Hey guys im doing my first auto cross with my mini this weekend in CT. Cant wait. Anyone else auto cross?

 

Yes, I caught the autocross bug in 2002 after getting my first MINI. It's a kick! I've been auto crossing with the Rocky Mountain Chapter BMW club ever since.

Looking forward to hearing about your first event.

 

Thats sweet. Love your signature picture btw. And ya ill deff post some pics and a thread when i get back

 

yup...

 

Yes.

But not for a long ol' time.

Planning to fix that layoff this summer!

 

Great fun! You won't believe how fast 35 MPH can feel. Never AutoX'ed my MINI, always my Miata, but have since moved on to club racing. Once you get that bug, it is hard to get rid of and you'll always want more! Good luck!

 

I did it a few times with my old miata. It is 60 seconds of fun followed by 60 mins of boredom. But it is cheap. I plan to do it this summer as well.

 

Mmm... 35 can indeed feel fast...

This little drift at the Finger Lakes National Tour a few years ago was quite a bit quicker that that though.

 

Be careful, its addicting like crack, and about as expensive when you graduate to Hoosiers.

 

Hahah well it seems like everyone has fun. Im going to install my sway bars and my lowering springs for the summer races and see how much better the car is than stock. Like i said ill throw some pics up when i get back. 3 more days !!!!!!!

 

I ran a mustang in ESP class and had a bunch of fun, did not win but got several top 3's, got wall mounts which are cool, it is very addicting. That car had full Griggs Racing Koni Yellow coil-overs all around running BFG R1's great setup that worked very well!!! Also saw cars without suspension put on Hoosier tires and with lots of body roll, completely roll the car when braking into decreasing radius turns, crazy but the entire car needs preparation to handle added traction, yet entertaining too!!!

 

yes, update

 

I have been doing autoX for about a decade now, driving more powerful RWD and AWD cars in stock classes. But this year is the first season that I have driven my MCS. I am trying the brand new RTF class this season, which is for stock cars on street tires.

I've only done one event in the MCS so far, but I am very impressed with the car. The Mini is very easy to place it just where you want it and it takes to car corrections mid corner well if you need to adjust your speed or angle. It has nice steering, 1-2 gearing, and outstanding brakes. A stock Mini is a great car for a first-time autoXer to start with to learn basic car control techniques.

The best advice I can give someone for their first event is:
1) Don't expect to show up and drive like a hero. 99% of drivers are going to suck at AutoX when they are first starting out. So be patient. You will improve only with seat time and practice.
2) Show up super early and walk the course as many time as you possibly can before the event. If you finish walking the course, and you cannot "replay" the course in your mind, walk it again. At your first event, walk it at LEAST 5-6 times.

 

Yupp, I started in October of last year, blew through my front run flats in 3 events!! Now I have a new set of non-RFs but put my back RFs on an extra set of wheels so I can burn through those without caring

 

Oh HELL yes! Someone sticky that post!

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Don't upgrade (except for maybe tires)! Just learn to drive the car. Minis in general work plenty well bone stock. They are stiff, transition wonderfully, rotate fairly well, and have good enough shocks to handle just about anything you throw at them.

Just worry about getting seat time. Take a novice school if you can. A little experience will make you faster than any of the mods you do.

Also, have fun, thats what its all about in the end.

 

I started Autocrossing in 1986, running a Toyota Supra, I have run everything from those Supra's of the past ,my Vette, 3 or 4 different Porsche's my Mustang and now my Mini. Very addicting sport, I have actually run Autocross events on Pocono racerway and at speeds over 100 MPH at a place in Rome Ny called the drop zone. Once you get this bug it can get real costly, so if you are the competitive type be ready to drop some coin.

 

Oh most definitely. Started out with the Miata, and was planning on continuing with the Miata after I got the MINI. But the torque on tap in the MINI was too addicting to go without, so I sold the Miata and got some slicks for the MINI.



Also, I ran this by MINI USA since I was a bit concerned about it. But they gave the ok.

 

Here's some quick video from two of my runs today, had a lot of fun.. did pretty bad, wish I had a manual, my "sport-shift" auto kept putting itself in second when I wanted to keep it in first...

 

This is my first season in the Mini and I'm loving it. Driving it on the street is fun, but autocross really made me grin behind the wheel of this car. I took it bone stock, including the factory installed runflats, to the Texas national tour event in College Station and am registered for the Pro Solo in Mineral Wells in a couple of weeks. I'm running in the new RTF class as well.

As someone else posted on here, don't bother modding it until you can outdrive the car as it is. It's a very capable car coming out of the factory and until you really learn to drive it, it's not worth it. Installing more than one sway and springs will take you out of stock class and put you into one where you can modify the car much more heavily and will also mean that your competitors can as well. For the most part, you have to assume that your competitors are going to modify their cars to the edge of the rules.

I like Stock since the only thing you can change is the filter element, shocks, exhaust from cat-back, and one sway bar. If you change wheels they have to be the same dimensions as stock, but you can alter your offset by 1/2" in either direction. If you run the new RTF class you can run on streetable tires (Hankook RS-3 is where I'm headed), running DS you can put on Hoosiers and then you're talking big bucks.

 

I agree, I think today was the first day I felt like I was out driving the car hah.

 

ftfy

 

So just by putting 17x7.5 instead of 17x7 I would be out of stock class and into Street Touring?

 

If you are running a local series you will probably not have any issue. If you go to a national event where people are running for sponsor dollars, then they would be in their rights to protest you.

 

Good to know, I've only done campus sponsored events so far and planned on going to my first SCCA one next weekend. I run **** tires on 7.5in wheels in the front at autocross so I can have my fun and not worry about my driving tires