LOH's mini (2013 JCW-GP) adventure
Discussion
cheddar said:
jamieleehodgson said:
Yeah a freind has the JCW on an 11 plate and took me up the private airfield and had an indicated 147 and the GP is lighter and a little more powerful but that spoiler might counteract the extra power/ less weight
JCW 164mph:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Bev4-K2Axg
Just to add, reading through the press release on the car the car is timed at 8:23 at the nurburgring-not sure where I got 8:21 from but interestingly re the top speed, they claim that the GP has a lower drag than the standard car which is partly responsible for its higher top speed & (& I'm not joking here) a better fuel economy, I'm thinking of the planet obviously
In all the press releases they never mention downforce, just "reduction of lift" so I guess the spoiler is exactly that rather than a wing. If I get time I'll take a picture of it but when you see it it doesn't sit above the roof line:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lhgR5x0WiU&fea...
Righty-ho,
Thought I'd post up a little "in progress" piece about the car as I had a nice run out in it yesterday
If you've kept up to date with the thread you'll know I ordered this car blind without a test drive or seeing one in the flesh (or metal so to speak). I did however test drive a standard JCW mini & on the day I had that I took it over hartside pass (not far from home) so it was with a little bit of luck I had plenty of spare time yesterday in which to go up there again, this time in the GP obviously
Now, you might also remember that I wasn't that impressed with the JCW so it is interesting as to how the GP compares in the areas that it found lacking.
First things first, the GP is a properly quick little car. I've taken a Porsche Cayman R over this route (in similar conditions) & there is no way this was any slower. In fact, it reminds me of my old MR2 Spyder in the sense that on these types of roads (windy country type roads) you simply wouldn't want to go any faster. It's the prefect power for its size which always means fun is on the cards in that you can absolutely wring its neck to the point where you just about feel on the edge. With something like the Cayman R or particularly with my old ZM coupe I felt you couldn't stretch their legs, with this you can use all the rev range & really work it hard.
Other good points are the tyres, which I was initially a little concerned about when experiencing lift off over steer. They seem to be running in nicely & getting more grippier although I'm always aware that at nearly 2000ft in January they might not be in their optimum operating temperature.
The "fake" LSD seems to be working better once ive gotten used to it a bit more too. Stamp on the throttle & torque steer will appear, but feed it in & you can actually feel it working. There are some wicked cambers on the pass & when you just start to feel the inside wheel give up traction it miraculously pulls itself in again. As well as a true LSD in a Renault? Probably not but I was really trying to make it come unstuck up there, again, I'll reserve judgement until I get it on some dry road with a bit of heat in the tyres.
Brakes-absurd stopping power & zero fade, I only triggered the abs when I was stamping on them to see where the threshold lay but I doubt you'd be able to do it without being silly in most types of driving.
Steering feel is still lacking at this early point. I may be being hard on it, afteral it's on track rubber & I was up at nearly 2000ft in wind & rain at something like 3 degrees but it still had that glassy feel & it was difficult to judge where the limit was. If it works better on track in heat it'll be a pay off worth taking for me but at the moment something in the equation isn't right. I tried it in sport mode but it left it feeling all gooey with unnecessary weight-not really pleasant but again the conditions were s
t so I'll cut it a little slack.
Any other bad points? There's an annoying buzz from the centre console that I'll have to have sorted & the gearbox almost wants to drag into second gear when cold- I've tried nannying it but it still just wants to do it if it feels like it & I'm certain its not just me. Oh & the hands free phone interface is crap. It works fine sound wise but it's counter intuitive to work the menu systems & I refuse to read the manual.
Apart from that it's all good most folk are very surprised when I tell them I'm driving a mini (one customer complimented my other half on it not knowing it was mine ) but everyone who sees it really likes the look of it.
Obligatory pics.....
Sorry they're a bit blurry, but it was hard enough to stand straight up there in that weather.
Thought I'd post up a little "in progress" piece about the car as I had a nice run out in it yesterday
If you've kept up to date with the thread you'll know I ordered this car blind without a test drive or seeing one in the flesh (or metal so to speak). I did however test drive a standard JCW mini & on the day I had that I took it over hartside pass (not far from home) so it was with a little bit of luck I had plenty of spare time yesterday in which to go up there again, this time in the GP obviously
Now, you might also remember that I wasn't that impressed with the JCW so it is interesting as to how the GP compares in the areas that it found lacking.
First things first, the GP is a properly quick little car. I've taken a Porsche Cayman R over this route (in similar conditions) & there is no way this was any slower. In fact, it reminds me of my old MR2 Spyder in the sense that on these types of roads (windy country type roads) you simply wouldn't want to go any faster. It's the prefect power for its size which always means fun is on the cards in that you can absolutely wring its neck to the point where you just about feel on the edge. With something like the Cayman R or particularly with my old ZM coupe I felt you couldn't stretch their legs, with this you can use all the rev range & really work it hard.
Other good points are the tyres, which I was initially a little concerned about when experiencing lift off over steer. They seem to be running in nicely & getting more grippier although I'm always aware that at nearly 2000ft in January they might not be in their optimum operating temperature.
The "fake" LSD seems to be working better once ive gotten used to it a bit more too. Stamp on the throttle & torque steer will appear, but feed it in & you can actually feel it working. There are some wicked cambers on the pass & when you just start to feel the inside wheel give up traction it miraculously pulls itself in again. As well as a true LSD in a Renault? Probably not but I was really trying to make it come unstuck up there, again, I'll reserve judgement until I get it on some dry road with a bit of heat in the tyres.
Brakes-absurd stopping power & zero fade, I only triggered the abs when I was stamping on them to see where the threshold lay but I doubt you'd be able to do it without being silly in most types of driving.
Steering feel is still lacking at this early point. I may be being hard on it, afteral it's on track rubber & I was up at nearly 2000ft in wind & rain at something like 3 degrees but it still had that glassy feel & it was difficult to judge where the limit was. If it works better on track in heat it'll be a pay off worth taking for me but at the moment something in the equation isn't right. I tried it in sport mode but it left it feeling all gooey with unnecessary weight-not really pleasant but again the conditions were s
t so I'll cut it a little slack.Any other bad points? There's an annoying buzz from the centre console that I'll have to have sorted & the gearbox almost wants to drag into second gear when cold- I've tried nannying it but it still just wants to do it if it feels like it & I'm certain its not just me. Oh & the hands free phone interface is crap. It works fine sound wise but it's counter intuitive to work the menu systems & I refuse to read the manual.
Apart from that it's all good
most folk are very surprised when I tell them I'm driving a mini (one customer complimented my other half on it not knowing it was mine ) but everyone who sees it really likes the look of it.Obligatory pics.....
Sorry they're a bit blurry, but it was hard enough to stand straight up there in that weather.
Sandy59 said:
Enjoying the write ups LOH as I have one on order.
You say you weren't really that impressed with the standard JPW, sounds like the GP is an improvement - does it justify the extra cost IYO ??
interesting question, but for me yes. i'll explain.....You say you weren't really that impressed with the standard JPW, sounds like the GP is an improvement - does it justify the extra cost IYO ??
as a value for money propersition you can look at it one way, a mini jcw spec'd up to the same would be almost as much (though not quite) but would have to do without the big brakes, the "gp mode" quasi-lsd, the coilover suspension, track tyres & wheels & the trick aero.
then there's the fact you won't get this engine until the new jcw is relesed (see the spec sheet on page 1 of this thread-it's very different to the current engine) & from what i hear on the mini forum there are long delays on the standard jcw because of this.
insofar as the GP being very different from the standard car all of the above is by the by, it's worth the premium as i think it's a much better car.
the tricky question is whether you feel it's good value for money full stop when you consider what other hot hatches are going for, & that's before you get into the thorny subject of second-hand.
Sandy59 said:
'Mini' GT3 so to speak
I think that may be pushing it a little bit, but I won't get the car on track until the end of this month so I won't really know until then. To be fair, although I was very impressed with my old megane R.26.r when I first got it, I didn't really gel with it until I got it on track.I still think the lack of bucket seats & harness' will go against the mini in that respect but if it turns out to be a good 'un I'm not against fitting some in the not too distant future.
nickfrog said:
LOH. Great thread and great car. I always thought it was quite a lot for a MINI but I've mellowed a bit on that as the low potential depreciation alone should help.
When do you plan to be at the Ring ? I'll be there on TF days with the 08 MCS on either Thu 9 + Fri 10 May or Thu 30 + Fri 31 May (TBC). It'd be good to meet up if you happened to be there then.
only trips booked so far are the DN trackdays the week after easter & then we're going down for the formula 1 in july, i'm sure i'll be out a couple of more times this year but keep an eye on the thread When do you plan to be at the Ring ? I'll be there on TF days with the 08 MCS on either Thu 9 + Fri 10 May or Thu 30 + Fri 31 May (TBC). It'd be good to meet up if you happened to be there then.
hachiroku said:
Why didn't they fit an LSD? I remember the e-diff rubbish in my fjcw was a real kill joy. I hope they've done something about the high seating position.
this is the most interesting part for me, as i've never trusted the whole electronic lsd thing myself. but, mini specifically wrote a "GP" mode for the software that essentially lets you disable the traction control but leave the braking system to work on a spinning wheel (the press release on page one of this thread explains it better), in other words if the nanny senses a wheel spinning up it applies the abs to the inside wheel but leaves the throttle in.having tried it on road it so far works very well, track will be its final reckoning however...
Hoygo said:
We already know the numbers and the laptimes for that matter but how does it directly compare to the R26.r driving wise?
Congrats on the car btw,these JCWs are growing on me .
I guess a 2nd hand .r is the better choice for a driver focused track ready fwd considering the big price difference but can't comment on the driving myself as obviously never driven the Mini.
i'm not commenting until i've got the mini on track! however i think it's going to stand up better than i expected the more i drive the car Congrats on the car btw,these JCWs are growing on me .
I guess a 2nd hand .r is the better choice for a driver focused track ready fwd considering the big price difference but can't comment on the driving myself as obviously never driven the Mini.
the difference with the r26.r second hand purchase isn't as big as you'd think...
cars that i looked at were pretty high priced (the mint well spec'd cars), i realisticly needed to spend a minimum of £17k to get into one (which is fine-they're worth it imho) but you have to be aware that it is a 3-4 year old renault that is out of warrenty. it's not unknown for engine failures on them & although i never had any problems with my old one when it was new when you read the specialist forums there are many, many issues with them.
that's not to say you don't get the same with a mini mind, but it is covered by a new car warrenty/servicing package.
it also helped the decision that now the old mini GP's are 6 years old, they're still retaining 60% of their original purchase price
You know what I love?
The smell of cooked brakes in the morning & that can mean only two things, a calliper has seized or the track day season has started.
I spent today at oulton park, which means the callipers were fine.
6:25am alarm goes
6:30am dog walked through the woods
7:15am the 3 S's
7:30am set off from oop north to slightly less oop north
Frosty morning, snow on the fells through the lake district but bright & shiny all the way down, today is looking great. Even better is we're travelling down to meet some great mates who we regularly go driving with. Not just anywhere either, together we've done hundreds of laps of the nurburgring, Le mans, spa, Italy etc etc.
Over the years we've been lucky enough to own some amazing cars (GTR, 911s etc) but these days we're going back to basics. As regular followers of the thread will know I wanted to get back into a megane r26.r again, my friend steve already did but due to a lack of good cars out there I didn't manage to get one so I bought the mini GP.
So, with our group owning a Clio cup & steve getting his r26.r this was our first track day altogether. 3 pretty evenly matched cars when you look at it, plus it lets all of us experience each others cars & regret our purchases!
Circuit days organised the day & as always it was the perfect environment to start exploring the car & it's limits. I've been on cheaper track days & I've been on more expensive ones as well but for whatever reason they always seem to have a good bunch of drivers & there's never any problems out on track. Do a track day with a load of clobbers & you'll realise what's bonus that is, but it's really been a while since i seriously did a lot of track days (apart from ring laps) & it was great to get into the atmosphere again.
So what was the car like?
Difficult.
But bloody hell good fun too!
Most important question so far- Is it as good as the megane R26.R?
No, but does it need to be or could it ever be as good? Maybe not actually.
I'll be honest & say i was still learning the car at the end of the day but it was so much fun. So much harder to drive than the megane, it moves around & twitches like no fwd car I've ever owned-it's like something from the 1980/90's- great fun! But at the same time steve in the megane could just ease away over say 3 or 4 laps to get a couple of seconds between us or if I was in front I couldn't get much gap for some breathing space. In fact when steve was behind I twice pushed the car so hard that I ended up using a bit of grass on the exit & anyone who's driven on track with me will tell you I'm not that kind of driver. Much to my disappointment I'm an Alain Prost & not an Ayrton Senna
It was also commented on that whilst following the mini was moving around a lot more than people expected!
In the afternoon I did drive the megane & it was like going back in time (in a good way). The car is so easy to drive fast it beggars belief. I actually didn't remember it being this good. The main thing I noticed from the mini was the longer wheelbase, the car rode oultons bumps without moving off line so much better than the mini, plus it also felt so much softer. Not so soft that it rolled but just much more complient, the mini bounced over imperfections in the tarmac-sliding then gripping as it gained & lost purchase on the track whilst the megane just seemed to flow over everything with the minimum of fuss & no effort at all.
If this sounds like a downer on the mini then I don't mean it like that at all, it's just that the two cars go about how they deliver their amazing performance in very different ways. I loved (& still love) the megane for the way it performs because it made me such a confident driver on track, after some of the best cars out there this car made me bang in laps at the nurburgring that I've yet to beat.
There's no way the mini will do the same, it won't cosset you & let you work up to its limits in your own time. What it will do is make you stiff in the shoulder after a track day as the steering needs a good heft, it will make you heel & toe so's not to loosen the back end & panic you into opposite lock & bloody hell it'll redefine what 6 piston callipers can do on a 1150kg hot hatch!
There's definitely a lot more to come from the car on track. It was so much fun but demanding as well & let's not forget the car is still in totally standard spec- the car hasn't been adjusted in any way yet & the suspension does allow for quite a lot of movement
I just text steve with the r26.r letting him know how much I enjoyed today & he replied it was one of his best track days ever. Now, when I think of all the cars we've had since we met, all the tracks & road race/rally's we've done that's a pretty good endorsement. Today we had the brand new mini GP, a 2009 megane r26.r & a Clio 182 cup, 3 cars that can realistically be bought by most car enthusiasts depending on what budget they set themselves & not one driver would have felt like missing out.
Today's track day was all about getting a feel for the car & making sure it was ready for the year ahead, I think it's going to be a good one. Roll on Easter when we take the cars over to a couple of circuits in Belgium & north west Germany
The smell of cooked brakes in the morning & that can mean only two things, a calliper has seized or the track day season has started.
I spent today at oulton park, which means the callipers were fine.6:25am alarm goes
6:30am dog walked through the woods
7:15am the 3 S's
7:30am set off from oop north to slightly less oop north
Frosty morning, snow on the fells through the lake district but bright & shiny all the way down, today is looking great. Even better is we're travelling down to meet some great mates who we regularly go driving with. Not just anywhere either, together we've done hundreds of laps of the nurburgring, Le mans, spa, Italy etc etc.
Over the years we've been lucky enough to own some amazing cars (GTR, 911s etc) but these days we're going back to basics. As regular followers of the thread will know I wanted to get back into a megane r26.r again, my friend steve already did but due to a lack of good cars out there I didn't manage to get one so I bought the mini GP.
So, with our group owning a Clio cup & steve getting his r26.r this was our first track day altogether. 3 pretty evenly matched cars when you look at it, plus it lets all of us experience each others cars & regret our purchases!
Circuit days organised the day & as always it was the perfect environment to start exploring the car & it's limits. I've been on cheaper track days & I've been on more expensive ones as well but for whatever reason they always seem to have a good bunch of drivers & there's never any problems out on track. Do a track day with a load of clobbers & you'll realise what's bonus that is, but it's really been a while since i seriously did a lot of track days (apart from ring laps) & it was great to get into the atmosphere again.
So what was the car like?
Difficult.
But bloody hell good fun too!
Most important question so far- Is it as good as the megane R26.R?
No, but does it need to be or could it ever be as good? Maybe not actually.
I'll be honest & say i was still learning the car at the end of the day but it was so much fun. So much harder to drive than the megane, it moves around & twitches like no fwd car I've ever owned-it's like something from the 1980/90's- great fun! But at the same time steve in the megane could just ease away over say 3 or 4 laps to get a couple of seconds between us or if I was in front I couldn't get much gap for some breathing space. In fact when steve was behind I twice pushed the car so hard that I ended up using a bit of grass on the exit & anyone who's driven on track with me will tell you I'm not that kind of driver. Much to my disappointment I'm an Alain Prost & not an Ayrton Senna
It was also commented on that whilst following the mini was moving around a lot more than people expected!
In the afternoon I did drive the megane & it was like going back in time (in a good way). The car is so easy to drive fast it beggars belief. I actually didn't remember it being this good. The main thing I noticed from the mini was the longer wheelbase, the car rode oultons bumps without moving off line so much better than the mini, plus it also felt so much softer. Not so soft that it rolled but just much more complient, the mini bounced over imperfections in the tarmac-sliding then gripping as it gained & lost purchase on the track whilst the megane just seemed to flow over everything with the minimum of fuss & no effort at all.
If this sounds like a downer on the mini then I don't mean it like that at all, it's just that the two cars go about how they deliver their amazing performance in very different ways. I loved (& still love) the megane for the way it performs because it made me such a confident driver on track, after some of the best cars out there this car made me bang in laps at the nurburgring that I've yet to beat.
There's no way the mini will do the same, it won't cosset you & let you work up to its limits in your own time. What it will do is make you stiff in the shoulder after a track day as the steering needs a good heft, it will make you heel & toe so's not to loosen the back end & panic you into opposite lock & bloody hell it'll redefine what 6 piston callipers can do on a 1150kg hot hatch!
There's definitely a lot more to come from the car on track. It was so much fun but demanding as well & let's not forget the car is still in totally standard spec- the car hasn't been adjusted in any way yet & the suspension does allow for quite a lot of movement
I just text steve with the r26.r letting him know how much I enjoyed today & he replied it was one of his best track days ever. Now, when I think of all the cars we've had since we met, all the tracks & road race/rally's we've done that's a pretty good endorsement. Today we had the brand new mini GP, a 2009 megane r26.r & a Clio 182 cup, 3 cars that can realistically be bought by most car enthusiasts depending on what budget they set themselves & not one driver would have felt like missing out.
Today's track day was all about getting a feel for the car & making sure it was ready for the year ahead, I think it's going to be a good one. Roll on Easter when we take the cars over to a couple of circuits in Belgium & north west Germany
cheddar said:
Was the Megane running Cup spec tyres?
Yes, both the megane & the Clio were on 888's & the mini was on khumo ecsta's, there wasn't much heat in the khumos mind. They may perform better on a hotter day but although they were tacky to touch I didn't feel they were operating at their best, though I may start playing with pressures to try & find out what's best next time.Petrolhead Tom said:
fun to read. your enthusiasm is infectious. I'd like to recommend you to consider an oil cooler . cooling can be a problem with this type of engine.
first thing I noticed was the car has NO temperature gauges! Not even water. However with the car coming with a 3 year warrenty & brakedown cover I'm prepared to let mini worry about it rather than start modding for now As pointed out by another PH'r here's a nice couple of videos & a track test by an Irish motoring website;
http://www.rev.ie/mini-jcw-gp-sets-the-pace/
Their track laps are obviously done at mondello park & the GP sets an smiling time-almost 2 seconds a lap better than the megane.
http://www.rev.ie/mini-jcw-gp-sets-the-pace/
Their track laps are obviously done at mondello park & the GP sets an smiling time-almost 2 seconds a lap better than the megane.
had another nice little run out last night & thought i'd update some thoughts on the little mini......
launch night for the new porsche cayman last night at my "local" opc down in kendal. even though i'm yet to buy a car off them i still get invited to these things which is very nice, either in the hope that the tight grip on my wallet loosens or as a thanks for supplying them with my old classic air cooled 911s for launches. either way i'm very thankful as the nibbles are second to none & the other half likes being supplied with as much champagne as she can quaff (& the non-alcoholic drinks for the drivers don't disapoint either).
the beauty of these launch nights is that bar a 30 mile slog down the M6 (to speed up the journey) i get to enjoy a great bit of road going into the town-the glorious A6. everything from tight & twisty off camber corners to fast flowing 4th & 5th gear sweepers is on the menu & as i used to do a bit of work in kendal i know the road reasonably well.
british roads really do expect something different of a chassis, i remember coming down here in my rs boddied 993 carrera after i'd completely rebuilt the suspension & the car was in its element, a sweet spot that was never to be bettered in that particular car.
the mini...... well it was certainly a lot of fun going down there! the car bucks, twitches, slides & oversteers at any given opportunity. the weather warning pinged just as we got on the A6 so it obviously wasn't the perfect conditions for such track biased rubber but the car really does demand that you keep on your toes. cambers & ruts will be followed!
does anyone reading this have a mini JCW? i've tried using the sport setting but i just can't get away with it. i'm not sure if it's just me but it makes the steering feel so artificially heavy & i can't seem get any feeling through the wheel at all-a complete contrast to the standard setting which tells you exactly how little grip is available through those khumo's. shame as one of the videos i've linked through the thread reckons that you get more pops & bangs on the over-run in the sport setting & my inner-boy-racer quite fancies that!
on the way home it started to sleet & snow & we had to take it pretty easy, 45mph max. the tyres have been tested this winter with the snow & although they work you wouldn't want to be doing long journeys in them otherwise you end up with a trip last night-extremely slow & getting passed by audis.
the car is great fun over these types of roads however, i can't stress that enough. yes it bucks & weves over uneven tarmac & through ruts in roads but it just makes you concentrate that bit harder. jump off the throttle mid bend & you will get lift off oversteer, which is great fun if a little disconcerting for your passenger. as i mentioned i treid the sport setting but it (to me) made things worse & just that little bit less predictable. when elecro-hydrolic steering systems first came out it was like this that i expected them to feel like when i was reading poor reviews but leave it in standard mode (with gp mode selected to get the quasi-lsd effect)& it's absolutely fantastic.
the car has so much character (which is obviously a little hard to define) & is so much fun, it should be the default choice for those PH'rs that resolutely refuse to drive front wheel drive cars to try out. i guess the short wheel base exaggerates just how tail happy it is but the chassis feels so tied down it doesn't (yet) seem to be a problem- turn in, lift off, big slide & then get back on the power to reign it all back in again. great fun!
in other more boring news the sticky 2nd gear synchro seems to have sorted itself out with miles (as mini said it would, though they did say if it persists after 1500 miles they'll investigate) & whilst they were looking at that they sorted out the annoying dash rattle-courtesy car provided.
should the weather in north west germany pick up we'll be on our first euro-hoon in the car in 2 weeks & i can't wait-there should be plenty of space for a weeks worth of clobber with no back seats & with a bit of luck enough left over to swallow a few magnums of belgiums finest beer.
launch night for the new porsche cayman last night at my "local" opc down in kendal. even though i'm yet to buy a car off them i still get invited to these things which is very nice, either in the hope that the tight grip on my wallet loosens or as a thanks for supplying them with my old classic air cooled 911s for launches. either way i'm very thankful as the nibbles are second to none & the other half likes being supplied with as much champagne as she can quaff (& the non-alcoholic drinks for the drivers don't disapoint either).
the beauty of these launch nights is that bar a 30 mile slog down the M6 (to speed up the journey) i get to enjoy a great bit of road going into the town-the glorious A6. everything from tight & twisty off camber corners to fast flowing 4th & 5th gear sweepers is on the menu & as i used to do a bit of work in kendal i know the road reasonably well.
british roads really do expect something different of a chassis, i remember coming down here in my rs boddied 993 carrera after i'd completely rebuilt the suspension & the car was in its element, a sweet spot that was never to be bettered in that particular car.
the mini......
well it was certainly a lot of fun going down there! the car bucks, twitches, slides & oversteers at any given opportunity. the weather warning pinged just as we got on the A6 so it obviously wasn't the perfect conditions for such track biased rubber but the car really does demand that you keep on your toes. cambers & ruts will be followed!does anyone reading this have a mini JCW? i've tried using the sport setting but i just can't get away with it. i'm not sure if it's just me but it makes the steering feel so artificially heavy & i can't seem get any feeling through the wheel at all-a complete contrast to the standard setting which tells you exactly how little grip is available through those khumo's. shame as one of the videos i've linked through the thread reckons that you get more pops & bangs on the over-run in the sport setting & my inner-boy-racer quite fancies that!
on the way home it started to sleet & snow & we had to take it pretty easy, 45mph max. the tyres have been tested this winter with the snow & although they work you wouldn't want to be doing long journeys in them otherwise you end up with a trip last night-extremely slow & getting passed by audis.
the car is great fun over these types of roads however, i can't stress that enough. yes it bucks & weves over uneven tarmac & through ruts in roads but it just makes you concentrate that bit harder. jump off the throttle mid bend & you will get lift off oversteer, which is great fun if a little disconcerting for your passenger. as i mentioned i treid the sport setting but it (to me) made things worse & just that little bit less predictable. when elecro-hydrolic steering systems first came out it was like this that i expected them to feel like when i was reading poor reviews but leave it in standard mode (with gp mode selected to get the quasi-lsd effect)& it's absolutely fantastic.
the car has so much character (which is obviously a little hard to define) & is so much fun, it should be the default choice for those PH'rs that resolutely refuse to drive front wheel drive cars to try out. i guess the short wheel base exaggerates just how tail happy it is but the chassis feels so tied down it doesn't (yet) seem to be a problem- turn in, lift off, big slide & then get back on the power to reign it all back in again. great fun!
in other more boring news the sticky 2nd gear synchro seems to have sorted itself out with miles (as mini said it would, though they did say if it persists after 1500 miles they'll investigate) & whilst they were looking at that they sorted out the annoying dash rattle-courtesy car provided.
should the weather in north west germany pick up we'll be on our first euro-hoon in the car in 2 weeks & i can't wait-there should be plenty of space for a weeks worth of clobber with no back seats & with a bit of luck enough left over to swallow a few magnums of belgiums finest beer.
jogon said:
Anyhow, know what you mean about the sport button the steering feel is rather heavy but I much prefer the throttle response with it on. Have found if you always drive in sport mode then you soon get used to it.
Lovely looking car! They really have sorted the stance and wheel/arch gap out a treat. Keep the write up's coming.
Ps, you can also get Michelin pilot super sport in your fitment if you want a tyre lest track biased.
Well it could just be me with the sport button, I felt the same way with it on my Z4M coupe, though I still think the throttle response is good enough in standard & with sport button depressed I find it hard to modulate. Perhaps I'm just club footed?!Lovely looking car! They really have sorted the stance and wheel/arch gap out a treat. Keep the write up's coming.
Ps, you can also get Michelin pilot super sport in your fitment if you want a tyre lest track biased.
The day before the nurburgring I've got a full day at spa do I think I'll use that a a test on the sport button-I forgot to use it at oulton earlier this month.
Funny you should say that....
The wheels I actually like, but then I was a big fast ford fan & rs 4 spokes still look pretty good to me but I was thinking about de-stickering my car.
Black wing mirror covers are easy to find on eBay & I think it might give the car a real stealthy look, I just haven't been brave enough to put up a "photoshop me" thread yet to see how it'll look!
The wheels I actually like, but then I was a big fast ford fan & rs 4 spokes still look pretty good to me but I was thinking about de-stickering my car.
Black wing mirror covers are easy to find on eBay & I think it might give the car a real stealthy look, I just haven't been brave enough to put up a "photoshop me" thread yet to see how it'll look!
jogon said:
Anyhow, know what you mean about the sport button the steering feel is rather heavy but I much prefer the throttle response with it on. Have found if you always drive in sport mode then you soon get used to it.
Right, short update.......As advised by jogon I've been driving the car with sport mode permanently engaged. Well actually sport mode & GP mode on.
Bloody hell I know I was a little unsure of the car when I first bought it but I am really starting to love this thing
First of all sport mode- it gives the steering more weight, makes the throttle "sharper" & for the GP gives a special engine map-more on this in a bit. At parking speeds the steering just feels plain wrong-you can tell its a synthetic feel & isn't right at all, you really have to steer from the shoulders & it just feels very sluggish.
But,
Get the car moving & it really comes into its own. As jogon said, you really forget about it after a while but at speed it really is better. It may be my imagination but I think it tramlines more but I could be wrong, anyhow it just works apart from when parking so I'm happy.
The funniest thing is though that it gives this different engine map-what a giggle
Watching the Irish review I posted a bit back the guy said how in sport mode it makes it back fire by throwing fuel through the system on a closed throttle & I'd does as well. Very childish but very very addictive! A little like my old Exige I had years back you start to try & second guess it to make it do it on request, as I said when I first got it they've made it sound like a proper rorty ol' four banger & this just tops it off, brilliant stuff!
GP mode cuts out the stability but keeps the active abs so the car can torque vector to mimic an LSD & I figured I might as well be driving round like this all the time. Helps in the snow as well.
Anyway, I'll update next week, only got to work until Saturday & then it's off to hull to catch the over night ferry, next week brings Spa & the Ring
Hopefully we'll be back in one piece
terryb said:
Did you get the front end (bonnet and or bumper) covered in paint protection film at all? I am looking into this at present as believe it will attract a lot of stone chips.
to be honest terry i didn't bother, it's a funny old shape the front of the mini & it doesn't leave that much exposed paintwork. to get it wrapped would be a fiddly job plus i never like the way it looks-after my last one i figured i'd just put up with the occasional front end spray job, not too much hassle when you see the cost of stone protection these days.as for spa-i expect to spend a lot of the time on the right hand side of the kemmel straight
Max M4X WW said:
terryb said:
Snap
I think I passed you this morning, Aldermaston Road? I thought it could be LOH (having no idea where he/she is from) then I saw the 13 plate. report to follow....Sorry sandy just noticed your post there & ill answer all in the posts below.....
Right! I'm aware that this might be the PH equivalent of boring people to tears with your holiday snaps but I'm thinking if you've read this far you're still interested.
As I previously mentioned I'd booked some time away with the car for a good old euro-hoon, something we've done for quite a few years now & enjoy hugely. There isn't the opportunity to do as many as we used to but we still try & get over for a few a year & I tend to find out everything I need to knowing about my cars on them & if you've never ventured over into the continent then hopefully this might spur you on!
It's not difficult these days with the advent of sat nav which cranky takes the stress out of driving abroad if your other half isn't so hot with a map. We also use www.booking.com as it allows free cancelations on hotels up to 1pm on the day of arrival so if you have a problem with the car or you simply like the town you're in you can log onto the usually free hotel wifi & alter your plans to suit.
For this journey I was using co-pilot sat nav on my iPhone. It cost £35 for full European maps but most importantly works offline so you don't need an Internet connection (expensive abroad). It also allows you to download just the countries you're visiting so it still leaves plenty of memory for music so you don't get caught having to listen to the local (oompah) radio stations! I've got my phone mounted to the rev counter via a nifty set up sold by raven-speed. I wired the phone down to the iPod connector by the gear stick & hid the wire away inside the steering column, this means the sat nav instructions over-rule the music & come through the speaker system but only when you're listening to the iPhone music.
Seeing as we weren't meeting my other mate until Belgium the next day we took the overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam on a Saturday night which is great as it lets me work all day Saturday before setting off, though it isn't known as the party boat for nothing what with the usual crowd of stags & hens going over to Amsterdam for recreation! One tip is not to sink too much Stella as they have a habit of breathalising every car that comes off of a morning.
We packed up the day before (good Friday) so's all that was left to do was pull the car out of the garage & get a move on.
There was plenty of luggage space what with no rear seats (she doesn't travel light) & even considering a couple of crash helmets & extra warm jackets we still had plenty of space left over for the planned booze run on our particular favourite Belgian beer for the way home
Coming over the penines there was still a fair bit of snow around, something we were slightly concerned about with reports still coming in from the nurburgring that Kar Freitag had been cancelled due to another dumping of the white stuff on the track.
Not completely hassle free on the journey over as we managed to hit a suicidal grouse on the a66 (the plooms of feathers must have shot 30ft high-proof the diffuser works!) & my mate in the original mini managed to get a section 54 from the ever helpful humberside police for his cars exhaust. tts. His mini is a 1274 edition 35 & completely rebuilt with every mod declared but they still managed to be aholes whilst he was doing around 55mph on a dual carriageway, is it any wonder traffic police get a bad name when they pick on completely law abiding drivers? At least the grouse did no damage!
We managed to make the boat in time regardless & enjoyed a leisurely meal & a couple of beers & got our heads down for the inevitable early start the next day (clocks going back plus they don't want the punters sleeping in when there's duty free to be sold!).
Luckily this time there was no police when getting off the boat (although we hadn't drank much it doesn't half slow down the disembarkation!) so we could get on our way pretty sharpish-something we would need to do as there was a problem with the carb on the little old mini.
The car had been left with a local specialist to get some jobs done on it weeks ago as the trip had been booked since last year, the points were being changed to electronic ignition & the carb set up but the specialist turned out to be anything but & it was running way too lean, resulting in a top speed of around 60mph! We knew that we could get things sorted once we got to the ring but would it get that far? Could I be trusted to drive in convoy at such a slow place?!
More to follow........
Right! I'm aware that this might be the PH equivalent of boring people to tears with your holiday snaps but I'm thinking if you've read this far you're still interested.
As I previously mentioned I'd booked some time away with the car for a good old euro-hoon, something we've done for quite a few years now & enjoy hugely. There isn't the opportunity to do as many as we used to but we still try & get over for a few a year & I tend to find out everything I need to knowing about my cars on them & if you've never ventured over into the continent then hopefully this might spur you on!
It's not difficult these days with the advent of sat nav which cranky takes the stress out of driving abroad if your other half isn't so hot with a map. We also use www.booking.com as it allows free cancelations on hotels up to 1pm on the day of arrival so if you have a problem with the car or you simply like the town you're in you can log onto the usually free hotel wifi & alter your plans to suit.
For this journey I was using co-pilot sat nav on my iPhone. It cost £35 for full European maps but most importantly works offline so you don't need an Internet connection (expensive abroad). It also allows you to download just the countries you're visiting so it still leaves plenty of memory for music so you don't get caught having to listen to the local (oompah) radio stations! I've got my phone mounted to the rev counter via a nifty set up sold by raven-speed. I wired the phone down to the iPod connector by the gear stick & hid the wire away inside the steering column, this means the sat nav instructions over-rule the music & come through the speaker system but only when you're listening to the iPhone music.
Seeing as we weren't meeting my other mate until Belgium the next day we took the overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam on a Saturday night which is great as it lets me work all day Saturday before setting off, though it isn't known as the party boat for nothing what with the usual crowd of stags & hens going over to Amsterdam for recreation! One tip is not to sink too much Stella as they have a habit of breathalising every car that comes off of a morning.
We packed up the day before (good Friday) so's all that was left to do was pull the car out of the garage & get a move on.
There was plenty of luggage space what with no rear seats (she doesn't travel light) & even considering a couple of crash helmets & extra warm jackets we still had plenty of space left over for the planned booze run on our particular favourite Belgian beer for the way home
Coming over the penines there was still a fair bit of snow around, something we were slightly concerned about with reports still coming in from the nurburgring that Kar Freitag had been cancelled due to another dumping of the white stuff on the track.
Not completely hassle free on the journey over as we managed to hit a suicidal grouse on the a66 (the plooms of feathers must have shot 30ft high-proof the diffuser works!) & my mate in the original mini managed to get a section 54 from the ever helpful humberside police for his cars exhaust. t
ts. His mini is a 1274 edition 35 & completely rebuilt with every mod declared but they still managed to be aholes whilst he was doing around 55mph on a dual carriageway, is it any wonder traffic police get a bad name when they pick on completely law abiding drivers? At least the grouse did no damage!We managed to make the boat in time regardless & enjoyed a leisurely meal & a couple of beers & got our heads down for the inevitable early start the next day (clocks going back plus they don't want the punters sleeping in when there's duty free to be sold!).
Luckily this time there was no police when getting off the boat (although we hadn't drank much it doesn't half slow down the disembarkation!) so we could get on our way pretty sharpish-something we would need to do as there was a problem with the carb on the little old mini.
The car had been left with a local specialist to get some jobs done on it weeks ago as the trip had been booked since last year, the points were being changed to electronic ignition & the carb set up but the specialist turned out to be anything but & it was running way too lean, resulting in a top speed of around 60mph! We knew that we could get things sorted once we got to the ring but would it get that far? Could I be trusted to drive in convoy at such a slow place?!
More to follow........
So, where were we?
Ah yes, a mis-firing old mini! As I said this car has been completely rebuilt but one of the last things to do was to move onto electronic ignition & reset the carb as its never been right. Ross has owned this car since he was 16 & he'll never sell it but I think on the trip he may have come close! It's a lovely thing though that deserves its own thread, if there's enough interest I might even persuade him to sign up as there's very little of the original car left. The mate who painted the stunning metal flake blue body work sadly passed away last year & it's a fitting tribute to him.
But I digress, as I mentioned above a local bloke was supposed to get all this done weeks ago but to no avail. The biggest problem was the lean running carb which would backfire at high revs & not pull clean at low. The useless git pointed out the mixture control screw to Ross & claimed it stuck solid & left him to it (remember this bit for later). The car was driving though just not very well, we figured get it to spa & we would have a potter about with it.
To be fair on the flat it could sit at just about 60mph which I was ok with, spa isn't very far from Rotterdam & if it took us 2 hours instead of an hour & a half then fair enough-we weren't in any rush. We had walkie-talkies & I'd made him get Adac cover in case the worst happened so off we went quite happily. In fact after playing around with the on board computer I was very happy as I found this;
Yes you read that right, 50.5mpg! & no that wasn't me just coasting either-who needs a friggin' diesel?! Note the iPhone cradle, it actually bolts onto two of the screws that hold on the back of the rev counter & then can be adjusted for angle & height etc. also note the complete lack of speedo needle on comedy sized speed dial thus proving slow speed!
Everything was all well & good until we started the more interesting part of the journey. If you're doing a euro tour the Low Countries ain't the most picturesque of routes, the little towns & cities are gorgeous but the motorways mostly consist of industrial areas punctuated by huge canals & the odd farm house. Go off the beaten track & it's like going back in time to some WW2 occupation film, things haven't changed that much but the motorways are pretty boring & poorly surfaced-not ideal on a car with track biased rubber & suspension.
But get to liege & onto spa & suddenly you're into the mountains which are much more interesting, the motorways suddenly have huge gradients & you really climb to some impressive heights though your wonder may be tempered by the fact that you're going there for track days & it's started snowing or the fact that your mate in his ill running mini can no longer travel such gradients at more than 30mph!
This is a rare shot of us following a caravan, yes we did overtake it but it may have taken some time & it does get quite interesting judging a gap in traffic in which you can move out into a such a slow speed without creating a tailback! Also not the large GB badge (it matches our speedo), I normally don't bother with them abroad as who wants to give the speed cameras a helping hand but seeing as we were expecting police coming off the boat we though we better put one off & this was the only magnetic one they had-must have been for a truck or something.
Progress was made but having artic lorries having to move out of the crawler lane to pass him was enough for me to radio him to move onto the hard shoulder & put his hazards on. Fair play to the mini though it made it though we weren't filled with confidence of the weather such was the blizzard as we arrived.
We pulled into the Raddison Palace on the main square in the town & unpacked, there was to be no tinkering with carbs in this weather! We settled into a much deserved lunch & watched the weather greatly improve, in fact it looked so much better we left the other halts to the hotels health club & travelled the few miles up to the circuit at francorchamps.
The morning session had been called off due to the snow but fair play to the staff there they'd gotten the track opened & with copious amounts of salt (yes I winced for the unprotected race cars) people were out there enjoying themselves. If you've never been to Spa I can't recommend it enough, the track is just epic & the whole place exudes Motorsport history, from the historic la source, old pits & eau rouge through to the super technical new circuit. I usually combine it with a trip to the ring but I sometimes don't give it the respect it deserves. If we do it after the nurburgring even the mighty spa seams micky in comparison but in isolation it's something else & a world away from the more modern sanitised circuits.
What makes it even better is that not only is the circuit superb but you can also drive the historic old track as its all public roads, this takes in the lovely town of stavelot & really gives you a feel for what those guys used to do for a living in F1. As well as this you also have the stunning town of Spa with which to placate your ever suffering significant other. Fantastic restaurants, brilliant shopping & best of all thermal spa resorts so you can leave the girls to enjoy a day of pampering & retail therapy whilst you play out your race car fantasies.
After saying our hellos to old friends we headed back down to the hotel to meet up with steve who'd now arrived in his megane r26.r with his wife for a nice evening meal & relax before the hitting the track the next day.
Hopefully the snow would hold off.......
Ah yes, a mis-firing old mini! As I said this car has been completely rebuilt but one of the last things to do was to move onto electronic ignition & reset the carb as its never been right. Ross has owned this car since he was 16 & he'll never sell it but I think on the trip he may have come close! It's a lovely thing though that deserves its own thread, if there's enough interest I might even persuade him to sign up as there's very little of the original car left. The mate who painted the stunning metal flake blue body work sadly passed away last year & it's a fitting tribute to him.
But I digress, as I mentioned above a local bloke was supposed to get all this done weeks ago but to no avail. The biggest problem was the lean running carb which would backfire at high revs & not pull clean at low. The useless git pointed out the mixture control screw to Ross & claimed it stuck solid & left him to it (remember this bit for later). The car was driving though just not very well, we figured get it to spa & we would have a potter about with it.
To be fair on the flat it could sit at just about 60mph which I was ok with, spa isn't very far from Rotterdam & if it took us 2 hours instead of an hour & a half then fair enough-we weren't in any rush. We had walkie-talkies & I'd made him get Adac cover in case the worst happened so off we went quite happily. In fact after playing around with the on board computer I was very happy as I found this;
Yes you read that right, 50.5mpg! & no that wasn't me just coasting either-who needs a friggin' diesel?! Note the iPhone cradle, it actually bolts onto two of the screws that hold on the back of the rev counter & then can be adjusted for angle & height etc. also note the complete lack of speedo needle on comedy sized speed dial thus proving slow speed!
Everything was all well & good until we started the more interesting part of the journey. If you're doing a euro tour the Low Countries ain't the most picturesque of routes, the little towns & cities are gorgeous but the motorways mostly consist of industrial areas punctuated by huge canals & the odd farm house. Go off the beaten track & it's like going back in time to some WW2 occupation film, things haven't changed that much but the motorways are pretty boring & poorly surfaced-not ideal on a car with track biased rubber & suspension.
But get to liege & onto spa & suddenly you're into the mountains which are much more interesting, the motorways suddenly have huge gradients & you really climb to some impressive heights though your wonder may be tempered by the fact that you're going there for track days & it's started snowing or the fact that your mate in his ill running mini can no longer travel such gradients at more than 30mph!
This is a rare shot of us following a caravan, yes we did overtake it but it may have taken some time & it does get quite interesting judging a gap in traffic in which you can move out into a such a slow speed without creating a tailback! Also not the large GB badge (it matches our speedo), I normally don't bother with them abroad as who wants to give the speed cameras a helping hand but seeing as we were expecting police coming off the boat we though we better put one off & this was the only magnetic one they had-must have been for a truck or something.
Progress was made but having artic lorries having to move out of the crawler lane to pass him was enough for me to radio him to move onto the hard shoulder & put his hazards on. Fair play to the mini though it made it though we weren't filled with confidence of the weather such was the blizzard as we arrived.
We pulled into the Raddison Palace on the main square in the town & unpacked, there was to be no tinkering with carbs in this weather! We settled into a much deserved lunch & watched the weather greatly improve, in fact it looked so much better we left the other halts to the hotels health club & travelled the few miles up to the circuit at francorchamps.
The morning session had been called off due to the snow but fair play to the staff there they'd gotten the track opened & with copious amounts of salt (yes I winced for the unprotected race cars) people were out there enjoying themselves. If you've never been to Spa I can't recommend it enough, the track is just epic & the whole place exudes Motorsport history, from the historic la source, old pits & eau rouge through to the super technical new circuit. I usually combine it with a trip to the ring but I sometimes don't give it the respect it deserves. If we do it after the nurburgring even the mighty spa seams micky in comparison but in isolation it's something else & a world away from the more modern sanitised circuits.
What makes it even better is that not only is the circuit superb but you can also drive the historic old track as its all public roads, this takes in the lovely town of stavelot & really gives you a feel for what those guys used to do for a living in F1. As well as this you also have the stunning town of Spa with which to placate your ever suffering significant other. Fantastic restaurants, brilliant shopping & best of all thermal spa resorts so you can leave the girls to enjoy a day of pampering & retail therapy whilst you play out your race car fantasies.
After saying our hellos to old friends we headed back down to the hotel to meet up with steve who'd now arrived in his megane r26.r with his wife for a nice evening meal & relax before the hitting the track the next day.
Hopefully the snow would hold off.......
Edited by LaurasOtherHalf on Wednesday 10th April 11:26
did the snow hold off then?
great stuff
we headed over to francorchamps to the circuit & luckily although there had been some snow in the night it must have been light & was just left at the side of the road. the briefing was taken in the usual spirit & the cars were out on track with little time lost, it's great being in a car where you know you're not going to trouble the noise nazi's!
we were using the old pits for the trackday which i'd never done before, gives the day a bit of extra historical reference i suppose but to be honest the new pits do work better & mean you don't fluff anyone's line through la source going into the old pit complex.
getting out on track it became immediately apparent that salt makes a race track very slippy! most folks were running track tyres too which obviously weren't going to be reaching optimum temperature straight away but with the rough nature of the surface at spa i didn't think it would take too long.
how was the car? absolutely fantastic. again me & steve had a hell of a laugh between the mini & the megane due to how close in performance the two are-though after all the laps he'd done here it was the first time he realised just how steep the kemmel straight is after coming here previously in his GTR !
we weren't too seriously outgunned on the track but the 911gt3 boys could definately destroy us on the straights, the power & traction out of corners really showing the limitations of a 217bhp hot hatch. it's been almost exactly a year since i was at spa & although i didn't need to re-learn it as such it definately takes some time to build your speed back up on some of the ballsier corners.
all in all we had a thoroughly enjoyable morning session & broke for lunch then headed over to stavelot for some lunch & a quick photo opp
(you can still see the feathers in the grill from the grouse i hit!)
in the afternoon we attacked the track with a bit more vigor & a little more pizza & frittes on board. the beauty of these little hatches is that you really can get towards pushing the cars limits without feeling like you are on the verge of a huge accident. i had a wonderful few laps with a stunning guards red caymanR. he had the legs on us on the tsraights but could only just draw level before the little mini grabbed another good few cars lengths on him in the corners. he was being a bit aggressive in trying to get past but although i moved over he just couldn't manage it, the mini inspired such confidence through the bends that i could easily make up any lost time by keeping my car right on the limit whilst he obviously felt the need to back off. we did the same with a mk1 silver GT3 as he blew past us on the old pit straight, we were a good ten car lengths behind him on the approach to eau rouge only to exit the corner glued to his exhaust pipes. we didn't see which way he went on the following straight though!
interestingly we discovered that the mini definately has the legs on the megane in a straight line, getting some 10mph faster down the kemmel straight. the megane counters this by still being slightly easier to drive through transitions & feeling much softer sprung. the mini on the other hand fidgets, bucks, bounces & slides all the time. great fun
another good point on the mini is 6 true forward gears as in the megane as soon as you reach the top of 5th the car bogs down & doesn't really want to pull anymore whereas in the much shorter geared mini the car just goes & goes to an indicated 150mph up the kemmel.
we were having so much fun that unfortunately we didn't realise the other problem of driving on a salty track, massive tyre wear. i managed to catch mine in time & swap the fronts to the rears but steve scrubbed off so much of his 888's that a new pair were needed.
by the time all that was done it was nearly the end of the day so filled with excitement we decided now would be the time to take an ill running 18 year old mini out on track....
great stuff
we headed over to francorchamps to the circuit & luckily although there had been some snow in the night it must have been light & was just left at the side of the road. the briefing was taken in the usual spirit & the cars were out on track with little time lost, it's great being in a car where you know you're not going to trouble the noise nazi's!
we were using the old pits for the trackday which i'd never done before, gives the day a bit of extra historical reference i suppose but to be honest the new pits do work better & mean you don't fluff anyone's line through la source going into the old pit complex.
getting out on track it became immediately apparent that salt makes a race track very slippy! most folks were running track tyres too which obviously weren't going to be reaching optimum temperature straight away but with the rough nature of the surface at spa i didn't think it would take too long.
how was the car? absolutely fantastic. again me & steve had a hell of a laugh between the mini & the megane due to how close in performance the two are-though after all the laps he'd done here it was the first time he realised just how steep the kemmel straight is after coming here previously in his GTR !
we weren't too seriously outgunned on the track but the 911gt3 boys could definately destroy us on the straights, the power & traction out of corners really showing the limitations of a 217bhp hot hatch. it's been almost exactly a year since i was at spa & although i didn't need to re-learn it as such it definately takes some time to build your speed back up on some of the ballsier corners.
all in all we had a thoroughly enjoyable morning session & broke for lunch then headed over to stavelot for some lunch & a quick photo opp
(you can still see the feathers in the grill from the grouse i hit!)
in the afternoon we attacked the track with a bit more vigor & a little more pizza & frittes on board. the beauty of these little hatches is that you really can get towards pushing the cars limits without feeling like you are on the verge of a huge accident. i had a wonderful few laps with a stunning guards red caymanR. he had the legs on us on the tsraights but could only just draw level before the little mini grabbed another good few cars lengths on him in the corners. he was being a bit aggressive in trying to get past but although i moved over he just couldn't manage it, the mini inspired such confidence through the bends that i could easily make up any lost time by keeping my car right on the limit whilst he obviously felt the need to back off. we did the same with a mk1 silver GT3 as he blew past us on the old pit straight, we were a good ten car lengths behind him on the approach to eau rouge only to exit the corner glued to his exhaust pipes. we didn't see which way he went on the following straight though!
interestingly we discovered that the mini definately has the legs on the megane in a straight line, getting some 10mph faster down the kemmel straight. the megane counters this by still being slightly easier to drive through transitions & feeling much softer sprung. the mini on the other hand fidgets, bucks, bounces & slides all the time. great fun
another good point on the mini is 6 true forward gears as in the megane as soon as you reach the top of 5th the car bogs down & doesn't really want to pull anymore whereas in the much shorter geared mini the car just goes & goes to an indicated 150mph up the kemmel.
we were having so much fun that unfortunately we didn't realise the other problem of driving on a salty track, massive tyre wear. i managed to catch mine in time & swap the fronts to the rears but steve scrubbed off so much of his 888's that a new pair were needed.
by the time all that was done it was nearly the end of the day so filled with excitement we decided now would be the time to take an ill running 18 year old mini out on track....
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