I am purchasing a 2010 MINI Cooper S, what options should I have installed if I intend to Race or Autocross? Should I get the LSD or DTC, do I need the the sport suspension package, do I need the strut braces etc.

 

JDMCS,
I took my 2004 S to the track (Gingerman, Western Michigan) this past summer. I would highly recommend adding the front stut brace. Gingerman has a long right hand turn that really stresses the left front shock tower. After 60 minutes of driving, I noticed scraping marks on the top of the left front wheel well skirt. Further investigation found the marks were made by the bottom back corner of the Xenon headlamp housing which is located near the top of the skirt. This could only happen if the shock tower was moving/deflecting under the heavy cornering load. I think there are many options out there at reasonable cost.
Mark

 

Really need more info to answer this best.
Racing? Or do you mean HPDE (track days)? If you mean actual club racing then there a whole lot of stuff you need to do before they even allow the car on the track.
Feel free to P.M. me.

 

My thought is HPDE, some autocross. Should I order the LSD and sport suspension or the DTC and the sport package. Is G stock the best class to look at for rules

 

The answer does depend a little on your overall experience on the track and whether you want to stay within a certain AutoX class.

If you want to keep the car within a specific SCCA AutoX class such as the GS, there are not too many things you can do with aftermarket parts. I find that setting up a car to be reasonable on the HPDE track event, would reqiure a few more parts than would be allowed in GS.

For example, the sport suspension is OK for GS and is generally fine for track in the beginning. When you run in the more advanced HPDE groups, one would generally like a little reduction in the cg and some better sway bars, perhaps camber plates, adjustable end links etc and this would put you in a different SCCA group.

 

I always recommend to people to build a car to a class. It's a lot more fun if you are competitive. Even if you don't actually race it in a class you can still look online at track "X" and see what people in that class are running time wise at track "x" and compare to your own.
FWIW
A 2010 S would be legal for SCCA T3.
In that case you could do,
Hoosier tires on Stock Width wheels
Any tune
Cat back exhaust
Delete Cat
Any Shock
Any Brake PAD
Any Diff

Stock Springs, Stock Intercooler, Stock Intake, Stock Camber. No braces, Stock Downpipe.

IIRC for autox the Cooper S is now a D-Stock car.