Break-In Passed

Abel and I just passed the break-in miles in our MINI Cooper S! We did it on our way up to Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, CA for a Lotus Challenge Series race.

It clicked passed the 1,000 mile mark on I-10 near Ontario, CA. The rear seats were folded down to accommodate a few sets of brake discs, brake pads, tow hooks, and other Lotus bits. The MINI did a superb job of hauling two men and a bunch of gear almost 300 miles in total comfort.

I'm about 6'6'' tall and never once felt uncomfortable or cramped even with all of the extra gear in the car. The MINI seems to magically grow in size once you get in it.


The next step is to have it weighed and dynoed. Then, we can start installing all of our tasty bits!

Chevy HHR owners listen up!

One of our customers recently had to put his kappa away for the winter months. He's other vehicle happens to be a Chevrolet HHR. Well he noticed that something was missing and realized that what he was in need of was his Kapparoo Pouch. It turns out if fits just fine in his HHR. We haven’t confirmed it yet; however I wanted to share this with all of you just in case you also have a Chevy HHR and would like to try it.

First MINI Canyon Drive

Took the MINI out for it's first spirited drive. Break-in miles are almost done so I started rev'ing her up to 4500rpms.  Overall impressions are still positive.  I took her on a favorite run through DeLuz Rd.  It is a fun road that combines many elements: smooth, bumpy, technical, slow, fast and plenty of elevation change.   

The MINI S is a fun canyon carver but has a few areas that I would like to improve.  The brakes felt mushier than I would prefer.  I want some better initial bite.  Pads, fluid and lines should do the trick.  

Better tires should also help.  The added sidewall of the tires (195/55R16) was welcome on the bumpy sections of this road.  We are going to order some lightweight wheels and high performance tires shortly.  The turn-in was good but the lean was too much.  We should have a rear sway bar coming soon that will help.   We will install the springs as well and the car should slice and dice DeLuz.... 

The pedals, steering wheel and gear selector relationship is pretty good.  The pedals are almost too well spaced.  I'd forgotten how easy it is to heel and toe in a BMW.   Way easier than a Lotus.  The gear selection takes a bit to get use to it.  A light touch is needed or you pass 2nd and enter the reverse section of the selector.  I definately don't like the gear knob.  This will have to change.   Steering feel is good.  Glad MINI has not lost that in this second gen car.

Blistering speed was not the objective.  We will tune this car so it delivers good 'around-town' compliance yet still work the canyons.  I'm sure we will get there shortly...

NM Engineering Visit & NM R56 Test Drive

I visited NM Engineering yesterday in Camarillo.  They are the new MINI tuning arm of Neuspeed - a 33 yr old VW/Audi tuner.  I've known of Neuspeed for many yrs, in fact I purchased a front strut bar for my '91 GTI 18 yrs ago!  They had a great reputation then and have continued to develop well sorted solutions for various makes.  

I met with Joseph and Jerry and toured their facility.  It was quite impressive.  Neuspeed bring so many years of experience in tuning sport compacts to the MINI market.  This level of expertise and engineering is something that will be a great boon for folks wanting to tweak their MINIs. Obviously I am a bit biased as we are a NM Dealer, but I was impressed with their approach to engineering proper solutions.   Their parts fit the car very well, unlike several competitive products that I've seen that fit poorly.

As they say, the 'proof is in the pudding' - so I had a go behind the wheel of their R56.  I drove our bone stock R56 to NM and had it for comparison.  The NM car was equipped with the stock 17" wheels/tires along with the NM Alpha spings and rear sawy bar. It had their intake and engine torque arm insert and exhaust system.  The car was a blast.  It handled better, had excellent acceleration and sounded great.  Their MINI remained very comfortable and easy to drive.  The ride was still great with even quicker responsiveness.  The exhaust had NO drone.  I tested it in 6th gear cruising along the 101 and it was nice and quiet.  It had a sporty sound that I would refer to as a mature sound - I'm so sick of the boomy exhausts that are out there and get more excited by the systems that still allow you to have a conversation with passengers.

Needless to say, I can't wait to install all of these parts on our MINI.  First I want to get past the break-in period and dyno our car.  Then the mods can begin.....

We plan to have a tech session at our shop with NM Engineering this Spring.  Stay tuned.

Solstice Coupe Rendering

Chris sketched a sweet version of the Solstice Coupe.  The front fascia and wheels are particularily aggressive.  We thought you'd love it - we sure do!  My GM buddies still say the Coupe is on track so we are anticipating ours - GXP flavor this time!  

Our New MINI

We have just bought a MINI Cooper 'S'.  This is the second generation of the 'new' MINI - aka R56.  We've secured a stripped model that will start getting our tuning shortly.  We're now putting miles on her and getting used to the driving dynamics.  I owned a Cooper about 4 yrs ago and loved it.  It feels great to be back in the saddle of one now.  This is a turbo charged version - I had a NA model before.  The R56 is much quicker.  

Performance through lightweight will be a focus of ours with the MINI.  Our upgrade path will include handling tweaks, power and a few lifestyle items. Track safety products will also be found in our product mix.  

We are going to source products from some of our existing suppliers and a couple of new ones as well.  We're pretty close friends with Schroth's US distributor, HMS.  Joe, the owner of HMS, is a MINI owner and has his car fully set up for track work.  We will also have products from several other companies including NM Engineering.  NM Engineering is a new entrant into the MINI space but has been one of the oldest tuners in the VW/Audi arena for 30+ years.  They have developed some great new items for the new gen MINI.  

We're still on the wait list of the Solstice Coupe - hopefully it'll show up late 1Q09!