Hey guys,
Has anyone has their ASC re-enable itself during a launch?
I haven't had any events in my car yet, but just playing around, anytime I do a standing start, the traction control activates, and re-enables the ASC (The light goes off.) If I'm rolling a little, it doesn't happen, (but that won't work at Pro Solos). Also, if I have any wheel hop, it re-enables.
The word from my dealership is that this is how the system is designed, that it can not be completely shut off. But, I have not seen anyone else complain about it. (Per mentioned it, but his wasn't a launching issue.)
Am I the only one having this happen? I'm hoping that it might just be a loose wire at a wheel speed sensor, or something else, not a programming issue.
Thanks!
Mike Potocki

 

Yeah, we ran our R56 Sunday during the nor'easter. DSC was consantly "reactivating" itself. We are digging through the electronic schematics to figure out a way to more permanently disable it. Completely disabling it is easy, doing it without losing ABS or sending the car into a 'limp home" mode is proving challenging. I'll post if we have any luck.

 

Thanks for the feedback.
I'm not that familiar with the showroom stock rules, but this can be a real achilles heal for solo if they don't do a software update.
Thanks again,
Mike Potocki

 

We had the same problems with the E90 we ran last year in DS. Hopefully we can figure out which "fuse to pull".

 

Yanking a fuse isn't Solo legal is it?

 

I remember competitors letting me know that by permanently disabling my DSC I could get protested at the solo national level. That may be hooey, but maybe Craig or somebody else'll know better.

 

"Pulling a fuse" was meant as a figure of speech. I'll type slower next time.

Anyway, I just got of the phone with a source at MINI USA. Only the first few months of R56 production have the issue with the DSC/ASC "reactivating". There actually will be a way to program it out. No word on when this will be available. I'll keep everyone posted.

 

Thanks for the good news!
I was wondering if I needed to start pricing out a MX5 MS-R package .
Please keep us in the loop when you get the update info.
Mike Potocki

 

Man, that is good news that they will be able to get rid of this problem. At the start of the thread, I was starting to think that running an R56 would be like rolling the dice. lol

So, does anyone Left Foot Brake? If so, does your R56 cut the engine throttle off when the brake is applied? I test drove one with the DSC/Sport package and it had throttle cutoff. I sure hope this is an early R56 issue or a Sport package issue. I tried it multiple times and it cutoff throttle even with the slightest of brake pressure. There was no such problem on an 07 HS Mini though.

 

I'll have to get back to you later on the left foot braking.
I've played on the street a (very) little, and a slight pressure was OK, but a heavier brake against the gas did cause the engine to cut.
We finally have our first event of the year this weekend. I'll try to figure out what works and what doesn't.
Mike Potocki

 

Yea, same here. too much and it cuts the throttle..but then again, it teaches you not to brake too much.

 

I drove an R56 for one single run at yesterday's event. The traction control kicked back on towards the beginning of my run, I came back and said, man, it sure takes a long time for boost to kick back in, so, we looked before I turned the car off and sure enough, the traction control re-activated. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary on that run and I certainly didn't even come close to spinning. I may have had a touch of wheelspin off the line, but, thats the quickest way to launch. Anyway, even with the traction activated, I could tell that this thing is going to be a monster. It is definitely going to take of GS and will probably even surpass DS I'd guess once the car is sorted with optimal tires/shocks and the traction control issue is worked out with the factory. :-)

At our local event yesterday, here were our results......

Me in STX/R53 JCW - 58.3
Reno in GS/R53 - 58.599
Silva in GS/R53 - 58.8
Williams in GS/R56 - 57.9
Me for the first time in an R56 one run w/traction kicked on 58.8

All the above drivers are Nationally competitive, the R56 is 100% stock with only wheels/tires. The R53 is fully prepped with DA Koni's on both ends.

 

Rule number one in autocross. Deactivate the traction control.

 

Rule number one in forum etiquette: Read the whole post before replying

 

That was a retorical comment. An agreement with others, not a suggestion.

 

Maybe we're on two different pages. I thought you were trying to suggest that Craig should have remembered to turn the traction control off before his run. What he said happened was that the traction control was turned off when he started the run and it turned back on automatically during the run - a problem that others have noted with the new MCS.

 

Is it possible that the new car has a system like the BMW 330... a quick press of the button turns it almost off. a 5 - 8 second hold of the button turns it all the way off.

Just a thought

 

No, in fact, doing that too long tends to **** it off, where you have to shut the car down and restart.

 

 

Hi guys, new to the forum here but having co-driven Jeff Jacobs' MCS a few times over the last 2 seasons and being interested in getting a new Mini, I've been following this thread with some interest.

Over the last week I've driven several R56's at the local dealer, all with limited-slip and with either ASC or DSC. I've made ProSolo-style launches, including some on uneven surfaces, with wheelspin all the way to redline, and run some 2nd-gear corners quickly enough to get some inside wheelspin...all with no instances of ASC or DSC re-enabling itself after being initially turned off. One of these cars had a 12/06 build date, another 02/07, so I've driven both early and late production cars, I think.

I'm certainly not disputing the experiences Craig, Per, and Mike have posted here, but I'm puzzled as to why I wasn't able to duplicate the problem. I never saw this occur with Jeff's car, which has ASC, or when autocrossing my 330Ci with DSC back in 2004 either. Anyone have any luck talking to someone at MINIUSA about all this?

GH Sharp

 

GH

Welcome to the board! That is very odd with you not experiencing the ASC turning off like others. also, the R56 that I test drove cut off the throttle with any brake application, but, Ron Williams did not cut off throttle with brake application. There seems to be some variance between all cars for no rhyme or reason. Anyway, I gotta get back to fixing the car(changing supercharger belt and a bunch of other crap), so I can get on the road to Walnut Ridge in 10 hours.

Oh one thing with the R56 and ASC, Ron Williams seems to think it may have something to do with how warm the car is. With it completely warmed up, he doesn't see any issues with the ASC. My run and his first run were the only times it kicked on last Sunday, his other 3 runs, it was OK. Temperature was 65 or so.


Craig

 

Craig,

Guess we'll just have to keep comparing notes. I've driven cars here on cool days (65-70) as well as warmer ones (75-80) with the same results. Start the car on the lot cold, immediately drive it about 2 miles to the "test road", and have at it. Stop car, push the button to turn ASC off, launch car with as much or as little wheelspin as you like, no ASC re-engagement. The major variable here is street tires vs R-compound tires. I know that *occasionally* the traction control component of the stability management system on the Boxster will kick in on a hard auto-x launch if I get wheel hop, in which case I think the computer is seeing unequal/erratic wheel speeds and momentarily pulses the brakes. I don't know if something like that could have occurred with Ron's car or not.

I'd like to have DSC on my car...I had an episode while dodging another driver on the road a couple of months ago in which my avoidance manuever was much less of a white-knuckle affair due to the stability control on the Boxster...and my experience with DSC on the 330Ci leads me to believe that the system on the Mini *should* be unobtrusive for autocrossing, but all the ASC incidents that have been reported are making me a little cautious.

Good luck this weekend at Walnut Ridge.

GH

 

Hey fellas, I'm new to the boards as well, and also following this thread, as well as others.

I've had my 07 MCS for almost 2 weeks now, and while I haven't had the chance to autocross it yet (had an event the day after I picked it up and figured only 20 miles on the odometer wasn't a good "break-in period") I have however had a chance to have some fun on nice roads around where I live.

I haven't tried any hard launches yet. However, the ASC did re-activate itself for me when the rear kicked out. The kick wasn't anything I'd have been concerned about, but apparently the system thought otherwise. This is going to hinder me a good bit because we tend to hold events on our local track which has a section of double-chicanes on a hill. In my 05 MCS I usually kicked it out on part of that section pretty decently (drop-throttle oversteer is fun )

Also, I've only noticed the gas cut-off under heavy braking. Light braking around a relatively easy corner I could easily hold the rpms steady. It's just going to take some practice finding where exactly the brake pedal activates the cut-off.

 

Just to clarify, your '07 has *ASC* and not *DSC*? My reason for asking is that ASC, which is standard equipment and can't be deleted, affects only the front wheels (according to my experience with other cars and also reading the current Mini owner's manual). If your car only has ASC, having the rear of the car step out in a corner shouldn't cause it to re-enable itself...there are no sensors to alert the system to what happened back there. DSC uses additional sensors that ASC does not have, and can operate the brakes on any one of the individual wheels as needed.

If your car has DSC, what you described makes sense. OTOH, I still don't understand why the system, if turned off by the driver (you did have it turned off and the yellow triangle was displayed in the instrument panel, right?) would re-activate itself as a result of such a relatively benign maneuver. If that's all it takes to re-engage ASC *or* DSC, why have the button to turn the system off at all? That would appear to be giving the driver a very small gain in the performance envelope of the car with the system "defeated", even by non-autocross driving standards. And given that Mini is built by BMW, it still makes no sense to me that the DSC in my former 330Ci would allow the system to be completely turned off and stay off during an autocross run, but what should be a comparably-programmed system in the Mini might not.

GH

 

More on the DSC/ASC topic - I have the DSC on my '05, and I was concerned about how much additional weight the DSC added. I was told by Jeff Stracco at MiniUSA that the DSC is just additional programming, no components are added, so I'm not sure if that matters or not - just something else to chew on.