Having done a fair amount of of modifications to my MCS, I was very interested to see what Team Nuzzo has done to make their cars competitive.

Per the rules (GrandAm), there is much they can't do... But, working within the prescribed guidelines, these cars have transformed. I believe they are allowed to strip down to 2,200 lbs or so. Through their experiences, they have learned much about our MINIs, and I find it fascinating to see what they've done.

These photos were originally hosted in my NAM Gallery, but due to limitations, it was no longer feasible to do so. They are now being hosted by danielg on page 2, post #28. Thank you Daniel!

 

Dramatic photos. Worth a much longer look. Thanks for the enlightenment.

 

Very cool. Are those rotors stock? That is the one thing that jumped out at me, they look like they are. Maybe rules don't allow them to be changed?

 

Thanks for posting those. Very interesting. I saw something on the photo of the rear sway bar that gave me an idea for a problem I have with mine. Thanks!

 

Great photos Tony Wow...stock brakes Does their class rule out brake mods?

 

They have to use stock rotors and calipers. I'm not sure about the pads.

 

WOW! very nice!


im right to asume the car is turbo? any HP info?

did you guys see that fuel rail? thats hudge!

and gotta love the tach!

nice nice!

 

No turbo. Stock pulley on the supercharger, and the bigass intercooler (heatsoak, anyone?) Tony says they make less power than many street MINIs. But they're hauling several hundred pounds less weight!

I like the toggles. They've got no windows, but they do have toggles. And the temp control interface!

 

interesting... my mini i think might make more HP than theirs...

 

Indeed, most of us in the Performance Forum are running with more hp than Nuzzo's cars. As Tony shared on MINI2 many moons ago, he wishes that he could add half the goodies that we can... GrandAm Cup rules are very limiting in what participants can do to enchance performance gains.

I saw a can ATE Super Blue there, and I believe kmickey said that they run with performance friciton (compound 97) pads. With the cars being so light, I'm sure that helps braking a lot!

 

Considering my MCS weighs about 2630 pounds when ready for autocross and they run more like 2200 pounds you don't need quite as much power to get things going quickly OR to slow down quickly provided the wheels are light- looks like 17" rims and Hoosier tires.

Things I like-
BIG front mount intercooler with two different mountings
BIG enclosed intake- where is the air coming from? Cowl area?
BIG front camber plates (Frankenstein style)
Triple gauges on the left dash
Side exit exhaust tips (doesn't that just make the rear end lighter?)
Solid roll cage
No interior panels/door windows/radio/AC/horn/wipers/rear wheel wells
Moton suspension (red) cylinders in rear interior and front engine bay.


Interesting stuff-
I don't see the rear brake line. Runs low.
No plastic bumper grills
No turn signal/headlight control stalk
Special bolt on custom rear wheel arches to increase wheel clearance

No front strut tower brace- maybe not legal?
Red loop pull near front door rear edge- to open the door?
Mystery duct hose near driver front mirror?
Large silver hose to fuel cell
"Skid plate" metal for driver's feet
Under body reinforcement?
Blue tape to hold close the ECU box.
Stock shift ****

 

Doors open normally (and swing wildly in the breeze!) I think the red pull is for the fire suppression system.

Mystery duct is a CAI - for the driver!

No reinforcement that I saw. They did construct a 'tunnel' for the side exit exhaust - couldn't go straight back because of the fuel cell.

 

Those front camber plates look too simple. Could they be that easy to fabricate?

 

any photos from underneath. I would love to see the side exit exhaust set up. that engine bay looks over crowded.

anyone know how they managed to jack the car up from the font end without messing it up?

 

Those front "camber plates" look like they're there less for camber and more for caster. Look how far back they've been moved. Very interesting.

 

Hey

I did a search and found all the rules and regs. you can find it at
www.grand-am.com

 

The front coilovers look like KW's, with their purple spring perchs and yellow springs.

 

One car is running Motons the other car is running KW dampers.
TN

 

I wish I would have gotten some shots of the SC... I was under the assumption that TN's MINI's couldn't use a reduced SC pulley, like a 15%, for Grand AM Cup racing. However, after reading about the SC'd Cobalt, it appears that their entry does utilize a smaller pulley...

Tony, are you running the stock pulley, and if not, please share what size? Thanks.

 

If anyone has photos of the underbelly of nuzzo's car showing the exhaust set up i would love to see it. Or if any other person has rigged this up on their min and would like to share that would be great too! thanks

 

Tony, why don't your pictures show that cooler full of beer you have in place of your passenger seat?

Actually, the cooler not shown in these photos is for the cooling system he has in his race suit

 

One of the questions my dad had was what is that electronic button on the gear selector for?

 

With everything that is available on the 06 JCW-MCS, what is to stop these guys from having one of these to race after it has been stripped and roll cage installed? We talked at the last race, Barber's, and it seems a lot of our cars have more HP than what Tony is racing.

 

I believe that they are allowed to use parts from other MINIs, like an '05+ tranny, newer SC, etc. I once thought they were not permitted to use a reduced SC pulley, but I was reading that the Cobalt does, so I'm guessing that Nuzzo's MINIs have some kind of reduction also. We are down on hp still, but with others having more stock hp than us, with the rules the way they are, we will remain at a hp disadvantage. We are allowed to go to a lower weight than others though, if I read correctly...

 

Tony,
Under GA rules we are not allowed to update without approval. The Cobalt was granted a number of modifications out of the box. They are a factory supported effort. If you look around Grand Am are all driving GM cars.