It's firm, but tolerable, it seems to have brought it back to old R53 standards of jiggliness. Thats with the rear rebound set at 1/2 and fronts on soft..rear is jiggly, but 1/2 is a good starting point if you don't want to wrench much at the track.

 

The car actually feels much more stable than before...the rear has more traction! I think it's because we're limiting the suspension's movement and thus limiting rear droop toe changes at the extreme during brake dive

 

Someone else has noticed that DSC comes back on after being turned off.
Is that true?

 

Gosh Per, you have the best job! Love the magazine! I really enjoy keeping up with your work on project cars. You had me looking at E30's and E36 M3's, but the first time I drove a new MCS, I decided I had to have this car.

I still think I'd like to race a spec E30 race car, but...

 

Not so far, I think it was an issue with some early cars

 

No issues with mine either. It sounds like it was definitely an early build thing.

 

It cropped up BIG time at Milwaukee this weekend, had to revert to RFBing to solve it. It didn't like me left foot braking and gasing at the same time in sweepers

 

Per

I have noticed throttle cutoff with LFB, is this what happened or did the ASC/DSC re-activate? If its just the throttle cutoff, I'm not sure there is a fix for it. It really sucks, If we could throttle while applying a bit of brake, that would help eminsely in some course situations.

Craig

 

ahhh...ok, I was thinking it was the ASC, as it felt the same, if not worse. It was just the throttle cut off. sounds like I just need to keep right foot braking then.

 

Quite a few updates on our project car page.

I've got an Alta 3" exhaust I'll be dynoing, and I'm expecting a Webb Motorsports exhaust as well for a little comparison sake...

Look for some chasecam videos from behind the driver's seat soon. I've got a digital recorder that I haven't had time to mess with until this week. Should have some footage up by next week.

 

Get the latest software (V26), it worked on our car.

 

Ok, I might have my service advisor call you...that ok?

 

We hopefully pick ours up in DFW on Friday and we told our salesman to have the service dept. reflash the ECU with V26. He said, no problem, they're aware of it, so it should be a no-brainer, i'd imagine.

d

 

Sweet, so, you can hold the brake down for several seconds with full throttle and no cutoff?

Thats great news, I will run down and have them update this week hopefully.

Craig

 

Craig, we just picked up our R56 and had the service dept. program V26 but it still does fuel cutoff. What I don't understand is what the big deal is. It takes 2-3 seconds for it to cut off and I figure whoever is braking for 2-3 seconds on an autocross course is doing something wrong! I left foot brake in sweepers but it's a tap here and there just to settle or get back in line. I've never braked 2-3 seconds while applying throttle.

d

 

Dan

On the old R53, I would lightly hold the brake down with throttle during high speed slaloms to hold the rearend down to prevent oversteer. Then, we could set up a bit more agressively with a touch of oversteer to allow for rotation on slower speed stuff with no brake application. Also, during rain events, slight brake application with throttle on the hairy oversteerish areas on course would eliminate any oversteer. On the R56, obviously this is not possible. But, I have learned to just set the car up with less oversteer, not a huge deal, but, annoying since its not necessary for mini to have this feature. I don't know, maybe I'm weird, but, it seemed to work OK for me anyway. Oh, Greg Reno actually taught me this back in 04 I believe, and, he absolutely hates the R56 because of this issue.

Craig

 

What's aggravating is that it's another thing to think about, when you should be concentrating on the course. And it doesn't seem like it takes much, if any, brake pedal pressure to cut the throttle. So..resting your foot lightly on the brake pedal is a no-no in a sweeper or slalom.

 

Not a problem for me, but i don't left foot brake...

 

Me either. We had our maiden voyage yesterday after picking him up Friday evening. Old Kumhos from last year and no alignment, but it did fairly well

 

I have a questions about the MINI review in the current GRM issue. They said in the issue that the LSD is a clutch type. Is this accurate? If so what is the brake in procedure for a clutch type LSD.

Thanks.

 

No break in procedure that I've heard of for this diff....no figure-8s or anything.

 

hey per, we got the minidomore hitch as well. Where did you attach the (forgive me for not knowing the correct term---) emergency chains for your tire trailer?
Or did you just not use them?
Thanks,
jodi

 

Good question...I haven't towed with it yet, as my plans changed for the event that I installed it for... I'll find out.

Per

 

Safety chains hook to loops welded to the drawbar (the removable piece that the ball mounts to). I know MINIDOMORE sells a drawbar with these loops already welded on, and some have modified a standard off the shelf drawbar to make something like this work.

Jason

 

I thought part of the purpose of the safety chains is to catch the trailer should your drawbar were to separate from the receiver?

That doesn't sound too safe to me...