Hey, I'm just trying to see how many Mini's we have showing up at the NASA event this weekend here in UT. I bumped into R.Peterson (spelling) down in St. George last weekend, which is how I found out about it. Looks like Brian@Webb will be there along with another Coloradian. My car isn't race ready by any stretch, but I would love to come out and watch, and if anyone is nice enough, maybe I can ride along, if able. Look forward to seeing you guys, and I'll think you'll love MMP.

 

Matt,

Nice to see you in St George. We well be in West Garage #6. Come on by. We'll be there Fri, Sat and Sunday. Our race is Sunday afternoon.

 

.... where have you been...?

 

Working, two large construction projects. But here is some of the low down. Helped Nuzzo at Laguna Seca. The USTCC race in Mexicali was canceled. So Miller is now round two. I was out at the track this afternoon. A lot of construction still going on. But it will be a first rate track.
Installed new coilovers, and other goodies. I'm hoping we'll be a little more competitive.

I'll try to post some pic's and video in the next day or two.

 

troutbum, good luck this weekend.

Looks like you need to update your sig... isn't Lily home?

 

Thanks Jim, updated. When is the Good People car arriving?

 

It will be good to see you and your family again Rich. I dont get to race this time(tires are expensive!!) just trying to get some practice in.

I'm looking forward to meeting all of you other MINI guys aswell.

This track looks too freakin sweet!

-Brian

 

I dunno...

I'll be Going Places this summer.

Great Places like Monterey.

 

Just got back from Miller MS Park - did HDPE with NASA. I saw four Minis: Rich's, Brian's, another super tricked out MCS race car (not sure whose it was), and mine.

The facility is incredible - and the track is LONG (3:30+ laps in most cars), fast, fun, and not as technical as it appears on paper. There's little elevation change (other than the super fun "attitudes" section), and a few significant straights that favor high HP cars - but our Minis held their own quite well through the twisty bits, maintaining good momentum and cornering speed. For example I was able to easily outpace a Porsche 911 GT3 through the infield, but got eaten alive down the main straight. The decreasing radius Turn 6 confounded me for a while because of too much understeer...until Brian took a ride with me to show me how to get the car to rotate better with some trail braking, and slight throttle lift if it still did not want to turn.

Saw you out there racing Rich - how'd it go?

Nice job to Brian as well, who placed third in his TT class on street tires against higher HP cars with R compounds!

 

Sounds like you had fun Micah. Yeah, it was too bad I couldn't make it out yesterday for the race. We had a couple other Mini guys that were planning on heading out, but bailed as well. It's good to hear that the Mini's can hold their own on the infeild, but it makes sence about the straight. That thing is long and if you've got the right supercar, can easliy make it up to 200, so the Mini's obviously will have a hard time there. I hope you guys come on out again.

 

We'll definitely be back! I just wish we had something that even approached that track in Colorado (we only have Pueblo and La Junta now, which are both podunk compared to Miller) - probably half of the folks I met there were from the Denver area.

You should definitely go check out the upcoming AMA superbike race there, in addition to the ALMS race in July -- both the bikes and the faster LMP cars will should be approaching 200 mph at the end of the straight...which is so damn long you start to get bored going down it ...especially in a Mini, which is a brick in the air and doesn't like to accelerate too quickly above 100mph.

 

I've already been out to MMP a couple of times so far, even though it's not officially completed yet. One was an autocross at the far west paddock, while the track was swarming with bikes (a lot of fun to watch), and the other was that mellow Gumball 3000 rally that came through SLC. It was funny to watch the F50's, F40's and SLR Mclaren's loose control through most of those turns. It was even better when a couple of Range Rovers tried it out, they got on two wheels a bunch.

I'm heading out to Denver this weekend to visit the in-laws and will be autocrossing the father-in-laws bimmer at DIA. Just wish Second Creek was still around or else I'd be out there.

I bet the Mini's would do better on the half track version of MMP, cause that straight is really brutal. I'll be doing a lapping day in July and I can't wait. So far, i've been too busy autocrossing to make it on to the actual track.

 

sounds excellent. Im going to try to get out there sooner than later. Should be worth the drive...

 

Ah yes, when doctor's go bad... Apparently there are some pretty comical scenes at the Ferrari Challenge races because you have these rich old guys in 400hp cars who have never really raced or worked their way up using slower "momentum" cars who go out and ball up their nice new $250K Ferraris.

Good luck out at DIA! (too bad you can't do it in a Mini)

It definitely sucked losing Second Creek. It closed before I got my Mini, so I have never driven it - but Randy and Brian from WMS said it was a great venue because Minis could hold their own against much higher hp cars (in fact Randy has a great story about smoking a race prepped F40 in his Mule out there). The track could also be driven in both directions.

I hope we get something else built soon in this area. As the saying goes, "If you build it, they will come"...certainly seems to be true for Miller MS Park!

 

[quote=micahbones]Ah yes, when doctor's go bad... Apparently there are some pretty comical scenes at the Ferrari Challenge races because you have these rich old guys in 400hp cars who have never really raced or worked their way up using slower "momentum" cars who go out and ball up their nice new $250K Ferraris.

From what I have seen in FC, its a bunch of really good drivers with tons of money who dont give a **** about the exterior of the cars and are not affraid to use them defensively.. Retired doctors need not apply... Could we be talking about 2 diff series?

 

You got me - I've actually never seen FC in person...only heard about it second hand from friends who have seen the races before the F1 "main event," and who told me that the backmarkers in particular did not look like they were especially adept at racing at high speeds in their Ferraris given the on-track carnage.

I don't doubt that the guys up front are skilled shoes (with lots of money)!

 

Yeah, I love watching Randy's Second Creek video. Looked like a blast to drive.

If you guys do get another track, which I've heard big rumors of, our possible move from Salt Lake to Denver might be that much easier.

 

Either way, rubbing paint in gleaming red horses is carnage or ****, or maybe a bit of both...

 

Well we had a great weekend at Miller with the Bergman/MINIdeck Motorsports MINI S. We spent a good amount of time on Friday setting up the car during the test and tune. We had installed new KW Race 2 ways coilovers and had not had any time for setup.

Friday was test and tune and we spent a good amount of time working on the suspension. Times for the Miller 4.5 mile track were 3:40. We changed some settings and dropped to 3:38.

Saturday morning I loaded the new ECU software from MTH a new sponsor of our MINI. We loaded the 100 octane race flash to the ECU and went out for practice. Times dropped to 3:32 with top speed on the front straight near 126mph.

Sunday was race day with qualifying at 11:00 and race at 4:00. We qualified 10th out of 13 cars. The leader qualified @ 3:20 and Vesko with his MINI qualified 2nd I think 2:22. At race time the temp was 86 degrees and windy.

We've had good luck with our MINI but not this day. On the outlap just after turn six the MINI went into limp mode. Great I won't even start. I cut the power off, coasted and tried a restart. Thank god it restarted and I rejoined the grid for the start. We got a good start and moved into 9th. But it was not going to stay that way. On lap 4 going through a double right hander again it went into limp mode causing us to go off course into the dirt, more like dust. Again we got it restarted and finished the race in 10.

We'll be looking at the codes to find out what happened. Click the link for a one lap around Miller. This is lap 3 and on the back straight 3 super unlimited cars pass. Two Cobra's and a Ferrari F40 running 3:10's

One Lap at Miller

 

Thanks for sharing. How were teh facilities? ALl done?

 

The facility will be amazing when its done. Still some construction going on, so not as nice as it will be. I was expecting more elevation change since it was in a hilly area(well, a valley in surrounded by the rockies). That was a bit of a let down. Really easy to learn for it being 24 turns though. No tricks, just long sweeping curves with tons of run off.

It fun hanging out with you and for family Rich. You need to get your daughter out on the track allready! Give us a call if we you want some help with some parts.

-Brian

 

Yeah, I thought there would be a bit more elevation changes when they announced it would be in Tooele. After taking a look at the track, I talked with a manger there and he said they designed it flatter for the spectators. That way, if you were sitting on the stands, you could see 90% of the track. You'll need some good binoculars to make use of all that open visual of the 4.4 miles of track.

 

I had the pleasure of driving my MCS at Second Creek a couple times with Randy, Kelly (petterson), and Brad (mott). Great times.

I'll have to look into seeing if the scheduling works out for a stop at Miller on the way to MITM.

 

Thanks for the race report Rich - and sorry to hear about your electrical problems. Any idea of the cause yet?! Looks like from the vid that the guy in front of you was having some issues keeping all four wheels on the track...

That other MINI race car must be super light and powerful, and have a good shoe behind the wheel, to be running in the low 2:20s! I went over to check out his car and tried to ask him a couple of questions about it, but he did not seem too interested in sharing info or discussing MINIs, and said something like "These things are just too slow..."

 

I will be heading to Miller Motorsports Park in May 2007 ...

As well as Pueblo (Colorado) and Hallett(Oklahoma)

Can someone please send me a DVD of the track, in car video of these tracks?

Thanks, Phil Munschauer


FYI:

The 2007 Tire Rack Cannonball One Lap of America presented by Car and Driver will be May 5th through the 12th, again starting and finishing in South Bend, Indiana at the Tire Rack Headquaters.

Per Brock Yates


Tire Rack (South Bend, Indiana) May 5
Autobahn CC (Chicago)May 5
Mid-America Motorplex (Iowa) May 6
Miller Motorsports Park (Utah) May 7
Pueblo (Colorado) May 8
Hallett (Oklahoma) May 9
IRP(Indianapolis) May 10
Mid-Ohio May 11
Tire Rack May 12