Can it handle any better??

[Jims5543]

I am about to find out.

I just ordered and recived all the goodies I need to find out.

Spax Coil overs (Same ones used on the JCW race cars) rear sway bar, front camber plates, rear camber links.

Pics and driving comments soon....

[Jims5543]

I am not sure if I am happy with my ride height. I scrape the plastic dam in the front quite often entering relatively flat parking lots.

I even scraped it backing out of the garage this morning, it touched the lip. I think in a few weeks I will raise it up about 1/2 an inch all around and re-align it.

I have to admit this stance is very aggressive looking. Now that I have the alignment done and the shocks set to a good starting point the handling is much improved. Understeer is almost non-existant.

Hopefully you can see these pics.


*EDIT*

Here is a link to the Photo album:

http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=94821115056044385/l=47203702/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB


I slid a 2x4 under it to give you an idea of the clearance.




The beauty of coil overs is that I can make it any height I want.... within reason. The car can actually be lowered another 1/2" if I wanted.

I can also raise it about 2 inches if needed.... but who would want to?

I really like the stance, it looks very aggresive in person. Everyone who knows the car notices it immediatly.

I did a 1/2 street 1/2 track alignment.

I put 1.5° of camber in the rear. In the front I put 1.3° of camber and 1/16" of an inch of toe out.

I do not want to mess with adjusting the front camber for street / track /Autocross I am going to try this setup for a while and see how it works. Every time you change the camber the toe is thrown out. In the MINI's case if you add camber you decrease toe = bad.

I am taking a pyrometer to Moroso with me this weekend and will report back what the car is doing with this alignment.


Oh yeah, now that I have taken the shock adjustment from softest to middle setting the car has changed completely. The ride quality was great when they were se tto full soft but at 1/2 stiff it is like a buckboard now.. along with that is amazingly crisp turn in and tremendous feedback along with amazing response to steering inputs.

If you think a stock MINI handles amazingly well this will blow your mind.

[rcm]

Try those pics again. I want to see how it looks.

[Jims5543]

Originally posted by rcm
Try those pics again. I want to see how it looks.

Cut and paste in your browser, for whatever reason Pelican will not recognize them as images.

I just did my 1st open track day at Moroso in West Palm Beach with her and the new suspension and brakes. I am no stranger to open tracks having run my 460 HP 2500 lb. RX-7 a couple of times. This was a new club for me so I had to have an instructor. This was supposed to be a MINI only event but there were quite a few other kinds of cars there.

My instructor had a hard time turning the racer off in himself. I have the same problem. I see a car in front I want to chase it down and pass it. I call it Grand Turismo disease. Even though this was an open track day all of us know there will be some racing going on within reason. My instructor owns a early 80's 911 modded very nicely. He is a member of the PCA and knew his stuff on the track. I had a lot of fun with him.

When we went out for our 3rd run group we ended up going out a little late. So the other MINI's and "other cars" were on track. We got the go ahead to pull out of the pits and onto the track. Nothing in front of us and a couple of MINI's rounding turn 10. We were able to get up to speed quickly and had a wide open track in front of us. 1st time all day.

We cranked out some really nice laps perfect lines the car felt great and I was getting really comfortable with it close to its limits both in turns and in breaking. I was in a good groove thanks to Robin my instructor. He showed me some great lines around the track and the MINI loved it.

We see a red car pretty far in front. It was a C-5 Vette. I said to Robin awesome, we will not catch him we have tons of room to really drive.

2 laps later we are about 10 cars behind and closing. I was content with just pacing the C-5, Robin however wanted to close up the gap. (Race Driver - hard to turn off) We did!! I was amazed that my MINI could keep up with this Vette. He definatly had the advantage on the straights...well sort of.

He was not really driving a good line. So he would come out of a turn 10-20 MPH slower than I. On some of the shorter straights he never got to see anything else but me in his mirrors.

For 3 laps I pushed him around the track. Each lap we would round turn 10 (last turn) and I would be that much closer to him. By the last lap I was 1 car length behind exiting 10 and could have passed him if I was allowed.

I cannot tell you how much of a rush it is to be driving a 205 HP MINI and chasing down a 350+ HP Vette. I could out turn and out brake that Vette by so much it was amazing. When we got to the end of a long straight he would open the gap to about 10-15 cars only to have it closed by 5+ cars just in the braking zone then the other 5+ cars would get eaten up in the turns. I attribute a lot of this to the fact that I have Zimmerman rotors and Metalic Racing brake pads from MyMini along with the Spax Coil over and rear swaybar..... Wow!

I bet that guy in the Vette though he was going to be walking all over MINI's that day. Robin, my instructor was clapping his hands having a ball witnessing a little MINI giving a C-5 such a hard time.

Robin was VERY impressed with the braking and handling of the MINI.

God I love this Mini...