Was at the track yesterday and finally had an opportunity to compare my buddies' new '06 JCW vs my '05 Modded MCS. Track was Shannonville Raceway Park near Kingston Ontario. We took turns driving each other's car (both of us are fairly equal driving wise and have a ton of track time at Shannonville). Details below:

'06 JCW w/sunroof, LSD
JCW suspension, BBK, strut brace
17"x7" OZ Superleggera w/205/40/17 Toyo RA1 (wheel/tire weight 34lbs)
Time: 1:25 min

vs

'05 MCS w/sunroof, LSD
15% Alta Pulley, Invidia Exhaust, Alta Intake, MTH, H-Sport Springs, H-Sport Rear Sway Bar, M7 Strut Brace, Ireland Engineering Camber Plates (No camber set), Ultrik Rear Control Arms. EBC Slotted/Nippled Rotors, SS Lines, caliper stiffners, and crap Hawk pads.
15" x 7" OZ Superleggerea w/225/50/15 Toyo RA1 (wheel/tire weight 33lbs)
Time: 1:19 min

Driving Impressions:
My MCS felt a hell of a lot tighter than the JCW, made the JCW really feel like a street car. The JCW definitely needs a swaybar plus it has an uncomfortable feeling that's hard to describe. JCW slides a lot more which is probably due to the skinnier tires, and coming out of some corners the grip isn't the same despite the same LSD. Brakes in the JCW are phenomenal, vs my car is crap. I need to find some better pads, the Hawks last but they don't have the bite. I'm going to try the EBC Yellowstuffs next time. Pedal was to the floor by the end of the day. Power is probably about the same but it's the speed coming out of the corners that seems to hurt the JCW.

We are going to put a rear sway bar and camber plates on the JCW for the next lapping day, we'll see how much different it feels. The fronts tires were rolling over quite a bit, and without the rear bar it's tricky to get the car to rotate how you want on turn in. The difference in rubber plays a big part too, but due to the BBK getting a smaller wheel and wider tire is impossible if you want to run Toyos.

Just to put things in perspective, one of my other buddies with 25 years experience was also running a 1:19 in his modded e46 M3 (BBK, R-Compounds, suspension, camber plates, CAI). He would get me on the straights but by the time we are back to the Hairpin leading on to the straights I'm back on his butt. I really need to do something about the brakes as it's where I'm really suffering.

So to all those guys modding their stock MCS, you are going the right route. My friend was pretty pissed that his CN$50k JCW was getting it's butt handed to by a CN$36k modded MINI. Where did that $CN14k go...lol

cheers

Amit

 

Another thing I forgot to mention, it seems that they have revised the rear control arms on the JCW, they are not like my stock MCS were. We were going to have the JCW arms changed but when we looked under the car they seem to be reinforced. already. Anyone have any info on this?

Amit

 

How about swapping wheels between the 2?

Paul

 

The 15" doesn't fit over the JCW, it's really tight with the calipers. We are thinking to trying it regardless next time.

Amit

 

Well they both can use the 17" right?


Paul