Similar $?? Are you nuts? The STi starts at around 32,000 according to the Subaru site.

 

JCW is a waste of money. You can practically get the same HP with just intake, pulley, and exhaust. Intake-$240, pulley $400 installed, exhaust $650-850

 

I agree, the JCW is a complete, total and utter waste of money...so is a little dinky square box with four wheels and a four banger called a mini or something.......

 

(are you related to Andy?)
>>
>>Mark


who's Andy? I've got a nephew they call Andy..... I plan on disinheriting him for anglicizing his name.....

 

>>I agree, the JCW is a complete, total and utter waste of money...so is a little dinky square box with four wheels and a four banger called a mini or something.......


Most especially if that little dinky square box with four wheels and a four banger is painted in BRG!

 

I would rather have the EVO instead of the Subie.
I think there's a case to made for a prepped MCS vs the EVO. Cost of the two could be comparable. I've not been on a track with an EVO yet; it would be interesting to see how a stock EVO would compare with an MCS with about $10,000 of mods.

It's great that there are so many cool cars out there! Personally, the Elise is beckoning me. Or, for ~$70,000 the Noble.

 

ANOTHER MINI beckons me.....so I can undo my mistake and get me a white job.....

 

hi mark,
i am just starting to modify my mcs. starting with the alta pulley and cooler plugs. i'm curious if you have dsc on your car and do you turn it off to race. i opted to not have dsc and sometimes wonder if this was a mistake? although i don't really know what i am missing. i'm taking my first track class with phil oakes on the 28th :smile:
is it necessary to change the rear sway bar and springs or does one take care of the understeer?
julia

 

Julia,

The only option I got were xenon headlights. I do turn off the ASC on the track though - it really slows down the car.
I think a rear sway bar is a good early mod - it helps the car turn in and rotate much better than it does stock. I think the stock springs were pretty good, I grew disenchanted with the brakes before the springs.
have fun!
Mark

 

hey mark,
thanks. did you go with the 22mm rear sway bar? h-sport or alta? i don't remember your list but i will go through the thread to find it. its all so confusing at this point but i'm sure i will sort it out.

 

Mark, i did just read the thread, alta rear sway bar; i'm assuming the 22mm setting yes?

 

J,
Yes - set to full soft, at the moment.

 

So I am at Blackhawk Farms in Illinois this weekend for an SCCA National, and the weather just sucks.....there is a MINI racing in SSC and yesterday in qualifying it was raining cats and dogs when that group was out....sure was fun watching ole # 10 (Sponsored by Patrick Mini BTW) run circles around a LOT of big iron. Didn't go see the times but from where I was, the Mini was a beauty to behold in the rain. I am betting you'd want the DSC in the rain.

 

Another update:

I was instructing at the BMW club DE at Pueblo Motorsports this weekend. On Friday we had an instructors/open track day.
My best time was a 1:52.34 (in-car Intercomp lap-timer), I easily was losing a second in the 1st corner - didn't figure it out until the next day. Current mods are as above, plus I've added a UNIChip. Here are the SCCA track records, for comparison:
http://www.scca-cdr.org/Race/PMI.htm

 

Back on the original post... It sounds like driver's skill is what passed those other cars.

 

I dont want to sound biased but the MCS is a better car than the WRX any day of the week. Never judge a car by it's 0-60 time. The MCS is more engineered than the WRX, has more class, handles better, and will not fall apart as fast as the WRX. And the MINI will still be around long after the (current) WRX has gone.

As for the STI and EVO, both sweet cars, unless you go to the track a couple of times a month, how often can you take advantage of their 4.8 second 0-60 times?

On another note, the STI and EVO are just a case of adding a Turbo, AWD and fancy kits to a normal family cheapo car. You could make any ol family sedan a race car if you did those 3 things.

The MINIS on the other hand are totally the opposite.... designed from scratch for a purpose. And that is to be a legendary car.

 

Not necessarilly. Skill + Car = Race Results.

He could not have done it with a crap car.

But yes, he could not have done it without that skill either.

 

Stock EVO can be beat by a 10k modded MCS every time with equally skilled driver. But no MCS, no matter how modded*, can catch a 5k Modded EVO with a race driver at the controls.


* does not include MCS with M3 engines in them.

 

I got invited to an open track day hosted by the Denver Ferrari, Bentley, Maserati, Lotus dealer at PPIR. Had a blast being out on the track with some very impressive cars. The MINI held its own against most comers, the Cobra's and the F40LM were to fast to play with. Here's a shot of some of the cars that were in the garage with me:

 

Here's a pic of my car and a Lotus Espirit S4S:

 

Mark--where did you get your Hawk pads from? I'd like to get some HT10s for my Cooper....
Gary

 

From Stoptech - but I think they are pretty available from other sources too.


The Blues are great pads, but don't leave them on all the time they are very abrasive.

 

I don't think Hawk is maknig pads for the stock Mini calipers yet, or if they are I can't find them......

 

Hey Mark,

Great stories. It's great to hear our humble MINI's doing so well against much more fancied motors.

Any plans on adding an LSD. From what i've read about them here on NAM, sounds like they are extremely beneficial for improved lap times on the track.

 

gbuff: you might consider using CArbotech's. I was able to send them some used backing plates from my Audi to have their compund bonded on.

MINIGUN: Yeah, I think that an LSD would help some. Nut after adding the LEDA's I feel less of a need for one, especially when I see the cost becasue while I wsa in their I would also need to add a LW flywheel and a new clutch. If I was more serious about my autocrossing I would add one for sure.