Built-By-Bones
03-28-2006, 09:27 AM
A short report on our trip to Las Vegas for the first ever USA MiniChallenge race.
After returning from the SCCA southern California tour and prosolo we put about 250 hrs of car prep into the 03 Mini S to get it ready for Vegas. Built a bolt-in roll cage, designed and built new rear suspension, KW coilovers all round, TCE Wilwood brakes, Evo seat, halon fire system, emergency cutoff switch, CAI, exhaust, corner weighted the car.
Left Friday 2am, arrived in LV at about 4pm - traffic in vegas is terrible, and driving a truck and trailer is invitiation for cars to cut you off and then slam on brakes. I was tempted to drive right over some people but managed to refrain from doing so.
About 250 Mini's had gathered for the AMVIV (a mini vacation in vegas) event, the 3rd held I think. Saturday was the debut of the USA MiniChallenge series based on similar series run in Europe, Asia, Australia and Soouth Africa. 12 Mini's were entered along with 3 counterfeit Mini's.
We unloaded at the infield road course on Saturday. We learned we would use only the infield section of the road course, not the longer course using parts of the oval. Too bad, but we did get the sights of the Mario Andretti Indy cars circling the track all day.
This was the first time the Mini had run in anger, so the first few practice sessions were used to bed in brakes, learn the track, and shake down the car. Everything ran great. I had instant oversteer in the slow sections, but mostly due to the very worn V710's - 120 plus runs. I screwed up in the second practice session attempting to sweeten the entry on one of the turns. I caught the depression before the rumble strips and broke the right front SSR and bent the rear wheel. Damn.
So a small change to the line and we solved/avoided the pothole.
Instead of going all out during qualifying I went out and ran two or three reasonable laps and then went into race mode. It was the first oppurtunity to see if I could make a used set (50 runs) of V710's last the race distance of 18 laps. And I wanted to guage my fuel consumption at race speed.
Qualified 5th, but I was 2 seconds slower than I had run in an earlier session. Had I pushed in qualifying ( I think a sub 60 second lap was possible) I may have been as high as 3rd.
With an hour between qualifying and the race I spent some time resetting the data aquisition and video, and then instructed in two sessions. 5 mintues to grid I get into the Mini and it is dead. Totally dead, no guages, no lights, no clicks, no whirs. Mad scramble to try to start the car. But with zero power you cannot push start the car, you cannot disable the immobilizer. In the chaos we realize we can only access the rear battery by climbing through the cage. You cannot open the rear hatch, even with an emergency release, when there is zero battery power.
Despite the best efforts of my crew and friends the car remains dead. The other cars grid, warm up and start the race. Randy Webb, a denver local, leads from start to finsh - congrats.
I think a swift kick to the nuts would have been less painful. That's the first, and hopefully only, DNS I have had due to mechanical issues. We usually have managed to get a car on the track even if it was just for the start and a few laps.
So the disappointment in Las Vegas means I won't be headed to Sebring for this Sunday's race. I could not justify a massive diesel bill when I have so much work scheduled at the shop and the clinic is becoming very busy.
We have not diagnosed the problem yet, the Mini is still in the trailer. But we will recoup and be ready for the next MiniChallenge races, June 10 and 11 at Gateway Raceway, Madison IL.
And after seeing the horrific accident at Homestead on Sunday morning I realized that my weekend had not been bad at all, just racing. RIP Paul Dana.
Bones Barclay
After returning from the SCCA southern California tour and prosolo we put about 250 hrs of car prep into the 03 Mini S to get it ready for Vegas. Built a bolt-in roll cage, designed and built new rear suspension, KW coilovers all round, TCE Wilwood brakes, Evo seat, halon fire system, emergency cutoff switch, CAI, exhaust, corner weighted the car.
Left Friday 2am, arrived in LV at about 4pm - traffic in vegas is terrible, and driving a truck and trailer is invitiation for cars to cut you off and then slam on brakes. I was tempted to drive right over some people but managed to refrain from doing so.
About 250 Mini's had gathered for the AMVIV (a mini vacation in vegas) event, the 3rd held I think. Saturday was the debut of the USA MiniChallenge series based on similar series run in Europe, Asia, Australia and Soouth Africa. 12 Mini's were entered along with 3 counterfeit Mini's.
We unloaded at the infield road course on Saturday. We learned we would use only the infield section of the road course, not the longer course using parts of the oval. Too bad, but we did get the sights of the Mario Andretti Indy cars circling the track all day.
This was the first time the Mini had run in anger, so the first few practice sessions were used to bed in brakes, learn the track, and shake down the car. Everything ran great. I had instant oversteer in the slow sections, but mostly due to the very worn V710's - 120 plus runs. I screwed up in the second practice session attempting to sweeten the entry on one of the turns. I caught the depression before the rumble strips and broke the right front SSR and bent the rear wheel. Damn.
So a small change to the line and we solved/avoided the pothole.
Instead of going all out during qualifying I went out and ran two or three reasonable laps and then went into race mode. It was the first oppurtunity to see if I could make a used set (50 runs) of V710's last the race distance of 18 laps. And I wanted to guage my fuel consumption at race speed.
Qualified 5th, but I was 2 seconds slower than I had run in an earlier session. Had I pushed in qualifying ( I think a sub 60 second lap was possible) I may have been as high as 3rd.
With an hour between qualifying and the race I spent some time resetting the data aquisition and video, and then instructed in two sessions. 5 mintues to grid I get into the Mini and it is dead. Totally dead, no guages, no lights, no clicks, no whirs. Mad scramble to try to start the car. But with zero power you cannot push start the car, you cannot disable the immobilizer. In the chaos we realize we can only access the rear battery by climbing through the cage. You cannot open the rear hatch, even with an emergency release, when there is zero battery power.
Despite the best efforts of my crew and friends the car remains dead. The other cars grid, warm up and start the race. Randy Webb, a denver local, leads from start to finsh - congrats.
I think a swift kick to the nuts would have been less painful. That's the first, and hopefully only, DNS I have had due to mechanical issues. We usually have managed to get a car on the track even if it was just for the start and a few laps.
So the disappointment in Las Vegas means I won't be headed to Sebring for this Sunday's race. I could not justify a massive diesel bill when I have so much work scheduled at the shop and the clinic is becoming very busy.
We have not diagnosed the problem yet, the Mini is still in the trailer. But we will recoup and be ready for the next MiniChallenge races, June 10 and 11 at Gateway Raceway, Madison IL.
And after seeing the horrific accident at Homestead on Sunday morning I realized that my weekend had not been bad at all, just racing. RIP Paul Dana.
Bones Barclay