I'm a member of the Norcal Shelby club (via my Mustang roots). I took my little car to a drivers school/ open track event at Thunderhill Raceway north of Sacramento. Here are some comments.

1) The Mini handles well, but against better cars and drivers, I was just a moving slalom gate! The weekend started with four run groups. I do the "newbie retard" (uh, novice) group because I've only got about 4-5 track events under my belt. I was really holding my own (passing more than passed, having wicked fun) until late Sunday when the Yellow (mine) and Red (next step up) groups were combined. Wow! I had my clock cleaned! A torino GT (for non-ford people, a car as wide as the mini is long, with a 428 from the factory) hung with me IN THE TURNS and just ate me up in the straights! I'm sure diver skill is the issue.... But a bad car in a good drivers hands is better than a good car in with a bad driver!

2) It's easy to get embarrassed. I was going down the front straight, almost hitting the fuel cut off, when the car started to make a hell of a racket! Turns out I"d blown one of the Intercooler seals (my own fault, I was doing work on the car and didn't tighten one all the way). The people in the club are nice (someone lent me torx sockets and wrenches to fix my car), but it's just human nature to look at the car that died. People are supporting while you're fixing it, then tease you shamelessly when all is better! But if you thought your CAI had super charger whine, start the car without the intercooler seals and listen! I was shocked that it ran, and how noisy it was doing it (I drove off the track to do the work).

3) Some people were very surprised at what the car can do. During the driver school, they had some slalom cones set up. Perfect for the Mini, all turns and no where to use lots of torque. I got high marks for how fast the car got through the cones.

4) I NEED MORE HORSEPOWER!!!!! I figure a Mini with 250 at the wheels can stay in the hunt a little better than I did. There was a 91 CRX there. Everything that wasn't needed for racing had been stripped, and a blower added to the little motor. TALK ABOUT FAST!!!!!!! Not pretty (spray paint flat black) but FAST. Front drive and light.....

5) Camber plates are a must. I was running Goodyear F1s (my street tires), and after the whole weekend, I still had the outer tread on the tires! Before the camber plates (running -2 degrees camber), a track session pretty much wasted a set of tires.

Anyway, tons of fun, the "instructors" really do help (all volenteers). It was fun hearing them see who got to ride in the Mini. All that hadn't were very curios! And this is from guys who can fart more money than the car costs! If you've never done a track event, or had driving coches, you've got to do it!

Matt

 

Matt,
What tire pressures were you running? If you still had tread left on the front outside edges, you probably had a lot of grip you weren't using.

That sounds like a great time. I would love to get my MCS to the track (right now it's on the boat!). I am going this weekend, but it's with my 944 turbo track car.

Keep the shiny side up,
naparsei