Last weekend I was invited to participate in an autocross racing event with my cousin's porsche club. I'm pleased to say the MINI held it's own. It was my first time doing something like this and I must admit it was an adrenalin rush! It's not often I get to test out the limits of my car (at least not legally and safely).

My MINI is stock except for the wheels, but now I can really appreciate some of the high performance options like the JCW package and LSD. My next MINI will be a JCW or perhaps a Porsche Cayman.

 

How did your tires hold up?

 

if you've got the bug, the BMWCCA Golden Gate chapter is a GREAT group to autocross with. It's definitely worth checking out. Lots of MINI's participate every month now.

 

And just to add to the other suggestions, don't forget the three tracks nearby where you can open her up a bit more....Laguna Seca, Infineon and Thunderhill.

 

Kewlby,

There is a whole section on autocross and track at the bottom of the NAM forums. It is fun to scroll through the posts.

Now you have the bug.

 

Keep the MINI for your every day stuff and then you will have to build another car JUST for autocross

 

I get invited sometimes to local Porsche sponsored events. Last time they had PDK Boxters and Caymens where you drive with a Porsche driving school instructor and later on they drive you around the track. Those are pretty beastly cars, I was so tempted to lease one (got offered 15k off msrp on an '08 Caymen S) until I realized that having a nicer car than any of my firms principals would clearly be a bad idea.

 

One peculiarity of Solo2 (lest they've changed this rule), is that Stock class can use race tires, so if you want to put down some crazy times, stay stock but slap some r-compounds on there

 

I did autocross with the Porsche club too. This was my first time as well. If I had about two more laps I think I could have come in the top 5-10 slots out of a field of 50.

It was a kick. I did hit the rev limiter a couple times. I didn't know wheather to use the rev limiter or shift into 3rd for such a short straight-a-way.