So how are we faring this year against the BMW and the RX8 crowd? Are there still some WRX drivers out there too?

Having just run the Northeast National Tour, I have a few stories (some are here) and a fresh whipping!

Jeff Hurst and Eric Simmons in their RX8s are hard to beat (although my friend Jeff Anderson just did it - in my other friend David Thomas' RX8). STX is a hard fought class this year - both in the New England Region, but also at the National level.

Bryan Heitkotter had the win with a BMW 325es on the West Coast, but Mark Sipe took his RX8 to top honors in Texas. In Dixie the RX8s took the top three spots, with Jason Ruggles leading the charge, but at Lincoln the BMW of Neal Tovsen wound up on top.

And of course at Blytheville Michael Kuhn's RX8 edged out the BMW of Chris Cline by .049 for the win.

Are you getting the theme here? The NER crowd is a microcosm of this situation, with Jeff and David running a quick RX8, and Dave and Derek running a BMW 330ci.

But up here in Yankee Land there is also me - the odd duck trying to win STX in a front wheel drive car!

Now anyone that knows the Pro Solo story knows that we give up several tenths in the first 60', and therefore have to drive the rest of the course that much harder to regain that ground.

But in all fairness, the 330 is a porky 3,150 and even the relatively lithe RX8 is still heavier than my car. I'd bet that David's isn't much under 3,000 lbs.

So I think it's fair to say that the Works Cooper in STX is an underdog - but I must say I am having TOO much fun giving it a try each and every event.

How are you all doing out there???

I want stories!

Kind regards,

Charlie

Note: Here are the folks I know are out there... Serge Andre Meunier from Montreal (who used to drive an M3, and also a 911 SC), David Ogburn out of the DC Region (but no longer Dave the younger, who is now cutting a swathe at the National level), and Greylens... who I cannot track here. Brad (bksmith) you are in this class right? bda211? Merlot? Cycleorange?

But there are more. So please do not be shy!

 

I just started doing local events towards the end of last year so i'm still new to Solo but i'm having a total blast learning and driving. I'm easily beaten by the local e30 crowd (Doug Hitchcock and Chris Conant).

Like you Charlie I feel like the cooper isn't the beast it is in H stock or even D stock now with the JCW but it can be competitive. I just had a new alignment performed on mine setting it up for -2 front, -1 rear and slight toe out front and it has transformed the car. My first race with the new alignment specs will be sunday, i'll let you know how it goes.

I still have quite a ways to go on car setup, need shocks, exhaust, engine tuning - and even then may not ever be competitive do to the fact my mini has an extra 80 lbs of sunroof but at least i'll be close

here's hoping my toyo R1Rs hold up to the novice school i'll be doing saturday and the race sunday with temps in the high 90s

Oh - and this just about sums up the mini in STX:

cheers -
Brad.

 

Well there you go, and good on you!

I reckon you'd want the spray bottle for those Toyos in that heat.

Mine came off before the Tour and are snug in their bags waiting for next spring (or perhaps the Moss in October?). The RS3 that replaced them held up to dual drivers last weekend although we too were spraying before the third run.

Just FYI Robert and I were starting with an open mind on tire pressures, but by the end of the weekend found 36f and 50r worked best. Ever since Turners put the camber back in the rear axle I've had to run silly high pressures to get the lift throttle rotation back again, and there are many places where that comes in handy.

Sounds a great weekend to come and I wish you the joy of it....

Cheers,

Charlie

 

That's funny on the pressures - i'm running 50 rear also and keep decreasing my front pressure - was going to use the school as a test and tune to dial it in (started at about 42lbs at the beginning of the year and was running 38lbs at the last event). And i do try to keep the tires cooled down between runs - i'll be running up at hartland park in a couple weeks and am going to get the car weighed on the scales there. anxious to see what it comes in at

the toyos are 235/40/17 on motegi 17x7.5 rims. it's looks like a retarded amount of rubber on the car - i love it!

how is that asymmetrical setup doing?

b.

 

The front end is behaving well, and the 225s are happy. It's a big and positive change from the results with the old 15x7 rims - in that case the 225s were definitely NOT happy.

 

It's hard work, but I am getting closer.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Charlie,

My name is Randall Prince. I'm a long time Mini Cooper fan, first time contributor From time to time, I'm the guy that does oil changes on my mom's '05 Cooper S and have recently been looking back at some other "dark horse" cars out there for STX. I run one of the '97 328is that got decimated by Heikotter a few weeks back, but the car that really caught my eye was the Integra Type R. After talking to the owner, he's only done a mild build and the car is sitting around 2450lbs. I was wondering a few things about your car / STX Coopers in general:

1. What sort of weight can I expect to get down to (assuming seats, non-sunroof car, batter, light exhaust, light wheels and suspension bits)? Have you ever weighted your car?

2. Is the power in your sig WHP? is there anything power-wise not done yet that could boost it any more?

3. Do you have an aftermarket differential?

Sounds like you were using 235/17 R1Rs...did you ever consider / try the 245/35s? Has gearing been much of an issue for you? I know David O used some 245 Dunlops as it sounds like these cars have enough power and torque to run the "taller" tires (as opposed to stuff like 225/15 RS-3s like the STX ITR uses).

Love to learn more about these cars as they are a some day soon option as an alternate to my 328is.

 

Randall, some answers are inserted in line above. Good for you for making it to Lincoln - that's quite a pilgrimage isn't it.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Do you have a sunroof / any options on your car (GPS, etc)? Also, what seats are you running?

Also, I've heard that these cars, even with good camber plates, can be pretty camber challenged. Looks like you used the LCA allotment instead. What sort of camber are you running? How does the camber curve look with what you're running now? Get a lot of outside wear on your autocross tires?

This is all super awesome Charlie! Thanks for helping a brother out with some research.

 

Nope the car is a stripper with cloth seats - I bought it to race so I wanted lightness.

The car runs -2.2 front and -1.0 rear. Last year I was at -.5 rear which was actually a bit better. Tire wear is perfect, and the body roll is cancelled by the static camber. Here's a picture that offers a view of what the outside front looks like mid corner.


This is from last year, with the 15x7 Kosei and 225 R1R - you can see significant deformation of the sidewall and displacement of the contact patch.

This year, with the 15x8 Enkei the 225s behave much better.

I'm just now going to switch over from the RS3 to the R1R for Sunday's race, as the day will be cool and might be damp. IF the course is wet my setup is like a gun in a knife fight unless one of my worthy competitors also switches from the RS3.

We shall see. I've already lost the class championship but I'd certainly like to round out the year with a 1st.

Cheers,

Charlie