I was finally able to get Goldielocks out on the dance floor. The Western Washington Sports Car Council hosted at the Boeing Everett plant. There were more than a few other Mini owners out there. I have to thank Motoring and Junkman for their advice. Although I'm not a novice, I'm not familar with what things the Mini can do. And being SCCA National GS and HS event winners, I took their advice very seriously. Abe's tire pressure advice was spot on for the stock suspension and 215/45-17 ES100s, 40F and 38R. I realize that others have talked about greater pressures but the tires didn't roll over and their communication of the surface was very good. There was no need to go higher.

The first lap was taken with the DSC on. I wasn't certain what to expect from the car or from the undulating course. The West parking lot at Everett really makes the driver think about how the surface is going to affect the attitude of the car. The designer put in a crossover that required the car to be going very slow after a very fast 360 to the left. Re-entering the xover was in the downhill direction and required slowing far more than I (or anyone) really wanted. I managed only two clean runs thru that xover. In the other 2 run, I clipped both the left-entrance and right-exit cones. A little trail braking going in would have gotten the rear to step out and would have saved me at least one cone. The rest of the course snaked with a 3-cone slalom, a 90 to the right, jog to the right, then another 90 right. Now heading back up the hill, a box was offset from a gate that required slowing while in the box. I plowed up the hill twice which made it difficult to make the gate with any kind of grace. I was having fun but really lack any smoothness or gentleness. After the gate was a 180 to the left and into a Cory gate. This is a local contraption where 3 successive gates are split longitudinally by 2 single middle cones. Picture the 5 on a die. You can drive thru this gate anyway you want: down either side or crossover in the middle. I went thru every which way. As there was a 90 to the right at the exit and you entered from the left, for most crossing over in the middle was the fastest. There was another jog to the right and a right sweeper into the finish. Most non-Coopers were spinning the inside right. I was simply not going anywhere fast.

Overall, my times weren't bad. There were some faster and some slower. Alan Dahl in his HS Audi was kickin' *** and didn't give a sht about names. The awd couldn't be beat on this course. Of course he has a lot of talent too, and could probably beat me driving a Yugo.

Although the cooper is a definite underdog in STS, I was very pleasantly surprised by the capabilities of the stock base suspension. I hope to have some tweaks in place by the National Tour in Bremerton (NWR). If not, I'm sure I'll still have tons of fun.

 

What did you do to your car to be in STS?

I have been thinking that maybe after a couple years, I might set my Cooper up for STS (I don't like changing tires at the event that much). . . Although our local region has an indexed street tire class, too, so I am also thinking that I could run that locally, and just change to R tires at "out of region" events.

It's great that Boeing lets autocrossers use their lot. I might try to contact someone out there, I'm trying to get my employer to open up their lot for us, and I might attempt to use that as some justification.

 

The only thing I've done so far is a cold-air intake (that is of my own design). I'm in STS because that's where I want to be. I wanted to be able to race and be able to mod the car. I'm hoping to "do" the suspension in September or October. I did the stock class thing with a WRX and hated not being able to mod it. And changing tires is a pain.

There's no shame in running in the street tire index class. The net result is the same, independent of the class, you get a number of timed runs, and you're free to compare your time to everyone. You may not get a trophy but it's still good fun.

 

We've had a very good driver in an MC running STS for some time in my area in SCCA Solo II.

He's got-
MC with CVT
BMP promini intake
Helix cat-back exhaust
H-sport springs
H-sport rear swaybar
Falken Azenis Sport 205/50-15 tires on 15" holey rims

He's about to change tires to run on Kumho V700s in the same size
and will switch to FSP.

 

If I was going to run anything besides stock, I think the very first mod I'd do would be camber plates (well besides tires). It seems like lack of camber is the mini's worst handling problem

minihune - How does the 205-50-15 Falken look on that wheel? My 205/50/15 victoracers look almost too wide for the "holeys" that they're mounted on - almost like a cantilever slick or something

 

Camber plates would be a good mod. Make certain you're installing the SS+ springs, which you should be able to pickup from a lowered MCS owner for very little bucks. And a set of Konis. That's less than a grand if you're willing to hunt for bargins. You'll want a rear bar as well, like the HSport sport bar. If mated with the SS+ front bar, it'll be controllable for the street and will rotate for the course.

I'd worry about putting 205s on a 5.5" rim. The Kosei K1 TS is only 10.6 lbs in the 15x7 size. And at $150 a pop, their not very expensive. Again less than a grand for new sneakers. Talk to Alex and you'll be pleased with the results. I forgot to mention that I'm running SSR Comps in 17x7.5 with ES100s that I picked up used. If you're worried about money, used wheels can save you a lot.