Autocross questions

S

senior_neet_engineer

New Member
I'm interested in the Mini Cooper SE as a commuter, around the town car, with some occasional non competitive autocross.

Do you find it satisfying to drive in autocross?

Roughly how much energy do you use for each autocross run?

At what state of charge does the loss in acceleration become noticeable?

Are there any options to increase the negative camber, especially on front axle, and adjust the toe to promote rotation?

No experience with high torque FWD cars. Is the traction control invasive? Is it necessary for performance? Is the car well sorted with traction control disabled?
 
I have not seen any auto-X drivers on this forum as yet. I think you should lead the charge.

In my opinion, the SE needs much stiffer suspension to really handle auto-X. I presume coilovers for the Cooper S would fit, but should have a higher spring rate. This would also allow for dialing in a lower ride height, which would likely be considered risky for the street.

It feels to me like stiffer front and rear sway bars would also help.

A lot will depend on your own trial and error, but you already know that. I drive my SE as fast as I can most of the time and I’m in a fairly hot location, but I’ve never experienced and power reduction.



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Jim In Tucson said:
I think you should lead the charge.
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I see what you did there. ;)

senior_neet_engineer said:
Do you find it satisfying to drive in autocross?
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I have seen Aaron Botnik post about his autocross experience with his SE in a couple SE-specific groups on Facebook. I should invite him to this forum...

It seems like he's having great fun with his SE--especially after upgrading to sticky tires.

senior_neet_engineer said:
Roughly how much energy do you use for each autocross run?
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In my (past) experience, autocross runs are typically pretty short. Usually less than 4 minutes of driving per heat, and typically 3 heats per event.

senior_neet_engineer said:
No experience with high torque FWD cars. Is the traction control invasive? Is it necessary for performance? Is the car well sorted with traction control disabled?
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Aaron reports he got his fastest times with the traction control enabled. He speculates this is because it provides e-diff capability to keep the front tires from spinning too much.
 
He put sticky tires onit, and ran the BMW events with it this year. He let a few of us ride shotgun.

He charges it before the event at the next town before the event, and said he uses about 3% each run. Course was very long and he used more.

As for suspension etc. How competitive do you want to be=how much do you want to invest for 2 seconds?
 
Test drove the car today and loved it.

I don't plan to be competitive in autocross. Just want to align suspension to be more tail happy. Coilovers and sway bars probably no. If I'm not satisfied, I'll wait for JCW GP instead of dumping money into mods.
 
senior_neet_engineer said:
Test drove the car today and loved it.

I don't plan to be competitive in autocross. Just want to align suspension to be more tail happy. Coilovers and sway bars probably no. If I'm not satisfied, I'll wait for JCW GP instead of dumping money into mods.
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You can probably do that with tire pressure. Aaron's butt dyno is more sensitive than mine, and he felt which wheel was locking when, but also got his best time with the nannies on. I drove an automatic S and the rear felt sloppy when pushed (it had 10 miles, and i didnt want to beat on someone elses new car). I think the SE rear is planted better because of the battery weight.
 
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