All I know after the 2 week west coast swing is - there is nothing wrong with my 05 MCS, but the driver needs a LOT of work.

The car did well picking up L1 at the Pro with Mary driving, and GS in San Diego with Jason driving. The disappointment for me is seeing the tire wear issues persist. I guess, I was hoping that the LSD would ease some of the outer edge tire wear, as we would be spinning wheels less. WRONG.

Abe/Jacob were showing noticeable cording on the tires after the event. Brand new tires, approx 10 practice runs (26 second course) and then 12 competition runs (mid 50's course). There were cords showing on our car too, but we did not do any practice runs.

I can only surmise that the 05's are allowing more power to be put down, and this is stressing the tires more than the 04's resulting in quicker wear. The V710's (which the ladies were running) appear to show less wear with equivalent use - i won't know until I cord them.

Brian, one note regarding the LSD. I believe the LSD has a 30% threshold. In other words it can "lockup" when difference between the wheel speed is 30% or less. Once this is exceeded the LSD will slip. If you are on a real tight 1st gear course you may be exceeding the design limits of the LSD. I would imagine that Mini gave us the LSD with 30% so it remains streetable. More aggresive setups may cause unwanted street handling effects (read - unwanted liability issues).

It sure ain't a Detroit locker.

Being a mechanical type locker with cones, rather than a plate type viscous LSD, anyone want to guess what maintenance is going to be like? Not quite overnight rebuilds, but once a year, more often?

Grant

 

Mark Chiles will be running his 05 this weekend here locally with my group at the SE Divisionals in Jacksonville Fl., I will have to keep you posted on his results.

Brian, you could have came down also your welcome to co-drive my JCW in ASP, I need help against the corvette and porshe that beat me by 2.5 seconds last year.
The next SE Divisional is in Atlanta June 19 & 20, if you are interested - http://www.sedivsolo2.com/

 

I wish I had the time/money for some SE Divs.

Grant, you are correct, it's very possible that's why I was getting so much spin, among other things.
As for the maintanence, that's why I have a DEALER sponsoring me...

What tires corded? When were they bought? If they're pre-change on the Hoosiers, I wouldn't have expected any difference.

I'll see more after this weekend on a big course. It's supposed to be chilly, and I'll be on R3S04's, but they be warmed before hand. If I forget to reply, remind me.

Brian

 

Hey Jeff,
Are you planning on running the "H" car at the east coast Pros? I was actually hoping that you and Mark were going to both run "H" this year. It would be nice to have a class...
Mike P.

 

After our 3/20 event http://solo.wdcr-scca.org/results/20050320.php I'm pretty damn happy with the car. It did rain, and I had the second driest heat. Compare my times with ES, CS, GS, and HS because they were in the same heat. STS/STX were fully dry. So this event is not a great one to judge by the numbers, but the car felt fast and grippy, even on R3S04's (aired down of course).

Something to look at is times like Marshall Cone (2002 co-driver in a HS Cooper) and Kenny Sorensen (leading the GS 2004 Nats on the first day). I did have my wife as a co-driver in that heat (check out her times as well in Ladies) but if you look at my first run time which clearly has no heat in the tires, you can see the car is fast for sure.
Wheelspin felt more like what Craig has posted, it was there, but the car clearly had more grip. And MAN! is this car faster in a straight line than the older one. I've only got minimal mileage on mine so I'm really looking forward to the car loosening up.

Brian

 

Brian, how does tire wear look so far, is the rear camber adjustment going to help any? We havent touched the wifes convertable yet but there was some wear on the front outsides after 2 days of SEDIVS. She did well for her first event in the car she led G-stock ladies the first day against against a better prepped 05 cooper s (Marks car) with Brenda driving :smile: but was unable to hold her off on day 2 her times were 3/4 second behind mine which is another story 3rd out of 6 in ASP I was way off my game and didnt take my own advice and changed the car setup with no track time to adjust.

 

Couldn't tell you what the wear is going to be like, since we've only run in the rain...
But I can't see why it would be any different until we start futzing with the alignment. I'm not going to mess with it unless I have a rotational problem.

Brian

 

My $.02... First autocross weekend for me this year. temperatures barely broke 50 deg, so there wasn't as much grip as there should have been to begin with. The 05 is definitely a better car than my 03 was. I felt the LSD made a difference, although wheelspin is far from completely gone. It definitely felt like it was putting more power down than my 03. I like the gearing better as well, helps coming out of the tight corners. Today's course had some pretty fast sections, where I thought I would have to hit 3rd, but i was pleasantly surprised to find I had enough rpms left in second to keep from having to shift. Next weekend is supposedto be warmer, so we'll see how it does then.

 

BGarfield--

I'm fairly new to the site and didn't see this before posting a question in solo II. Anyway, to reiterate: Congrats on the Atlanta pro win.

Toma

 

Thanks!