296 replies to this topic

[jplonie]

So have you had minworld or minimag in a bidding war for exclusive rights to feature this car yet?
J

[Monte Busa]

I would have expected them to "come a knockin'" already, but it's been very quiet - except from MC2, a US-based Mini and MINI magazine, who want to do a shoot in the spring - I assume they watch these forums a bit? I'm actually kind of surprised I haven't been contacted yet - maybe becuase I'm in the US, dunno...

So have you had minworld or minimag in a bidding war for exclusive rights to feature this car yet?
J

[Booster]

OK Pro-Mo owners - got a question and some thoughts for you:

...after driving my car a few times now, I am wondering if the amount of front wheelspin I am seeing under acceration is typical - don't get me wring, it's great fun, and I'd much rather have power to spare, but I guess I expected a bit more grip with the Quaife LSD and the sticky A032s (albeit on 10s). Now it has been in the 40degF range outside, so a bit on the cold side, so this probably isn't helpign things...but...

The thing will willingly light up in 1st and 2nd gear, and in third it's still clawing for traction, hunting all over the road under acceleration.

I'd love to hear your experiences...

If the tyre is not flat on the road but only a small point is touching it, this would result in less grip. i dont know know how much camber you have on the front wheels? if you would bring it back to 0 camber this could help your traction. also allignment in (parallel to the rear wheels) would help.

[Booster]

OK Pro-Mo owners - got a question and some thoughts for you:

...after driving my car a few times now, I am wondering if the amount of front wheelspin I am seeing under acceration is typical - don't get me wring, it's great fun, and I'd much rather have power to spare, but I guess I expected a bit more grip with the Quaife LSD and the sticky A032s (albeit on 10s). Now it has been in the 40degF range outside, so a bit on the cold side, so this probably isn't helpign things...but...

The thing will willingly light up in 1st and 2nd gear, and in third it's still clawing for traction, hunting all over the road under acceleration.

I'd love to hear your experiences...

If the tyre is not flat on the road but only a small point is touching it, this would result in less grip. i dont know know how much camber you have on the front wheels? if you would bring it back to 0 camber this could help your traction. also allignment in (parallel to the rear wheels) would help.

[alexcrosse]

mine used to spin up obsessively, problem is the Quaife ATB isnt as good as a normal LSD i think, its much better for drivability, but for straight line death i think it allows too much. Depends what you want it for though.

I think a main problem is your 10" wheels, i was running 12's and it wasnt horrific, Also i had a steel front end which got some more weight over the front. which is much needed.

[Monte Busa]

I changed to the 18t output sprocket I got from Phil (thanks!) from the 17t today (it was actually close to 50degF today - unheard of in Michigan in February) - what a difference! Now the car almost bogs down - gotta keep the revs up now...I think i like this better but I will have to experiment some more. The good thing is it only takes ~5 minutes to swap out the sprocket - you could do it between track day sessions easily.

mine used to spin up obsessively, problem is the Quaife ATB isnt as good as a normal LSD i think, its much better for drivability, but for straight line death i think it allows too much. Depends what you want it for though.

I think a main problem is your 10" wheels, i was running 12's and it wasnt horrific, Also i had a steel front end which got some more weight over the front. which is much needed.

[1stpromotive1275gt]

I cant remember what mine is now, But I have tried a couple of ratios. Do you know what your cars terminal speed is yet?

I have my speedo calibrated and its spot on and I am getting around 120-125mph. Before I was only getting to around 100 so the differant ratios make a big differance dont they.
Ill have to check my teeth to see what ive got when it comes back from the paint shop to compare as we both have 10" wheels.

I changed to the 18t output sprocket I got from Phil (thanks!) from the 17t today (it was actually close to 50degF today - unheard of in Michigan in February) - what a difference! Now the car almost bogs down - gotta keep the revs up now...I think i like this better but I will have to experiment some more. The good thing is it only takes ~5 minutes to swap out the sprocket - you could do it between track day sessions easily.

mine used to spin up obsessively, problem is the Quaife ATB isnt as good as a normal LSD i think, its much better for drivability, but for straight line death i think it allows too much. Depends what you want it for though.

I think a main problem is your 10" wheels, i was running 12's and it wasnt horrific, Also i had a steel front end which got some more weight over the front. which is much needed.

[Monte Busa]

That will be good to know if you can - nice to be able to compare notes on these sorts of things..

Ill have to check my teeth to see what ive got when it comes back from the paint shop to compare as we both have 10" wheels.

[aston19uk]

put your tyre pressure to 22 psi or bar. Your the know the one. My friend has a light minus with those and lowered the pressure which helped. Although you have a lot of power for tiny rims so expect will spinning

[roofless]

im running the 18 and it appears as though its 10mph per 1000 rpm, and 120-125 seems like the top end. the sat nav seems to have a fit over 120 mph so still dont have it fully confirmed.

lower tire pressures help also, even with my 14's

[Monte Busa]

I'm running the 17t front / 18t rear setup now, and although I go from about 6MPH / 1000RPM to 5.6MPH / 1000RPM I think I actually like the combo better - easier to start from a stop, and once you get used to buzzing around at 6000+RPM at highways speeds, a few 100RPMs difference at speed really doesn't matter. I'm running about 19PSI front cold and 15PSI rear cold on my Yoko A032s, which worked quite well at the track day this past Sunday.

Speaking of which, here are some pictures and the first of three videos I've compiled.

This one is from my buddy's RX-8 following me: http://www.youtube.c...re=channel_page

The next two I'll post in the next day or so, both in-car from different vantage pts.

The track day went great with no technical issues whatsoever, and huge interest in the car. We had 5 sessions of 8 to 10 laps each, and between sessions (4 groups, in rotation) I barely had enough time to eat a hotdog for lunch. There were typically 5 or so people around the car asking questions before I took my helmet off. I even got some interest from one of the local Newspaper motorsports columnists for a web feature he's doing. I gave a short video interview and did a in-car film for the photographer for the feature as well. It was pretty cool considering my competition for attention included a new Ford GT, two Elises, a number of GT-class race cars, Formula Fords, a genuine S3 Lotus 7, a Lotus Ford Cortina racer, and a bunch of tricked out STis and EVOs

On-trailer views in my driveway, the morning of the event:

 side_trailer.jpg   68.93K   97 downloads
 back_trailer.jpg   77.09K   67 downloads

Detroit News Interview for feature column

 det_news_interview.jpg   63.86K   53 downloads

A pic of the tire wear after the event - these tires will last forever at this rate!

 front_suspension_and_brakes.jpg   109.97K   175 downloads

Edited by Monte Busa, 02 June 2009 - 05:07 PM.

[Monte Busa]

Here's my 5 minutes of fame!

http://apps.detnews.....php?blogid=408

and the front cover pic blown up for posterity!

 DetNews_Pic_Waterford_053109.jpg   42.36K   72 downloads

[Monte Busa]

Here are the links to all three trackday videos:

Chase cam:
In-car:
On-windshield:

[Joe250]

Good stuff!

Tell us more about how the car did on-track. It certainly looks quick. How was the handling and braking? Was the car understeering much?

[Monte Busa]

The car was very fast on the straights and the high speed sweepers - I was keeping up with V8 Mustangs and Elises easily, I lost a bit of time on the slower speed left handers due to lack of suspension travel in the rear and the right side weight bias with me in the car. I'm going to work on some things to sort that small issue out and I should be able to drop 6 or more seconds of my lap times quite easly, which are right now about 10 seconds slower than I can do on the same track in my STi.

As far as handling, the car was very neutral, and could be steered with the rear end with a little opposite lock, especially with a dab of brakes to get it loose - it did hop around a bit on teh back though (see below). There was a bit of torquesteer on acceleration, but nothing more than what you'd get in any other high powered mini with similar wheels offset / large scrub radius.

I'm currently running 2.0deg negative camber on the front and 4deg caster and 0 toe, with 0.8deg negative camber, on the rear with 1/8" toe in for high speed stability. The GAZ coilovers are set for full stiff on the rear and mostly soft on teh front. I'm going to probably take a bit of the toe in out of the rear, and maybe raise the ride height 1/2 inch or so to see if I can get it to hop less around corners...next steps after than would be less camber and / or a rear antiroll bar...

Oh, and the braking was spot on - no fade and I could outbrake almost everything out there - the thing will really stand on it's nose. I'm running 8.4" vented discs, KAD 4 pots and EBC Greenstuff in front, Minifins in back. KAD bias box, with in-cockpit adjustability. The bias is set up similarly to how Sollis reccomends in his Mini race book to where I can barely (with a lot of muscle) turn the rear tires by hand while up on jackstands with full brake pedal pressure- fine adjustments from that pt using the bias adjuster

Good stuff!

Tell us more about how the car did on-track. It certainly looks quick. How was the handling and braking? Was the car understeering much?

Edited by Monte Busa, 03 June 2009 - 06:23 PM.