If you follow the link, you can see what I did over Thanksgiving...

scobib's brake ducts (Adobe PDF)

No, it's not a very high tech solution - but, it looks good and seems to work well enough! A niftier solution that would maintain ground clearance would require some serious work to overcome all the obstacles on the front of the MINI.

Total cost - about $20.

 

Thanks for the tutorial---very interesting & creative! Hmmmm, wonder if you could use that to blow the brake dust off my white wheels to keep them clean. LOL. JK. But I do wonder if that would cause the wheels to be even dirtier.

 

I just replaced one because of a broken lens. So all I have to do is get someone to smash the other one an I'll be in business!!! Seriously, I'm glad someone is trying to come up with a way to cool these brakes ! I saw some pic's of scoops on the black trim just above the air dam (Belgain Cooper S site) quite a while ago. Whish I could find them now.

 

Or you could get a brake kit

 

Yeah, but... BBK = at least $800... Brake ducts = $20.

IMHO, the MINI's stock brakes are more than adequate for autocrossing (mostly what I do) and the occasional track day if you change the fluid out with something like Ate Blue. I've noticed fade a couple of times, but it hasn't been too bad - this should solve that problem.

 

The wheels get even dirtier... which, to me, is a sign that it's working!

 

Based on an analysis by an aeronautical engineer working on inlets and stuff for aircraft, he reckons the flow will be something like this for my brake ducts...

Using 4.906 (Pi*1.25"*1.25", 1.25" being the radius of the duct) as the rough area for the intake:

Speed CFM
10---------29.4
20---------60
30---------89
40---------120
50---------149
60---------180
70---------209
80---------240
90---------270
100--------299
110--------329
120--------359
130--------390
140--------419

 

Theres not a pic but is there anyway that you further the tubing so it goes towards the brake? It seems kinda far away? If it was that far away it doesnt seem like it would do much more than without it maybe

Awesome creativeness

 

There are pics in the PDF...

But no... using the tubing I am using there is no way to clear the wheel when it is turned at full lock. In order to do that, you'd have to have molded pieces, a la the JCW duct kit (which is INSANELY priced) or remove the fender liner completely...

IMHO, ANY additional airflow into the wheel well would be better than NOT having the additional airflow. There's very little facility for air to enter the wheel well by itself - one reason MINI relies on open spoke wheel designs is to allow more heat out and more air in. All I know is that my wheels are getting dirtier than ever before and my brakes seem to run cooler (anecdotal evidence, yes). It has to be better than nothing!

Because of the design of the backing plate, there's no way to connect a hose directly to backing plate. Many Ford Mustang brake duct kits provide a new backing plate that allows you to directly connect the ducting to the backing plate...

My setup is a stop gap until I can figure something better out - without totally removing the inner fender liner, it's going to be tough to make something work given the constraints of the front-end of the MINI. There's just SO much packed in there and not much room to work with. I'm not sure we'll ever get to a system that would allow you to directly connect a duct to a backing plate without use of injection molding or something.

 

Yah, they offer the same back plate for a lot of BMWs too. I know M7 has a custom brake duct that is much cheaper then jcw and i think it has a back plate, but i dont know?

Any worry about addind lift to the car? You could put some classy louvres in the back side to let out some of the air too I'm just kidding, i doubt a duct like that would add enough lift in the wheel well to affect anything...just an observation.

I think its awesome what you did, and it looks very cool from the front of the car

 

That's some creativity. I like it! Super cheap too.

 

Postscript:

I ran stock pads all weekend at TWS with my brake ducts on the 2.9 mile road course... never even had a hint of fade once... Repeated heavy braking from 120+ to 70-80 for turn 2, 100 to 50 for the carousel, 100 to 60 for 13/14/15, and light braking elsewhere over a 25 minute session and the brakes were totally solid... when I came in, the rotors were remarkably cooler than I thought they would be... I found myself braking as deep as people running much more expensive setups (with the exception of some BBK's). I ran nine 25-minute sessions over the weekend...

IMHO, for occassional DE's and autocrossing, the ducts are PIMP! If you tracked 1-2 times a month, though, you'd DEFINITELY want B3's or some other BBK for easy pad swapping and more longevity and performance over the long haul.