Man, this MCS is so much freakin fun. On the first autocross of the year today in KC, I was amazed at how well the cooper handles when compared to my 350Z from last year. Of course we were running on SSR Comps and the new Hoosier S04's so that helped a bit. It was very easy to get the cooper to rotate, as suggested by Bgarfield, all I had to do was lift off the throttle a bit and BAMM, the back end rotated around beautifully when I needed it to.

I think I did well with times compared to the other guys in my heat but, unfortunately in KC, they don't post results for several days so I'll have to wait.

Next weekend is the Prosolo in Topeka so I'll get a chance to see where the Mini really stands in my hands although I'll probably get my **** handed back to me by the time its all said and done!!! 7 more days and we'll know!

 

Glad to hear you had a blast!

What tire pressures did you run on those Hoosiers? I'm still trying to figure out what works for me. At my first race with them, I started at about 44psi all around.

 

Yucca

We ran 38 Front and rear to start, I let the pressure drift up to 40 on the front and left the rears at 38 which seemed to work well. It was only 46 degree's on asphalt so we will probably change setting's later this summer with higher temperature and different surface type(concrete). I think with concrete, your supposed to run 44 or so since it hooks up a lot better than asphalt but I'm not for sure though, maybe one of the vets can chime in on the concrete pressure's to run.

We'll have the Koni SA's on next weekend in Topeka on the concrete so we'll try some different setting's to see what works best since we'll have several runs with the Prosolo format.

 

>>It was very easy to get the cooper to rotate, as suggested by Bgarfield, all I had to do was lift off the throttle a bit and BAMM, the back end rotated around beautifully when I needed it to. >>

Ahhhh, its still cold and you are runing Hoosiers. Just wait till it warms up and the rears stick. You will be running 5-10psi differentials f/r and willing to give your left one for camber plates.

Solution: Do an aggressive alignment with rear toe out. Legal in G-Stock?

 

Perfectly legal in G Stock, but I wouldn't recommend it.

The furthest I'd go with toe out for the Cooper S is right at 0 (zero toe). The car comes with toe-in.
You can get rotation with much more adjustable/changable and predictable ways, such as the higher pressures in the rear and adjustable shocks.

Right now, I have toe-in in the rear and I can easily achieve predictable rotation from shocks and pressures.

Brian

 

>>Right now, I have toe-in in the rear and I can easily achieve predictable rotation from shocks and pressures.>>

True, and maybe best for pure autocross. But I am finding that I can run less pressure differential as well as softer shocks in the rear and stiffer in the front which seems to be giving me a smoother, more predictable transition on the track. The Quaife added some understeer which also offsets the throttle on rotation.

 

Good news, we ended up getting 1st place out of 9 in GS with the new Cooper S. We had a PAX of 3rd place out of 150 or so. I was only .130 seconds out of first place, Ryan Beutzer, who placed 2nd last year in ES. I'm sure, if I make it to the Prosolo this weekend(I'm entered), I'll get my *** handed back to me by the 2nd and 3rd place national drivers in GS. Maybe I can squeek in for 3rd and get $125 from MiniUSA.com. Only time will tell!!!!

 

Congrats on the win, OasisT !

 

Finished my 2nd autocross in the cooper, PAX'd 1st out of 61. Beat ES #2 national by 0.9 seconds in the PAX!!! Got my *** handed back at the Prosolo in the rain for the 1st day on my A3SO4's. Unfortunately I couldn't make it back for Sunday in the dry because my Bro and Pa were in town(1st time in 9 months for my Bro) and they wanted to run in the cooper during the local autocross so I had to miss the 2nd half of the Pro, even though I REALLY wanted to see where I stood with the other GS national guys. Oh well, I'll have to travel now for a National tour event to get some much needed national experience, maybe Peru if all works out. Or else, I'll get to Topeka and freeze up like a 16 year old on prom night!!!

Koni SA's go on wednesday and were going 1/16th toe out in the front and 0 toe in the rear. Alta exhaust will go on Monday. Just got in a 2nd set of SSR comps and I mounted some Azenis for local events and street driving. Popped in the Irridium plugs and Nology Hotwires last week(didn't notice a difference), Unifilter is on the way so we should be all set for the next 5 years!!!