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 Posted October 11th, 2009 at 12:22PM
So the warranty replacement for my first $130 axle broke at MoHud’s last event of the season, October 4th. (Outer CV broke at the turn before the finish lights on my second run after a spin during my first: I finished 4th in class with a decent time for a second run that morning. Go figure. The MINI likes that ACC lot, but the lot does not like cars – there were other casualties, including two half-shafts on one scoob.)
I AAA’d it back home once again. I was promised a refund for the cheap axle (still waiting), and after a call to The Driveshaft Shop, I learned that they do indeed have plans for R53 MINI axles. They’re still $100 less than OEM and feature beefier CV joints, supposedly rated for 450hp. I ordered one on Monday and got it installed Wednesday.
Seems fine, but there’s a slight vibration I’ve never noticed before under heavy acceleration in 1st and 2nd. It’s not really a CV joint noise though, and I can’t recreate any clicks or clunks under any driving to indicate another bum axle. The car is sitting at 63k miles, and they’ve been hard miles, so it’s time to start watching wear items like wheel bearings and bushings carefully. I’m confident this vibration doesn’t indicate an imminent failure though. I’m just pretty paranoid about any new NVH at this point.
To make sure, I decided to check out an autocross Saturday put on by the car guys at RPI. The night before I was able to get my Kumho XS mounted at their community supported auto shop, so this was a chance to break in the tires too.
Saturday was a fun, friendly atmosphere, but I didn’t get much driving in. After two runs, the car began making a clicking noise. Jacking up the car, I found (stick with me here) the inner CV joint boot’s clamp on the new axle had been catching on a bracket for a wheel sensor mounted on the a-arm. The beefier joints on the new axle have less clearance with this bracket, which I noticed while installing. Under normal driving, it wasn’t an issue. With lateral loads on the car, however, the bracket moved upward enough to snag the clamp. Halfway through my cautious drive home, the clamp was pushed off, but the boot stayed on so no loss. Today I’m going to see about filing that bracket down a bit. I’m going to head to a shop on Monday to see about putting a new clamp on the boot, as I can’t get the old tweaked clamp anywhere near tight enough with ordinary pliers.
I’m definitely glad to have caught this small issue in Troy yesterday as opposed to Lime Rock Park next Saturday. I can’t help but feel anxious whether or not the car will have any issues there, even though everything has been checked and all preparations made in recent weeks.
Most disheartening is the weather forecast for next Saturday. There’s a huge cold front coming from Canada, making its way through practically the whole country, hitting our area this weekend. Day highs in Lakeville, CT are supposed to reach the mid 40s, with a 50% chance of morning precip in the form of rain or, yup, snow. I’m not sure I’ll mind taking it extra gingerly as it’ll be my first visit to the track. Nicer weather would have been appreciated though. 
Posted September 28th, 2009 at 2:27PM
I snagged another 2nd in class at MoHud’s second to last event of the year, at McCarty Ave on September 20th. FTD was a 27.2, my best clean run was a 28.555 although I improved to an honest 28.1 by the end of the day, with 1 clipped cone in the process. If that bugger had stayed in the box, I’d have tied for 4th in raw time, out of a field of 57.
I’ve noticed some wear on one of the V710s. It looks like little patches of the top rubber compound have been chewed out, exposing the next layer down with a suspicious cord-pattern to it. Guess I’ll run that guy on the rear next time around, and wait till I’ve got nothing for the front. If I burn them up good at the last autocross, maybe I’ll mount the new Kumho XS on those wheels afterall.
Did a bunch of driving yesterday, up scenic Route 9N. Traffic is still not bad, but the leaves are really popping. It was pretty wet all day and the bald Azenis weren’t the best option.
Stainless steel brake lines are on the car and the fluid has been fully bled to Motul RBF600. Unfortunate that I’ve only got one event for such good fluid, before the winter months when the car will be stored.
Posted September 3rd, 2009 at 11:55AM
This past Sunday was MoHud’s 6th autocross of the season, nearby in the Wilton Mall parking lot. The location is not stellar – quite a bit of traffic and paddock is shared with mall-goers – but it was smooth pavement and the course made the most of what we had. I placed 2nd in SM, 1.4 seconds behind first and .034 seconds ahead of third. If I want to keep up, I’m going to have to make some changes to the car. But most of the stuff I’m really itching to have (like safety equipment and data acquisition) won’t make the car faster. So I’ll just concentrate on the driving and drop a few positions. Especially if I do end up running street tires after the V710s cord.
We also just got done pouring the concrete floor in the garage. It came out pretty damn nice and will be so much more convenient to wrench on than packed dirt. Might post some pics soon.
Posted August 17th, 2009 at 12:53PM
Yesterday was another local autocross, this time behind the Boscov’s at Clifton Park Center. This was the first time we ran at this lot (last season, we had a smaller lot in a different location at CPC) and I was fairly impressed. From what I felt, there were none of the crashing bumps that reveal themselves at speed at our Adirondack Community College or McCarty Ave. parking lots. Small, but then I drive a small car, so I can’t complain about that too much.
Unfortunately, the MINI failed in spectacular fashion. First run of the day: I come into a single-cone turnaround pretty quick, brake, smooth downshift to first, coming out of it, time to apply some throttle…. Nope, somebody replaced the go-pedal with a “bag of rocks” pedal. The driver’s side axle I replaced in May broke, the outer joint shearing out of the socket, spraying ball joints across the parking lot.
I’m not entirely sure I got to apply any throttle at all. It was a vicious 180* turnaround, and the axle might have given loose as a result of the downshift adding a bunch of revs in the middle of the tight turn.
It had been clicking for a bit, becoming more noticeable after the last autocross and throughout my trip to Calabogie last month. My bad, shoulda been more proactive. I’m honoring the lifetime warranty, at least until I find or can afford something more robust.
Fortunately I was able to use AAA to get the car home, and it looks like I’ll only be out S&H on the replacement axle. Oh, and I might as well buy that large 30-something MM socket, as it looks like I’ll be doing this job more than once…
So without a single run, I finished DFL and DNF in Street Mod. Behind three Volvos!
Posted June 24th, 2009 at 10:54AM
So my MINI survived its first National Tour and second event at Watkins Glen International. Hurray!
On June 13-14, Finger Lakes Region hosted a National Tour at Seneca Army Depot. I was the sole entrant in SMF, the supplemental front wheel drive street mod class. So I won. I wasn’t very fast though. On Saturday there was a light drizzle for all of our runs. I think my Kumhos are starting to feel their age, as I couldn’t get any heat into the tires and the car was super loose all day. I spun during my last run, and the problem with National Tours is that you only get three runs per day, with your best run from each day added up to give you your cumulative time. So I was sloppy all day Saturday and way behind the pace.
Sunday was drier and warmer, so I was on pace with G-Stock (where my car would play if it was stock). I know I’m not a nationally competitive driver, so I’m not heartbroken that my modified car wasn’t any faster. It’s great to get the yardstick out and compare yourself to the national guys, though. Number one in GS, Savini, was still a second and a half faster than me on Sunday. Pretty quick guy. I nearly spun on my last run, recovered it, but the damage to my time was already done. It was feeling fast. I’m fairly confident that I could have driven faster than GS on Sunday, Savini included, given my 50+ HP advantage and suspension set-up. With more runs. *shrug*
June 15-16 was when the real fun began: two days at Watkins Glen International with Patroon BMWCCA. After getting on the track, I could care less about how fast I can drive around pylons in parking lots. I picked up a lot of speed my second time at Watkins Glen, and word is I’ll be running in the intermediate group my next time with Patroon (not sure if this counts if I go somewhere like Calabogie, or with another track group, but still). There were half a dozen other MINIs running, and I parked and hung out with them. Having my parents with the truck made lunch easy both days.
There was a MINI off-track excursion, right in front of me requiring some emergency braking in the toe of the boot (turn 7), but it wasn’t bad and I’m glad it happened early Monday since I wasn’t pushing the car hard. Emergency maneuvering in the toe closer to the limit could have been interesting!
I am now seeing 120MPH on the back straight, and 100 on the front. I shift into 5th gear in the flat transition area between turns 3 and 4 heading towards the back straight. And I short-shift into 5th on the front; otherwise, I’m right at the rev limiter by the end of the straight, and I feel sorry for my car. The only place I downshift into third is before the toe, turn 7, otherwise I leave it in 4th the rest of the time and the car never feels dogged.
Traffic was not a big issue with the Patroon school, especially on Tuesday after I discovered the secret of running in the beginner run group – to get out first.  During my last two sessions on Tuesday, I might have given two or three point-bys, and received a few more than that in return. At one point I had the chance to run down a Viper — always satisfying in a MINI! The driver was parked next to us, and a very friendly guy.
While the driving is very different, I credit my autocross experience to my quick learning on-track. The basic fundamentals of car control are the same, and I’m familiar with my car’s handling and how to make small, incremental adjustments. The physics are the same. I’m also quick to listen to my instructor, and aware of mistakes as I make them. By the end of the day on Tuesday, our classroom sessions were missing more than half of the students. Their loss. I assume these are the people less interested in gaining speed, and more interested in just being able to say they’ve been there.
The cars weren’t quite as exotic as at the Trackmasters event. I knew plenty of the guys though as they’re all the same MoHudders I’ve been autocrossing with. I wish I could get to the Calabogie event next month, but with no money it’s just not in the cards.
I’m feeling more inclined to fully track-out the MINI with roll cage, seats, and harnesses — instead of buying a cheaper car (think e30 BMW) that I wouldn’t feel gutted tossing into a tire wall at 100+. After all, the car I already own is cheaper than the one I’d have to buy, and I’ve invested enough so that I know the car and all of its handling / mechanical issues and idiosyncrasies. For now, it’s all the speed I need.
Posted June 6th, 2009 at 10:28AM
So last Sunday was the second local autocross of the season, and I predictably took 3rd in Street Mod out of a field of seven:
- 49.362+DNF — 47.474+DNF — 48.057 — 47.394+1 — 47.482 — 46.956
- 49.636 — 49.303 — 48.870 — 53.135+DNF — 48.589 — 49.310
- 50.242+2 — 49.461+3 — 47.768+1 — 48.475+2 — 52.069+5 — 47.256+2
Last season I placed 3rd at every event, besides one 1st place and a 4th place (the NE Divisionals where competition was hot and heavy). I can take both good and bad away from this past week’s results. Firstly, I was more cone happy than ever, not getting a clean run during the event. That’s always disappointing, but as a consolation, I took two fun runs and ran clean 47s both times, so I believe my times are accurately reflected in the results – ie., those cones I were hitting weren’t giving me optimistic times. So really, I was quicker than number two.
But full disclosure? Number two was running the car that wasn’t competitive last season (his Subie wagon as opposed to his monster STi), and he’s still on street tires. And not just street tires, but Azenis, which are by now obsolete and a good second off of today’s top street tire contenders.
So I still have two competitors who are clearly faster drivers. The Evo is better prepared, while the Subie driver gets closer and closer to better prepared. I can’t wait till he finally breaks down and gets the r-compounds. 
My 47 second times (w/o cone-age) were good for 2nd in raw times; there were only four of us getting sub-48 times out of a field of 51. So considering the ways in which the deck is stacked against me*, I am OK with the results.
June 13-14 is the National Tour stop at Seneca Army Depot, which I’ll be attending. Next local autocross is end of June.
* – I’m still on my V710s that I used all of last season (still plenty of life!!).
- I still have less experience than the people I’m nipping at the heels of.
- The MINI was insanely loose, partly because of the wet conditions in the AM, but mostly because I’ve played with the ride height and I believe I’m probably running random toe out at all four corners. I need to get an alignment soon.
- I’m still down two drive wheels and a few hundred horsies from the people I’m competing against. 
I’m wondering about actually keeping some slight toe out up front, if indeed that was part of the looseness, because DAMN the car was turning in. A lot of the cones I hit were because the car turned in better than expected. But I still want the thing to behave safely on-track, so I’ll probably stick with zero toe up front and slight toe in in the rear. We’ll see.
Posted May 5th, 2009 at 12:57PM
(Photo courtesy of ‘Dannyboy’, full 500 image photoset available here)
April 25th was my first chance to autocross this season, at our old site at Adirondack Community College. We were unable to run there last season because of construction. But most of the lot was repaved, so conditions were better than ever except for a few rough spots.
Saturday the 25th was a test & tune, where I got the chance to see if my Kumho V710s still had life left. Turns out they do…
Sunday the 26th was MoHud’s first points event. Final results for Street Mod following (best times in bold, yours truly italicized):
- 50.561+1 — 49.626+1 — 49.819+1 — 49.576 — 52.753+1
- 51.776+DNF — 53.557 — 52.304 — 51.544 — 51.856
- 53.557+1 — 54.052+DNF — 54.558 — 53.228 — 53.123
- 56.806+1 — 55.736+2 — 55.157+1 — 54.574 — 54.613+1
- 61.098 — 60.068 — 59.121+DNF — 56.165+DNF — 57.106+1
- 65.341+DNF — 59.838 — 59.256 — 60.432 — 60.654
- 83.224+DNF — 63.529 — 62.749+DNF
So I took a class win, off to a good start for the season. But the bigger accomplishment for me was taking FTD (fastest time of the day), by 6/10ths of a second. That’s a decent margin of victory, but of course I can’t take all the credit. Among my usual competition for top time of the day…
- The Evo was having teething issues with it’s new set-up, forcing him back onto street tires
- The STi did not make an appearance
- The green mod mk1 GTI wasn’t there; the driver had his (also prepped) ‘94 Integra (EP class, ended up with the 2nd fastest time of 50.187)
And numerous others (like the CSP CRX Si) were simply off of their top game. And I was on mine. So it was a fun two days with good courses, and I ran well. What more can you ask for? (Stay tuned for the answer to that rhetorical question.)
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