Cool, Randy's challenges have been from the likes of Vette's, etc. Would love to see that change! Raising the bar is a good thing, and I'm sure even Randy would agree. Oh, I certainly never saw anything you said as being of the criticizing nature... Please share more as your car progresses into full-fledged MINI racer...

 

Tony, check your PM!

Greg: Stop typing and get that thing finished. You should be burning the midnight oil by now!!! I know how exhausting it can be, so keep plugging at it! Started the cage yet?

Your handling before power approach sure sounds right.

Glad to hear you hooked-up with M7. I run some of their products. (shameless plug, not trying to steal your sponsor, I swear! )

 

Alain,
Man, when it gets cold out I work like a frozen car battery...
Building a rotisserie this coming weekend first. We think we have the seating position set and will then start with the cage buildup. Looks like we will use 1.75-.095 DOM for required parts and .065 for the others. In doing a weight analysis of the options the 1.50-.095 came in the lightest, but is only allowed for cars under 2200 lbs. I think we could get there but did'nt want to take the chance. So we found the 1.75-.095 to be lighter then the 1.50-.120.
What did you end up with on your car?

 

Greg,

I like my cars safe... so 1.75 x .095 D.O.M. and I don't regret the extra 7(?) lbs.

I would definitely suggest lowering your seat as much as you can (re: get rid of the cross-bar on the floor). The "Super-Touring" look where you barely see the helmet from the side window is more than cool. It lowers your center of gravity. Visibility is not an issue, at least for me.

 

Oh yes, forgot: If you get down to 2,200 lbs, as I was explaining to Tony, I owe you a case of beer

 

:impatient

As for the seat, it's how far back we can get it that's what we are after. Now the main hoop is further back, about 8" or more behind the B pillar, it just became an issue of how to route the NASCAR door bars. I think we have that pretty under control now.... I hope
Being that I am using a Kirkey seat, it will be attached to the roll cage, so we will no longer be depending on the factory mounting points. The seat is so low profile though that it will clear those mounts anyway. If I sit it on the mounts I can't see over the dash . It will be a weird feeling when I finally drive this car.

 

Sounds like a very realistic and achievable goal... 2,100, I think, at least from what I can discern from others, would be quite an achievement... 2k or lower, will take some big bank I'm guessing... These weight figures based upon a nearly empty fuel tank...

Sitting that low looks like some kid driving . But, it makes sense, so long as the visibility is there.

Glad to see M7 products making it to the track! I've been pleased with their products and even more so with their support/service...

 

Onasled
Congratulation on your sponsorship with Peter, I've been very happy with all there products on my ride and thumbs upfor sharing your experience. It is sooooo boring in Hawaii and the only race track is closing soon You bring a little excitment to us.

 

Come and watch!!! I need some help with crewing the car as my daughter has a swim meet that weekend and can't come. I should have 5 crew tickets, I haven't worked on plans yet. But if you want to help, your more then welcome. Let me know and I'll save a ticket for you. Here is a list of the schedule.

A1 GRAND PRIX of NATIONS
Event schedule
Subject to change
Friday March 10

10:15am -10:45am Practice: US Touring Cars
2:30pm - 3:00pm Practice: US Touring Cars
4:00pm – 5:00pm Free Practice 2: A1 GP

Saturday March 11
10:00am – 10:30am Qualifying 1: US Touring Cars
12:45pm – 1:15pm Qualifying: US Touring Cars

Sunday March 12
10:30am – 10:45am Warm-up: US Touring Cars
11:45am – 12:15am RACE: US Touring Cars
3:30pm – 4:15pm MAIN RACE: A1 GP (standing start)

 

Rich, I would be interested! As far as crewing is concerned, please let me know what the time commitments are... Being married now, I need to start setting the expectations pretty early...

 

What? ...is this a recent mod?

 

Two years now... Relatively recent. A few photos are now in my gallery. Some of my colleagues have been wanting to see, so I just uploaded them...

I got my MINI when I was dating her, so she's cool with my MINI, to a degree...

 

Greg,

I experimented with lowering the stock seat as far as possible at the track last year...not bad. But 8"back...you've got some pedal work in front of you...I'm only 5'10" with fairly long legs but not that long

As an aside, I felt the relationship with the gear changer was much better while sitting lower, much much better.


ANOTHER NOTE GREG: Check out Grass Roots April issue - just came today. There's a mini on the front page. On page 18 - count all the advertisements - there is an column titiled Maxi Awards for MINI Drivers. Mini USA is apparently paying some big bucks for for wins and championships is many races this year. Go to susan.lee@miniusa.com

 

Thanks Meb . Mine came also. I look forward to sitting down tonight to read the Mini stuff.
MINI GRIP.Make Your Cooper Stick Like it's Never Stuck Before...

I've been aware of the awards program for a couple of years thanks to Rich here on Nam. Unfortunatly they offer nothing for BMWCCA. Not sure about the NASA GT series though. I'll look into this or maybe someone here can answer.

Also note that there is a blurb in the front part of the mag about Simpson offering finacing on the HANS.

 

Also note that there is a blurb in the front part of the mag about Simpson offering finacing on the HANS

Thanks, I'll look into that offer. The more I think about this, the more I think wheel chair racing is something I would prefer to avoid...and that's the positive outlook...

The Mini Grip article was interesting...mostly for autoX folks.