than SCCA classing guidelines. I think the FiST would have been in class F with my friend Jeff in his STF Mazda2, not class E, whereas my MINI is in class G.

Overall, not a bad day despite the cold, wind, shatty tires and horsepower sections. LOL!

2015 is going to be interesting.

 

Ha!

Thanks for the great write-up! Good to start seeing some of this. I think RS3V2s would even that right up. I have a buddy in an STF Mazda3 that has the Z2ss, idk that he's that crazy about them. I didn't like my Z2's but am loving my RSV2s. I am/used to be a big tire sprayer, I think that contributed to me heat cycling the Z2s out.

I'm stuck in this car for now lol so we'll see if I can put up a fight in my region as well lol