If you are not familiar with turbo's, they get hotter than $750 after you track your car really hard. It was probably bright orange, glowing hot when he was done. I don't know exactly how hot they get but it is darn near molton hot. Always makes me wonder how bad it is for a turbo but they all do it!

 

I did have fun but if you spent money on a new Porsche GT3, the last thing you'd want is a mini cooper eating you up in the turns.

It was all in fun, my buddies were great sports and great drivers. It was more for bragging rights.

In fact, the crowning moment was at the end...

This old man walks up to us (motorsport photographer) and asks if we'd like to purchase any pics. Normally, I decline (because I have a friend there that is a photography buff and he's always taking pics) but this time I asked to see them.

He hands me a pic with a yellow mini cooper passing a red GT3.

"I'll take 2 pics please"



Mark

 

Wow sorry to hear about the damage.

On another note, do you have a video of the race? I'd love to see a mini passing a corvette and gt3 haha. Also, the 350z pulled on you on the straights? I'm suprised because with 220whp and 2700lbs vs 240whp and 3300lbs I'd think you would win in a straight line.

 

My buddy with the GT3 had his video rolling. (I highly doubt he'll admit it though...lol)

The 350Z did pull a bit on the straightaway (unlike the Corvette or GT3 which would destroy me on the straights) but not enough by turn 3 I was on his butt.

Mark

 

Sorry to hear of the damage, but now I have a paranoid question...do you think the M7 heat shield had anything to do with this? I've got one mounted, but I surely don't want to leave it there if it's gonna lead to something like this.

 

NO, NOT AT ALL..... The heat shield is meant to protect the scoop from melting. The turbo DID NOT melt the valvecover because the heat shield didn't allow the heat to escape but rather the car was NOT run after the last session in a cool down lap.

Both of the last two sessions were blackflagged meaning you come in immediately, no cool down lap, come in NOW.

What I should have done is pull in and let the car run so the pump could circulate coolant and air to cool everything down and then left the hood up.

Under normal conditions (over the last year and a half) I always do a cool down lap and open the hood... never had an issue.

However, this time, my dumbazz pulled in, shut the car down and opened the hood. There is no doubt that had I done it the way I've always done, my results would have been the same.... perfect.

Live and learn.... if you're going to beat the crap out of your car, give in ample time to cool down properly.


So just to reiterate so no one misreads what I said. No, the heat shield isn't/wasn't the problem, improper cooling technique was.

Mark

 

Mark,

What is the news from the dealer, if any?

I would like to see those pictures, priceless I imagine.

Don

 

Nothing yet... I got a call from the dealer and they said they had never seen anything like that before. They contacted the warranty rep and he wanted pics.

They'll let me know if they'll cover it tomorrow.


Mark

 

But you have to admit, if you didn't have the heat shield your valve cover probably wouldn't have melted like that. Your scoop would have been toast but not your valve cover.

 

Actually, the problem is some really bad engineering. Hopefully they will sort all this out in 2010.

 

Those with 07s hoped it would get fixed in 08, those with 08s hoped it would get fixed in 09, those with 09s hope they get fixed in 2010... Can you see where this is going...

 

You may be right, it may not have been the valve cover, it may have been the scoop. The point is, the car was too hot due to me not giving it a cooldown lap and letting it run. I could have opened the hood but what about the air inlet tube? The heat made the clamp so hot, it melted the inlet tube and the wiring harness.


Even if the heatshield caused the problem because it contained the heat, it was STILL a result of me not cooling the engine down. The heat shield was made to deflect heat UNDER NORMAL working circumstances. Any product will defect under extreme conditions.

I made the post because I didn't want anyone to freak out and quickly say "ohhhhh, I better get rid of my heatshield, it'll cause a problem".

NO, IT WON'T... I bought that heat shield when I had my '08 MCS and transferred it to my '09 JCW. I did 5 track days with the heatshield on and never had a problem until now.

Just making a point.....


Mark

 

Any non-heatshield Turbo MCSs with melting value cover?

 

I agree but exactly how long is an auto x session? Under 2 minutes to run a course?

I highly doubt you would overheat your car in a 2 minute session. A track event last 20 minutes.... that's 20 minutes of running just shy of the rev limiter.

Point is, I imagine much more abusive than an auto x event (as far as engine)



No and none with a heatshield either.

This is probably a once in a lifetime occurance. Normal people don't do track days with their cars and normal people don't pit their cars after 20 minutes of thrashing a car without a cool down lap.

So no, don't start some frenzy thread based on a question like that.

Mark

 

Hey oc...do you remember the guy with the blue G37 coupe? He is my buddy and he posted pics of your Mini on another site (with the hood up) . Car looks great! There was another silver JCW there too. Looks like you guys had fun!

 

Yeah, I think so. I think he had tape all over his headlamps IIRC. We definitely had a good time.

When it was all said and done and we were waiting in line to cross the track, I had a guy come up to me and asked me what the hell I had in the car. He said everytime we got on the track, I'd crawl up his butt and pass his Carrera..lol.

Mark

 

Yep he tapes off his headlights so they don't get blasted.

 

LINK!?

 

I believe OC when he says that a proper cooldown would have kept this from happening. I am not sure though that the m7 Heat Shield didn't exacerbate the problem. I remembered reading about this happening before and just found the old thread from masterD https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...eatshield.html . His case wasn't as bad but it did look similar. I have to believe that the m7 Heat Shield helped redirect the heat so that it was trying to escape in the gap between the shield and the valve cover.
This is not a bash of the heat shield idea. Lots of those on lots of cars without problems. But maybe for a track event taking off the heat shield should be right up there with torqueing the wheels and taping the headlights.

Greg

 

Not bashing the M7 heatshield here because I've had in my car since the day I brought it home. Going on 10,000 miles and over a year, no melting hood scoop or valve cover/wiring harnesses. It works great under normal conditions but now we know what can happen if you track your car and don't cool it off properly.

 

While the cause was the overheating on track without a cool-down lap, it seems like the heat shield re-directed the damage from the scoop to the engine. Is it worth putting the engine at greater risk, just to save the scoop?

 

I agree that the heatshield directed the heat towards the engine. Having said that, had I brought the car to normal operating temps, this wouldn't have been an issue.

And speaking of issues, I received a call back from the dealership. They said that mini is sending out a field rep because they've never seen anything like that before.

Looks like I may end up paying for this myself anyways....


Mark

 

No, not worth the risk... I monitor that area weekly to see if anything unusual is happening. If I see even a hint of heat damage on the engine the heat shield is coming off and Mini can replace the scoop over and over and over if it melts...

 

An old thread on melting scoops brought talked about monitoring bonnet temps with an infrared thermometer. I ended up buying one and found it very useful for a lot of different things. You might find it useful in monitoring things before actual damage occurs.

 

When we track out here in Pahrump after your cool down lap if you are still running hot pop the hood (don't open it just pop it) and cruise around at 5 mph around the paddock. Parking and leaving it running isn't as good as cooling it down with a bit of rolling motion and a smidge of air moving independantly of the fans.

Sorry to hear that happen to ya. Glad to hear it's gonna get remedied though.