just fyi i'm thinking of going with the rs3v2's - loved them on the evo. as far as i've read, they are similar to the original rs3's, with more cold grip and better wear (two of the original rs3's main criticisms). i'm curious to see how they will be on the mini

 

Thanks. I'll let you know what I think if I get them. My next event is in two weeks.

 

please do post here. what i've generally heard about them is that they're better for heavier cars, not sure how they'd do for the mini. I'm a little happier with the Z2s than when I first got them, but still not crazy about them

 

Finally made it to another local event this weekend. The past 3 events the wife and I have run have been national events. We did the Wilmington Match Tour, The DC ProSolo, and the NJ Tour. Three different events on three very different surfaces.

Saturday was just a regular points event at FedEx Field. STX is always a fairly sizable class in DC and saturday was no different. 16 people in the class even though overall attendance for the event was pretty small for some reason (158 drivers). The first three runs the wife and I were pretty much even and about 1.7 seconds back from first. Caitlin managed to put it all together on her last run and improved by a second which bumped her up to 3rd in the class behind Danny Kao and Peter. I only managed to pick up two tenths on my last run so I was left mired down in 6th place. Oddly enough we had one of our better PAX finishes in the mini (we've both PAX'd higher in other cars). Caitlin was 19th in PAX and I was 36. It was a tough day for the both of us. We were both having to get used to the surface after NJ but it's always a fun time running STX in DC.

As an aside... We finally sucked it up and dropped the cash for data acquisition after NJ. We bought SoloStorm with the RaceCapture Pro module. Got everything wired up in the car and was able to use it on Saturday for the first time. Not having much experience with it we had some fiddling to do. But after a day of using it we became pretty good at it and are getting good at picking out where we can improve and how. It's really an amazing piece of software and the RaceCapture works really well for capturing GPS/accelerometer inputs. It also has a whole bunch of analog/digital inputs so we can run things like boost sensors, shock potentiometers, etc. Could be fun if I ever get around to using some of that functionality. Data should be really good for us because the wife and I tend to go about running the same times but we are generally fast in different sections. The data allows us to compare course sections to see what the one person is doing better than the other.

Sunday was a SCCA test n tune. Basically they have the whole day split up into 1/2 hour slots and you work 4 slots and run the rest. They run from 8:30 to 4:30 with an hour break for lunch. They flip the course around and run it in reverse for the afternoon session. So there is the potential for a whole lot of runs if your tires could handle it. We used the day to fiddle with shock settings and test spring changes. We made some significant spring changes Saturday night since they would be running the Saturday course for the first half of Sunday. They ended up changing the course slightly to slow it down a little but it wasn't that much slower. We fiddled most of the morning changing shock settings and tire pressures. Even went so far as to drop the rear suspension (twice) to change rebound settings in the rear since the rebound adjuster is at the top of the shock. So we spent all morning fiddling with it and after all the changes just decided to put it back where we had it. I guess the good news is that we confirmed we had it set up right the first time. The bummer is that the car didn't really get a whole lot faster. I was having trouble with my driving in the morning and was having a really hard time catching the wife. Saturday was a really long day (auto-x, pulled motor out of a miata, spring changes on the mini, set ride heights on the mini) so I was pretty tired and having a really hard time focusing. I got a little better in the afternoon session though. Racing excuses... I haz em

The plan for the afternoon was to just work on driving the car and getting used to the new spring rates. We also had some other people drive the car to offer setup advice. Brian Karwan (2 time SMF national champ, owner of Karcepts, stupid fast STR driver) drove it a few times and was able to put 1.1 seconds on the wife and I within 3 runs. After riding along once and 1 run himself he suggested a tire pressure change which we did. Then he did 2 more runs and got a little faster each time ending up about 1.1/1.2 seconds ahead of the wife and I who ended up within a tenth of each other. Brian needed about another 3/4 of a second to match his STR times in PAX. With more seat time and more power (car is completely stock in the engine department) we're pretty sure he could match his STR PAX times. Which means the car is damn fast. I just can't drive it The bad news is that Brian didn't have any earth shattering suggestions that were going to make the car super fast. The good news is it was yet another confirmation that the car is setup pretty well at the moment. We've had lots of fast people drive the car and they all say the car drives pretty well and that there aren't any huge changes needed but in the constant quest for more speed another opinion never hurts. Brian did suggest a little more rear toe-out which we'll try at the next event but I don't expect it'll be worth much time. We're also going to try putting on a rear swaybar (currently on the stock bar front and rear) but I don't expect the car to get significantly faster from it. But hey every little bit helps. I have some videos from the event that I can post up if I ever get around to it. I've also got videos from Wilmington/DC/NJ but I've not really done anything with them yet.

The mini is still piled high with stuff from the auto-x and it'll probably stay that way till just before the next local event next weekend. We turned down instructing at the BMWCCA school this time so we're just running a regular auto-x on Sunday. The car doesn't really get driven outside of auto-x so it'll just sit happily in the driveway till the next time.

 

Nice write up. I'm loving my rear swaybar..I'll bet it helps more than you think.

 

ditto, im surprised how many competing minis are on stock suspension

 

Sway bars are great and all but they're designed to be used more for fine tuning of suspension. Not as a crutch like they are forced to be used in street class autocrossing. The suspension on our car is far from stock and the spring rates we run are far outside of the norm for an off the shelf coilover kit. Ours are specifically setup for autocross which renders a rear sway bar much less necessary. Still for ~$230 I'll probably get one at least for testing purposes.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using NAMotoring

 

^ ohhhh forgot you aren't in stock class. i totally agree with you, much rather do the tuning through the springs dampers geometry etc., for stock class it's just a must do

 

If you want to get full range of settings from an adjustable bar, look at the Tarret. While much more expensive it lets you go from nearly stock to 450% stiffer.

 

We came 2nd and 4th in HS yesterday at round 7. We brought along our own competition, Alex (BAMini) shared the ride and came first.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

 

Second local for the Philly SCCA on Saturday. 5th and 6th in pax for Ryan and me. Slevin and Simmons in STX were flying in the morning and we would've needed another second to catch em. I'm getting good at losing by a tenth recently...

http://phillyscca.com/results/2014/event2_fin.htm

edit: 205/50/15 Z2. 60s and sunny.

Ryan:

Me:

 

nice job!

forgot to post my video from my last event:

 

Video of the wife driving from last weekend. This was the run that moved her up into 3rd in STX. Lots of little mistakes but whatcha gonna do

 

Thats probably the best run of yours I've seen. You still enter a little shallow sometimes but you're MUCH smoother.

 

thanks! really good to hear i am at least improving in some regard. there is a lot of time out there i'm leaving with the lines i'm taking, it's almost like part of it is that i need to believe it's there

 

any tips before tomorrow's final runs at lincoln prosolo? i know i'm screwing up the turn before the final slalom pretty badly and scrubbing a lot of speed - i'll have to brake more, that applies for right and left sides. any other suggestions? I'm in the 500s pretty consistently for the launch at least..

 

The right side doesn't look too bad. Give up more speed in the big corner around the 35 second mark so that you're not so far behind in those big offsets.

On the left side... Why are you covering so much distance?!?!?! You're 3 feet off some of those cones. Drive tighter lines. And remember... Tomorrow will likely have more grip than today once the course continues to rubber in.

GOOD LUCK!

Sent from my Nexus 10 using NAMotoring

 

205/45-16 Hankooks on 16x7 TRMotorsports arrived today. After 30 miles on two-lane roads I am very impressed. Increased bite was immediately apparent in the steering. A very small movement changed the direction of the car NOW. Acceleration and braking are dramatically improved. Couldn't safely find the lateral grip limit. This car is marvelous at any speed on these tires.

Keep in mind though that I am skipping a generation of tires here by comparing to Star Specs. Will know more in a week when I can autocross them.

 

v10climber - thanks for the input!!! I'll definitely work on it this morning.

hsautocrosser - fwiw it seems most of the guys running in stf at the pro here in Lincoln are running the rs3v2s

 

Well folks, finally I got to drive in anger (or bliss).

PAX'd 28th with the R1Rs on my inaugural outing, which ain't too shabby given the rust in my brains.

Got skirted by my 10 year old friend, but beat some of the grown-ups...

More here. Results are here.

All the best,

Charlie

 

unfortunately it rained yesterday and wasn't able to improve on my pro solo runs.

tour today! eating lunch now

 

What's for lunch?

:-)

 

ha late response but i forget lol

here's my east course run - i felt ok about it, just not sure how im gonna catch all you fast guys

 

btw, at the rate HS is going, seb may regret keeping it separated from GS...

 

Well I can tell you there is probably at least half a second in the first 17 seconds of video. Why so far off the cones!?!?! You scared of em? Distance is super important when you're only doing 40mph.