I've heard some rumors that the Mini can outhandle the Evo in everyday situations, and maybe also on the track. Any body ever raced one through the twisties, if you have I would love to hear about it.

 

There were a bunch of Evo's at the track the last time I was there (Thunderhill). They are fast on the straights, but here's how a couple of them ended the day

 

Hey! that looks like my windshield after a winter here in New england!

 

unfortunately we didn't get a chance to race through the twisties, but i know of a modded mini that kept up w/ a modded evo in a straight line. :smile: and i mean REALLY kept up with...

anyway, so yeah we didn't get to do twisties, but having driven both cars through twisties separately, i positively think the mini would outhandle an evo on curves all day long. JMO, but maybe i'm biased

 

good god man! they should hold the road better than that! must be "driver error," which in my experience happens a lot with evo owners...

 

A friend of mine has an evo and was following me to the track. I gunned it through a relatively tight turn and didn't see him for a while. When we got to the track he commented on how amazing the mini looked going through the turn and that he could not keep up. A similar thing happened at an STI "ralley" I went on. By the end of the day people were commenting on how well it handled. These were modified cars and mine was just pulley and intake. Now I have springs and soon a swaybar and the car handles much better than before. I would say that with a few mods you could make one of these car owners question thier man hood. Now at the drags the evo was faster, but despite magazine times I've only seen them run 14.0-14.5 and my best time with pulley and intake was 14.9, so without to much work you could equal one of these. I should mention that a few weeks after the ralley I saw the STI guys at the track and they were all running low to mid 13's. That should give you an idea of how well these cars handle.

 

At autocross and in lapping sessions on the track we see that a modded MINI can keep up with STIs, M3s, and EVOs.

It all depends on the skill of the driver. Through turns the MINI shines, on a short track or at autocross the MINI is hard to beat with an experienced driver at the wheel.

The more high performance your car the more skill you need to drive it "well"- and not loose it. One error can cost time at autocross or lead to the need for body work as seen in the pictures above.

 

The first car had a pretty good driver, the second was a rollover waiting to happen. Don't know how the first guy lost it, but the second came off on turn 2, a long sweeper that nobody ever messes up on. Went off, and should have stayed off but tried to get back on and flipped.

 

Last November I was at Sac Raceway and saw one Evo and one STi on the track. The Sti was constantly in the 13.0's while the Evo was constantly in the 12.0s..deep in the low 12's. The track wasn't very crowded so I saw them run many times. There was a huge pickup truck there that ran 12 secs..it was a turbo diesel. Very impressive until it broke it's tranny.

If you want an opinion from someone who owns a JCW Mini S and a Evo 8 look for WH on roadfly.com. He could tell you his experiences.

Stock versus stock at the autocrosses the EVO times are much better and they should be since the MCS is in G stock and the Evo is in A Stock. I believe the PAX index increases the modified MCS times so even if one can beat a stock STi or Evo time the index will have the Evo or Sti showing better times. Someone with more understanding of the PAX indexing can explain that better.

Evos/Sti has a huge tuning aftermarket so if there isn't question about it's handling it or power it can be solved via the aftermarket at a reasonable price.

 

I think on a canyon the mini might give it a run, as long as there is nowhere for the evo or sti to spool up, if we are talking wet or other similar conditions then that's a new topic... the evos I've driven seem to flat slide a little I have yet to drive an sti

 

Would you say they MINI is more "forgiving" then? Maybe thatswhy it is so much fun to drive. You can get away with things even when you don't really know what you're doing????

 

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of course! when you consider that both sti and evos have over 100 hp than the mini... sure they weigh more.. but that's only part of the story... hp makes vast difference.. they reach each corner faster... so takes more skills as you are literally handling more hp

FF cars and 4WD cars handle vastly differently... 4WD excels at exiting corners... if drifitng, set the angle right and it rockets out of corners like nobody's business... FF cars excel at corner entry, and can be good at exit of tuned properly

as minihune already said... mini can run with almost anything short of an elise on short autocrosses... because faster bigger cars have to slow down more as they will be reaching higher speeds.. but on a wide open circuit or wide open autocross, where the power starts to play a bigger role... mini'd be out gunned on straight.. but im pretty sure mini can keep up with them on corners..

most people already said it... it all boils down to driver skills.. give a newbie an enzo and it's likely an expert can outrun him/her in a mini

 

I have both a well modded Evo and a Mini S JCW, and it cannot keep up, not in the straights, not in the corners. If you did sway bars and lowering springs (or coilovers) the mini might keep up in the curves, but my power is on at 2600 rpms (mods lower full boost rpms) and I have twice the horsepower at 500 lbs heavier. Corner exit would kill the mini, and I can keep in the powerband in almost all situations (even on a very tight course do worry about coming off boost as I would shift to first if necessary) I also have tires that are 255/40/17, which does help.

That said, I love how the mini drives, but my evo is a beast in the twisties and the straights. 400hp vs 210hp, 3200lbs vs 2700lbs means that my hp/weight ratio for the evo is much higher. The awd makes a huge difference, allowing cornering to be much easier in the evo. Now, an awd mini would freaking rule, and I might actually sell the evo for one.

Wouldn't give up either car for the world.

 

Ah yes a 200 hp difference matters...but funny thing when there was only a 100 hp difference and we are talking WHP not speculated HP based on mods...the MCS and Evo were dead even...

310 WHP evo
205 WHP MCS

DEAD EVEN!....and now with more and more 260 + hp MCSes turning up...it is fun...there's always a bigger fish though...

 

A stock EVO will win over a stock S if same skilled driver is driving. I believe on any track.

But the MINI Cooper S is a better car overrall. No "well thats your opinion"'s about it.

 

The market says the Evo depreciates slowly too. So if you buy an Evo and don't like you can sell it for a good price.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/23/pf/a...alue/index.htm

 

DizzyTT,
I believe your assessment. A better comparison is a well modded Evo and well modded MCS.

There are ways to make any MCS handle better.
Start with the wheels- try 15x7" light rims 9 or 10 pounds each and wide 225/45-15 tires which are sticky but smaller diameter to help with gearing.
Add a Quaife differential (not cheap but aids in using all the HP the MINI has). Lowering springs like H-sport or coil overs for cornering. H-sport comp or Rspeed rear bar set to middle setting. Front camber plates to make front camber about -2 degrees for better cornering. Rear adjustable lower control arms to make the rear camber -1.5 degrees.

Want more power? Add a turbo kit. Unless the straights are really long, what you give up will be made up in the corners. Depends on the course, a short course favors the MINI since speeds will be lower.

 

Did anyone see the British car show TopGear where an EVO 8 went up againsted a Lamborghini Murcielago?

You'll have to watch to find out who won:
http://rob.com/matt/misc_videos/Car_...00-Topgear.wmv 31MB

Luke

 

Fascinating.

 

Ouch! This probably a case of a novice driver with more ego than skill in a car too fast for his/her driving ablilties.

For those of you attending MINI's on the Dragon, please do NOT be this guy/girl!

Good to see that these cars were destroyed on the track instead of on the streets where someone innocent could have been harmed. . . . . . but I feel for the poor kids that lost their sweet rides. . . .

 

The MCS with light mods is a fun to drive sporty car. The EVO, or the STI are out and out beasts. To quote top gear "it redefines what you think is physically possible" (in reference to its handling).

In my book there is no comparason...and personally the reason I didnt get an EVO or an STI is because my wife didnt like the way they looked. I really love what the mini is. Hands down its one of the most fun cars to drive on the market today...but when were just talking about pure track presence....you cant put it in the same class as a 300hp, awd, electronic dual LSD installed, Yaw controlled, rally car knock-off.

 

Here's what the insides of both cars looked like. Anyone thinking about a rollbar?

 

buzzy : That was cool video and man I really want to see some one make a video of a our MINI's on the track like this one.

 

I agreee - apples and oranges! The only reason I didn't go for an evo or sti was because I think they both look like boxy turds!

 

too bad all the negs didn't show up. I heard about the steering radius being extended and I know it rides rough. And turbo lag...well, the MR is a six speed and it's probably in overdrive.

But it sure is a fast track car!