Mini Cooper SE autocross first impressions

ColdCase said:
Thats technically tramlining. This is your vehicle’s tendency to follow the contours of the road instead of your steering input as a result of one tire edge riding up on the contour while the other is unloaded. Your car can unexpectedly pull left or right. The vehicle has a tendency to follow the ruts and grooves in the road surface. It can be quite an effort to maintain the directional control of the vehicle in such cases. It is impossible to completely avoid tramlining, all vehicles do it. The tramlining effect is more prominent with performance, wide, and low profile tires than soft flexible sidewall comfort tires.

I've read that BMW drivers often complain of tramlining because most of them come fitted with run-flat tires. The run flat tires have a very stiff sidewall that’s resistant to flex and unable to absorb road shocks. This increases the chances of tramlining.
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Well whatever it is, it's a FWD thing. My Miata had almost identical tires (same tire and width) and similar track width/wheelbase and never did anything remotely similar. It's not a unique road issue either, I've driven over the same spot dozens of times with both cars and the MINI yanks the steering every time (with strength proportional to acceleration)
 
ColdCase said:
My buddy loved his. Loads of fun, he put a lot of miles on it and in any weather condition. I do recall often going out to rescue him when it died on the highway, after it reached 150,000 miles or so. He kept fixing it until it fell apart, literally. :)
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Ev Mini or ICE crab ? EV 150000 miles ? You are in wrong Forum .
 
Yeah I don't notice it unless I'm also making a turn, but then the mini rides so stiff that on uneven or rough streets I'm too busy trying not to get high centered or swallowed by potholes to notice. :) That stiffness exacerbates tramlining.
 
I took my SE to an autocross a few days back.

OMFG, that was fun! My first ever autocross. So this is a first impression on several levels.

Times were truly embarrassing to start with. Tyres just weren't sticking. Nothing whatsoever to do with a lack of talent and an overabundance of aggression on my part.
My official event times were just sad. But, once the event proper was done, we had some track time left so it it was funruns! I promptly found another 4 seconds. Another club member with some years experience then got in my car and ran a faster time than her best R53 event time of the day. She loved it. Her partner took it round for it's last run of the day, but the timing was screwed up. I think he ran about 3s faster than Mrs R53
I thought it was pretty well balanced. It definitely has good cornering capability, with a decent driver. The stock tyres got better and better as the day went on.
Even my first funrun after they'd spent 2 1/2 hours going cold again felt way better. Maybe they just needed a really good thrashing?
Enter a corner right and you can feel the back swing. The 4 cone slalom may have had me giving it opposite lock the last cone on a good run. I don't think that this car needs a rear bar. Guess I better spend that money somewhere else

I left it in mid as the sport throttle response is too touchy for that level of aggression. Max regen allowed truly effortless brake 'dabs' . I didn't mind the mid steering. I was heaving on the wheel anyway. I left it in full nanny mode because, well, my driving sucked. Stock 16" Hankooks with 42psi all-round. Could likely have done better with lower pressure. Maybe 38, but I wanted to concentrate on learning to drive. Could definitely have done better with some 200TW!

My last funrun of the day and my 8th ever autocross lap was 2 seconds off the G Street winner time. I was very happy with that. Some better tyres and much better driving and I think it could do pretty well. I felt the brakes could have done with a bit more bite. I see pads in it's future, I'll try to get a bit more rear bias with judicious selection. May also have to spend money on the repair part front hubs...
Tyres were reeking after my last run. The hotter the better with the Hankook 16s, it seems. I started the event with 35% battery after a longish drive. Wasn't sure about leaving the event to find some electrons. 10 runs later, it was down to 7%. Yeah, better stop there. Maybe 2/3mile course. I forgot to reset the trip meter, unfortunately.
 
I've done two with mine. One on the stock bar, one on a big rear bar. I didn't car much for the car on the OE bar, but the big rear both helps with rotation and also helps keep the inside front down better for a little less TC intervention coming out of corners. Installing the RSB is a bit of a pain though, so be warned.

I like the long press ESC off, and I don't notice much difference between modes on course. The touchy throttle and steering heft you notice on the street in Sport aren't apparent to me. The car is right in the meaty part of the acceleration curve on course which seems well above typical GS rate, when you can use it. The weight is noticeable, but the car handles transitions well, with an odd sensation for a fwd car of so much weight on the rear tires. Doesn't sweeper well at all, lots of weight and not a lot of front wheel. The TC still pulls motor power a bit on corner exit but it's not too aggressive enough to kill the car, and power ramps back up quickly. I'd prefer my right foot to be the only traction control, but I'm not convinced I'd be notably faster, the calibration is pretty good. One benefit of an EV I guess. Overall, drives like an ICE Cooper S with two people sitting in the rear seats, which is both about as expected and also pretty good praise.

I wouldn't have bothered on the OE bar, but the car was fun enough on the big bar that I might grab some 200TW for next year. I ran on okayish tires, a little better than the OE stuff but not super 200TW hotness. I think the car is competitive enough in GS, and more importantly it's a heck of a lot of fun throwing a silent, no shift golf cart through some cones.
 
Yeah, my 16 hankooks were absolutely reeking after 6 laps in fairly quick succession.
The 195/55-16 Hankooks actually measure as 205/50.
225s with et48 wheels should work fine. Rear brakes are in the way of 15s. There is 3/8" between one part and my aftermarket 16" winters... Somebody might get lucky and find a compatible 15x6.5. That would really open up tyre selection.
 
pictsidhe said:
Pieced together my dashcam footage from 2 weeks ago, last funrun. I've no idea what all those strange thumps were.
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Awesome! And… respect for the soundtrack — I do my best work, my best thinking, and have my best drives when listening to an Apple Music-curated “Soundgarden and similar artists” station.
 
Strange how they coincided with cones...

It's actually fairly flat. Only one real bump, after the yellow X as you pitch left. I was warned to slow down for that, but the SE mostly soaked it up.
 
SameGuy said:
Awesome! And… respect for the soundtrack — I do my best work, my best thinking, and have my best drives when listening to an Apple Music-curated “Soundgarden and similar artists” station.
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SXM Lithium station. The volume up button tends to get hit by the ball of my right thumb when I'm enjoying my self. That last slalom got hit most runs.. I left it up from the previous one.
 
pictsidhe said:
Yeah, my 16 hankooks were absolutely reeking after 6 laps in fairly quick succession.
The 195/55-16 Hankooks actually measure as 205/50.
225s with et48 wheels should work fine. Rear brakes are in the way of 15s. There is 3/8" between one part and my aftermarket 16" winters... Somebody might get lucky and find a compatible 15x6.5. That would really open up tyre selection.
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I've been autocrossing ny SE many times now. Tires made a complete difference! I ran 205/50/16 yokohama a052 on the original wheels with great success. Beat lots of "faster" cars in higher classes. Just got a set of 17" Power spoke wheels and mounted 215/40/17 yokohamas that just fit with a 5mm spacer. I don't think 225's will fit with a 48 offset.
 
I read a lot about Yoko's wearing out very fast, so didn't buy them. My driving is perhaps not quite champion level anyway... How many meetings did you get out of your Yoko's?
I have just had a set of 215/45-16 rt660s mounted on stock sized kosei k4rs.
I wanted 205/40-16s, but nobody had them, even the place that said they did. Even better would be 225/45-15s, but have you seen the clearance on the rear calipers?
Smaller diameter will improve acceleration below about 45mph as well as lower the car.
So far, I have given them a heat cycle: Mounted them at work after tire place refused to put them on the car (liability), drove 7 miles, did maybe a dozen figure 8s in a deserted car park working up to around 80%, mostly. I then drove 12 miles home. Next is not driving on them for at least 24hours. I have seen many people say heat cycling is needed for rt660s. Not too hard, if you know of a suitable car park. Back stepped out once on a surface change. Hmmm.
Test and tune event next weekend. I'll put some more effort in.

I have a nasty feeling that I'm going to need a new excuse for tortoise times this year.
 
Since there's one gear, I really think the shortest tire is the way to go with this car. A rear swaybar and 205/40-16s on 7s would probably rocket it to somewhat GS competitive.
 
Brawndo said:
Since there's one gear, I really think the shortest tire is the way to go with this car. A rear swaybar and 205/40-16s on 7s would probably rocket it to somewhat GS competitive.
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I'm currently running stock swaybar uprated ~25% with extra holes. It's not excessively understeery. On slaloms it gets a bit swingy. Next mod is an extra 0.5° neg camber. Should have been done already, but I was sold the wrong hub carriers. Then, I'll reassess the rear ARB.
I think it should be quite competitive in GS with tyres, neg camber, less toe. I wouldn't be surprised if it was bumped to a faster class like the R53 was. At my first meeting, an R53 driver beat their best time of the day on their only lap trying my SE...
 
pictsidhe said:
I read a lot about Yoko's wearing out very fast, so didn't buy them. My driving is perhaps not quite champion level anyway... How many meetings did you get out of your Yoko's?
I have just had a set of 215/45-16 rt660s mounted on stock sized kosei k4rs.
I wanted 205/40-16s, but nobody had them, even the place that said they did. Even better would be 225/45-15s, but have you seen the clearance on the rear calipers?
Smaller diameter will improve acceleration below about 45mph as well as lower the car.
So far, I have given them a heat cycle: Mounted them at work after tire place refused to put them on the car (liability), drove 7 miles, did maybe a dozen figure 8s in a deserted car park working up to around 80%, mostly. I then drove 12 miles home. Next is not driving on them for at least 24hours. I have seen many people say heat cycling is needed for rt660s. Not too hard, if you know of a suitable car park. Back stepped out once on a surface change. Hmmm.
Test and tune event next weekend. I'll put some more effort in.

I have a nasty feeling that I'm going to need a new excuse for tortoise times this year.
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They lasted about 7 events. Some events, we only got our 4 laps in and others , up to 12 with fun runs. I kept them on for about 2,500 miles since I only had the 1 set of wheels. They're great in damp conditions but I was hydroplaning on my drive home at 60mph every time I hit some standing water. They definitely wear out quicker than my old r71's and arrive new with less tread to begin with.
 
pictsidhe said:
I'm currently running stock swaybar uprated ~25% with extra holes. It's not excessively understeery. On slaloms it gets a bit swingy. Next mod is an extra 0.5° neg camber. Should have been done already, but I was sold the wrong hub carriers. Then, I'll reassess the rear ARB.
I think it should be quite competitive in GS with tyres, neg camber, less toe. I wouldn't be surprised if it was bumped to a faster class like the R53 was. At my first meeting, an R53 driver beat their best time of the day on their only lap trying my SE...
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How do you uprate the standard sway bar?
 
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