Just got back from a couple track days at Buttonwillow Raceway Park. She's bone stock with just that dump K&N filter and I couldn't be happier. Amazing response in some of those tight apexes and not too shabby lap times either.

Cons.. Definitely need to get rid of the body roll. The seat, even when lowered all the way, is still too high (with my helmet on, my head is pressed against the roof). And of course, I could use a little more umpfff on the straights. But that was to be expected.

Here's a few pics. Next is Laguna Seca next month. Any Cali Mini drivers should come out!


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Nice! Looking good out there! I haven't driven that track yet. How'd you like it? I was told it's like a bigger version of Streets of Willow and is a pretty technical track. I use Whiteline sway bars to help with my body roll. I love them. Here are other options as well. It's a good option to do first and then are really complimented with a good set of coil overs. ST coils are the best bang for your buck for a street/some track time coil. That would be annoying to have your head hitting the top with your helmet on. Might need to just buy a bracket that welds to the ground to get lower, but then you would lose your adjustability of moving forward/back.

-Luccia

 

You know, I like both of them. They are both very different types of tracks. I like Buttonwillow's size for sure and it is definitely a little more technical with all of it's little mini bends and turns. But I like how smooth the streets track runs (minus the stupid skid pan area). What's your take on the 19mm Alta rear bar?

As far as the seat goes, because it's still my daily and my weekend warrior, the bracket's gotta stay. However I'm open to a thinner bracket and a lower seat like the ones offered by Bride. We'll see... For now, I'll slouch a little..

 

How tall are you that you're having headroom issues? I am 6'5 and could see myself having issues with the stock seats and a helmet in my R52 as I had about 1" clearance. A R53 with a sunroof was also a no go even without a helmet but I have no experience with the hard tops w/o a sunroof.

I installed some seats this past weekend and freed up another 2-3 inches while maintaining the sliders, another inch could easily come off if I remove the sliders and bolt straight to my planted bracket. I recommend it!

 

Just got back from Laguna Seca... didn't take the Mini but that track is beautiful. My brother took his Viper TA around it and man, that thing is on another level...

Anyways, I would be down but I'm also going to Thunderhill July 11th idk if theres still spots available... Im in the Bay Area so Im always down for a cruise or the next couple events!

 

Make sure the seat is all the way down, we see the adjusters broke all the time. But with the sunroof you do have less head room.
I've run Laguna and it is awesome. You'll find how slow the car is going up the hill as it doesn't look that steep.

For the first mod you really should look at the Hsport Comp rear sway bar as it will reduce the body roll and get the car to rotate. Plus it will reduce that tire wear you saw on the last track event.
A Schroth Harness is a good safety improvement too.

 

I was out at Streets 2 weekends ago for the first time and absolutely HATED it for the first 2 sessions. Finally, got the hang of it and started to really enjoy the technicality of it. Especially how you could go out wide and not even brake until turn 2 from the straight. The bowl was also amazing as you're completely WOT coming out of it. People said that Button was actually much smoother in comparison to Streets. Streets needs some love in some areas and really needs more apex curbs.

I am not too familiar with Alta sway bars. I run all Whiteline suspension components. I started with the 22mm and now run 24mm. 24 is a bit excessive for a street car so anywhere really from 19-22 should work for you. I just swear by Whiteline products just because I've felt first hand how they've changed my cars handling capabilities.

Too funny. I'm pretty small so I don't have that problem fortunately. Yes, look into a thinner racing seat that has a bracket adapter and a slider that maybe you can swap in and out for track days. Nice thing about them is you can remove cushions to give yourself more headroom. Look at the Sparco Sprint seat and how deep the bottom of it goes as an idea.

-Luccia

 

Yeah I'm 6'3" and I do indeed have the sunroof as well as the silly side sun visor. I really only need like an inch or inch and a half to be good. I have some good footage from my GoPro that I could post, you can see me joking about it.

I really like Corbeau seats too, I'll check em' out!

 

Are you a member of the NCRC? If not you should be! Those track days are the ones that I will be attending. Also, do you know of any meets/shows for Minis in the bay area?

 

Yeah the adjuster is perfectly fine, I think it's just a combo of a cushiony sheet, me being tall (w/a helmet on), and the sunroof.

I'm super excited for Laguna, I haven't had the chance to be on track there before. How would you say your bar compares to Whiteline, Eibach, Alta, etc?

 

Yeah they definitely need more curbs for sure! I'll look into the Whiteline bars more, I skipped over them initially because I hadn't heard of the name before. But yeah, I definitely wouldn't want anything thicker than 22mm. I'm only 25 but I also want my back to stay that young!

I really like anything made by Sparco, but I'm not sure if I want a fixed back yet. But good call on seeing which ones would be easily swapped out, that way I can throw my stock seats back in after the track day.

 

What type of brake pads were you running? OEM? any fade issues?

 

Yup, everything was completely stock and surprisingly held up pretty well. But there was a little bit of fade towards the end of each session. It was pretty hot, I think it got up to 109 so they were working overtime. But I drove to and from work all this week and they are still working great!

The pads will need to be replaced before the end of the year though and when I go out again, I will be bringing a set of EBC green stuff and some drilled rotors. You'll definitely wear them down a little and that's to be expected, especially with mirrored or glazed stock rotors. If you're planning on going out more than twice a year and it's also your daily, it's always a good idea to keep your OEM set out of the equation or just have a backup set handy.

Just for comparison, a few years back I ran an 08 G35 around the exact same track. After the 4th session, I pulled into the pits with smoke POURING out of the wheel wells. The pads were down to the backing and the rotors were thinning and warping like I have never seen before. And... I drove to the the track in it. The whole way home, all I heard was grinding (even when I wasn't pressing on the brakes). Those Infiniti G's come stock with Brembo 2 pistons in the front and they still got absolutely fried. Give the R53 some mad love!

 

^ that's good to hear.

 

If you are going to continue to track your car i would recommend getting it tuned.
Plenty of good options for suspension out there.
I know that i have enjoyed the upgrades that i have done.

 

Would you recommend buying a self-tuner or going to a place and having them flash it with their settings?

 

I started tracking mine this year too. You can get a little added head room by pulling out the silly little side sun visor. It's only 2 screws and you can throw it back in when you get home.

 

Good to know cus I will be heading out to Thunderhill this week with the stock pads (didn't have time or money to get new rotors/pads) but I was going to go with the same combo as you, only use the Redstuff.

As for meets, nothing I know of thats MINI specific. Depends where in the bay area you are, and your type of crowd but theres tons of meets throughout the Bay Area during the week usually at nights.

Cars & Coffee is the first Sun. of each month (I think) in Blackhawk Museum, then theres the one thats out at Treasure Island.

 

How did everything go at Thunderhill?

 

Track day was a success! My first day officially driving at the track in the Mini. Thunderhill - 3 mile course with no cyclone.

All in all it took it better than I or anyone else expected
I think my best time I ran was ~ 2:29 and a 2:30 (forgot to time all the runs from excitement, behind schedule, tows, etc.)

If I had stickier tires and better brakes I could've probably done much better, but no complaints. Pulley upgrade and the above mentioned definitely in the immediate future.

As pictured, a lot of the guys in my group were coming up to my car after asking whats done to it, what does it have, etc. New 5.0 was mad he couldn't catch me at all during a session, and another a 997 couldn't shake me off the whole time he was laughing after.

Here's some photos... Ill see when I get some of the go-pro vids up to share!









annnnnnd one of my favorite shots...

 

For brake performance improvements you might consider brake cooling ducts. Much cheaper than new rotors, calipers and pretty simple to do. http://www.sneed4speed.com/mini-coop...ke-cooler-kit/

The other easy brake upgrade I've heard about is you can get the R56 brakes and they are a pretty direct bolt on fit, in fact they are the same as the R53 JCW brakes.

I love track days, I think I'm gonna go back for my 3rd this fall.

 

Looks like allot of fun, congrats.

 

Yeah lookin' good out there! It's a really cool track, even fun to watch. How did your brakes and tires hold up?

 

I had that same thing during a track day in early June. He was a little upset that I was walking away from him in all the corners.

Good Job