What shocks are the nationally competitive cars using in the stock classes?

 

The stock shocks have been shown to be all that is really needed. The second place cars in 2003 and 2004 were on stock shocks. The next option are Koni sports (yellow) with single or double adjustable rears. Chiles won on these in 2003. Or if you are a stupid you can buy a custom set of Leda's like I did, they seem to work pretty well but i'm not sure they are worth the hassle (sending a set of shocks to England, hoping to get the valving right, dealing with the time zone difference, etc)I've run with the stock shocks and with the leda's and I prefer the Leda's but the difference was not dramatic.

I have not run on the Koni's, but they would be my recommendation if you have to have new shocks.

 

Great thanks. If I don't have to spent the money to compete I would rather not, but at a national level you know as well as I do that 0.1 second can cost you a championship, or trophy spot, however, you look at it. I don't want to be at the shot end of that stick, and I had planned on having to purchase shocks to make the car competitive. Maybe I'll just start off without them, and see how I do at some Pros and Tours and decide early enough in the year what I want to do in order to get some adequate testing done.

 

A MINI without any mods has only two possibilities. Adjust the toe or change the tire presure.

You could add an adjustable sway bar up front. Most adjustable front bars have two settings. Now three points of adjustment.

Next you could add single adjustable shocks. That would make 4 points of adjustability.

Then, DA shocks would be the next step, giving you 5 points of adjustment.

Now, out of all the adjustments possible on a Solo2 stock car, I saw more drivers at Nationals changing shock settings than anything else. Except, of corse, tire presure.

If you want that 0.1 second you were talking about you need DA shocks.

That being said, I would also say none of those adjustable parts have any effect on how much fun you can have autocrossing. As a matter of fact the DA's can drive you crazy until you figure out where to set them.

My thought process for speed goes like this:
#1. Work on driving first. The nut behind the wheel is the most adjustable part of the car.
#2. Tires!!! No single stock mod will make you faster.
#3. DA KONI's - Experiment!!! Once they're right, you can save, almost, as much time as R-compounds do.

$0.02

 

I have the Koni Sports and can tell you that they make a difference when set to full firm in the rear. Yeah, the stock shocks are pretty good and you can drive just about as fast with them but the Koni's are a tad more confidence inspiring and will make you feel faster if nothing else.

Stuart

BTW - Call me a wimp but on the street I would advise you run the Koni's at full soft. If not you're in for a choppy ride:smile:

 

Stuart, what are you racing next year?

 

Stuart,

My understanding is that the rear rebound is only adjustable by removing the shock. Do you set the shocks at full stiff at the beginning of the season, and leave them that way, or did you take them off a bunch of times?

Jim Z

 

I'm probably going to stick with HS. I've been messing around with some STS mods but so far I haven't installed anything that transforms the car enough to justify moving classes on a National level.

I might see if Lorin Mueler wants to co-drive with me at the National events next year. At least the West Coast Events and Nationals. Just a thought.

What about you??? Are you going to defend your title in HS?

On the other topic.....Typically I try to adjust my shocks as little as possible but if I have a period of time where there aren't any Important races I take off the shocks and turn them down. My wife and kid like the car a whole lot more when the shocks are set to soft:smile:

Stuart

 

Yep, I'll be in HS in Topeka, but you probably won't see me in California this year, I'm gonna take a break and catch up on a few things around the house.

 

What is above the top of the rear shocks? Is it possible to cut some sort of access hole to get a **** on to adjust the Konis?

Does one setting work on all autocross courses so you set the rears, install them and compete with that setting all year?

Aren't there any other adjustable shocks that would fit? Tokico? (I'm not certain how they are adjusted)

Has anyone competed with a smaller front anti-swaybar to get less understeer?

 

I think there is a thread in the G-Stock forum about that.

But, I think that like VWs and Mustangs, the camber-less Mini may do better with a bigger front swaybar than a smaller one - especially the Cooper, which doesn't have the severe wheelspin problem that the S does.

Anyhow, as far as shocks, I am not nationally competitive, but I have autocrossed a lot of cars over several years, and I have not driven many cars that are as aggressively damped as the Mini is. In fact, I autocrossed my friend's 94 R-package Miata this summer with Koni's, and it felt underdamped compared to my Mini's stock shocks

 

Several folks have looked at ways to adjust the rear Koni's while they are still mounted, and the general answer is NO you can't get it done. When mounted they butt up against a major frame rail and short of practicing on a junkyard hulk, no one is willing to drill holes in their car to figure out where to drill.

 

Keith: do they butt right up against the frame rail?

If there is about 3/8 to a half inch this tool (if bent more) might do the trick

"custom" Celica Koni tool

 

No that tool won't work, the top of the strut inserts into an area that is surrounded by steel.

Mark Chiles has spent some time trying to figure out this problem and not come up with a solution. The most reasonable way to try would be at the junk yard with a totaled car, before they sent it to the crusher.

 

Aren't any other adjustable shocks available in Europe?

 

Yes, there are other adjustable shocks available, they just aren't stock legal or require significant custom work.