Who here owns a Mini?

--Mike-- said:
They are a bit. You can get your chrome ones sprayed at a body shop. Colour coded looks better than all black I think anyway.
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Yeah. I spotted a GP with black surrounds. They look really good.

Might look into the body shop option.
 
Or http://www.minifoo.com/

Or you could use CS Skeeter as Sir_dave uses his on track.

Bought a GTT strutbrace for mine the other day. Unfortunately it's red so I'll probably get it powedercoated black.



Not actually fitted in this pic
 
Mine (R56, S) appears to have a clattering from the clutch/flywheel/gearbox region. :(

Seem to drive perfectly fine, so hopefully it's a cheap fix one of the cheaper parts needing replacing. Only picked it up Friday, so the stealership will be seeing me soon. And I ain't paying.
 
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Ha, true daveski, a lot of CS seem to have moved from Clios to Minis :)

If my Clio is soon to head off to the scrapheap in the sky (which there is a real possibility of) I have been thinking a Mini might be a good replacement. Unfortunately I have an incredibly picky spec requirement :(
 
Sticking my car up for sale. Ideally I want £3.5k for it so I've stuck it up for £4k.

I feel this is optimistic but I'm hoping the new clutch, flywheel, power steering pump and tyres will help with the sale.

Think a 2005 R53 with 106k miles is really worth £3.5k?
 
Anyone run a Mk1 or Mk2 BMW Mini as a track car? Interested to hear opinions, and what mods would be best to make. I had a Clio 172 that I did a lot too but it had to go, but hopefully in the not to distant future I will be able to scratch the track day itch again.

A Cooper S looks like a good equivalent to the Clio in terms of affordable, disposable, cheap track day fun.
 
The first gen is a bit more go-kart like than the second, rides a bit harder but the interior isn't as good as the second gen, which they made a little softer and more liveable with.

I'm guessing the slightly better handling, lower initial cost and the supercharged engine that can give good power increases is more important than engine flexibility and how well put together its interior is. :p
 
Indeed. The interior would be partly removed and the seats changed anyway. It would remain road legal but would only be used to drive too and from tracks and any trips to garages so interior comfort is a low priority.

We have a Mk1 Cooper now that handles great but it's dog slow.

What's the difference between a Cooper S an a JCW? Does the latter already have a smaller SC pully meaning theres limited headroom for improvement before getting into needing new injectors etc?

What do people do for suspension? It would need to go lower and stiffer. On the Clio I just swapped to the Sports shocks and aftermarket springs as while coilovers would have provided a better result, the money I saved probably bought 3 track days.
 
Here's a thread that will give you some good info and further links on the R53 S vs JCW.

Coilovers, front (and possibly rear) strut brace and good tyres will be all you'd need for the setup. Although, you could just do the tyres and pulley to an extent - after so much you require upgrading the cooling system - and see how it feels. They really haven't got that much roll unless you're really, really on it.
 
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