Camber helps new MINI Mar 20, 2007
We had a great day on Sunday at our local Central Florida Region SCCA Solo event. It was pretty clear that our performance alignment transformed the 2007 MINI Cooper. With a little bit more negative camber and more aggressive toe settings, the car turned in and cornered much better. We found ourselves backing off our typically high rear tire pressure for a more sedate setting close to the fronts. We typically run 45 psi in the front and 55 psi in the rear. After our first run, we backed off the rears to 45 psi and the car was a lot more manageable in offsets. We finished first and fourth on index out of 97 drivers, setting the fastest time for stock class.
Buccaneer Region Solo Event…Tough Competition Mar 26, 2007
Kim and Per went up to the Buccaneer Region event in Green Cove Springs. The course was tricky with a lot of tight/close offsets that really allowed the car's rear to step out on the slick surface. We found that the car only became balanced if we stopped cooling down the front tires, essentially "killing" the front traction to keep the car better balanced.
That could be because of a few things, either our alignment needs to be tweaked or the fact that we are running rear tires that are now nearly one year old.
The result of all of this is that we wound up 7th on index and felt that we were at least a second or more off the pace of what the car was capable of. We'll work on that!
Heads Up Apr 3, 2007
In a few weeks, we'll be testing our 2007 MINI Cooper S against a prepped 2005 model. The two cars will be on identical tires and rims and the test will be done on a large autocross course....stay tuned!
Racking up another Win Apr 23, 2007
Our 2007 MINI Cooper S racked up another win this Sunday with Per at the wheel. Kim had some problems with those pesky cones.
We've also done some testing comparing the new car to a well-prepped 2005 Cooper S. The results were quite surprising and will be published in an upcoming issue of the magazine.
In other news, we've started using Hoosier A6s on the car and will soon be comparing 17x7-inch Enkei wheels to our current 16x6.5-inch Rotas. The larger wheels can fit some pretty big (but tall) race rubber under the fenders, which might help our wheelspin issues. We've also begun to consider upgrading our shock absorber package.
MINI Gets some Meats May 9, 2007
This is a 225/40R17 Hoosier mounted on our 17x7 Enkei RPF1s. The Hoosier measures a touch over nine inches in width and 23.5 inches in diameter. That's about a half inch wider than the 205/45R16 with about a half inch more in diameter. Both will help our MINI's on course performance.