This year was a very good year for me in our regional autocross events. I finished overall as the 2013 champion for our region. I am planning on going to the national event in Nebraska next year. I need to decide what class to run.

If running a stock class you have to run R-compounds to be competitive, correct? In our local region we have a street tire and race tire subdivision.

I would like to try and do as well as possible. I have no illusions of placing at the top but I would like to see if I can at least place in the top half of the drivers.

If I stay in D-stock I assume I need to run R-compounds on the national level to be competitive. What about moving to STX and doing a few simple modifications such as front camber plates and coilovers? Right now I am running the stock JCW suspension. I know that the MINI does not place in the top cars in STX but could it place mid pack or better?

 

I'd say run D Street (DStock but no rcomps) and hope to be within 2 seconds of the trophies. Nationals are brutal.... Fun and awesome, but brutal.

 

Why no r-comps if going to run in d-stock?

 

Wait till the 2014 rules are set in stone then make a decision based on what class will give you the best chance. Until then save your money as you have to do everything possible to the car to make sure you go to Nationals with the equipment not holding you back.

 

So 2014 will be a very interesting year at nationals. I'm sure you've heard about the change from "stock" class to "Street". In 2014 both classes will exist. So you can either run your mini in "D Stock" or in "D Street". My thoughts on each class below...

D Stock - Will probably not have a very deep class. This class will be going away in 2015 so I would bet most people will have jumped ship to other classes by the time the 2014 solo nats come around. The downside (cost wise) is that you have to run Hoosiers. If you don't have any experience on Hoosiers and want to run D Stock then you better buy up a set and spend as much time on them as you can this year. Then buy another sticker set for Nats. In a mini that is autocrossed often you'll probably go through 2-3 sets of Hoosiers a season. They don't last very long on a camber challenged car like the mini. They're around $1200 a set not including mounting/balancing. I could have sworn people were running 235/40/17 but it looks like the only size available is 245/40/17. That's a lot of tire money for one season of auto-x but the mini is very competitive in D Stock.

D Street - This should be a fairly deep class. There was around 18 D street cars in RTA this year at nats so they'll all move to D Street with RTA going away. D Street is the same ruleset as stock with some wheel allowances. You run street tires instead of race tires but you'll probably still go through 2 sets a year because of wear on the outside edge of the tires. That lack of camber coming back to bite you again. Good news is they're way cheaper. Around $600 a set and you can drive them occasionally on the street. Bad news is that the mini is going to get eaten alive in D street. The Audi and WRX put power down so much better on street tires (AWD) that a mini without a diff just isn't going to be able to keep up. It will still be a fun car to drive but will suck having to watch the AWD cars eat up those corner exits.

STX - This is the class the wife and I run our mini in. Expecting to be able to just throw coilovers and camber plates on the car and be competitive is laughable. Lets just talk about suspension. We've probably got close to $4k into the suspension (TCKline DA coilovers, H-sport camber arms, swaybar endlinks, Vorshlag camber plates). That doesn't include setup time. We've easily done 7-8 alignments on the car to get it handling how we want. We do the alignments ourselves but if you pay someone that's $800 in alignments alone. Then you need a diff for $1000 plus install costs. Then seats to shed weight for around $2k. Then more power for another $2k. So we're up to $9k assuming you do all the labor yourself. Then you might have a competitive car. Our car is just a lightweight battery and 235 Z2s and a well sorted suspension. It needs power and seats and it could be on the podium with the right driver. I seem to be one of the few who thinks the mini can hang in STX. I think I might have converted a few people last weekend at the local SCCA Test n Tune. We put a national caliber driver in our car and he was able to match his fast time of the day in his own nationally prepped STX car in two runs. I think our car with a great driver could trophy in it's current form. Too bad we might not find out as I'm not sure if we'll still have it by Nats next year. Stupid thing keeps breaking.

Anyways. It depends on what you are going to Nats to do. Have you done any other national events (tours, pro solos, match tours, etc)? That will give you a good measuring stick as to how you might do at nats. If you're just going to have fun it's an absolute blast. It's like auto-x mecca out there. However, probably best to just be shooting for "not last". If you go out there in anything but a fully prepped car don't expect to do well. It's just not going to happen. Everyone is just so damn fast.

If you do decide to make the plunge into STX let me know. It won't translate 100% but I'm happy to share our setup specs (spring rates, shock settings, ride heights, tire pressure, alignments, etc) and that will at least get you in the ball park. Should drastically cut down on setup time. This was stuff we had to figure out all on our own because there isn't really anybody else running STX competitively in these cars.

 

^ very nice post.

I'm not very good, but I'm considering running H-Street at nationals just for fun and shooting for not last lol. Wish they kept SOME sort of allowance for camber adjustment on mcstrut cars.

 

I also wish they'd kept the camber allowance for street.

I'm also considering trying to get to nationals next year, I'll race you for last place.

 

lol i'll probably take u up on that

 

Hey folks - d'ye know anyone that is taking the plunge into the B38 3 cylinder motor for a GS car this year? Any early adopters out there?

I am sorely tempted for several reasons, but would be most grateful for anyone's experiences.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

If the Focus ST gets moved out of GS, it could be fun to watch the Fiesta ST and Mini B38 fight it out. The Focus ST destroyed GS as Spring Nats. I think there is a letter campaign running to get the Focus ST moved to DS.

 

Where it belongs.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using NAMotoring

 

Hmm...

Reckon I'll go drive one later today, and see what I think.

The increased torque should more than offset the extra weight - at least on paper.

Cheers,

Charlie