I am of the same opinion, although my move into racing (if it ever comes) will be with Honda - another company who supports their racers.

Really too bad - I love driving the MINI fast and gobbling up Miatas.

 

I had 17x7 wheels on my Cooper with 215/40R17 RA-1s.

Another MINI owner had the 949 racing 15x8 wheels with 225/50R15 RA-1s.

The width makes a difference.

We had close to the same camber on the front of our cars. I was rolling over onto the sidewalls much more than the other car on the wider wheels and tires. The wider wheels and tires also provided more grip through the turns.

This was on a tight, slow track.

The difference may not be as great on a faster track.

I'd go with wide 15s over medium-width 17s.

Oh yeah... 225/50R15 on the 949 racing 15x8 wheels will rub. At least on the car I'm familiar with. Enough to break the clips on the wheel arch trim. If that bothers you, you might be stuck with a narrower wheel and tire combo.

 

Not with an S2000 I assume?

 

No. Honda Challenge car. Probably an Integra

 

Sid, definitely PM me if you start parting out your Mini. There are some good bits on there and I'm local.

 

Sheesh, this is like the guards at the foot of the cross throwing dice for the prisoners clothes before they're even cold. I said IF I decide to go racing . . .

On the other hand, I've got lots of JCW parts I don't need anymore. I guess I should take me over to the part mart and list 'em up, huh?

 

Yeah, best sell off what you can. I hear you dropped like $8k with Jacques this year...

 

Is that all?? You think I got $8K of fast out of that?

 

Next up for me will be next weekend at Llihrednuht (Thunderhill running backwards)

Friday, Oct 12 - TrackMasters HPDE
Saturday Oct 13 - NASA TT for double points (my chief rival has blown his engine. There may be a chance for a gold for me! Woo!)
Sunday Oct 14 - NASA TT

 

Steve and I will see you there on Friday.

 

The other issue with 15s vs. 17s is fitting brakes under them. The StopTechs that Sid (and I) run won't fit under some 17s, let alone 15s.

 

So far I havent felt a need to go to the BBK. I'm not getting fade or over heating and my pads seem to last quite well. Of course as I go faster this might become an issue. If it does TSW has a nice fat disk that they claim works well with the 15s and does not over heat. I've decided to go with the 949racing wheels with 225/45/15 Nitto NT01's. Still need to decide which camber plates will work best? I'll start with these mods then start the money flow as I get faster.
vince=minispeedrcr

 

WOW! Fabulous drive in the rain with TrackMasters today! We call it liquid horsepower, so if you ever want to see what a MINI feels like with 260 HP, come drive in the rain.

We ran Llihrednuht today (that's Thunderhill backwards). The course was designed to be run in both directions and the line is pretty much the same either way. Three big differences are:

1. You get such a run coming down the hill from 9 through 8 that 7 becomes a real turn. CCW, it's kinda blah, you're just building speed up for 8.

2. You'll add 10-20 mph (if not more) on the front straight, again because of the run coming down the hill and wide around 1.

3. If you hug the inside of the bypass at turn 5, you can get monster air. It's not the fast line over the hill, but it sure is fun! You gotta try this!

Conditions were changing all day so each lap was a little different as the rain came, stopped, started again and the track dried out and got wet in different places at different times. You had to adapt constantly to the conditions.

I was on my race tires but it didn't matter. The car handles so neutrally now that it was easy to go fast. Add in the fear factor that most drivers have to deal with, which doesn't count for much with me, and the sum was an exciting day of driving, with a lot of cars that I can't touch in the dry ending up fading in my mirrors.

Good stuff.

 

Sid, how did it go today? Are you a golden boy? If I can get off work early tomorrow I am going to stop by the track. What time is your last run?
good luck(skill), vince

 

Oh man, what a day I had!

First, the weather and the track were perfect, mid 70's and sticky.

Second, I achieved my goal of getting all four wheels in the air over Turn 5. (Pix to follow when I have them.)

Third, my nemesis, Black Bob, blew a head gasket on Friday and was not able to get it fixed by today. Schadenfreude.

Fourth, I was able to fend off the hard charging Laura in her Spec race Miata for the gold in TTD.

Fifth, I now hold the track record in TTD for fastest lap around Thunderhill clockwise.

Sixth, my first student as a NASA instructor went from Novice HPDE 1A to HPDE 3. He was well prepared, listened, learned and applied. His check ride with his group leader went very well and he was promoted. He's a very happy guy because he'll get to drive in 3 all day today.

And finally, seventh, I had a very experienced racer ride with me and he showed me where I could take off two more seconds per lap. !!!

I don't know how it could get any better.

 

Did I miss you? What happened?

 

I give up. If your'e getting 2 seconds here and there, theres no other MINI out there that can catch you...we are already dying just to keep up...now you have -2, we are dead...

 

katmeho, all you need to do is step up and spend the $...

 

Ummmm . . . . TOTALLY wrong. All the cars below except the Miata have a way better power to weight ratio than I have. They all have way more dollars in their cars than I do, and they're RACE CARS fer hevvin's sake! Throwing money at your car is not the answer. Unless you wanna be like onasled, who has the fastest race car (on paper) anyone has ever seen. Except no one has ever seen it on a track!

What's required is a major tweaking of the carbon unit. Matt knows that.

 

As good as Saturday was, Sunday couldn't have been worse EXCEPT my best time on Saturday was 2:11.683, then on Sunday, after working on the three areas Barry suggested, my best was a 2.09.013. Two and a half seconds faster and another new track record. How about that? Also got some great pix. Here's a few.

 

SOME OF THE CARS BEING INTIMIDATED TODAY IN NASA TIME TRIALS


JEFF'S RACE PREPPED MUSTANG - We traded places many times during the day and our lap times were very close together




BABY BLUE RACING COBRA - He would either pass me on the straight and disappear or I would pass him in a corner and disappear





GARY'S FORMULA FORD - He HATED this! But the only way he could get around me was to talk the pit marshalls into letting him start in a grid position 5 cars in front of me. ('Cause I gotta race car dammit! All these slow guys are gettin' in my way! *snicker*)




LAURA'S RACING SPEC MIATA -She is the only one of these cars in my class, TTD, and a tough competitor. She usually owns me at T-Hill but not today. Her best time was a 2:10.










AND THE BEST FOR LAST.




LEARN TO FLY! COME TO THUNDERHILL!!

 

SWEET, Since you had 4 wheels off track do you have to pit and talk to the stewards? Also I don't think your allowed to fly without the official JCW Aero kit.

 

No, they let it slide this time.

It's the wing, man, the wing.

 

Coming at you Flyboy! I have the short fat wheels and tires on order. Camber plates, STB, springs, sways, one ball, intake are all on the way. Carbon unit is going on a diet along with a repeat of the Russell ARC on nov 5,6,7.
Who's your ***** now?

 

Ba-ring it, Kartman! :D