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Congrats to Craig Wilcox - who took on a horde of slavering "Twins" and schooled the lot! STX National Champion! Congratulations to Robert Luis as well who maintained the incumbent Mini crown in H Street against the upstart Fiesta ST... Honorable mention to Matt Luckow too, who trophied in D Street against a fleet of WRXs...
Here's a rundown on our Minis at Nats.
PAX -------- CAR ------------------ PAX
RANK CLASS NUMBER DESCRIPTION TIME
94 STX 199 Craig Wilcox Mini Cooper 96.79
168 HS 28 Robert Luis 2011 MINI Cooper 97.845
332 STX 99 Joe Silva Mini Cooper 99.288
349 DS 9 Matthew Luckow 2007 MINI Cooper S 99.419
369 GS 13 Charles Thompson 15 Mini Cooper F56 99.586
416 DS 86 Stephen Hui 2008 MINI Cooper S 99.905
454 STF 99 Joseph Austin 2007 MINI Cooper 100.191
468 HS 21 Dan Marx 2012 MINI* Cooper 100.285
471 HS 99 David Spratte 2009 MINI Cooper 100.313
510 HS 64 Roger Milstead 2013 MINI Cooper 100.594
596 HS 121 Kia Gharib 2012 MINI* John Cooper Works 101.304
823 HSL 99 Gwen Habenicht 2009 MINI Cooper 103.466
863 DS 178 David Anderson 2012 MINI John Cooper Works 103.898
910 DS 78 Philip Elmore 2012 MINI John Cooper Works 104.509
931 STX 61 Brian Britten 2005 MINI Cooper S 104.752
943 HS 81 John Qualheim 2006 MINI Cooper 104.931
978 DS 96 Phillip Osborne 2009 MINI Cooper S JCW Package 105.597
1065 DSP 83 Rob Dinwiddie 2013 MINI John Cooper Works GP 107.386
1122 STXL 61 Melissa Britten 2005 MINI Cooper S 108.59
1281 DM 37 John Lieberman Austin Mini Cooper 124.881
And yes dear readers, a 3 cylinder F56 can keep up with the mighty Focus ST and even the flashy GTIs!
Charlie Thompson slayed seven Ford Focus ST's on his way to 13th in GS. Rob beat 16 Ford Fiesta ST's to win HS and Craig beat 37 BRZ/FR-Ss in winning STX.
What fun. Bought the car 4 weeks before Nats, decided to go on the last day of regular registration, threw a rear bar and RE-71rs on the car, and barely held onto the last trophy spot in DS.
I heard Wilcox's car was hooked up. Unfortunately didn't get to see STX run.
Oops.. I copied the video URL and full screened it and this time watched all of it.
Fun courses, yes?
The 6 cone slalom on West, and that run down the fence line on the East?
All your heats were dry?
Cheers,
Charlie
Yeah Marcus is local so West course felt like home. Well kinda, I couldn't figure out corner entry speeds to save my life. We were 99.9% dry.
East was full dry. Bummed because I coned away 3rd best DS time with a pretty crappy back half of the course. The Mini definitely had a shot at fastest car on the East.
What fun. Bought the car 4 weeks before Nats, decided to go on the last day of regular registration, threw a rear bar and RE-71rs on the car, and barely held onto the last trophy spot in DS.
I heard Wilcox's car was hooked up. Unfortunately didn't get to see STX run.
I was actually fortunate to be able to meet him in person right at his winning STX run on the East Course!
He posted this on Facebook for part of his build.
'I most definitely attribute my success in 2016 and would like to thank BFGoodrich for the amazing Rival S tire, OS Giken for allowing me to put the power down, Black Armor Helmets for making the best helmet possible, QuickSilver Exhaust for making the lightest weight exhaust that also makes great power, Way Motorworks for supplying me with all the parts needed, Powerflex bushings, Brian Hanchey for making the best coilovers ever for a Mini Cooper, MiniUSA, Garmin and Mobil 1 for their generous contingency program to help fund the madness, Tire Rack for sponsoring the event, Jeff Kiesel for helping me get the Mini tuned before nats, my wife Precious Henderson Wilcox for supporting me throughout the season and last but not least Ryan Charlton at Modified by KC for helping preserve the Mini to make this championship possible. Now on to 2017 where I'm looking forward to run the updated Rival S tire!!!"
To answer part of your question in STX, he has the factory intake. His coilovers were made by a sister company to AST which I haven't heard of (already forgot the name) and he was the last one to snag the last of it since these are too stiff. He runs 15x9" wheels wrapped around 225/45/15" Rival S tires. In STX, you're also allowed to switch to a brake caliper that can use the factory size rotor. He is on Wilwoods with an 8" spacer to clear the brakes. He has the Quicksilver turboback which sounds amazing in real life for an exhaust made out of titanium. At the rev limiter, it pops so much. His tune is by Jeff Kiesel which I think is not running higher boost than the JCW tune which is legal btw. All the people protesting don't realize that as long as you have a tune that does not go over the factory boost, it is legal in ST classes. He did all the poly bushings and the OS Giken. For his alignment, he did mention that he is 1/8" toe out all around. Again this is Lincoln concrete and that would make sense for that kind of set up. As you can see in the picture, he has some strut bar which he says does nothing. He has it to hold his remote reservoirs LOL!!!
Honestly, the set up is there. Most people on here just need to get that driver mod. On Craig's fb post, he had Tom O'Gorman drive and he learned a lot from that Alien which made him even faster than the FRS/BRZ twins. What you can take from here is that it's all driver.
Honestly, the set up is there. Most people on here just need to get that driver mod. On Craig's fb post, he had Tom O'Gorman drive and he learned a lot from that Alien which made him even faster than the FRS/BRZ twins. What you can take from here is that it's all driver.
Don't forget Craig did not win the pro finale though either. At Nats skill alone doesn't cut it, a car alone doesn't cut it. You need the right combination of car, driver, favorable course, and luck all aligning just right, especially in a class with as deep of a talent pool as STX.
09-10-2016, 06:58 PM
