PinkRinse's Mini John Cooper Works GP
Discussion
Just wanted to make a thread for the latest addition to our household.
For the last 7 years I have happily owned a Fiesta ST which I modded to varying degrees (coilovers, Simpson Race Exhaust system, Quaife diff, Recaro bucket seats, harnesses, Bluefin etc). She was the light of my life but after 7 years of ownership it did start to creep in I should perhaps try out a new car (that coupled with much nagging from my other half who has owned an ST, R26, R26.R, Focus RS mk2 & now an Exige all in that time!)
I wanted to stay with something modern/new/current, small, fun, properly powerful, with a bit of noise and fun and not something you'd see all the time. After a bit of thought I plumped for the Mini GP. I had a look round, saw some nice threads on modded GPs on here (therein lies a twist) and after sorting some funding (love you Daddy) the deal was done with a GP we found on PH Classifieds.
I freaking LOVE this car. Now I know it sounds like an obvious thing to say, but going from what is a mild warm hatch like the Fiesta ST to a car with the (relatively) instant power of the GP is what has hit me the most. It is stupidly fast and for those that know the Shoreham-by-Sea area there are roads to & around Ashurst that frankly scare me now!
The ride is exceptionally firm and a tad crashy and you might say its the run flats on there but it feels more like the rebound from the suspension to me.
It turned out after putting the deposit down on my car I had bought the very GP I had been drooling over in a previous PH thread! Thanks to Neil the car still has the Newman cam, smaller pulley, R56 JCW brakes, painted interior plastics (bezels etc), Mini shift light and glove box. Thanks for leaving these bits on (especially the brakes!)
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
The only bad thing since I got it is a screw in one of the front tyres but its acting as its own plug for the moment!
Gave her a quick wash inbetween torrential downpours today and got to snap some piccies in good old Bluewater.
I do still kinda miss my ST (familiarity) but I am chuffed to bits with this new car. I hope to get it on track but I think I'll be taking it easy just til I get used to it!
For the last 7 years I have happily owned a Fiesta ST which I modded to varying degrees (coilovers, Simpson Race Exhaust system, Quaife diff, Recaro bucket seats, harnesses, Bluefin etc). She was the light of my life but after 7 years of ownership it did start to creep in I should perhaps try out a new car (that coupled with much nagging from my other half who has owned an ST, R26, R26.R, Focus RS mk2 & now an Exige all in that time!)
I wanted to stay with something modern/new/current, small, fun, properly powerful, with a bit of noise and fun and not something you'd see all the time. After a bit of thought I plumped for the Mini GP. I had a look round, saw some nice threads on modded GPs on here (therein lies a twist) and after sorting some funding (love you Daddy) the deal was done with a GP we found on PH Classifieds.
I freaking LOVE this car. Now I know it sounds like an obvious thing to say, but going from what is a mild warm hatch like the Fiesta ST to a car with the (relatively) instant power of the GP is what has hit me the most. It is stupidly fast and for those that know the Shoreham-by-Sea area there are roads to & around Ashurst that frankly scare me now!
The ride is exceptionally firm and a tad crashy and you might say its the run flats on there but it feels more like the rebound from the suspension to me.
It turned out after putting the deposit down on my car I had bought the very GP I had been drooling over in a previous PH thread! Thanks to Neil the car still has the Newman cam, smaller pulley, R56 JCW brakes, painted interior plastics (bezels etc), Mini shift light and glove box. Thanks for leaving these bits on (especially the brakes!)
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
The only bad thing since I got it is a screw in one of the front tyres but its acting as its own plug for the moment!
Gave her a quick wash inbetween torrential downpours today and got to snap some piccies in good old Bluewater.
I do still kinda miss my ST (familiarity) but I am chuffed to bits with this new car. I hope to get it on track but I think I'll be taking it easy just til I get used to it!
Edited by PinkRinse on Monday 9th July 23:09
Thanks for the kind words guys.
Well if this screw proves to be its own plug, I might have to replace the front tyres so I might look around to see what most Cooper S/GP owners use.
Alex.. on leaving Bluewater I had a guy in a Meriva straining over the seat to take a picture of it.. hoping it was because he liked it lol
Chunky ... I'll post some pictures when I get home
Well if this screw proves to be its own plug, I might have to replace the front tyres so I might look around to see what most Cooper S/GP owners use.
Alex.. on leaving Bluewater I had a guy in a Meriva straining over the seat to take a picture of it.. hoping it was because he liked it lol
Chunky ... I'll post some pictures when I get home
PinkRinse said:
Thanks for the kind words guys.
Well if this screw proves to be its own plug, I might have to replace the front tyres so I might look around to see what most Cooper S/GP owners use.
Alex.. on leaving Bluewater I had a guy in a Meriva straining over the seat to take a picture of it.. hoping it was because he liked it lol
Chunky ... I'll post some pictures when I get home
Re the tyres. I switched to Hankook V12 Evo's and they made a massive difference. Got them delivered from Camskill cheap too.Well if this screw proves to be its own plug, I might have to replace the front tyres so I might look around to see what most Cooper S/GP owners use.
Alex.. on leaving Bluewater I had a guy in a Meriva straining over the seat to take a picture of it.. hoping it was because he liked it lol
Chunky ... I'll post some pictures when I get home
I am said 'nagging' bf, and will gladly take credit for spotting this local example whilst browsing the PH classifieds 
. The 'never buy the first car you see' rule was considered and dismissed, as it was clear from viewing and the test drive that it was sound and taken care of by the earlier owner in the previous PH thread linked in the top post. This, and dealership warranty and part-ex offer on the ST made the process of almost touring the land looking at private GPs seem needless.
It's a great car, bags of grip and pace, however the ride can be bit crashy for my liking, but I think that's more a comment on the woeful state of our lumpen roads rather than the standard JCW suspension. I've very much enjoyed it, the couple times I've driven it so far
We'll have to take some snaps with my camera when the sun is out. Maybe some with the Exige (supercharged twins!), as I'm long overdue taking some more photos of my car too.
Time to consider our long overdue trackdays and Nordschleife visit, now you've got the new car.... but first things first, get its PH smiley ordered!
. The 'never buy the first car you see' rule was considered and dismissed, as it was clear from viewing and the test drive that it was sound and taken care of by the earlier owner in the previous PH thread linked in the top post. This, and dealership warranty and part-ex offer on the ST made the process of almost touring the land looking at private GPs seem needless.It's a great car, bags of grip and pace, however the ride can be bit crashy for my liking, but I think that's more a comment on the woeful state of our lumpen roads rather than the standard JCW suspension. I've very much enjoyed it, the couple times I've driven it so far
We'll have to take some snaps with my camera when the sun is out. Maybe some with the Exige (supercharged twins!), as I'm long overdue taking some more photos of my car too.
Time to consider our long overdue trackdays and Nordschleife visit, now you've got the new car.... but first things first, get its PH smiley ordered!
Edited by Arun_D on Tuesday 10th July 05:10
Well the car is just costing me money at the moment lol.
This month I have had to renew the insurance. I rang around a couple of "specialist" companies (Adrian Flux, Sky etc) and they all offered me the same as my current broker (Greenlight) so I stuck with them at £500. I declared the mods (cam, smaller pulley & R56 JCW brakes) and they didnt cost me an extra penny.
I knew from the word go the tyres were nearing their end and when I got a nail/screw through one of the tyres 2 days after I picked it up I had to get all 4 replaced. Why? The ride on the run flat Dunlops was just ridiculous. It was so crashy I actually thought to myself "What have I done getting this car?!". I honestly didnt think getting non run flat tyres would make that much difference but I was wrong!!
I searched around the usual sites and settled on the Falken 452 tyres. Yes it felt a bit no name budget sounding tyre but tbh I havent got a lot of choice and so many tyres places sucked air through their teeth and kept telling me the tyres I was after (Yokahama AD08's) werent "meant" for my car, I gave in. Even then when I was waiting for them to be fitted, the man came over with a very concerned look on his face to inform me the tyres being fitted were 215 as opposed to the 205 as standard.
Anyway after an early start I got them fitted at Elite in Rainham, got the tracking checked and as I drove out of Elite's I was amazed at the difference. :thumbsup:
The car got a quick wash and I snapped some pictures between the downpours over the weekend before I met up with a few old school STOC members at Halfway House in Essex
Anyway after driving about and a few spirited drives round some country lanes I have to say the Falkens are more than worth it. Crashiness gone and a much more driveable car. Bonus
This month I have had to renew the insurance. I rang around a couple of "specialist" companies (Adrian Flux, Sky etc) and they all offered me the same as my current broker (Greenlight) so I stuck with them at £500. I declared the mods (cam, smaller pulley & R56 JCW brakes) and they didnt cost me an extra penny.
I knew from the word go the tyres were nearing their end and when I got a nail/screw through one of the tyres 2 days after I picked it up I had to get all 4 replaced. Why? The ride on the run flat Dunlops was just ridiculous. It was so crashy I actually thought to myself "What have I done getting this car?!". I honestly didnt think getting non run flat tyres would make that much difference but I was wrong!!
I searched around the usual sites and settled on the Falken 452 tyres. Yes it felt a bit no name budget sounding tyre but tbh I havent got a lot of choice and so many tyres places sucked air through their teeth and kept telling me the tyres I was after (Yokahama AD08's) werent "meant" for my car, I gave in. Even then when I was waiting for them to be fitted, the man came over with a very concerned look on his face to inform me the tyres being fitted were 215 as opposed to the 205 as standard.
Anyway after an early start I got them fitted at Elite in Rainham, got the tracking checked and as I drove out of Elite's I was amazed at the difference. :thumbsup:
The car got a quick wash and I snapped some pictures between the downpours over the weekend before I met up with a few old school STOC members at Halfway House in Essex
Anyway after driving about and a few spirited drives round some country lanes I have to say the Falkens are more than worth it. Crashiness gone and a much more driveable car. Bonus
Crikey its been over a year!
Well I still have the GP & I'm still loving the car. I have started to tinker with it though
Since posting these last pictures I have done a little bit of this...
(at the B&B a short spit from Cadwell Park)
A touch of this... (cheaper than new discs etc!)
Sadly I spotted a lot of this...
While waiting for the train to do a little bit of this...
After a firm but fair word with BMW & a few days at the garage having new tailgate & drivers door fitted, she was as good as new!!
Having owned the Fiesta for so long and having tinkered with it to a ridiculous level I was missing doing that to the Mini. I decided I wanted the centre box delete done for a slightly "fruitier" sound without faffing about with manifolds & cat backs. I booked the car in at MiniCraft in Haywards Heath in Sussex & they did a health check run first.
The car still has the Newman cam, GTT 17% pulley mod but as far as I know no remap. Anyway Luke aborted the initial power run because it was running so super lean. Off came the intercooler, out came the plugs, in went the bore scope and I saw parts of my engine I'm unlikely to ever look at again.
The plugs showed minimal signs of detonation and the pistons were fine so I was happy with that. Luke checked the ECU & there was no map on there so off he went to the office and knocked up a simple little thing & off we went on a power run
Still a bit iffy at after 6,400rpm so Luke went away to "do it properly" and I got this.
Happy with that!!
Anyway I'm back in Haywards Heath on Saturday to finally have the centre box delete done & then its road tax time at the end of November
Well I still have the GP & I'm still loving the car. I have started to tinker with it though
Since posting these last pictures I have done a little bit of this...
(at the B&B a short spit from Cadwell Park)
A touch of this... (cheaper than new discs etc!)
Sadly I spotted a lot of this...
While waiting for the train to do a little bit of this...
After a firm but fair word with BMW & a few days at the garage having new tailgate & drivers door fitted, she was as good as new!!
Having owned the Fiesta for so long and having tinkered with it to a ridiculous level I was missing doing that to the Mini. I decided I wanted the centre box delete done for a slightly "fruitier" sound without faffing about with manifolds & cat backs. I booked the car in at MiniCraft in Haywards Heath in Sussex & they did a health check run first.
The car still has the Newman cam, GTT 17% pulley mod but as far as I know no remap. Anyway Luke aborted the initial power run because it was running so super lean. Off came the intercooler, out came the plugs, in went the bore scope and I saw parts of my engine I'm unlikely to ever look at again.
The plugs showed minimal signs of detonation and the pistons were fine so I was happy with that. Luke checked the ECU & there was no map on there so off he went to the office and knocked up a simple little thing & off we went on a power run
Still a bit iffy at after 6,400rpm so Luke went away to "do it properly" and I got this.
Happy with that!!
Anyway I'm back in Haywards Heath on Saturday to finally have the centre box delete done & then its road tax time at the end of November
Edited by PinkRinse on Thursday 31st October 22:11
Chunkychucky said:
Missed those pics you uploaded of the ST first time around OP, looked the absolute tits with those Recaro buckets... 
Ahh cheers! I loved those seats and miss them slip sliding about in the full leather ones that come with the GP.GregK2 said:
I find the Falkens are decent too. How much did they end up costing? I just got 2 x 225 35 17's for £95 each
Errmm... I couldn't tell you exactly because I had the tracking done as well but I think its somewhere in that region Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff