Onsled, can't wait to hear your exploits for next season. You are a step ahead of me in my evolution to club racing.

I was looking over the bmwcca club racing classification. Seems the MCS is classed in "J" This means it'll run in the same class as an e30 M3. How competitive do you guys think the car will be in either J-Stock or J-Prepared? What are the prepared rules for the MCS? I see exhaust, intake, & injectors are free but how about the pulley. There are no BMWs that come with Superchargers so there nothing in the rule book regarding this.

I'd love to run the MINI at bmwcca club racing events. It'll be interesting to see how well the cars do. I've actually joined the Club Racing Digest List to keep in the loop of how things are going.

Amit

 

Well I'm setting my car up for Modified. I've talked with several people about this and have heard a few different opinions. I'm a stubborn guy as the person that I think may know best tells me to stay in Prepared. I just don't want to be that restricted as I really want to build a pretty trick Mini.
I don't see that the Mini will be that competitive in Modified, but I like that challenge.
Pulleys are not allowed in Prepared. No body mods are allowed either. The most importaint rule to understand is "If the rules don't say you can do it, Don't."
For anyone who wants to see the rules that has not as of yet, here they are
http://www.bmwccaclubracing.com/stat...l_20041204.pdf

 

pg27 for Modified Class...The engine of 1600cc with Supercharger will get bumped up by 150% to a 2400cc class.. Does this mean the 1600cc supercharged can boost any PSI?

 

It's open, so I could do pretty much anything as I understand it. In fact I think I could run an E30-M3 motor and rear wheel drive it ... Just like Vanina Ickxs ..

I know someone who is running twinchared Mini in Modified. I hope she will post here sometime .... ADA...

And yes, I would be running in D modified. 2200-2980cc. This is why I want a 2000 lb Mini this spring

 

What would be the advantage of e30 motor over twin charged mini motor?

 

Also; What are your plans for suspension?

I dont know if you know but ;

"Recently redesigned and revalved from "sport" to "race" calibration, the Koni 8611-1257 double adjustable race insert (drop in shock)" KONI $299.each

 

Greg,

Good luck with the diet! 2,000lbs is a nice goal but it's not going to happen. You'll be lucky if you're close to 2,200 lbs!

JP

 

I know ... it's quite the dream, but Rumor has it that Tony Nuzo is at 2200, which "I" find hard to believe. If Tony is at 2200, then I think that 2000 might be do'able.
Where are you with weight?

 

Shocks will be the hardest choice I think. I'm thinking about revalving my PSS9s for much stiffer springs, but I still won't have compresion adjustment.

More info on the Konis please

 

Page 9 has some info on them. (PDF)

http://www.koni.com/_racing/_damper_...rag_racing.pdf

From my understanding:

- These are the best valued racing shock you can find next to the
http://advance-design.com/ shocks...

- Koni also has a "pro racing" shocks that are 1300each and are valved to the exact spring you choose, but if you have this kind of budget then there are other options available like Penske.

 

You'll should get close to the weight you want. Right now Bagheera weights 2525 lbs without driver and five gals of fuel. We still have more weight to shed. AC, gut doors, CF bonnet and boot, Lexan. I see an easy 300 lb to lose.

Fireball Tim Racing M600 MINI USA Drag MINI I believe weight 1900/2000. It only has a roll bar not a cage. But remember once you get the weight stripped out,, you start putting it back in. A full roll cage is going to weight 80+ lbs. Fire system and such. Additional supports and such.

Good luck.

 

Here is a pic for you ...

 

Ours got down to 2460 with no a/c, stripped, but fullcage, fire system, etc. In addition to being illegal for JP, I'd be cautious about running a pulley for track events. We had problems at Sebring...full throttle for close to a minute on the back stretch popped our headgasket with a 15% pulley

Per
http://www.grassrootsmotorsports.com

 

Any other mods? or ECU tuning- uping the redline? that may have added to the cause?

 

nope, didn't have ECU tuning at that point, just Supersprint header, race exhaust, intake, pulley.

Per

 

Wow, blew the head gasket with the 15% Pulley. I haven't heard of that happening yet. You should put up a post in the Performance Mods forum. Do yo think just the pulley was the culprit? I wonder if this would have happened with a JCW car that already has the reduced pulley.

Amit

 

Oops, I stand corrected, I reread my articles, it was a 19%.

 

Ahhh, that makes more sense. A 15% pulley should be ok as i haven't heard of any big time failures like this. With the 19% you are really overstretching the Superchargers Redline if you have not modified the ECU to adjust engine redline below 6500RPMs. I have the 15% pulley with the MTH ECU mapped at a 7250 RPM redline. This map still puts it in tolerence of the Supercharger.

Did your car with the 19% have a ECU map specifically for your mods? If which company tuned it?

cheers

Amit

 

GREG
I have a question. What happens to 06 JCW car that comes from the factory. The pulley is standard equipment with that option. Does factory install change the class. Just wondering. Just pondering something.
Prepared class.

 

I'm not Greg, but...

The "but it came from the factory that way! It's gotta be considered stock!" don't fly. The SCCA has a big list of "from the factory" cars that are not eligible for stock classes. I'd assume the BMWCCA has the same deal. In most cases, it's just cars with certain option packages that are not stock eligible, but in a few cases there are complete car models that aren't eligible.

 

Based on what Steve Olsen (former BMWCCA club racing chief) told me last spring, the JCW kit puts the MCS in I Prepared (like against E36 M3s). No break on the weight, either. I don't think the MINI stands a chance in J or I Prepared. I requested a reclassification to K Prepared or a minimum weight reduction, but this didn't go anywhere. With all of the organizational problems they are having now, I seriously doubt this will be acted on in our favor during the off-season.

 

I find the classifcation for the MINI a bit unfair. Putting the MCS in "J" is pushing it a bit, especially stock since you are running with e30 M3s, and the e36 & e46 Six Cylinder cars! You're running a 1.6L 4-banger that's down on horsepower from the entire field. On top of that, a 15% pulley puts you in Mod. A JCW in I-Prepared? Looks to me like they really don't want MINIs to run. They should be embracing the cars instead of putting them in classes that gives you no incentive to compete. Looks like they are worried that the little "Beasts" will give the big brothers a hard time, better safe than sorry I guess. If the MINI Cooper is in "L" then it would make sense to me to put the MCS in "K" If they want to keep it in "J" then a 15% supercharger pulley should not put the car above "J-Prepared" IMO.

I'm on the CR List and have been reading the internal combustion of the group. It's going to be interesting to see some of these guys on the track together next summer.

Amit

 

Thanks for the info guys. I believe your right when you say they should reconsider the class of the car to a lower level. I guess that will only happen after years of politics and a$$ kissing. It took a year for the SCCA to get it right. Maybe BMWCCA will get some smarts, but God forbid if little sister started kicking a$$ in a class where the MINI should be.

 

This is one reason I wanted to stick with my mini. I was about to trade it or sell it for an E-36 M3 IP car. I know the Mini will not be a front running competative car, but I'm going to do my best to prove that wrong. On a budget no less....

By the way, here is a picture that has Ada Chungs mini in it. She races D Modified with a twincharded as I understand it. This is what I'm up against....

 

I'm a little confused on how the classes work. What is D-Mod? Is there no such thing as Mod by class? Like J-Mod or K-Mod?

Amit