Cooper Stripes

Fiat Abarth

When I was at the spring sprints one of the first Fiat Abarth 500’s was being shown around the track.  I don’t know how it performs,  I would think its performance would be close to a cooper S,  I would still perfer the Mini.  However the wheels on this thing were stunning, I had to take many photos.

Corbeau Seat belts.

My seat belt malfunctioned at the second to the worst moment.  I believe the worst moment would be if your head was accelerating toward the windshield.  Second to worst would be when you are signed up for a track day,  and the instructor that really wants a ride in a classic mini sits down and it refuses to fasten.  The buckle part that has that little press here button in red fractured internally and refused to latch.  Lillibeth is a Japan car, meaning she was imported into Japan,  and now resides with me.  I noticed on my Kubota tractor the other day that the buckle is virtually identical (food for thought)  but since I have taken the mini to the track I figured I would upgrade the seatbelts so I bought the three point corbeau’s they don’t retract,  but they’ll look really cool.

photos to follow.

cheers.

First Classic Mini on the Track in Shelton WA

  In most ways it was a fantastic day,  I had the jitters from overexposure to massive amounts of velocity.  Hooked on Driving coaches were amazing as usual,  but with a broken passenger seatbelt clip I was left running by myself in a lead follow,  and couldn’t really get into as much speed as she was capable of.  Maybe that was a good thing,  I’ve broken this car before on a track and it’s a long drive home.

What I took from today at the track.

1.  It takes a better driver than I am to get a classic mini to speed.

    It is necessary to use all of the 80hp for every bit of the track and the secret is to not lift your foot off the throttle,  I don’t have the cojones yet.  Lines have to be different and perfect so momentum carries the little car out of the corner fast,  possible,  I felt it but couldn’t do it consistently.  

2.  new Mini’s are faster….

    Again if a better driver was at the wheel of the classic and I was in the new Mini it would probably have been different,  but it is much more difficult to drive the classic well.  Since I have both to compare, and I’ve driven both on the track I can firmly say for an amateur driver it’s much much easier to get to speed in a new Mini.  

3.  Classics are cooler.

     Cute corner workers smile at you as you go buy,  and they all ask about the car,  instructors want to ride in the classic and even though you may go slow there are things the classic will do that will blow your mind.  It still gave me the jitters, I was just barely into a drift on many corners,  had I pushed it a little more we would have seen that smoking drifting sideways holy shit mini photo from the 60’s

Worth every penny of admission.  Watch the video.

Cheeers!

Greg

The Ridge (again)

Attending Mini Thunder last month was spectacular.  It isn’t often (at least it isn’t often done without incarceration) that we can let our cars breath.  When we can let the valves clatter and feel the tires heating and the brakes heating from friction created by excessive speed.  It was joyous,  there was no competition,  it was more pure,  mostly dudes just out to experience what their cars can do,  what really happens when we let them go and we don’t have to watch the radar detector, or cringe every time we pass a cop,  freedom to fly,  it’s joyous.

Cheers

Greg

Hooked on Driving

I still can’t shake the memory from two weeks ago,  screaming into turn 1 at Thunderhill at 100 pennies,  triple digits,  100mph.  Feeling the car react at speed, that little body roll,  hearing the engine and feeling the tires slide just slightly.  I wasn’t flogging,  I was driving.  I’m starting to learn the difference,  flogging is thrashing around,  like when we learned to swim but didn’t really go anywhere.  Driving is fast,  precision,  marks, consistency and refinement.   Corollary to driving,  there was an instructor in the seat next door.  Mike was assigned to me,  and was a volunteer through hooked on driving that helped out at Mini Thunder two weeks ago.  Mike was the driver,  I was at the controls as his puppet,  he gave me an earpiece that he could talk to me through instead of having to yell so I could hear through engine noise and with a helmet on.  That earpiece was literally a little voice in my ear that calmly said “aaaaaaaaaand brake”  then “throttle, throttle, throttle”  It was fantastic because in a day I felt the difference between flogging and driving.  The one time I blew a downshift and almost looped I could feel it,  I could feel where I was on the edge,  I could hear that little voice say “got a little nervous there”  I could tell I had a taste of where the big boys play,  on the edge…….and I want more.

I’ll be attending the hooked on driving event at our new track in Shelton WA…..The Ridge on April 22.

look around for a hooked on driving event and get a taste.

http://www.hookedondriving.com/hooked-on-driving-events

When I get my photos  I’ll post them,  and if you think I’m leaning all New Mini,  guess what car is going on the 22nd.

yep.

And thanks Mike, it was awesome.

The Gap…

I had my reservations on the track this weekend.  Truth be told my idea was to look for clues as to which mini had the advantage on the track,  old vs new.   Now I’m convinced it will take much more than one track day and one venue to determine that.  There is a gap between what you think a car will do and what it will actually do.  I discovered this with the new Mini and speeds over 100mph,  the car is stable,  and does what you would expect the car to do.  In corners however I discovered this car is much more than I expected grabbing massive grip and then slipping ever so slightly.  A gap existed between where I thought the car would slip and where it actually slipped.  In a new Mini this is sort of academic,  we expect the car to perform well,  and it does I had a blast.  In contrast to the classic mini,  folks don’t really expect it to be that fast,  handle well or keep up with modern cars.  They can,  and they do with massive amounts of massaging I watched the fortech race mini crest turn 5 at Thunderhill faster than any car that day or on the previous day, it was stunning.   My guess is he completed the turn at 80-90mph more than likely with a bit of hangtime at the crest of the hill.  I couldn’t believe it the Fortech mini was faster than a Lamborghini the day before,  faster than two purpose built stock cars,  faster than a lotus,  faster than any vehicle I saw all weekend.  This gap is that jucy soft area we want to get to,  the surprising OMG WTF zone that takes a car from a grocery getter into super car status.  I believe the classic mini may have the largest “gap”  of this sort of any car ever produced.

Now we just have to test my theory….

cheers.

Addendum,  Ryan that I met at the track (a much faster and more experienced driver than myself) got closer to what I was trying to say.

“I think it speaks so many truths - not to mention the gap between what the car can do, and what the driver THINKS it can do.  Usually, the driver seems to be less capable than the car.  I left Thunderhill very satisfied, but I’m still thinking about turn 1 and turn 8, which I still felt I could have been faster through.” 

Cars like the Mini bring out the best in you.

Nice road and track article on the 2012 Monte

http://blog.roadandtrack.com/tags/monte-carlo-rally/

I couldn’t find the Mini’s at Dakar?

Until I looked at the top….

http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/summary/rankings/overall-cars.html#ancre