Yes, but the reverse... red centers with a polished black rim.

 

I had an accident with poor Winston yesterday. I was in downtown Baltimore and went down a one way road that had the left most lane blocked off by some construction. Well the construction ended and suddenly I was in the middle lane. I didn't realize that I wasn't in the leftmost lane and so when I went to make a left turn I didn't look over my shoulder and CRUNCH, I ran right into a honda Pilot. Some expletives were exchanged but once I realized it was my fault I apologized and everything went cool from there. Took all the necessary info and that stuff. Problem is that I really can't afford the 500 dollar deductible to get the car fixed, so I guess I'll be driving with a large gouge down the driver's side of the car for a bit.

The MINI held up well though, the front end of the Pilot hit a foot or so in front of the gas cap and then slid up the rest of the car to about the middle of the door. Whoever designed the rear view mirror needs to be commended because that got hit but it didn't break, just flipped up, there isn't even a scratch on it. The window was down when it happened and I was worried that the glass may have broken inside the door, but it was fine, it still rolls up like nothing happened, and the door is pushed in a few inches. The plastic-chrome cover on the door handle broke off but the door still works and locks just fine.

Guess its time to have my credit limit extended :D

 

Doh! Best of luck getting Winston fixed, and glad everyone is OK, minus some bruised ego's. Be careful out there!

 

Ouch Sorry to hear. I feel your pain. Did I see on another thread that you were coming out to California this summer? If so and you make it up north, let me know. It would be fun do do some coastal twisties. Had a great time Monday between Bodega and Jenner.

My wife got ink on my headliner this week. Got it out with 303. I posted a write-up in the detailing thread.

Happy motoring all

Andy

 

Poor Winston! Glad it wasn't worse and that everyone is okay!

Here's a pic of my track wheels in action. They can be somewhat hard to see depending on the brightness of your monitor.

15" Wheels

 

hmmm, thankfully, you can't see the wheels all that well
Do you have to tape up your lights in front before going on the track?

 

It's not required, but I generally do just in case something happens - the tape'll protect against most glancing blows from gravel/rocks/debris on the track, but if something *does* manage to shatter the light, I'm not putting the other drivers at risk with more debris before the track crews can get out and clean the surface.

Many clubs have a rule about having your lights on when it rains, so.. then no tape.

 

I want to see the wheels Too dark for me too. We only have to tape up if our lights are glass, but a lot of people tape up lights, bumpers, all sorts of stuff.
Check out this Ferarri!


My Goodyear dealer friend will sell me F1's for $157.50. Is that a decent price? He also likes the RSA which he says is just a bit below the F1 because it's wet traction isn't quite as good. They are about $20.00 cheaper.

 

lol.. that's most likely a concours car that they take out on the track - can't have it getting *any* chips or imperfections in the paint!

I got the Eagle F1's in a 215/45/17 for $137 a tire, then a $60 rebate for getting 4. They've gone up slightly in price since then, to $142 from tirerack.

 

I'm thinking of getting Kumho MX's in 215/40-17. They're inexpensive, grippy, and WIDE. MM2 could really use more contact patch, especially up front.

LOL on the Ferrari. I bet he has to spend just as much time getting the sticky off his paint as he would refinishing the whole front end every so often.

 

We're running the Kumho MX's as track tires. GREAT grip, very inexpensive relative to a lot of other tires. Not as great in the rain as the F1's, especially given the ruts worn in the highways around here, but that's why we're using them on the track!

Perhaps the tape on the ferrari is the painter's tape that doesn't leave a residue - that's what we use with great success - it stays on at high speeds without melting to the paint.

We got back from Minis on Top last night. FABULOUS time - 160 minis on top of a mountain!

... in 75+mph winds with gusts recorded at 84mph. I'll link to pics when I can pull them off of the camera

 

Kuhmo MX looks like a great tire. What are they going for?

I wonder if all the tape makes the Ferarri stick to the road better He was faster than my no-tape mini

 

8 Month Update for MM2:

To date MM2 has a bit over 14k miles on him. While the giddy euphoria of the first months of the first MINI are long gone, and the average-Joe's comments regarding The Italian Job are loathed at best; the joy of motoring is still alive and well regardless.
Global fuel economy average is a touch below 26MPG, though keep in mind my Ryephix #2 incurrs about a 2MPG penalty (and is worth every bit in the drivability improvement). I've had zero reliability issues, and only minor, non-critical gizmo issues.
I must say driving the Dragon is still the be-all-end-all of MINI events. You haven't pushed your MINI until you've slayed the Dragon. Autocross is kinda fun, but doesn't really stretch the cars legs in that naughty-fun sorta way. I have yet to track the car (going July 7th), or run R-compounds (budget, yikes!), so that comparison is tbd.
...but back to the MINI, really, all is good! Ok ok, fine, there are a few issues. The friggin' everlasting Yo-Yo Chronicles is tiring, the damn passenger door and h/k woofer STILL refuses to stop rattling, grrr, but those only partly cloud an otherwise clear, sunny day.

Motor-On,
Ryan

 

hello everyone.. it's me, remember, our first graduate :smile: anyway, just thought i'd check in, since i hadn't in a while.. nothing really to tell, but i did hit 25k today.. I've kinda been slacking on motoring the past few months, but oh well.. hope all are well..

-wags

 

Yo waggie! :smile: Hope Winnie is doing well, despite all the drama!

Warning, Drool all over keyboard ahead!
mmmm, UNIchip, mmmm

Just installed my UNIchip tonight.
Cost: C+ OUCH! the most painfully priced ECU on the market, but still a better deal than two JCW for the price of one!
Packaging: A+ HOLY S**t! By far the most professional packaging I've seen for a MINI product to date, very impressive and complete
Installation: B- Yikes! I knew the piggyback system would require some innovative manuevering, but it didn't quite sink-in until install-time I'd have to machine my ALTA CAI and revamp the ECU harness location. All said and done (I should've taken pics of the sparks flying off the grinder!), the install looks about as clean as a piggyback can. Natch, no pics just yet; but honestly how fun are wires and connectors to look at? Yea, thought so.
Booty-Dyno: A YUMMIE! Big improvement in throttle response, making downshifts much easier and quicker. Noticable improvement in top-end power, but the real kickers are the smoothness throughout part-throttle, and the big gain in torque across the board! Did I mention more torque, oh yea
Real-Dyno: TBD I get my datalogger on Wednesday, and I have yet to schedule a dyno day on the DynoJet, though it is on the to-do list.

 

[QUOTE=wagsFTB]hello everyone.. it's me, remember, our first graduate :smile: anyway, just thought i'd check in, since i hadn't in a while.. nothing really to tell, but i did hit 25k today.. I've kinda been slacking on motoring the past few months, but oh well.. hope all are well..

Nice hearing from you. You may be the mileage champ. Although MM1 and MM2 together may have you beat.:smile:

Regards,
Red

 

Howdy y'all!!

Its the prodigal chef checking in...sorry to be away so long, but you know...life and all...we've been doing a lot with the local club we call the STMC (South Texas MINI Club) including a couple rallies, "fun-runs" out in the Hill Country, and our weekly dinner 'n' social gathering on Fridays. One of the other members and I are working together on a weekend long scavenger hunt to be held in October, just after the tri-state (TX, OK, & LA) Labor day MINI Rendezvous...last year we had 127 MINIs cruising through Fredricksburg, Luckenbach and Llano, we're hoping to hit 175-200 this year!

Burnie's doing great, just hit 15K and will hit 16K by next Monday when we return from our trip to Carlsbad NM and back. Not much in the way of additions lately, just Ian C.'s auto-up window circuit--which I absolutely LOVE!!!

We've also been doing an extensive tear-down and remodel of our front hall and bathroom--did I mention that plumbing and sanding suck!!!

Glad to hear all are well and the April Club is still motoring along...hopefully one day soon we'll get some of our loans paid down and I can do a couple of performance/handling mods...Ryan, does MM2 have any original parts left????

Ciao, y'all!

Cheffie

 

I can't recall the last time we got this far down. Great to hear from wags and cheffie:smile:


I've been away for a bit on vacation. Spent some time at Tahoe. Great Mini roads, fishing, relaxing, etc. Had an interesting tank of gas. Filled up in Reno at about 5500 elevation. Drove hard over Mt. Rose, 8900 feet and twistie, then back down to Tahoe at 6200. Then over Donner Summit 7200 via the old Lincoln Highway, once again, hard twisties. Then home at nearly sea level. I got over 400 miles on the tank with the computer saying 69 left. My best tank yet with mountains and twisties. I wanted to drive hard in the mountains because there isa fairly new track near Reno that I want to try this fall. Wasn't sure if the MC would be any fun at atlitide.

Ryan, how did your track day go?

Let's not get to far down again CWFAC people

Andy

 

*yank*

no! It must not die!

Just got back from an event at Watkins Glen in the Mini... Two days after getting the suspension installed

What a different car!

VERY rainy the first day - very very slippery. When it was pouring most people were cautious enough to keep the speeds down, but once it started to dry with some on and off mist things got a bit messy. The event had three pretty decent excursions off the track into guard rails and foam walls... a Jetta, an E30 M3 and an E36M3. The M coupe fried its engine the second day :(

I learned a lot. Talked to myself in the car a lot (there're some pretty good pucker turns to talk yourself into!).

Random pics coming soon.

 

uhhh, lemmie go check and get back to you on that

 

Yea, there are some stock parts left, but you know it's only a matter of time before those are gone too!

-->Andy; my track day at Gingerman Raceway ROCKED! Since it was simply a test-n-tune day, there was no timing, but I didn't go for track record smashing anyway, just to get back "in the saddle". MM2 handled much better than anticipated, being both predictable, tossable, and quick! Schroth harness worked flawlessly, according to the audience MM2's Milltek exhaust and ALTA w/tube CAI sounded "Amazing!". If you venture into Wheel, Tire, and Brake Forum, you noticed that the only shortcoming that must be eradicated are the brakes; definitely the weak-point on the car (at least after you up the ante with engine and suspension work, hee hee.

 

From the Mount Washington drive on the solstice:

http://homepage.mac.com/ndaniels/RachelsMini/windy.jpg

yes, it really was that windy - it was pretty much supporting body weight like that. Sustained in the mid-to-high 70mph with gusts well into the 80mph range.

http://homepage.mac.com/ndaniels/RachelsMini/sunset.jpg

Couldn't see anything at the summit, but once you started to descend into the clouds coming back down, the view was incredible and unearthly.

 

I have been following the brake thread Ryan. I don't know what to do with brakes except nothing. I am going to follow the NASA North American MINI challenge specs http://www.nasaproracing.com/news/ra...challenge.html

for my mods, and they don't allow much except for pads and rotors.

Mini Madness is havng a MINI only track day in September. http://www.mini-madness.com/. I have to decide if it's worth the extra $100 to do a day with a bunch of minis. Check out the videos at the bottom of the site. Toward the end of the larger one there is a poorly driven MINI taking an off-track excursion on turn 9. The driver did a great job of recovering.

What do you think? Is it more fun to run with MINI's or Porches, Ferarris and Corvettes?

 

asodestrom - I've only changed the pads and fluid on my car and haven't really had any problems. Got four events out of the ferodo 2500 pads with two people driving the car. The rotors have at least one more event on them, but they're starting to look used...

I haven't run with too many other MINIs, sadly, but the porsches are fun to play with. The older models tend to have to take the same lines as me to preserve as much momentum as possible.

 

Did they ever find the rattle?

regards,
Red