Ozark Mountain Region SCCA

Well as the title states, this is my first auto X. I have read up on everything I could. I feel that I am prepared so I am just going to come out and have fun! I will be attending full season so I hope to get to know you all throughout the year! My girlfriend may be along as passenger too. We both already picked up helmets and seat belt cg locks.

Here is my track prep for my 2002 mini cooper S

***List of mods:***
Suspension/Drivetrain:
-50/50 Solid/polyurethane rear engine mount
-Polyurethane front sway bar bushings
-Polyurethane front control arm bushings
-ATE Slotted Brake Rotors
-EBC Green Stuff Pads

Performance:
-15% Supercharger pulley
-Stiffen Supercharger bypass valve
-Short Ram filter in stock location
-NGK plug wires
-NGK Iridium 2degree cooler plugs
-AEM Boost Gauge

***Prepping***
-Swapping on my 15x7" Motegis with 205/50 Kuhmo Ecstas asx
-32psi front 45psi rear
-clean air filter
-oil change
-brake fluid flush(needed it this one time- hasnt been done in years)
-check coolant/power steering fluid
-1/2 tank of 93 octane
-remove sub box/amp and all items from inside


Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help in prep for the event. Can't wait to get out there!

Thanks
-Michael

First off, Welcome!
We want you to come out, be safe and have a good time.

My first suggestion for the event is to wear sunscreen. You'll be standing around on a somewhat reflective parking lot for longer than you are probably imagining right now.

You're also going to want more air in your front tires than 32 psi. 40-42 psi is probably closer to what you'll want to start with. I happen to know that MINIs have a slight problem with getting enough static front negative camber and as such tend to ride on the outer edge of their front tires in autocrosses. Too low of a front tire pressure can allow the tire to flop over and rub the sidewall, damaging the tire. Not only is that annoying and expensive, it's slow. In 12 years of autocrossing I've figured out that tire treads grip better than sidewalls.

Introduce yourself at registration as a first timer and they'll try to steer you to a more experienced member who can show you around. We usually have a novice course walk before the drivers' meeting. Do the course walk and pay attention. There are worthwhile nuggets of information dispensed freely there.

I see on MotorsportReg.com that you've preregistered. Thank you. That helps. I think you're misclassed, though. A MINI Cooper S in Street Prepared would be a DSP car, not FSP. Also, Street Prepared doesn't allow for boost changes like you've got. Given your list of mods, I believe the correct class for your car is SMF (Street Modified Front wheel drive).

Have fun, and be ready to learn. See you there.

Thanks for the reply Scott!

I will have a 12v 100psi air pump with me so I can tweak air psi, I just want to make sure I can launch off the line and since the Mini is so high geared(46mph top 1st) I am figuring I will be in mid-high of 1st gear a lot. and mid range of 2nd gear. I am going to take the first couple of runs rather slow to get a feel for the car. And just ease into pushing it. I can set the camber in -.5 front and -1.4 rear I figure this will help a bit then in what you said. I was a little confused on the class registration, I read up on it and saw the street modified, street prepped ect.. Then as registering it started throwing class letters at me which I didn't see in the pdfs. I will just have to go back and look at that. Do I need to go into my car file on motorsportreg and change my classification?
-Michael

Due to the supercharger mods it would put you in X Prepared (XP) or SM (Street Modified). The Huff or Mr. Matt can better answer this. Enjoy your experience.

PS: Don't be afraid to ask for pointers and ride alongs to better get a feel for the sport. IF you can work first heat and run second it would be better so you can see how other people are taking or not taking the course.

Welcome. Glad to see new faces.

In most cars on most autocross courses, your best bet is to shift to second gear and leave it there for the duration of each run. Shortest time wins, rather than making sure you have peak power at any given instant. Shifting consumes time and can take your focus off driving the course.

The bias in autocross is heavy on handling and momentum maintenance compared to the launch. Very few Solo courses start out with a long straightline run into the first element, so there's little advantage in blistering the first 50 feet of pavement.

This is a driving skill sport, and the car is just the platform used to learn and have fun. What you have should be a great way to start.

Michael-
Listen to Jim. He knows what he's talking about. As far as tire pressures, not only do you want to optimize them for lateral grip, but higher pressures will protect those sidewalls. We really don't want anyone walking away from their first event with damaged tires and thinking they never want to participate in an autocross again.
As for reclassifying on motorsportreg.com - I don't know. Give it a shot. If you can't change it online make sure you tell registration on Sunday morning and that you mark your car with the correct class to match registration. Also, you're not the only one currently misclassified. I just noticed there's a 2001 Celica registered in FSP. It's SP class should be DSP.
See you Sunday.

Thanks guys for your input. I have some bad news. The Motegis bolt pattern is correct but I cannot find or get any lug bolts with the proper size taper to fit the wheels on. And I am not going to take my 240$ run flats down to the auto cross event and tear them up. I am going to miss this event unfortunately and have to situate my wheel set up in prep for next time.
I have my stock 17x7 rims with horrible run flats on them. A couple are pitted from burn outs, one doesn't hold air for a day, and another is actually pretty decent but all just old. So I am going to strip the tires off my stock. Powder coat them white again and swap the run flats from my Sparcos to them and then pick up some cheap 80$ summer performance tires to toss on the Sparcos and use them for town and auto cross. And the stock w/ run flats for road trips.
That Celica is my friend and I am the one who misplaced him. He wouldn't have know either though. The categories you choose from on the registration form didn't have the options for the classes you are saying that we are in. At least we didn't see it. I think that it is also too finely narrowed for our understanding.I thought the F was for front drive. But we will still come out. I am going to spectate and watch. I haven't decided if I want to maybe try a run with traction control on. I still think it would hurt the tires. Maybe someone can jump in a be a hero and loan me some wheels/tires for a rental fee 4x100 with a wide taper. Haha. I'll definitely be there though. I should have my tires set up for next event. I only just found out about OMR on sunday by another mini cooper auto x'er

I put the Mini in SMF and the Celica in DSP thank you guys for catching that. It would be great if they both verified their classes as they go through the line at the trailer (making sure it updates when the last download is put in the timing and scoring computer).

Everyone have fun this weekend I will not be able to make it, but hopefully get to make it to the next event.

Tummi_Gummi wrote:Thanks guys for your input. I have some bad news. The Motegis bolt pattern is correct but I cannot find or get any lug bolts with the proper size taper to fit the wheels on. And I am not going to take my 240$ run flats down to the auto cross event and tear them up. I am going to miss this event unfortunately and have to situate my wheel set up in prep for next time.
I have my stock 17x7 rims with horrible run flats on them. A couple are pitted from burn outs, one doesn't hold air for a day, and another is actually pretty decent but all just old. So I am going to strip the tires off my stock. Powder coat them white again and swap the run flats from my Sparcos to them and then pick up some cheap 80$ summer performance tires to toss on the Sparcos and use them for town and auto cross. And the stock w/ run flats for road trips.
That Celica is my friend and I am the one who misplaced him. He wouldn't have know either though. The categories you choose from on the registration form didn't have the options for the classes you are saying that we are in. At least we didn't see it. I think that it is also too finely narrowed for our understanding.I thought the F was for front drive. But we will still come out. I am going to spectate and watch. I haven't decided if I want to maybe try a run with traction control on. I still think it would hurt the tires. Maybe someone can jump in a be a hero and loan me some wheels/tires for a rental fee 4x100 with a wide taper. Haha. I'll definitely be there though. I should have my tires set up for next event. I only just found out about OMR on sunday by another mini cooper auto x'er

just sign up and run.... you're runflats will be fine... besides you can always stop after the first run if you're seeing tire wear... After you run, you'll wonder why you considered not running...

If I waited until I was 100% prepared, I'd never get to run...

I dont want a 100% but I have just recently found out when i floor it i spin wheels through 1st and 2nd and leave burn out strips when i don't even hear the tires squeel they just kinda howl a little but i always though it was my exhaust. Then i inspected tread and saw i was already down about 30-35% o 240$ tires with less than 5,000miles on them. I may try a run but i haven't decided yet. I thought to maybe do some easy baby runs and leave traction control on and as a member suggested stay in second. If I am in 1st and floor it without traction i will spin to redline while cornering I am sure of it. I usually only just about 1k rpms higher than what im traveling until the car hooks on straights.

EDIT: Okay i am just going to rotate my wheels and race. haha

Hey, good for you. Another idea is to not only come and race, and also ride with someone in between your runs who is experienced so you can get a better feel for all this.

I'm interested in Minis so I'll keep an eye out for you.

Bud

That would be cool! Here is some pictures of my mini.





And it'd feel wrong not to post pictures of my suzuki!

That smoky burnout took one heckuva lot more off your tires than 6 runs @ Ducks ever will........

Bullitt2954 wrote:That smoky burnout took one heckuva lot more off you tires than 6 runs @ Ducks ever will........

yeah but that was the day before i mounted my sparcos!!! You should know I would never do that!!!!!

Haha nice burnout picture!

I'll be in my green 240SX [S14] at the AutoX this Sunday, looks like I'm running a one-person class in SM :/

Feel free to ask for a ride. I'm a crap driver, but most people seem to enjoy riding along!